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Polar Free Infinite Divisibility

Updated 9 July 2026
  • Polar free infinite divisibility is a framework in free probability that organizes infinitely divisible laws into radial (positive) and angular (symmetric or R-diagonal) components using Möbius-conjugated transforms.
  • It connects symmetric free infinite divisibility with positive regular measures, utilizing fixed angular laws like the Wigner and arcsine distributions to characterize free multiplicative mixtures.
  • The approach extends to non-selfadjoint cases by incorporating R-diagonality, where Haar unitaries and free Poisson laws illustrate the stability of the system under free multiplicative convolution.

Searching arXiv for the cited papers and closely related work on polar formulations of free infinite divisibility. Polar free infinite divisibility is a family of concepts in free probability that organize freely infinitely divisible laws through radial–angular structure. In one explicit formulation, a measure on R^=R{}\hat{\mathbb{R}}=\mathbb{R}\cup\{\infty\} is aa-freely infinitely divisible if it admits fractional roots under Möbius-conjugated polar free powers FatF_a^t attached to a point aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}} (Perales et al., 26 Aug 2025). In an earlier structural formulation, symmetric \boxplus-infinitely divisible laws are encoded by positive regular free infinitely divisible laws through the identity Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2), and multiplicative mixtures with the Wigner or arcsine law provide fixed “angular” components for distinguished polar subclasses (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009). In the non-selfadjoint setting, the analogous polar symmetry is carried by RR-diagonal distributions, whose \boxplus-infinitely divisible subclass is parametrized by positive measures describing the left and right moduli (Bercovici et al., 2016).

1. Analytic framework and scope

Free infinite divisibility is defined with respect to free additive convolution \boxplus: a probability measure μ\mu is freely infinitely divisible if for every aa0 there exists aa1 such that

aa2

Analytically, the basic transforms are the Cauchy transform

aa3

its reciprocal aa4, and the free cumulant transform

aa5

defined on an appropriate cone via the Bercovici–Voiculescu inverse aa6 (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009). An equivalent formulation uses the Voiculescu transform aa7, for which free infinite divisibility is characterized by a free Lévy–Khintchine representation (Arizmendi, 2013).

For symmetric aa8, the free Lévy–Khintchine formula simplifies to

aa9

where FatF_a^t0 and FatF_a^t1 is a symmetric Lévy measure (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009). On the positive half-line, the relevant subclass is the class FatF_a^t2 of free regular distributions, characterized by a Lévy–Khintchine representation supported on FatF_a^t3 (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009).

Within this analytic setting, “polar” has two distinct but related meanings. The first is structural: symmetric laws are decomposed into a positive radial object and a fixed symmetric angular law such as the Wigner or arcsine distribution (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009). The second is explicit: Möbius transforms convert ordinary fractional free convolution powers into polar powers FatF_a^t4 on FatF_a^t5, leading to the notion of FatF_a^t6-free infinite divisibility (Perales et al., 26 Aug 2025).

2. Symmetric free infinite divisibility as a radial correspondence

A central structural theorem identifies symmetric free infinite divisibility with positive regular free infinite divisibility. If FatF_a^t7 denotes symmetric freely infinitely divisible measures and FatF_a^t8 denotes free regular positive freely infinitely divisible measures, then

FatF_a^t9

The associated Lévy measures satisfy

aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}0

where the superscripts denote the push-forwards under aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}1 and aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}2 (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009).

This correspondence is the basic radial map in the selfadjoint theory. The positive law aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}3 is the regular “radius,” while aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}4 is obtained from it by a symmetric square-root symmetrization. The 2009 paper does not use the word “polar,” but it explicitly describes this mapping as a canonical passage between symmetric and positive regular free infinitely divisible laws, and the construction separates sign from modulus exactly in the way expected from a polar viewpoint (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009).

The theorem is not merely formal. It translates additive free infinite divisibility of a symmetric law into a positivity problem on aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}5, which is then compatible with multiplicative free convolution. This compatibility is what makes fixed angular laws, such as the standard Wigner law or the arcsine law, natural objects in subsequent classifications.

3. Fixed angular laws: type aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}6 and type aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}7

For aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}8, the symmetric measure

aR^a\in\hat{\mathbb{R}}9

is called a free multiplicative mixture of the Wigner law \boxplus0. If \boxplus1, it is called a free type \boxplus2 distribution (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009). The key characterization is expressed through multiplicative square roots on the radial side. Writing \boxplus3, one has

\boxplus4

and in this case

\boxplus5

Thus type \boxplus6 laws are precisely those symmetric freely infinitely divisible laws whose associated positive regular law is \boxplus7-\boxplus8 divisible (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009).

A further structural identity is

\boxplus9

where Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)0 is the free Poisson law with parameter Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)1. Hence the squared radial law of every multiplicative Wigner mixture is a free compound Poisson distribution in Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)2 (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009).

The arcsine law yields an analogous angular class. A distribution Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)3 is of type Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)4 when it is symmetric and freely infinitely divisible. The characterization is: Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)5 The inclusion relations are strict: Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)6 The paper also shows that type Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)7 is strictly larger than free type Cμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)8 by exhibiting the symmetric BetaCμ(z)=Cσ(z2)\mathcal{C}_\mu^{\boxplus}(z)=\mathcal{C}_\sigma^{\boxplus}(z^2)9 law RR0 as both type RR1 and type RR2, while not being free type RR3 (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009).

