The Lp norm of the forcing at the critical exponent is constant:
To prove weak convergence in , the duality of Lp spaces says that we must test against an arbitrary . Holder inequality, restricted to the shrinking measurable set , gives
The last step is absolute continuity of the Lebesgue integral, since and is integrable. Thus
Testing only bounded or smooth functions would not by itself establish this weak convergence; the restricted Holder inequality handles every member of the full dual space.
By part i, almost everywhere, while and is Lebesgue integrable. The dominated convergence theorem gives
To deduce absolute continuity of the Lebesgue integral, suppose the stated uniform conclusion failed for some . For each one could choose a measurable set with but . Applying the result just proved to this sequence contradicts the lower bound. Hence
for every measurable set .
The a.e. limit is nonnegative. For a fixed measurable set , Fatou's lemma gives . Apply the same lemma to and use convergence of the total integrals:
The lower and upper bounds prove .
For the asserted L1 convergence, choose an integer so large that , possible by Lebesgue integrability. The first result applied to this fixed tail set makes eventually. The additional local hypothesis makes eventually. Therefore
Thus .
In fact the extra local hypothesis is unnecessary here. Scheffé's lemma follows directly from almost everywhere and domination by :
This stronger argument uses precisely the already assumed nonnegativity, a.e. convergence, and convergence of total integrals.
Let , the essential supremum of . If , almost everywhere and every Lp norm is zero. Suppose . Since almost everywhere and ,
For any with , the measurable set has positive Lebesgue measure; otherwise would be an essential upper bound. Hence
For fixed , . Thus . Letting and combining with the upper bound proves
The positive-measure superlevel sets explain why the Lp norms converge to the supremum norm even when the essential maximum is never attained.
Equip with a sigma-algebra . A Poisson random measure with intensity measure of a point process is a random counting measure such that, for every measurable with ,
and the counts on every finite collection of pairwise disjoint measurable sets are independent. Thus . For a sigma-finite measure , sets of infinite intensity contain infinitely many points almost surely: exhaust such a set by increasing finite-intensity sets and use the Poisson count tails as their means tend to infinity. The count is a measurable random variable for every measurable , which is part of saying that is a random measure.
Under the usual point representation write , counting multiplicities. If is a non-atomic measure, this is a simple Poisson point process; if has atoms, several point occurrences can have the same location, and each occurrence is counted separately. In a topological setting, local finiteness requires that the intensity be finite on compact sets.
Sufficient existence conditions are that is a standard Borel space and is a sigma-finite measure. This gives existence of a Poisson random measure on a standard Borel space. If a simple locally finite configuration is desired, additionally take a non-atomic, locally finite intensity on a locally compact second-countable Hausdorff space. These conditions are sufficient, not claimed necessary. In particular sigma-finiteness suffices for a countable family of occurrences that can each be independently coloured.
Let and be the red and green counting measures. The marking assumption means that, conditional on , the colours of all point occurrences are independent, with the same red probability . For a measurable set of finite intensity , condition on its total count. To obtain red and green points the total must be , so direct multiplication gives the joint red and green Poisson count formula
Thus the two counts are independent Poisson variables with respective means and . This computation includes zero intensity with the usual convention for the probability of zero counts.
For disjoint finite-intensity sets , the original counts are independent. Conditional marking in different sets uses disjoint collections of independent colours. Repeating the preceding calculation therefore gives
This proves the disjoint-count definition for each coloured Poisson point process and independence of their two count vectors.
To obtain independence of the whole processes, take any finite list of red test sets and any finite list of green test sets, initially all of finite intensity. Refine their union into the disjoint cells given by their membership patterns. Every test-set count is the sum of the counts of its cells. The entire red cell vector is independent of the entire green cell vector by the product formula, hence so are the corresponding test-set count vectors. For arbitrary measurable test sets, intersect first with a finite-intensity exhaustion of and pass to the increasing count limits. The count cylinder events generate the two evaluation sigma-algebras, and independence extended from generating pi-systems gives independence of those sigma-algebras. Consequently
This is a direct count proof of the Poisson thinning theorem; no general marking or thinning result has been used to deduce it.
Represent the raindrops by a Poisson random measure on the space of location, impact time and volume. Physical volume is nonnegative, so take the intensity density to vanish for , or equivalently work on and extend it by zero to . Assume the radius function is measurable and nonnegative for elapsed times at least zero. Its stated monotonicity means patches grow rather than dry away.
