Our main result is the proof of the existence of random stationary tessellations in d-dimensional Euclidean space with the following stability property: their distribution is invariant with respect to the operation of iteration (or nesting) of tessellations with an appropriate rescaling. This operation means that the cells of a given tessellation are individually and independently subdivided by independent, identically distributed tessellations, resulting in a new tessellation. It is also shown that, for any stationary tessellation, the sequence that is generated by repeated rescaled iteration converges weakly to such a stable tessellation; thus, the class of all stable stationary tessellations is fully characterized.

We construct random dynamics for collections of nonintersecting planar contours, leaving invariant the distributions of length- and area-interacting polygonal Markov fields with V-shaped nodes. The first of these dynamics is based on the dynamic construction of consistent polygonal fields, as presented in the original articles by Arak (1983) and Arak and Surgailis (1989), (1991), and it provides an easy-to-implement Metropolis-type simulation algorithm. The second dynamics leads to a graphical construction in the spirit of Fernández et al. (1998), (2002) and yields a perfect simulation scheme in a finite window in the infinite-volume limit. This algorithm seems difficult to implement, yet its value lies in that it allows for theoretical analysis of the thermodynamic limit behaviour of length-interacting polygonal fields. The results thus obtained include, in the class of infinite-volume Gibbs measures without infinite contours, the uniqueness and exponential α-mixing of the thermodynamic limit of such fields in the low-temperature region. Outside this class, we conjecture the existence of an infinite number of extreme phases breaking both the translational and rotational symmetries.

We describe a class of self-similar random measure that generalizes the class of stable, completely random measure, or, in one dimension, the class of processes with stable independent increments. As with the stable processes, the realizations are purely atomic, but the masses of the atoms are not necessarily independent, but rather characterized by self-similar dependence relations. Indeed, the class can be described most effectively in terms of the point process on the product space for the locations and sizes (‘marksȉ) of the atoms. Then self-similarity reduces to an invariance relation (‘biscale invariance’) on the distribution of this marked point process. The condition can be satisfied when the marked point process is compound Poisson, corresponding to the nonnegative stable processes, but is by no means restricted to this case. An example is given which modifies and extends Ogata's epidemic-type aftershock sequence model for earthquake occurrence.

We consider the problem of dynamic admission control in a Markovian loss system with two classes. Jobs arrive at the system in batches; each admitted job requires different service rates and brings different revenues depending on its class. We introduce the definition of a ‘preferred class’ for systems receiving mixed and single-class batches separately, and derive sufficient conditions for each system to have a preferred class. We also establish a monotonicity property of the optimal value functions, which reduces the number of possibly optimal actions.

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 risk processes that locally behave like Brownian motion with some drift and variance, these both depending on an underlying Markov chain that is also used to generate the claims arrival process. Thus, claims arrive according to a renewal process with waiting times of phase type. Positive claims (downward jumps) are always possible but negative claims (upward jumps) are also allowed. The claims are assumed to form an independent, identically distributed sequence, independent of everything else. As main results, the joint Laplace transform of the time to ruin and the undershoot at ruin, as well as the probability of ruin, are explicitly determined under the assumption that the Laplace transform of the positive claims is a rational function. Both the joint Laplace transform and the ruin probability are decomposed according to the type of ruin: ruin by jump or ruin by continuity. The methods used involve finding certain martingales by first finding partial eigenfunctions for the generator of the Markov process composed of the risk process and the underlying Markov chain. We also use certain results from complex function theory as important tools.

In this paper, we study the extremal behavior of stationary mixed moving average processes of the form Y(t)=∫ℝ+×ℝf(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.

Let (Xt)t≥0 be a continuous-time irreducible Markov chain on a finite state space E, let v be a map v: E→ℝ\{0}, and let (φt)t≥0 be an additive functional defined by φt=∫0tv(Xs)d s. We consider the case in which the process (φt)t≥0 is oscillating and that in which (φt)t≥0 has a negative drift. In each of these cases, we condition the process (Xt,φt)t≥0 on the event that (φt)t≥0 is nonnegative until time T and prove weak convergence of the conditioned process as T→∞.

Let (Xt)t≥0 be a continuous-time irreducible Markov chain on a finite state space E, let v: E→ℝ\{0}, and let (φt)t≥0 be defined by φt=∫0tv(Xs)d s. We consider the case in which the process (φt)t≥0 is oscillating and that in which (φt)t≥0 has a negative drift. In each of these cases, we condition the process (Xt,φt)t≥0 on the event that (φt)t≥0 hits level y before hitting 0 and prove weak convergence of the conditioned process as y→∞. In addition, we show the relationship between the conditioning of the process (φt)t≥0 with a negative drift to oscillate and the conditioning of it to stay nonnegative for a long time, and the relationship between the conditioning of (φt)t≥0 with a negative drift to drift to ∞ and the conditioning of it to hit large levels before hitting 0.

We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of bounded or summable solutions to systems of linear equations associated with Markov chains. This substantially extends a famous result of G. E. H. Reuter, which provides a convenient means of checking various uniqueness criteria for birth-death processes. Our result allows chains with much more general transition structures to be accommodated. One application is to give a new proof of an important result of M. F. Chen concerning upwardly skip-free processes. We then use our generalization of Reuter's lemma to prove new results for downwardly skip-free chains, such as the Markov branching process and several of its many generalizations. This permits us to establish uniqueness criteria for several models, including the general birth, death, and catastrophe process, extended branching processes, and asymptotic birth-death processes, the latter being neither upwardly skip-free nor downwardly skip-free.

In this paper, we consider the asymptotic behavior of stationary probability vectors of Markov chains of GI/G/1 type. The generating function of the stationary probability vector is explicitly expressed by the R-measure. This expression of the generating function is more convenient for the asymptotic analysis than those in the literature. The RG-factorization of both the repeating row and the Wiener-Hopf equations for the boundary row are used to provide necessary spectral properties. The stationary probability vector of a Markov chain of GI/G/1 type is shown to be light tailed if the blocks of the repeating row and the blocks of the boundary row are light tailed. We derive two classes of explicit expression for the asymptotic behavior, the geometric tail, and the semigeometric tail, based on the repeating row, the boundary row, or the minimal positive solution of a crucial equation involved in the generating function, and discuss the singularity classes of the stationary probability vector.

We study the following model for a phylogenetic tree on n extant species: the origin of the clade is a random time in the past whose (improper) distribution is uniform on (0,∞); thereafter, the process of extinctions and speciations is a continuous-time critical branching process of constant rate, conditioned on there being the prescribed number n of species at the present time. We study various mathematical properties of this model as n→∞: namely the time of origin and of the most recent common ancestor, the pattern of divergence times within lineage trees, the time series of the number of species, the total number of extinct species, the total number of species ancestral to the extant ones, and the ‘local’ structure of the tree itself. We emphasize several mathematical techniques: the association of walks with trees; a point process representation of lineage trees; and Brownian limits.

In this article, we review known results and present new ones concerning the power spectra of large classes of signals and random fields driven by an underlying point process, such as spatial shot noises (with random impulse response and arbitrary basic stationary point processes described by their Bartlett spectra) and signals or fields sampled at random times or points (where the sampling point process is again quite general). We also obtain the Bartlett spectrum for the general linear Hawkes spatial branching point process (with random fertility rate and general immigrant process described by its Bartlett spectrum). We then obtain the Bochner spectra of general spatial linear birth and death processes. Finally, we address the issues of random sampling and linear reconstruction of a signal from its random samples, reviewing and extending former results.