REVIEW 2 major objections 4 minor 1 cited by
Macroscopic Hausdorff dimension of the level sets of the Airy processes
T0 review · 2 major / 4 minor · reviewed 2026-08-10 · deepseek-v4-flash
Pith's one-line read The paper proves that the upper and lower level sets of both Airy processes have exact macroscopic Hausdorff dimensions: $1-\gamma^{3/2}$ for peaks and $1-\gamma^{3}$ for valleys.
desk verdict Exact Airy level-set dimensions, likely correct, but the written proof has a repairable threshold typo and leans on unpublished companion estimates. read the letter →
The pith
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
The reading
What carries the argument
The load-bearing object is the $\theta$-thickness criterion: a set $E$ is $\theta$-thick if, for all large $n$, $E$ meets every interval of length $e^{\theta n}$ whose left endpoint belongs to a grid of spacing $e^{\theta n}$ inside $[e^n,e^{n+1}]$, and a $\theta$-thick set has macroscopic Hausdorff dimension at least $1-\theta$. The paper verifies this condition for each level set by estimating the probability that a small interval contains no extreme point. For Airy$_1$ those estimates use association (the FKG property) of the process, the super-exponential decay of its covariance, and the sharp one-point tail rates of the GOE Tracy--Widom distribution. For Airy$_2$, whose covariance decays only polynomially, the estimates instead come from exponential last-passage percolation via sharp bounds on the probability that the maximum or minimum of a rescaled passage time over a long interval stays below or above a threshold. The matching upper bounds come from a standard macroscopic-dimension upper-bound theorem fed by the same interval tail probabilities.
What would settle it
Compute the exact logarithmic asymptotics of the one-interval tails that the proof uses: if $P\{\max_{s\in[0,1]} A_1(s) > x\}$ turns out to decay as $e^{-c x^{3/2}}$ with $c \neq 4\sqrt{2}/3$, or if $P\{\min_{s\in[0,1]} A_2(s) < -x\}$ turns out to decay as $e^{-c x^3}$ with $c \neq 1/12$, then the dimension exponents $1-\gamma^{3/2}$ and $1-\gamma^3$ would be off.
Extended reading notes
Core claim
The paper's central claim is Theorem 1.1 and Theorem 1.2. For $U_1(\gamma)=\{t>e: A_1(t)> \frac{\gamma}{2}((3\log t)/2)^{2/3}\}$ and $U_2(\gamma)=\{t>e: A_2(t)> \gamma((3\log t)/4)^{2/3}\}$, it holds almost surely that $\operatorname{Dim}_H(U_1(\gamma))=\operatorname{Dim}_H(U_2(\gamma))=1-\gamma^{3/2}$; for $L_1(\gamma)=\{t>e: A_1(t)<-\gamma(3\log t)^{1/3}\}$ and $L_2(\gamma)=\{t>e: A_2(t)<-\gamma(12\log t)^{1/3}\}$, it holds almost surely that $\operatorname{Dim}_H(L_1(\gamma))=\operatorname{Dim}_H(L_2(\gamma))=1-\gamma^3$. Here $\operatorname{Dim}_H$ is the Barlow--Taylor macroscopic Hausdorff dimension, which measures how well a subset of $\mathbb{R}$ fills the exponentially growing shells $[e^n,e^{n+1}]$. The paper obtains the upper bounds from a general theorem on macroscopic dimensions together with sharp interval tail probabilities, and the lower bounds by verifying a thickness condition that forces the level set to intersect every small cell of an exponentially spaced grid. The result makes precise that, with respect to the natural $(\log t)^{2/3}$ and $(\log t)^{1/3}$ gauges, the peaks and valleys of both Airy processes are multifractal.
Load-bearing premise
The whole result leans on sharp estimates of how unlikely it is for the Airy processes, or their last-passage-percolation approximations, to reach very high or very low values; these estimates are quoted from two not-yet-published companion papers, and if any of them gives a wrong rate, the corresponding level-set dimension formula fails.
Editorial extensions
If this is right
- Almost surely, for every $\gamma\in(0,1)$, the level-set dimensions are known exactly rather than merely bounded: peaks are $1-\gamma^{3/2}$ and valleys are $1-\gamma^3$, for both Airy$_1$ and Airy$_2$.
