Levy Processes, Stable Processes, and Subordinators
LÉVY PROCESSES, STABLE PROCESSES, AND SUBORDINATORS STEVEN P.LALLEY 1. DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES d Definition 1.1. A continuous–time process X t = X (t ) t 0 with values in R (or, more generally, in an abelian topological group G{) is called} a≥Lévy process if (1) its sample paths are right-continuous and have left limits at every time point t , and (2) it has stationary, independent increments, that is: (a) For all 0 = t0 < t1 < < tk , the increments X (ti ) X (ti 1) are independent. (b) For all 0 s t the··· random variables X (t ) X (−s ) and−X (t s ) X (0) have the same distribution. − − − The default initial condition is X0 = 0. It can be shown that every process with sta- tionary, independent increments has a version with paths that are right-continuous with left limits, but this fact won’t be needed in this course. See BREIMAN, Probability, chs. 9, 14 for the proof. Definition 1.2. A subordinator is a real-valued Lévy process with nondecreasing sam- ple paths. A stable process is a real-valued Lévy process X t t 0 with initial value X0 = 0 that satisfies the self-similarity property { } ≥ 1/↵ (1.1) X t /t =D X1 t > 0. 8 The parameter ↵ is called the exponent of the process. Example 1.1. The fundamental Lévy processes are the Wiener process and the Poisson process. The Poisson process is a subordinator, but is not stable; the Wiener process is stable, with exponent ↵ = 2. Any linear combination of independent Lévy processes is again a Lévy process, so, for instance, if the Wiener process Wt and the Poisson process Nt are independent then Wt Nt is a Lévy process.
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