A shape theorem for BBM in a periodic environment

Abstract

We consider the long-time behaviour of binary branching Brownian motion (BBM) where the branching rate depends on a periodic spatial heterogeneity. We prove that almost surely as $t\to \infty$, the heterogeneous BBM at time $t$, normalized by $t$, approaches a deterministic convex shape with respect to Hausdorff distance. Our approach relies on establishing tail bounds on the probability of existence of BBM particles lying in half-spaces, which in particular yields the asymptotic speed of propagation of projections of the BBM in every direction. Our arguments are primarily probabilistic in nature, but additionally exploit the existence of a "front speed" (or minimal speed of a pulsating traveling front solution) for the Fisher-KPP reaction-diffusion equation naturally associated to the BBM.

arXiv comment47 pages