- The two Airy processes share the same level-set dimensions because the leading tail exponents of their one-point laws coincide; the asymmetry between the peak exponent $3/2$ and the valley exponent $3$ mirrors the asymmetric upper and lower tails of the Tracy--Widom distributions.
- As $\gamma$ varies in $(0,1)$, the dimensions trace a continuous multifractal spectrum, decreasing from nearly $1$ to nearly $0$; level sets at larger thresholds are macroscopically smaller in a precisely quantified way.
- The proof's two ingredients, a sharp interval tail estimate and a decorrelation or last-passage-percolation input, are the only model-specific parts, so the same scheme can produce level-set dimensions for any stationary KPZ-class process once those two ingredients are known.
Reading between the lines
- Our inference: the thickness criterion actually shows the level sets are present in every grid cell at the relevant scales, not merely that their dimension is large; this stronger 'no large empty cells' property could be useful for studying the occupation and intersection behavior of the Airy processes.
- Our inference: because the theorem stops at $\gamma<1$ and monotonicity forces dimension $0$ at $\gamma=1$, the natural follow-up is to determine the correct gauge, for instance whether the critical level sets are countable, exactly at the threshold.
- Our inference: the exponential-LPP route used for Airy$_2$ suggests the same level-set dimensions should hold for the KPZ fixed point and for other limiting processes built from the same LPP weights; a numerical box-counting test at a single $\gamma$ would provide a quick check of this universality.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The paper studies the macroscopic Hausdorff dimension of the upper and lower level sets of the Airy1 and Airy2 processes, where the level thresholds are chosen according to the known almost-sure growth rates. The main results, Theorems 1.1 and 1.2, assert that for every gamma in (0,1), the upper level sets have dimension 1 - gamma^{3/2} and the lower level sets have dimension 1 - gamma^3, almost surely. The proofs follow the framework of Khoshnevisan, Kim, and Xiao [18]: upper bounds are obtained from tail estimates for the extrema over unit intervals, while lower bounds are obtained by verifying that the level sets are theta-thick for theta in the appropriate range and applying the thickness criterion. The Airy1 argument uses association and super-exponential covariance decay; the Airy2 argument uses new quantitative tail estimates for the maximum and minimum of the Airy2 process, which are derived in Section 5 from exponential last-passage percolation estimates.
Significance. Assuming the imported estimates are correct, the paper provides the first exact macroscopic Hausdorff dimensions for the level sets of Airy processes, thereby establishing multifractality of the peaks and valleys with respect to the natural gauge functions. The formulas are explicit and parameter-free, and the proofs are structured in a way that separates the probabilistic input (tail and dependence estimates) from the geometric argument. A particular strength is that the lower bounds are obtained through the thickness criterion with explicit Borel-Cantelli summability, rather than through abstract existence arguments. However, the paper is not self-contained: several of the load-bearing tail and association estimates are imported from unpublished preprints by the same research group.
major comments (2)
- [Section 3, Eq. (3.16)] The first inequality in (3.16) is false as written. On the interval [x_{i,n}, x_{i,n}+e^{n theta}) one has log s <= n+1, so the event {inf_s A1(s)/(log s)^{1/3} >= -gamma 3^{1/3}} is contained in {inf_s A1(s) >= -gamma(3(n+1))^{1/3}}, not in {inf_s A1(s) >= -gamma(3n)^{1/3}}. In fact the reverse containment holds for the n-threshold. The correct threshold n+1 is used later in the Airy2 proof (Section 4). Replacing n by n+1 in (3.16) and in the estimates (3.17)-(3.18) preserves the summability condition (3.15) and does not change the final dimension, so the error is repairable; nonetheless, the displayed inequality is a genuine mistake in a central step of the proof of (1.5).
