Feynman checkers: the probability of direction reversal

Abstract

We study the most elementary model of electron motion introduced by R.Feynman in 1965. It is a game, in which a checker moves on a checkerboard by simple rules, and we count the turnings. The model is also known as one-dimensional quantum walk. In his publication, R.Feynman introduces a discrete version of path integral and poses the problem of computing the limit of the model when the lattice step and the average velocity tend to zero and time tends to infinity. We get a nontrivial advance in the problem on the mathematical level of rigor in a simple particular case; even this case requires methods not known before. We also prove a conjecture by I.Gaidai-Turlov, T.Kovalev, and A.Lvov on the limit probability of direction reversal in the model generalizing a recent result by A.Ustinov.