We discuss the limit behavior of the partial sums process of stationary solutions to the (autoregressive) AR(1) equation X t = a t X t−1 + εt with random (renewal-reward) coefficient, a t , taking independent, identically distributed values A j ∈ [0,1] on consecutive intervals of a stationary renewal process with heavy-tailed interrenewal distribution, and independent, identically distributed innovations, εt , belonging to the domain of attraction of an α-stable law (0 < α ≤ 2, α ≠ 1). Under suitable conditions on the tail parameter of the interrenewal distribution and the singularity parameter of the distribution of A j near the unit root a = 1, we show that the partial sums process of X t converges to a λ-stable Lévy process with index λ < α. The paper extends the result of Leipus and Surgailis (2003) from the case of finite-variance X t to that of infinite-variance X t .

In this paper we study players' long-run behaviors in evolutionary coordination games with imperfect monitoring. In each time period, signals corresponding to players' underlying actions, instead of the actions themselves, are observed. A boundedly rational quasi-Bayesian learning process is proposed to extract information from the realized signals. We find that players' long-run behaviors depend not only on the correlations between actions and signals, but on the initial probabilities of risk-dominant and non-risk-dominant equilibria being chosen. The conditions under which risk-dominant equilibrium, non-risk-dominant equilibrium, and the coexistence of both equilibria emerges in the long run are shown. In some situations, the number of limiting distributions grows unboundedly as the population size grows to infinity.

The trie is a sort of digital tree. Ideally, to achieve balance, the trie should grow from an unbiased source generating keys of bits with equal likelihoods. In practice, the lack of bias is not always guaranteed. We investigate the distance between randomly selected pairs of nodes among the keys in a biased trie. This research complements that of Christophi and Mahmoud (2005); however, the results and some of the methodology are strikingly different. Analytical techniques are still useful for moments calculation. Both mean and variance are of polynomial order. It is demonstrated that the standardized distance approaches a normal limiting random variable. This is proved by the contraction method, whereby the limit distribution is shown to approach the fixed-point solution of a distributional equation in the Wasserstein metric space.

We study the ancestral process of a sample from a subdivided population with stochastically varying subpopulation sizes. The sizes of the subpopulations change very rapidly (almost every generation) with respect to the coalescent time scale. For haploid populations of size N, one coalescence time unit corresponds to N generations. Coalescence and migration events occur on the same time scale. We show that, when the total population size tends to infinity, the structured coalescent is obtained, thus confirming the robustness of the coalescent. Many population structure models have been shown to converge to the structured coalescent (see Herbots (1997), Hudson (1998), Nordborg (2001), Nordborg and Krone (2002), and Notohara (1990)).

Conditions are derived for the asymptotic normality of a general class of vector-valued functionals of stationary Boolean models in the d-dimensional Euclidean space, where a Lindeberg-type central limit theorem for m-dependent random fields, m ∈ N, is applied. These functionals can be used to construct joint estimators for the vector of specific intrinsic volumes of the underlying Boolean model. Extensions to functionals of more general germ–grain models satisfying some mixing and integrability conditions are also discussed.

A generalized correlated random walk is a process of partial sums such that (X, Y) forms a Markov chain. For a sequence (X n ) of such processes in which each takes only two values, we prove weak convergence to a diffusion process whose generator is explicitly described in terms of the limiting behaviour of the transition probabilities for the Y n . Applications include asymptotics of option replication under transaction costs and approximation of a given diffusion by regular recombining binomial trees.

In this paper we establish large deviation results on the number of extreme points of a homogeneous Poisson point process in the unit ball of R d . In particular, we deduce an almost-sure law of large numbers in any dimension. As an auxiliary result we prove strong localization of the extreme points in an annulus near the boundary of the ball.

We consider growth-collapse processes (GCPs) that grow linearly between random partial collapse times, at which they jump down according to some distribution depending on their current level. The jump occurrences are governed by a state-dependent rate function r(x). We deal with the stationary distribution of such a GCP, (X t )t≥0, and the distributions of the hitting times T a = inf{t ≥ 0 : X t = a}, a > 0. After presenting the general theory of these GCPs, several important special cases are studied. We also take a brief look at the Markov-modulated case. In particular, we present a method of computing the distribution of min[T a , σ] in this case (where σ is the time of the first jump), and apply it to determine the long-run average cost of running a certain Markov-modulated disaster-ridden system.

Define the non-overlapping return time of a block of a random process to be the number of blocks that pass by before the block in question reappears. We prove a central limit theorem based on these return times. This result has applications to entropy estimation, and to the problem of determining if digits have come from an independent, equidistributed sequence. In the case of an equidistributed sequence, we use an argument based on negative association to prove convergence under conditions weaker than those required in the general case.

For n independent, identically distributed uniform points in [0, 1]d , d ≥ 2, let L n be the total distance from the origin to all the minimal points under the coordinatewise partial order (this is also the total length of the rooted edges of a minimal directed spanning tree on the given random points). For d ≥ 3, we establish the asymptotics of the mean and the variance of L n , and show that L n satisfies a central limit theorem, unlike in the case d = 2.