These fixed-angle constructions explain a common misconception. Symmetric free infinite divisibility does not imply realizability as a multiplicative Wigner mixture, and realizability as a Wigner mixture does not exhaust the arcsine-based class. The obstruction on the Wigner side is exactly the failure of RR4-RR5 divisibility of the associated positive regular law (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009).

4. Polar powers on RR6 and RR7-free infinite divisibility

An explicit notion of polar free infinite divisibility was introduced through repeated polar differentiation of real-rooted polynomials and its asymptotic effect on root measures (Perales et al., 26 Aug 2025). For a polynomial RR8 of degree RR9, the affine polar derivative at \boxplus0 is

\boxplus1

and \boxplus2. Polar derivatives commute: \boxplus3 At the measure level, ordinary repeated differentiation corresponds to

\boxplus4

while the polar version is obtained by Möbius conjugation. If \boxplus5 sends \boxplus6 to \boxplus7, then

\boxplus8

The paper defines \boxplus9 to be \boxplus0-freely infinitely divisible if for every \boxplus1 there exists \boxplus2 such that

\boxplus3

This class is denoted \boxplus4 (Perales et al., 26 Aug 2025).

The basic reduction theorem says that if \boxplus5, then

\boxplus6

and therefore

\boxplus7

Except for the trivial case \boxplus8, the corresponding roots \boxplus9 are unique (Perales et al., 26 Aug 2025).

The same paper derives a nontrivial commutation relation for polar powers. If μ\mu0, μ\mu1, and μ\mu2 satisfy

μ\mu3

then

μ\mu4

This identity is the measure-theoretic shadow of the commutativity of polar derivatives and is the basis for Belinschi–Nica type semigroups

μ\mu5

which form a semigroup on μ\mu6 (Perales et al., 26 Aug 2025).

5. Non-selfadjoint polar symmetry: μ\mu7-diagonal infinite divisibility

In the non-selfadjoint setting, the relevant polar symmetry is μ\mu8-diagonality. An element μ\mu9 is aa00-diagonal precisely when its polar decomposition

aa01

has aa02 a Haar unitary, aa03, and aa04 free from aa05 (Bercovici et al., 2016). This is the noncommutative analogue of rotational invariance, with aa06 as angular part and aa07 as radial part.

The Boolean counterpart is the class of eta-diagonal distributions, characterized by an aa08-series supported only on alternating words in aa09 and aa10. The two classes are linked by the Boolean-to-free Bercovici–Pata bijection: aa11 Restricting this bijection to eta-diagonal distributions gives a bijection between eta-diagonal laws and aa12-infinitely divisible aa13-diagonal laws (Bercovici et al., 2016).

A decisive structural theorem parametrizes every compactly supported aa14-infinitely divisible aa15-diagonal distribution by a pair of compactly supported Borel probability measures on aa16: aa17 The two measures encode the laws of aa18 and aa19 in the eta-diagonal model. In the tracial case they coincide, so the parametrization collapses to a single radial measure (Bercovici et al., 2016).

This non-selfadjoint theory extends the polar vocabulary from the real line to rotationally symmetric free laws. It also has a strong stability property: the class aa20 of aa21-infinitely divisible aa22-diagonal distributions is closed under free multiplicative convolution aa23 (Bercovici et al., 2016).

Several explicit examples delineate the size of polar free infinitely divisible classes. On the selfadjoint side, the symmetrized free Poisson laws

aa24

satisfy

aa25

For aa26 small, for example aa27, the candidate multiplicative square root fails to be an aa28-transform of a positive measure, so aa29 is symmetric freely infinitely divisible but not type aa30; the same construction also yields examples not in type aa31 (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009). By contrast, the symmetric Betaaa32 law aa33 satisfies

aa34

so it lies simultaneously in type aa35 and type aa36, while not belonging to free type aa37 (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009).

In the explicit polar-power theory, Marchenko–Pastur distributions are stable under aa38-polar powers: aa39 and the corresponding Belinschi–Nica type semigroup acts by

aa40

The Cauchy distribution is even more rigid: for every aa41 and aa42,

aa43

so aa44 is fixed by every polar power and by every aa45 (Perales et al., 26 Aug 2025).

In the non-selfadjoint theory, the aa46-circular distribution gives a canonical aa47-diagonal example. Its determining sequences satisfy aa48, aa49, and aa50 for aa51, while the radial components aa52 and aa53 are free Poisson laws (Bercovici et al., 2016). This parallels the role of Marchenko–Pastur laws on the selfadjoint radial side.

A final terminological point is essential. The 2009 paper on Wigner mixtures and the 2016 paper on aa54-diagonals do not use the phrase “polar free infinite divisibility”; they supply the radial–angular and rotationally symmetric structures that later literature interprets in polar terms (Perez-Abreu et al., 2009, Bercovici et al., 2016). By contrast, the 2025 work introduces aa55-free infinite divisibility as an explicit definition on aa56 (Perales et al., 26 Aug 2025). A related transform-space vocabulary appears in work on Appell polynomials, where the free infinitely divisible law associated with a Laguerre–Pólya function aa57 has

aa58

and the finite free aa59-transforms of the associated Appell polynomials are described as a directional, “polar” approximation scheme for free infinitely divisible distributions (Campbell, 2024). This does not define polar free infinite divisibility, but it places the subject in a broader analytic geometry of free Lévy–Khintchine transforms.

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