Multi-point correlations for two-dimensional coalescing or annihilating random walks

In this paper we consider an infinite system of instantaneously coalescing rate 1 simple symmetric random walks on ℤ2, started from the initial condition with all sites in ℤ2 occupied. Two-dimensional coalescing random walks are a `critical' model of interacting particle systems: unlike coalescence models in dimension three or higher, the fluctuation effects are important for the description of large-time statistics in two dimensions, manifesting themselves through the logarithmic corrections to the `mean field' answers. Yet the fluctuation effects are not as strong as for the one-dimensional coalescence, in which case the fluctuation effects modify the large time statistics at the leading order. Unfortunately, unlike its one-dimensional counterpart, the two-dimensional model is not exactly solvable, which explains a relative scarcity of rigorous analytic answers for the statistics of fluctuations at large times. Our contribution is to find, for any N≥2, the leading asymptotics for the correlation functions ρN(x1,…,xN) as t→∞. This generalises the results for N=1 due to Bramson and Griffeath (1980) and confirms a prediction in the physics literature for N>1. An analogous statement holds for instantaneously annihilating random walks. The key tools are the known asymptotic ρ1(t)∼logt∕πt due to Bramson and Griffeath (1980), and the noncollision probability