In this paper, we study the extremal behavior of stationary mixed moving average processes of the formY(t)=∫ℝ+×ℝ f(r,t-s) dΛ(r,s), t∈ℝ, where f is a deterministic function and Λ is an infinitely divisible, independently scattered random measure whose underlying driving Lévy process is regularly varying. We give sufficient conditions for the stationarity of Y and compute the tail behavior of certain functionals of Y. The extremal behavior is modeled by marked point processes on a discrete-time skeleton chosen properly by the jump times of the underlying driving Lévy process and the extremes of the kernel function. The sequences of marked point processes converge weakly to a cluster Poisson random measure and reflect extremes of Y at a high level. We also show convergence of the partial maxima to the Fréchet distribution. Our models and results cover short- and long-range dependence regimes.

We formulate a localization property of wavelet coefficients for processes with stationary increments, in the estimation problem associated with the processes. A general setting for the estimation is adopted and examples that fit this setting are given. An evaluation of wavelet coefficient decay with respect to shift k∈ℕ is explicitly derived (only the asymptotic behavior, for large k, was previously known). It is this evaluation that makes it possible to establish the localization property of the wavelet coefficients. In doing so, it turns out that the theory of positive-definite functions plays an important role. As applications, we show that, in the wavelet coefficient domain, estimators that use a simple moment method are nearly as good as maximum likelihood estimators. Moreover, even though the underlying process is long-range dependent and process domain estimates imply the validity of a noncentral limit theorem, for the wavelet coefficient domain estimates we always obtain a central limit theorem with a small prescribed error.

We consider a stochastic model for the spread of a susceptible–infective–removed (SIR) epidemic among a closed, finite population, in which there are two types of severity of infectious individuals, namely mild and severe. The type of severity depends on the amount of infectious exposure an individual receives, in that infectives are always initially mild but may become severe if additionally exposed. Large-population properties of the model are derived. In particular, a coupling argument is used to provide a rigorous branching process approximation to the early stages of an epidemic, and an embedding argument is used to derive a strong law and an associated central limit theorem for the final outcome of an epidemic in the event of a major outbreak. The basic reproduction number, which determines whether or not a major outbreak can occur given few initial infectives, depends only on parameters of the mild infectious state, whereas the final outcome in the event of a major outbreak depends also on parameters of the severe state. Moreover, the limiting final size proportions need not even be continuous in the model parameters.

We derive a large deviation principle for a Brownian immigration branching particle system, where the immigration is governed by a Poisson random measure with a Lebesgue intensity measure.

Let denote the class of local subexponential distributions and F ∗ν the ν-fold convolution of distribution F, where ν belongs to one of the following three cases: ν is a random variable taking only a finite number of values, in particular ν ≡ n for some n ≥ 2; ν is a Poisson random variable; or ν is a geometric random variable. Along the lines of Embrechts, Goldie, and Veraverbeke (1979), the following assertion is proved under certain conditions: This result is applied to the infinitely divisible laws and some new results are established. The results obtained extend the corresponding findings of Asmussen, Foss, and Korshunov (2003).

Given an ℝd -valued supercritical branching Wiener process, let ψ(A, T) be the number of particles in A ⊂ ℝd at time T (T = 0, 1, 2, …). We provide a complete asymptotic expansion of ψ(A, T) as T → ∞, generalizing the work of X. Chen.

In this paper, we propose a new urn model. A single urn contains b black balls and w white balls. For each observation, we randomly draw m balls and note their colors, say k black balls and m − k white balls. We return the drawn balls to the urn with an additional ck black balls and c(m − k) white balls. We repeat this procedure n times and denote by X n the fraction of black balls after the nth draw. To investigate the asymptotic properties of X n , we first perform some computational studies. We then show that {X n } forms a martingale, which converges almost surely to a random variable X. The distribution of X is then shown to be absolutely continuous.

Consider two sequences of bounded random variables, a value and a timing process, that satisfy the large deviation principle (LDP) with rate function J(⋅,⋅) and whose cumulative process satisfies the LDP with rate function I(⋅). Under mixing conditions, an LDP for estimates of I constructed by transforming an estimate of J is proved. For the case of a cumulative renewal process it is demonstrated that this approach is favourable to a more direct method, as it ensures that the laws of the estimates converge weakly to a Dirac measure at I.

Let X 1, X 2,… be real-valued random variables. For u>0, define the time of ruin T = T(u) by T = inf{n: X 1+⋯+X n >u} or T=∞ if X 1+⋯+X n ≤u for every n = 1,2,…. We are interested in the ruin probabilities of general processes {X n } for large u. In the presence of heavy tails, one often finds power estimates. Our objective is to specify the associated powers and provide the crude estimate P(T≤xu)≈u −R(x) for large u, for a given x∈ℝ. The rate R(x) will be described by means of tails of partial sums and maxima of {X n }. We also extend our results to the case of the infinite time horizon.

Consider a random walk S=(S n : n≥0) that is ‘perturbed’ by a stationary sequence (ξn : n≥0) to produce the process S=(S n +ξn : n≥0). In this paper, we are concerned with developing limit theorems and approximations for the distribution of M n =max{S k +ξk : 0≤k≤n} when the random walk has a drift close to 0. Such maxima are of interest in several modeling contexts, including operations management and insurance risk theory. The associated limits combine features of both conventional diffusion approximations for random walks and extreme-value limit theory.