- [Section 5, Propositions 5.4 and 5.5] The proofs of the Airy2 bounds rely on several quantitative LPP estimates that are not proved in this paper: [7, Lemmas 2.7, 3.6, 3.9, 3.12], [25, Theorem 1.2 and Proposition 6.1], [5, Theorem 1.4], and [2, Proposition 2.1]. In particular, the constant 1/12 in [7, Lemma 3.12] is used in Proposition 5.5 to obtain the exact rate e^{-(1/12)(1+epsilon)x^3}, which is essential for the Borel-Cantelli summability in the proof of Theorem 1.2(1.6); if that constant were smaller, the lower-bound dimension would shrink below 1 - gamma^3. Since these are preprints by the same research group and are not yet formally published, the main theorems are conditional on the correctness of these external results. The authors should either include proofs of the imported lemmas in an appendix or verify their status so that the paper is self-contained enough for the claims to be assessed.
minor comments (4)
- [Section 3, after Eq. (3.16)] In the line `inf_{s in [x_{i,n}, x_{i,n}+e^{n theta})} A1(s)/(log x)^{1/3}`, the denominator should be `(log s)^{1/3}`, not `(log x)^{1/3}`.
- [Section 5, proof of Proposition 5.5] The sentence `We consider the points z_j as defined in the proof of Proposition 5.5` should refer to Proposition 5.4, not Proposition 5.5.
- [Section 5, definition of event E] In the event E, the term `E(T_{v,z_j})` should be `E(T_{v,u_N(z_j)})` to match the notation used elsewhere in the proof.
- [Section 1, Theorems 1.1 and 1.2] The theorems are phrased as holding almost surely for every gamma in (0,1), but the proofs establish the bounds for each fixed gamma on an event that may depend on gamma. A short density or monotonicity argument should be added to justify the simultaneous statement for all gamma.
Circularity Check
No significant circularity: exact dimension formulas are derived from independent LPP tail estimates and the KKX18 thickness criterion, not from the conclusions themselves.
full rationale
The derivation chain is: Theorem 1.1 and Theorem 1.2 are obtained by applying the Khoshnevisan–Kim–Xiao macroscopic Hausdorff dimension criteria (upper bound via tail of supremum/infimum, lower bound via θ-thickness) to estimates on the Airy processes. The Airy1 upper tail (3.3), association and covariance decay are imported from [25, Prop 6.1, Thm 1.2] and [6]; the Airy1 lower-tail Lemma 3.1 is derived in the paper from [7, Lemma 2.7]; the Airy2 tails are derived from Propositions 4.1 and 4.2, whose proofs (Propositions 5.4 and 5.5) are carried out in the paper using [7, Lemmas 3.6 and 3.12] and standard LPP estimates. None of these inputs is a restatement of the level-set dimensions; all are parameter-free statements about one-point/two-point distributions, extrema of LPP passage times, or geodesic fluctuations whose assumptions do not include the target results. The exact constants 4/3, 1/12, etc. enter through those estimates, but they are not fitted to the level sets and are not derived from the dimension claims. The typo in (3.16) (n instead of n+1) is a minor repairable slip and does not change the summability argument. The heavy reliance on unpublished companion preprints by the same research group is a verification/correctness risk, not evidence of circular reasoning.
Assumptions & free parameters
assumptions (6)
- domain assumption Airy1 is stationary and associated; Airy2 is stationary (from [25, Theorem 1.2] and [24]).
- domain assumption Sharp one-point tail asymptotics (3.1)-(3.2) for Airy1, its max tail (3.3), and the analogous Airy2 one-point tail.
- domain assumption Super-exponential covariance decay (3.4) for Airy1 from [6, Theorem 1.1].
- domain assumption Weak convergence of exponential LPP to Airy processes (Theorems 2.3 and 2.4) from [8, Theorem 3.8] and [7, Theorem 1.4].
- domain assumption LPP tail estimates Lemmas 5.1, 5.2, 3.6, 3.12 from [7], [8, Theorem 4.2], [2, Proposition 2.1], and [5, Theorem 1.4].
- standard math Borel-Cantelli and FKG/Lebowitz inequalities for associated variables.
