Limit theorems for continuous-state branching processes with immigration

TL;DR

This paper extends classical limit theorems for continuous-state branching processes with immigration, analyzing different asymptotic regimes and providing new convergence results under various conditions.

Contribution

It introduces new asymptotic regimes for CBI processes, correcting previous results and providing detailed law convergence in non-critical cases.

Findings

Supercritical CBIs have a finite random limit after a specific renormalization.

Immigration dominates when the integral diverges, preventing linear renormalization.

Three weak convergence regimes are identified and a correction to Pinsky's earlier work is made.

Abstract

We prove and extend some results stated by Mark Pinsky: Limit theorems for continuous state branching processes with immigration [Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 78(1972), 242--244]. Consider a continuous-state branching process with immigration $(Y_t,t\geq 0)$ with branching mechanism $\Psi$ and immigration mechanism $\Phi$ (CBI$(\Psi,\Phi)$ for short). We shed some light on two different asymptotic regimes occurring when $\int_{0}\frac{\Phi(u)}{|\Psi(u)|}du<\infty$ or $\int_{0}\frac{\Phi(u)}{|\Psi(u)|}du=\infty$. We first observe that when $\int_{0}\frac{\Phi(u)}{|\Psi(u)|}du<\infty$, supercritical CBIs have a growth rate dictated by the branching dynamics, namely there is a renormalization $\tau(t)$, only depending on $\Psi$, such that $(\tau(t)Y_t,t\geq 0)$ converges almost-surely to a finite random variable. When $\int_{0}\frac{\Phi(u)}{|\Psi(u)|}du=\infty$, it is shown that the immigration overwhelms the branching dynamics and that no linear renormalization of the process can exist. Asymptotics in the second regime are studied in details for all non-critical CBI processes via a nonlinear time-dependent renormalization in law. Three regimes of weak convergence are then exhibited, where a misprint in Pinsky's paper is corrected. CBI processes with critical branching mechanisms subject to a regular variation assumption are also studied.