For a nonzero Fourier mode satisfying with , the explicit Ornstein-Uhlenbeck solution and Itô isometry give the stationary second moment . The prefactor depends on the normalization of the mode noise, while the inverse-square dependence follows from diffusive relaxation.
Let be independent random variables, each with the Bernoulli distribution of parameter , and let . Multiplying their characteristic functions and expanding by the binomial theorem gives
The coefficients are exactly the probability mass function of the binomial distribution with parameters : the sum takes with probabilities . Direct outcome counting verifies them: an outcome with ones has probability , and there are such outcomes. The coefficients sum to one, recovering .
At , . This is also : the complex exponential now records parity. The moments agree by two routes: linearity of expectation gives , while the variance of a sum of independent random variables gives . Summing gives the second moment , also recovered as .
Figure 1.
Independent products and the different limits of averages and variance-normalized sign sums
. Top: exact real parts and imaginary parts of and its cube, the characteristic function of the three-variable binomial distribution. Bottom: for independent symmetric signs, approaches one under averaging, whereas approaches under variance normalization. All curves are exact model formulas; the finite curves illustrate the two limits rather than proving a general central limit theorem. Details.
Total variance stationary condition for excess of loss Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
For positive claim sizes with finite second moment in a compound Poisson distribution aggregate of parameter , the two excess of loss reinsurance payouts are and . The derivative of their total aggregate variance is . Thus the displayed condition characterizes stationarity. When the tail probability is positive it says that the retention equals the mean residual life. Global minimality requires an additional sign or comparison argument.
For a nonnegative random variable with finite mean and , the part of the expectation on is at most . Subtracting gives . If the second moment is positive and finite, applying the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality to and the indicator variable gives the Paley-Zygmund inequality .
Uncorrelated random variables Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For an explicit counterexample, let take , , with equal probabilities, and let . Then , so . Nevertheless, is completely determined by : , while . Thus these are uncorrelated random variables with statistical dependence. In this example, opposite contributions from the odd function cancel; the even function still retains information about . The last panel of the covariance diagram shows the relationship.
There are useful special cases. Uncorrelated jointly normal variables are independent, and the Bernoulli independence from zero covariance result supplies another setting where the converse holds. Their distribution assumptions do the extra work; zero covariance alone does not.
Velocity ellipsoid 2026-10-06
The velocity ellipsoid represents the positive velocity covariance tensor by its orthogonal principal axes and eigenvalue square roots. The uncentered second-moment tensor differs from covariance when a population streams. Vanishing mixed second moments align the second-moment ellipsoid with the chosen frame; for pure azimuthal streaming in a phase-mixed axisymmetric model, the off-diagonal covariance also vanishes.
A regular phase-mixed distribution in an axisymmetric Stäckel potential is even separately in and , because these integrals depend on those components only through squares. Odd integration then gives all three mixed second moments zero, even if the dependence produces azimuthal streaming. Bare stationarity alone is insufficient in degenerate resonant potentials with additional integrals. For example the isotropic harmonic Hamiltonian has the extra conserved ; a positive Gaussian with is a steady tracer and has nonzero . Its harmonic gravitational potential is a Stäckel potential in these spheroidal coordinates. This tracer need not itself source that harmonic gravitational potential. The alignment claim thus needs the phase-mixed three-integral hypothesis, not merely the weak form of Jeans theorem.
Weakly stationary process Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-14
A real stochastic process is a weakly stationary process if it has finite second moments, a constant expected value , and an autocovariance depending only on the lag of a time series:
In particular its variance is the same at every time, . This is often called second-order stationarity. It makes observations from different parts of a record comparable through the same autocorrelation function. Bartlett uses this second-order meaning of stationarity in Introduction to Time Series Analysis, lecture 2: mean, covariance, and stationarity.
For a worked contrast, let be centered white noise of variance . The process has mean , variance , and zero autocovariance at nonzero lags, so it is weakly stationary. The process has exactly the same covariance structure, but its mean is , so it is not weakly stationary. Constant variance alone is insufficient.
Weak stationarity need not imply strict stationarity. For example, choose independent random variables at all integer times, using a standard normal distribution at even times and a Rademacher distribution at odd times. Every coordinate has zero mean and unit variance, and distinct coordinates have zero covariance. Nevertheless a shift by one changes the marginal probability distribution from continuous to two-point. This also illustrates why weak white noise need not be identically distributed.