We say that a string of length $d$ occurs, in a Bernoulli sequence, if a success is followed by exactly $(d-1)$ failures before the next success. The counts of such $d$-strings are of interest, and in specific independent Bernoulli sequences are known to correspond to asymptotic $d$-cycle counts in random permutations.
In this note, we give a new framework, in terms of conditional Poisson processes, which allows for a quick characterization of the joint distribution of the counts of all $d$-strings, in a general class of Bernoulli sequences, as certain mixtures of the product of Poisson measures. This general class includes all Bernoulli sequences considered before, as well many new sequences.
We give a direct rigorous proof of the Kearns--Saul inequality which bounds the Laplace transform of a generalised Bernoulli random variable. We extend the arguments to generalised Poisson-binomial distributions and characterise the set of parameters such that an analogous inequality holds for the sum of two generalised Bernoulli random variables.
This article derives quantitative limit theorems for multivariate Poisson and Poisson process approximations. Employing the solution of Stein's equation for Poisson random variables, we obtain an explicit bound for the multivariate Poisson approximation of random vectors in the Wasserstein distance. The bound is then utilized in the context of point processes to provide a Poisson process approximation result in terms of a new metric called $d_π$, stronger than the total variation distance, defined as the supremum over all Wasserstein distances between random vectors obtained by evaluating the …
Consider the random quadratic form $T_n=\sum_{1 \leq u < v \leq n} a_{uv} X_u X_v$, where $((a_{uv}))_{1 \leq u, v \leq n}$ is a $\{0, 1\}$-valued symmetric matrix with zeros on the diagonal, and $X_1,$ $X_2, \ldots, X_n$ are i.i.d. $\mathrm{Ber}(p_n)$. In this paper, we prove various characterization theorems about the limiting distribution of $T_n$, in the sparse regime, where $0 < p_n \ll 1$ such that $\mathbb E(T_n)=O(1).$ The main result is a decomposition theorem showing that distributional limits of $T_n$ is the sum of three components: a mixture which consists of a quadratic function o…
Feller (1945) provided a coupling between the counts of cycles of various sizes in a uniform random permutation of $[n]$ and the spacings between successes in a sequence of $n$ independent Bernoulli trials with success probability $1/n$ at the $n$th trial. Arratia, Barbour and Tavaré (1992) extended Feller's coupling, to associate cycles of random permutations governed by the Ewens $(θ)$ distribution with spacings derived from independent Bernoulli trials with success probability $θ/(n-1+θ)$ at the $n$th trial, and to conclude that in an infinite sequence of such trials, the numbers of spacing…
We explore asymptotically optimal bounds for deviations of Bernoulli convolutions from the Poisson limit in terms of the Shannon relative entropy and the Pearson $χ^2$-distance. The results are based on proper non-uniform estimates for densities. They deal with models of non-homogeneous, non-degenerate Bernoulli distributions.
We explore asymptotically optimal bounds for deviations of distributions of independent Bernoulli random variables from the Poisson limit in terms of the Shannon relative entropy and Rényi/Tsallis relative distances (including Pearson's $χ^2$). This part generalizes the results obtained in Part I and removes any constraints on the parameters of the Bernoulli distributions.
We prove the Bernoulli property for determinantal point processes on $ \mathbb{R}^d $ with translation-invariant kernels. For the determinantal point processes on $ \mathbb{Z}^d $ with translation-invariant kernels, the Bernoulli property was proved by Lyons and Steif and Shirai and Takahashi. As its continuum version, we prove an isomorphism between the translation-invariant determinantal point processes on $ \mathbb{R}^d $ with translation-invariant kernels and homogeneous Poisson point processes. For this purpose, we also prove the Bernoulli property for the tree representations of the dete…
We investigate approximation of a Bernoulli partial sum process to the accompanying Poisson process in the non-i.i.d. case. The rate of closeness is studied in terms of the minimal distance in probability.
