The joint distribution of occupation totals for a simple random walk

Abstract

SummaryA great deal of attention has been given in the literature to the various properties of the simple binomial random walk. Explicit expressions are available for first passage times, absorption probabilities, average duration of the walk up to absorption and other quantities of interest. One aspect of the behaviour of this work which has, however, attracted little attention is the form of the distribution of occupation totals. This paper is devoted to the derivation of an explict expression for the joint probility generating function of the occupation totals up to absorption, for the binomial random walk in the presence of two absorbing points. The appropriate marginal form of this p.g.f. yields the distribution of the occupation total, and expected occupation total, at any particular lattice point. The limiting forms of these results provide explicit expressions for the corresponding quatities in the case of a binomial random walk having a single absorbing point and, where relevent, in the case of the unrestricted binomial random walk.