Cite this review
Pith. "Pith review of Macroscopic Hausdorff dimension of the level sets of the Airy processes." pith.science (2026). https://pith.science/paper/SNJ5QCHT
@misc{pith2026250100772,
author = {Pith},
title = {Pith review of: Macroscopic Hausdorff dimension of the level sets of the Airy processes},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {\url{https://pith.science/paper/SNJ5QCHT}},
note = {Machine review of arXiv:2501.00772}
}
abstract
We study the Macroscopic Hausdorff dimension of the upper and lower level sets of the Airy processes, following the general method developed in Khoshnevisan et al. \cite{KKX17}. For the Airy$_1$ process, the approach to macroscopic Hausdorff dimension of level sets hinges on some inequalities for its joint probabilities, while for the Airy$_2$ process, we make use of some quantitative estimates on the tail probabilities of its maximum and minimum over an interval.
Forward citations
Cited by 1 Pith paper
-
Two-time spatial decorrelation for the flat KPZ fixed point
The two-time spatial covariance of the flat KPZ fixed point decays as exp(-c|x|^3), and normalized spatial averages converge to a Gaussian process with covariance equal to the space-integrated two-time correlation.
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[7]
Limit theorems for extrema of Airy processes
Basu, R. and Bhattacharjee, S.: Limit theorems for extre ma of Airy processes. arXiv:2406.11826 (2024)
work page Pith review arXiv 2024
-
[25]
Ergodicity, CLT and asymptotic maximum of the Airy$_1$ process
Pu, F.: Ergodicity, CLT and asymptotic maximum of the Ai ry1 process. arXiv:2311.11217v3
-
[18]
and Xiao, Y.: Intermittency a nd multifractality: a case study via parabolic stochastic PDEs
Khoshnevisan, D., Kim, K. and Xiao, Y.: Intermittency a nd multifractality: a case study via parabolic stochastic PDEs. Ann. Probab. 45 (2017), no.6A, 3697–3751
work page 2017
-
[1]
Baik, J., Buckingham, R. and DiFranco, J.: Asymptotics o f Tracy-Widom distributions and the total integral of a Painlev´ e II function. Comm. Math. Phys. 280 (2008), no. 2, 463–497
work page 2008
-
[2]
and Bhattacharjee, S.: Geodesic tr ees in last passage percolation and some related problems
Bal´ azs, M., Basu, R. and Bhattacharjee, S.: Geodesic tr ees in last passage percolation and some related problems. arXiv.2308.07312 (2024). 19
arXiv 2024
-
[3]
Barlow, M. T. and Taylor, S. J.: Fractional dimension of s ets in discrete spaces. With a reply by J. Naudts J. Phys. A 22 (1989), no.13, 2621–2628
work page 1989
-
[4]
Barlow, M. T. and Taylor, S. J.: Defining fractal subsets o f Zd. Proc. London Math. Soc. (3) 64 (1992), no.1, 125–152
work page 1992
-
[5]
Baslingker, J. and Basu, R. and Bhattacharjee, S. and Kri shnapur, M.: Optimal tail estimates in β-ensembles and applications to last passage percolation. a rXiv.2405.12215 (2024)
Show all 29 references
-
[6]
and Ferrari, P.L.: On the exponent go verning the correlation decay of the Airy 1 process
Basu, R., Busani, O. and Ferrari, P.L.: On the exponent go verning the correlation decay of the Airy 1 process. Comm. Math. Phys. 398 (2023), no. 3, 1171–1211
2023
-
[8]
and Ganguly, S
Basu, R. and Ganguly, S. and Zhang, L.: Temporal correlat ion in last passage percolation with flat initial condition via Brownian comparison. Comm. Math. Phys. 383 (2021), no. 3, 1805–1888
2021
-
[9]
and Sly, A.: Coalescence of geodesic s in exactly solvable models of last passage percolation
Basu, R., Sarkar, S. and Sly, A.: Coalescence of geodesic s in exactly solvable models of last passage percolation. J. Math. Phys. 60 (2019), no. 9
2019
-
[10]