A novel multinomial theorem for commutative idempotents is shown to lead to new results about the moments, central moments, factorial moments, and their generating functions for any random variable $X = \sum_{i} Y_i $ expressible as a sum of Bernoulli indicator random variables $Y_i$. The resulting expressions are functions of the expectation of products of the Bernoulli indicator random variables. These results are used to derive novel expressions for the various moments in a large number of familiar examples and classic problems including: the binomial, hypergeometric, Poisson limit of the b…
In this article, we provide an extension of the Chen-Stein inequality for Poisson approximation in the total variation distance for sums of independent Bernoulli random variables in two ways. We prove that we can improve the rate of convergence (hence the quality of the approximation) by using explicitly constructed signed or positive probability measures, and that we can extend the setting to possibly dependent random variables. The framework which allows this is that of mod-Poisson convergence, and more precisely those mod-Poisson convergent sequences whose residue functions can be expressed…
This article employs the relation between probabilities of two consecutive values of a Poisson random variable to derive conditions for the weak convergence of point processes to a Poisson process. As applications, we consider the starting points of k-runs in a sequence of Bernoulli random variables and point processes constructed using inradii and circumscribed radii of inhomogeneous Poisson-Voronoi tessellations.
In this paper we consider a scalar transport equation with constant coefficients on domains with discrete space and continuous, discrete or general time. We show that on all these underlying domains solutions of the transport equation can conserve sign and integrals both in time and space. Detailed analysis reveals that, under some initial conditions, the solutions correspond to counting stochastic processes and related probability distributions. Consequently, the transport equation could generate various modifications of these processes and distributions and provide some insights into corresp…
A stochastic ordering approach is applied with Stein's method for approximation by the equilibrium distribution of a birth-death process. The usual stochastic order and the more general s-convex orders are discussed. Attention is focused on Poisson and translated Poisson approximation of a sum of dependent Bernoulli random variables, for example k-runs in i.i.d. Bernoulli trials. Other applications include approximation by polynomial birth--death distributions.
For a general renewal process $N$ (allowing delay, defect and multiple simultaneous arrivals) the independence of the first renewal epochs of the marked processes got from $N$ by Bernoulli $0$/$1$ thinning is characterized. This independence is well-known to hold true in the case of homogeneous Poisson processes; by way of corollary one obtains the interesting observation that, when coupled with some minimal extra conditions, it in fact already identifies them. The proof is analytic in character.
Recently the so-called Prabhakar generalization of the fractional Poisson counting process attracted much interest for his flexibility to adapt real world situations. In this renewal process the waiting times between events are IID continuous random variables. In the present paper we analyze discrete-time counterparts: Renewal processes with integer IID interarrival times which converge in well-scaled continuous-time limits to the Prabhakar-generalized fractional Poisson process. These processes exhibit non-Markovian features and long-time memory effects. We recover for special choices of para…
This paper considers the entropy of the sum of (possibly dependent and non-identically distributed) Bernoulli random variables. Upper bounds on the error that follows from an approximation of this entropy by the entropy of a Poisson random variable with the same mean are derived. The derivation of these bounds combines elements of information theory with the Chen-Stein method for Poisson approximation. The resulting bounds are easy to compute, and their applicability is exemplified. This conference paper presents in part the first half of the paper entitled "An information-theoretic perspectiv…
This is a study of percolation in the hyperbolic plane and on regular tilings in the hyperbolic plane. The processes discussed include Bernoulli site and bond percolation on planar hyperbolic graphs, invariant dependent percolations on such graphs, and Poisson-Voronoi-Bernoulli percolation. We prove the existence of three distinct nonempty phases for the Bernoulli processes. In the first phase, $p\in(0, p_c]$, there are no unbounded clusters, but there is a unique infinite cluster for the dual process. In the second phase, $p\in(p_c,p_u)$, there are infinitely many unbounded clusters for the p…
We generalize the standard site percolation model on the $d$-dimensional lattice to a model on random tessellations of $\mathbb R^d$. We prove the uniqueness of the infinite cluster by adapting the Burton-Keane argument \cite{burton1989density}, develop two frameworks that imply the non-triviality of the phase transition and show that large classes of random tessellations fit into one of these frameworks. Our focus is on a very general approach that goes well beyond the typical Poisson driven models. The most interesting examples might be Voronoi tessellations induced by determinantal processe…
We show that a stationary IDp process (i.e., an infinitely divisible stationary process without Gaussian part) can be written as the independent sum of four stationary IDp processes, each of them belonging to a different class characterized by its Lévy measure. The ergodic properties of each class are, respectively, nonergodicity, weak mixing, mixing of all order and Bernoullicity. To obtain these results, we use the representation of an IDp process as an integral with respect to a Poisson measure, which, more generally, has led us to study basic ergodic properties of these objects.
