6.1 - The Diffusion Limit of Random Walks
Random Walk Let $\{\xi_i\}$ be i.i.d. random variables such that $\xi_i = \pm 1$ with probability $1/2$. Then, define $$X_n = \sum_{k=1}^{n} \xi_k, \quad X_0 = 0.$$ $\{X_n\}$ is the familiar symmetric random walk on $\mathbb{Z}$. Let $W(m,n) = \mathbb{P}(X_N = m)$. It is easy to see that $$W(m,n) = {N \choose (N+m)/2} \left( \frac{1}{2} \right)^N$$ and that the mean and std are $$\mathbb{E}[X_N] = 0, \quad \sigma^2_{X_N} = N$$Diffusion Coefficient Definition 6.2: (Diffusion coefficient). The diffusion coefficient $D$ is defined as ...