Moderate deviation principle ($\frac{S_n-n\mu }{\sqrt{n}{b}_n},b_n\to \infty ,b_n/\sqrt{n}\to 0$)

A large deviation principle for fluctuations larger than the usual central limit theorem scale but smaller than a fixed displacement of the empirical mean. For the displayed sum scaling, the natural large-deviation speed is $b_n^2$. Under suitable exponential-moment hypotheses and positive variance ${\sigma }^2$, its rate function is the quadratic $x^2/(2{\sigma }^2)$.

For a Poisson random variable $S_L$ of mean $L\lambda >0$ and $0<\beta <1$, the scaled cumulant-generating function is $\lambda L^{1-\beta }(e^{\theta L^{(\beta -1)/2}}-1-\theta L^{(\beta -1)/2})$. Its Taylor expansion tends to $\lambda {\theta }^2/2$ for every real $\theta$. The Gärtner–Ellis theorem applies because the limit is finite and differentiable everywhere. Its Legendre-Fenchel transform is the displayed quadratic good rate function.