Concentration inequalities for subgraph counts in random geometric graphs built over Poisson point processes are proved. The estimates give upper bounds for the probabilities $\mathbb{P}(N\geq M +r)$ and $\mathbb{P}(N\leq M - r)$ where $M$ is either a median or the expectation of a subgraph count $N$. The bounds for the lower tail have a fast Gaussian decay and the bounds for the upper tail satisfy an optimality condition. A special feature of the presented inequalities is that the underlying Poisson process does not need to have finite intensity measure. The tail estimates for subgraph counts…
Poisson-like behavior for event count data is ubiquitous in nature. At the same time, differencing of such counts arises in the course of data processing in a variety of areas of application. As a result, the Skellam distribution -- defined as the distribution of the difference of two independent Poisson random variables -- is a natural candidate for approximating the difference of Poisson-like event counts. However, in many contexts strict independence, whether between counts or among events within counts, is not a tenable assumption. Here we characterize the accuracy in approximating the dif…
The Euclidean first-passage percolation model of Howard and Newman is a rotationally invariant percolation model built on a Poisson point process. It is known that the passage time between 0 and $ne_1$ obeys a diffusive upper bound: $\mbox{Var}\, T(0,ne_1) \leq Cn$, and in this paper we improve this inequality to $Cn/\log n$. The methods follow the strategy used for sublinear variance proofs on the lattice, using the Falik-Samorodnitsky inequality and a Bernoulli encoding, but with substantial technical difficulties. To deal with the different setup of the Euclidean model, we represent the pas…
We prove upper bounds on the one-arm exponent $η_1$ for a class of dependent percolation models which generalise Bernoulli percolation; while our main interest is level set percolation of Gaussian fields, the arguments apply to other models in the Bernoulli percolation universality class, including Poisson-Voronoi and Poisson-Boolean percolation. More precisely, in dimension $d=2$ we prove that $η_1 \le 1/3$ for continuous Gaussian fields with rapid correlation decay (e.g. the Bargmann-Fock field), and in $d \ge 3$ we prove $η_1 \le d/3$ for finite-range fields, both discrete and continuous, a…
Changing time of simple continuous-time Markov counting processes by independent unit-rate Poisson processes results in Markov counting processes for which we provide closed-form transition rates via composition of trajectories and with which we construct novel, simpler infinitesimally over-dispersed processes.
We consider the Minimum Description Length principle for online sequence prediction. If the underlying model class is discrete, then the total expected square loss is a particularly interesting performance measure: (a) this quantity is bounded, implying convergence with probability one, and (b) it additionally specifies a `rate of convergence'. Generally, for MDL only exponential loss bounds hold, as opposed to the linear bounds for a Bayes mixture. We show that this is even the case if the model class contains only Bernoulli distributions. We derive a new upper bound on the prediction error f…
The Minimum Description Length principle for online sequence estimation/prediction in a proper learning setup is studied. If the underlying model class is discrete, then the total expected square loss is a particularly interesting performance measure: (a) this quantity is finitely bounded, implying convergence with probability one, and (b) it additionally specifies the convergence speed. For MDL, in general one can only have loss bounds which are finite but exponentially larger than those for Bayes mixtures. We show that this is even the case if the model class contains only Bernoulli distribu…
We study linear statistics of a class of determinantal processes which interpolate between Poisson and GUE/Ginibre statistics in dimension 1 or 2. These processes are obtained by performing an independent Bernoulli percolation on the particle configuration of of a log-gas confined in a general potential. We show that, depending on the expected number of deleted particles, there is a universal transition for mesoscopic statistics. Namely, at small scales, the point process still behaves according to random matrix theory, while, at large scales, it needs to be renormalized because the variance o…