A drop contributes to wetting at time precisely if its impact time is no later than and its current patch contains . Thus define the deterministic measurable set
The number of covering drops is . Its intensity measure of a point process is
Since the point is dry if and only if that count is zero, the Poisson count definition gives the void probability for growing Poisson rain patches
Here : when the intensity is infinite, exhaust the covering set by increasing finite-intensity sets; their decreasing zero-count events have probabilities tending to zero. This also covers storms with infinitely many drops that can reach the point. The formula is valid for spatially inhomogeneous intensity. Only if the intensity is spatially constant may the spatial integral be replaced by times that intensity. Whether the circular boundary is included makes no difference for a density with respect to Lebesgue measure, since each such boundary has zero spatial area. This construction is a time-dependent Poisson germ-grain model.
For total rainfall, the required general result is the Campbell first-moment formula: if is a Poisson random measure with intensity and is any nonnegative measurable function, then
with infinite values permitted. For a signed , it holds with finite absolute expectation whenever . No square-integrability hypothesis is required for this first-moment identity. The result is stated rather than proved, as allowed here.
The total rainfall volume is , counting every drop once, independently of overlaps between its patch and other patches. Apply the stated formula with on the physical mark space. Extending by zero to negative volume gives
If the displayed nonnegative integral is finite, the total volume is integrable and finite almost surely. If it is infinite, its expectation is infinite; this alone does not imply that the random total is infinite almost surely. The radius affects wet-area coverage but does not change this total-volume expectation.
A measure space consists of a set , a sigma-algebra of subsets, and a countably additive map with . A sigma-algebra contains and is closed under complements and countable unions. Countable additivity means for pairwise disjoint measurable sets. Such sets are called measurable; a real function is measurable when the inverse image of every Borel set belongs to .
The Radon-Nikodym theorem for positive measures says: if and are sigma-finite measures on the same measurable space, and is absolutely continuous with respect to , then there is a nonnegative measurable function , unique -almost everywhere, such that
Here sigma-finiteness means that the space is a countable union of measurable sets of finite measure; absolute continuity of measures, written , means that implies . The function is the Radon-Nikodym derivative. For a finite signed or complex measure of finite total variation norm of a measure, absolutely continuous with respect to a sigma-finite , the corresponding density belongs to . This follows by applying the positive theorem to the positive and negative parts of the real and imaginary parts of .
For every measure space and , is isometrically , where . We use the complex-linear pairing
With the convention , the same identification is conjugate-linear in . By Hölder's inequality, is a bounded linear functional with . If , set
interpreting the numerator as zero where . The identity gives and . Thus
It remains to represent an arbitrary , rather than merely produce functionals from .
We prove Lp duality on an arbitrary measure space without imposing sigma-finiteness on . Write . For every measurable set with , define a complex measure on by
It is countably additive: for disjoint , the partial sums of their indicator functions tend in to , because the measure of the omitted tail tends to zero. It is absolutely continuous with respect to , since indicator functions of null sets represent zero in .
Its total variation norm of a measure is finite. For any finite measurable partition , choose scalars of modulus with . Then
Taking the supremum over partitions gives the variation bound. Since is finite, the Radon-Nikodym theorem supplies with . By uniform approximation with simple functions,
for every bounded measurable supported in .
To improve from to , test with the bounded function
If , then
Thus when , and the same bound is trivial when it is zero. The monotone convergence theorem gives
If both have finite measure, the densities agree almost everywhere on : their integrals over every measurable subset of the intersection equal the same functional value. This is uniqueness in the Radon-Nikodym theorem.
We now perform support localization of an Lp functional. Set
Choose finite-measure sets whose displayed integrals tend to , and let , . If , take . Compatibility allows us to define a measurable function on by taking on the disjoint measurable sets , and put off . It agrees almost everywhere with on every . Moreover,
Indeed each integral is at most , and it is at least the integral over , which tends to .
For any finite-measure set , compatibility on the disjoint union gives
Letting forces almost everywhere. For an arbitrary finite-measure set , compatibility on and the preceding conclusion on show that almost everywhere on . Consequently for every simple function supported on a finite-measure set.
Those simple functions are dense in even for this arbitrary measure space. To see the needed finite-support property, for the sets have finite measure, bounded by . First truncate to such sets and to bounded values, then approximate by simple functions; the discarded integral tends to zero. Continuity of and Hölder's inequality therefore extend the representation to every .
We have constructed with , and the previously proved norm identity gives . It also proves uniqueness: if , then . This completes the isometric duality of Lp spaces.
The dominated sequence actually converges to zero in norm, and hence weakly. The assumptions give and almost everywhere. The dominated convergence theorem yields
For every , . Therefore
Write . The two multivariate normal distribution probability density functions have ratio
Here is the Euclidean norm. Consequently the smallest rejection sampling envelope constant, and its acceptance probability, are
The supremum is attained at ; hence no smaller constant can dominate the ratio. Draw and an independent from the uniform distribution on . Accept when
otherwise repeat with fresh independent random variables. One can generate using a random vector with independent standard normal distribution coordinates.