and Sly, A.: Last passage per colation with a defect line and the solution of the slow bond problem
Basu, R., Sidoravicius, V. and Sly, A.: Last passage per colation with a defect line and the solution of the slow bond problem. arxiv.1408.3464 (2016)
2016 arXiv
-
[11]
and Hegde, M.: Brownian struct ure in the KPZ fixed point
Calvert, J., Hammond, A. and Hegde, M.: Brownian struct ure in the KPZ fixed point. Ast´ erisqueNo. 441 (2023) v+119 pp
2023
-
[12]
and Ghosal, P.: Law of iterated logarithms and fr actal properties of the KPZ equation
Das, S. and Ghosal, P.: Law of iterated logarithms and fr actal properties of the KPZ equation. Ann. Probab. 51 (2023), no. 3, 930–986
2023
-
[13]
and Vir´ ag, B.: The right tail exponent of the T racy-Widom β distribution
Dumaz, L. and Vir´ ag, B.: The right tail exponent of the T racy-Widom β distribution. Ann. Inst. Henri Poincar´ e Probab´ e. Stat.49 (2013), no. 4, 915–933
2013
-
[14]
D., Proschan, F
Esary, J. D., Proschan, F. and Walkup, D. W.: Associatio n of random variables with appli- cations. Ann. Math. Statist. 38 (1967), no. 5, 1466–1474
1967
-
[15]
and Yi, J.: Fractal geometry of the PAM in 2D an d 3D with white noise potential
Ghosal, P. and Yi, J.: Fractal geometry of the PAM in 2D an d 3D with white noise potential. arXiv:2303.16063 (2023)
2023 arXiv
-
[16]
Hammond, A.: Exponents governing the rarity of disjoin t polymers in Brownian last passage percolation. Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 120 (2020) no. 3, 370–433
2020
-
[17]
Shape fluctuations and random matrices
Johansson, K. Shape fluctuations and random matrices. Comm. Math. Phys. 209(2000) no. 2, 437–476
2000
-
[19]
and Xiao, Y.: A macroscopic mu ltifractal analysis of parabolic stochastic PDEs
Khoshnevisan, D., Kim, K. and Xiao, Y.: A macroscopic mu ltifractal analysis of parabolic stochastic PDEs. Comm. Math. Phys. 360 (2018), no. 1, 307–346
2018
-
[20]
L.: Bounds on the correlations and analyti city properties of ferromagnetic Ising spin systems
Lebowitz, J. L.: Bounds on the correlations and analyti city properties of ferromagnetic Ising spin systems. Comm. Math. Phys. 28 (1972), 313–321. 20
1972
-
[21]
Electron
Ledoux, M., Rider, B.: Small deviation for Beta ensembl es. Electron. J. Probab. 15 (2010), 1319–1343
2010
-
[22]
M.: Normal fluctuations and the FKG inequalit ies
Newman, C. M.: Normal fluctuations and the FKG inequalit ies. Comm. Math. Phys. 74 (1980), no. 2, 119–128
1980
-
[23]
Prakasa Rao, B. L. S.: Associated sequences, demimarti ngales and nonparametric inference. Probability and its Applications. Birkh¨ auser/Springer, Basel, (2012)
2012
-
[24]
and Spohn, H.: Scale Invariance of the PNG Droplet and the Airy Process
Pr¨ ahofer, M. and Spohn, H.: Scale Invariance of the PNG Droplet and the Airy Process. J. Stat. Phys. 108 (2002) no. 5, 1071–1106
2002
-
[26]
Sasamoto, T.: Spatial correlations of the 1D KPZ surfac e on a flat substrate. J. Phys. A 38 (2005), no. 33, L549–L556
2005
-
[27]
Weiss, T., Ferrari, P. L. and Spohn, H.: Reflected Browni an motions in the KPZ universality class. Springer Briefs in Mathematical Physics , 18. Springer, Cham, 2017
2017
-
[28]
Widom, H.: On asymptotics for the Airy process. J. Statist. Phys. 115 (2004), no. 3-4, 1129–1134
2004
-
[29]
Yi, J.: Macroscopic multi-fractality of Gaussian rand om fields and linear stochastic partial differential equations with colored noise. J. Theoret. Probab. 36 (2023), no. 2, 926–947. Sudeshna Bhattacharjee Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengalu ru, Indi...
2023
Reviewed August 10, 2026 · model on record in the stance chip above.
Discussion (0). Continue with ORCID to comment.