A Stochastic Approach to Eulerian Numbers

Abstract

We examine the aggregate behavior of one-dimensional random walks in a model known as (one-dimensional) Internal Diffusion Limited Aggregation. In this model, a sequence of n particles perform random walks on the integers, beginning at the origin. Each particle walks until it reaches an unoccupied site, at which point it occupies that site and the next particle begins its walk. After all walks are complete, the set of occupied sites is an interval of length n containing the origin. We show the probability that k of the occupied sites are positive is given by an Eulerian probability distribution. Having made this connection, we use generating function techniques to compute the expected run time of the model.