Large Deviations of First Passage Times of Branching Random Walks in ${\mathbb{R}}^d$: Asymptotics and Algorithms

We investigate the large deviation probabilities of first passage times (FPT) of discrete-time supercritical non-lattice branching random walks (BRWs) in ${\mathbb{R}}^d$ where $d\ge 1$. The FPT refers to the first time the BRW enters a ball of radius one with a distance $x$ from the origin, conditioned upon the process’s survival. Furthermore, we apply the spine decomposition technique to construct an asymptotically optimal polynomial-time algorithm for computing the lower large deviation probabilities of the FPT. The accuracy of our algorithm is also verified numerically. Our analysis not only provides a deeper theoretical understanding of these stochastic processes but also offers new insights into the microstructural features that are key to characterizing the strength of polymers.