This book contains the lectures given at the Second Conference on Dynamics and Randomness held at the Centro de Modelamiento Matematico of the Universidad de Chile, from December 9-13, 2003. This meeting brought together mathematicians, theoretical physicists, theoretical computer scientists, and graduate students interested in fields related to probability theory, ergodic theory, symbolic and topological dynamics. The courses were on:
-Some Aspects of Random Fragmentations in Continuous Times;
-Metastability of Ageing in Stochastic Dynamics;
-Algebraic Systems of Generating...

This volume is based on the lecture notes of six courses delivered at a Cimpa Summer School in Temuco, Chile, in January 2001. Leading experts contribute with introductory articles covering a broad area in probability and its applications, such as mathematical physics and mathematics of finance. Written at graduate level, the lectures touch the latest advances on each subject, ranging from classical probability theory to modern developments. Thus the book will appeal to students, teachers and researchers working in probability theory or related fields.

The study of M-matrices, their inverses and discrete potential theory is now a well-established part of linear algebra and the theory of Markov chains. The main focus of this monograph is the so-called inverse M-matrix problem, which asks for a characterization of nonnegative matrices whose inverses are M-matrices. We present an answer in terms of discrete potential theory based on the Choquet-Deny Theorem. A distinguished subclass of inverse M-matrices is ultrametric matrices, which are important in applications such as taxonomy. Ultrametricity is revealed to be a relevant concept in...