Davar Khoshnevisan

The general area of stochastic PDEs is interesting to mathematicians because it contains an enormous number of challenging open problems. There is also a great deal of interest in this topic because it has deep applications in disciplines that range from applied mathematics, statistical mechanics, and theoretical physics, to theoretical neuroscience, theory of complex chemical reactions [including polymer science], fluid dynamics, and mathematical finance. The stochastic PDEs that are studied in this book are similar to the familiar PDE for heat in a thin rod, but with the additional restriction that the external forcing density is a two-parameter stochastic process, or what is more commonly the case, the forcing is a ``random noise,'' also known as a ``generalized random field.'' At several points in the lectures, there are examples that highlight the phenomenon that stochastic PDEs are not a subset of PDEs. In fact, the introduction of noise in some partial differential equations can bring about not a small perturbation, but truly fundamental changes to the system that the underlying PDE is attempting to describe. The topics covered include a brief introduction to the stochastic heat equation, structure theory for the linear stochastic heat equation, and an in-depth look at intermittency properties of the solution to semilinear stochastic heat equations. Specific topics include stochastic integrals a la Norbert Wiener, an infinite-dimensional Ito-type stochastic integral, an example of a parabolic Anderson model, and intermittency fronts. There are many possible approaches to stochastic PDEs. The selection of topics and techniques presented here are informed by the guiding example of the stochastic heat equation.

Multi-parameter processes extend the existing one-parameter theory in an elegant way and have many applications to other fields in mathematics such as real analysis, functional analysis, group theory, and analytic number theory, to name a few. This book on the vast and rapidly developing subject of random fields is designed for a second graduate course in probability. Recent work on random fields has made it possible to make it an expository subject which interacts with several other areas in mathematics and has enough mathematical depth to be of use to pure as well as applied mathematicians of many backgrounds.

In May 2006, The University of Utah hosted an NSF-funded minicourse on stochastic partial differential equations. The goal of this minicourse was to introduce graduate students and recent Ph. D.s to various modern topics in stochastic PDEs, and to bring together several experts whose research is centered on the interface between Gaussian analysis, stochastic analysis, and stochastic partial differential equations. This monograph contains an up-to-date compilation of many of those lectures. Particular emphasis is paid to showcasing central ideas and displaying some of the many deep connections between the mentioned disciplines, all the time keeping a realistic pace for the student of the subject.

Multi-parameter processes extend the existing one-parameter theory in an elegant way and have many applications to other fields in mathematics such as real analysis, functional analysis, group theory, and analytic number theory, to name a few. This book on the vast and rapidly developing subject of random fields is designed for a second graduate course in probability. Recent work on random fields has made it possible to make it an expository subject which interacts with several other areas in mathematics and has enough mathematical depth to be of use to pure as well as applied mathematicians of many backgrounds.