Let be independent random variables with normal distribution , , and let be an independent exponential random variable of rate . At speed , has the good rate functionThe product large-deviation principle gives the joint cost for , and the contraction principle for large deviations gives its infimal convolution under . The minimum occurs at . The fixed exponential perturbation changes the far upper tail even though it vanishes in probability after division by ; a fixed Gaussian random variable divided by instead has exponential equivalence with zero at speed .
For Poisson input and with , clipping occurs with logarithmic probability . At any smaller exponent , this is superexponentially small at speed . Dividing the input and output difference by therefore gives exponential equivalence. More directly, for every threshold , the events and are identical.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 26 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The bufferless queue output isPut . Since , we have for all sufficiently large . Consequently the two queue overflow events are exactly equal eventually:Apply the Poisson moderate deviation principle with exponent to obtainThere is also an exponential equivalence proof, which describes the whole output law at this smaller scale. For each ,The right side has strictly negative logarithmic exponent at speed . Dividing instead by multiplies that negative exponent by , giving . Thus the centered, scaled input and output are exponentially equivalent and have the same good rate function. This is the moderate deviations below a bufferless queue cap.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 79 1 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The sum still has a normal distribution, now withIts scaled cumulant-generating function isThe limit is the same everywhere-finite function as in part (b), so the Gärtner–Ellis theorem givesat large-deviation speed , when .
One can also see exactly why has no effect through exponential equivalence. For every , the Chernoff bound for the two Gaussian tail bounds gives, when and ,Its logarithm divided by tends to . If , this probability is eventually zero. The transfer result for exponential equivalence says that coupled families whose distance exceeds each fixed positive tolerance with superexponentially small probability share a large deviation principle with the same good rate function. Apply it to and . This also covers , with the point-mass rate function from part (b).
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 36 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the large-deviation speed from part (a). For every , the Chernoff bound for a normal distribution gives, for all sufficiently large ,Consequentlybecause the exponent has order , exceeding by a factor . Thus and satisfy exponential equivalence. This conclusion does not require independence between and , since their difference is exactly .
The exponential equivalence theorem transfers the large deviation principle and its good rate function, givingLarge positive excursions are cheapest through the single exponential random variable; a negative excursion would require the Gaussian random variable sum to move on its faster scale. If , the deterministic shift gives the same conclusion directly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 36 3 a Solution 2026-10-14
Put . For the Gaussian process , self-similarity of a stochastic process gives the identity in distributionApply the given small-noise large deviation principle with . The answer isNo Legendre-Fenchel transform needs to be recomputed: the scaled paths have exactly the small-noise law at this scale.
If the stated small-noise large deviation principle is indexed only by integer , use . This gives speed as well, since . The multiplying factor does not change the large deviation principle. To justify this last step, the error in the path norm is . For each fixed , good rate functions have bounded sublevel sets, so as . The closed-set upper bound then makes the probability of an error greater than any fixed superexponentially small. Thus exponential equivalence applies. This also justifies positive real, rather than only integer, rescalings used in part (c).