For any measurable set , the joint acceptance probability is . Dividing by proves that the returned random vector has probability density function . The number of proposals has a geometric distribution on the positive integers, with expected value . When , every proposal is accepted.
Integrating the envelope shows . One trial of rejection sampling draws and an independent from the uniform distribution on , and accepts if . Repeat with fresh independent random variables after each rejection. Ratios need only be evaluated where ; the envelope makes the target zero wherever .
For any measurable set , integration of the conditional probability of acceptance gives
Taking the whole domain gives acceptance probability , and dividing gives . Fresh trials therefore supply independent and identically distributed random variables with target probability density function . The corresponding Monte Carlo estimator is
The proposal count up to and including one acceptance has the geometric distribution
For example, the tail-sum formula gives . Thus the expected cost is proposal draws per accepted target draw.
For a measurable set , (i) gives the joint acceptance probability
Divide by from (ii). The resulting conditional probability is
Thus every accepted value has target probability density function . Repeating rejected trials with fresh independent random variables does not change this law: the contribution from acceptance on trial is multiplied by , and summing that geometric series gives the same conditional law. Independent repetitions produce independent target draws.
Point atom of a measure 2026-10-25
A point atom is a point whose singleton is a measurable set with strictly positive measure. That singleton is an atom of a measure. This is more specific than a general atom of a measure, which is defined as a positive-measure set that cannot be divided into two measurable sets of positive measure.
For a probability measure on the Borel sigma-algebra of , a point atom at appears as a jump of its cumulative distribution function:
Continuity of probability applied to intervals approaching proves this identity. Keeping such jumps is essential when deciding whether an endpoint belongs to an integration region.
Preimage 2026-10-14
For a function and a subset , its preimage is
It is a subset of the original domain of a function. The notation does not require an inverse function: the preimage of a singleton set can have no members, one member, or many members. In the finite example, , and . The preimage of a singleton set is also its fiber of a function.
For subsets , preimages preserve both unions and intersections:
For the intersection, the same input belongs precisely when its single output belongs to both and . There is no opportunity to choose different witnesses, which is what made the image counterexample fail. The identities also hold for arbitrary families of output subsets.
In the finite example, choose and . Then
The intersection of the two preimages is exactly the same set . Complements are preserved with respect to the appropriate source and target sets:
For example, the unused output three contributes no extra input: with , both sides of the complement identity are . See Lebl, Proposition 0.3.15: preimages of unions, intersections and complements.
This makes preimages useful for transporting conditions. The solution set of is , and a zero set is a preimage of zero. Requiring two output conditions takes the intersection of their preimages. In topology, a continuous function pulls every open set back to an open set; a measurable function pulls the specified measurable sets in its codomain back to measurable sets in its domain of a function. These definitions use preimages because their set operations remain consistent even when the function is noninjective.
Probability distribution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-18
A probability distribution describes how the values of a random variable are allocated among possible outcomes. More precisely, the law of a random variable assigns each measurable set the probability
It is a probability measure on the values of . The underlying experiment can be more elaborate than the output: different experiments may produce the same probability distribution. The law of a random variable retains the probabilities needed to answer questions about that output. [ref].
For a finite example, let take values with probability mass function , , . Its probabilities sum to one. The event has probability , whereas has probability : including one endpoint matters when it carries positive probability.
For a contrasting random variable , choose the probability density function on , and zero elsewhere. It integrates to one. Now , while every single outcome has probability zero. The probability density function can have height : probabilities come from integrals over outcome ranges.
Figure 1. . Left: takes values with probability masses , so its cumulative distribution function jumps at those values; open and filled markers show the excluded and included heights at a jump. Right: has probability density function on the interval and cumulative distribution function there. The shaded integral over and the corresponding cumulative distribution function increase both equal . Details.
The cumulative distribution function answers all threshold questions for a real random variable, regardless of whether there are jumps or a probability density function. A quantile function reverses the direction of the question: given a cumulative probability level, find a threshold. This connects descriptive summaries to inverse transform sampling, which constructs a chosen probability distribution from a uniform distribution.
Total variation distance Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-13
Total variation distance asks how much two probability distributions can disagree about the same event. For probability measures on one measurable space , its definition is
The supremum ranges over all measurable sets, so guarantees that every yes-or-no prediction has probability error at most . This metric takes values between zero and one; it is zero exactly when the two probability measures agree. This makes it useful for comparing a sampling algorithm's output with its target probability distribution, and for defining the mixing time of a Markov chain.
On a finite set, add the excess probability mass wherever exceeds . That excess is also half the sum of all absolute differences:
The last expression reveals the common probability mass that the two probability distributions can share.[ref] The coupling characterization of total variation distance turns this overlap into an actual joint construction; minimum sum of errors in a simple hypothesis test gives it a statistical interpretation. One quantity connects probability bookkeeping, comparison of sampling methods, and the limits of a statistical test.