Maximum of Branching Brownian motion in a periodic environment

Abstract

We study the maximum of Branching Brownian motion (BBM) with branching rates that vary in space, via a periodic function of a particle's location. This corresponds to a variant of the F-KPP equation in a periodic medium, extensively studied in the last 15 years, admitting pulsating fronts as solutions. Recent progress on this PDE due to Hamel, Nolen, Roquejoffre and Ryzhik ('16) implies tightness for the centered maximum of BBM in a periodic environment. Here we establish the convergence in distribution of specific subsequences of this centered maximum, and identify the limiting distribution. Consequently, we find the asymptotic shift between the solution to the corresponding F-KPP equation with Heavyside initial data and the pulsating wave, thereby answering a question of Hamel et al. Analogous results are given for the cases where the Brownian motion is replaced by an Ito diffusion with periodic coefficients, as well as for nearest-neighbor branching random walks.