Shooting randomly against a line in Euclidean and non-Euclidean spaces

Abstract

In this paper we study a class of distributions related to the r.v. , for different distributions of . The problem is related to the hitting point of a randomly oriented ray and generalizes the Cauchy distribution in different directions. We show that the distribution of solves the Laplace equation of order , possesses even moments of order , and has bimodal structure when is uniform. We study also a number of distributional properties of functionals of , including those related to the arcsine law. Finally we study the same problem in the Poincaré half-plane and this leads to the hyperbolic distribution of which the main properties are explored. In particular we study the distribution of hyperbolic functions of , the law of sums of i.i.d. r.v.'s and the distribution of the area of random hyperbolic right triangles.