We prove Abelian and Tauberian theorems for regularized Cauchy transforms of positive Borel measures on the real line whose distribution functions grow at most polynomially at infinity. In particular, we relate the asymptotics of the distribution functions to the asymptotics of the regularized Cauchy transform.

In this paper we consider the asymptotics of logarithmic tails of a perpetuity R=D∑j=1∞Qj∏k=1j-1Mk, where (Mn,Qn)n=1∞ are independent and identically distributed copies of (M,Q), for the case when ℙ(M∈[0,1))=1 and Q has all exponential moments. If M and Q are independent, under regular variation assumptions, we find the precise asymptotics of -logℙ(R>x) as x→∞. Moreover, we deal with the case of dependent M and Q, and give asymptotic bounds for -logℙ(R>x). It turns out that the dependence structure between M and Q has a significant impact on the asymptotic rate of logarithmic tails of R. Such a phenomenon is not observed in the case of heavy-tailed perpetuities.

We obtain the long-time behaviour to the variance of the distribution process associated with the solution of the telegraph equation. To this end, we use a version of the Karamata-Feller Tauberian theorem.

PageRank with personalization is used in Web search as an importance measure for Web documents. The goal of this paper is to characterize the tail behavior of the PageRank distribution in the Web and other complex networks characterized by power laws. To this end, we model the PageRank as a solution of a stochastic equation where the Ris are distributed as R. This equation is inspired by the original definition of the PageRank. In particular, N models the number of incoming links to a page, and B stays for the user preference. Assuming that N or B are heavy tailed, we employ the theory of regular variation to obtain the asymptotic behavior of R under quite general assumptions on the involved random variables. Our theoretical predictions show good agreement with experimental data.

The mean time to extinction of a critical Galton-Watson process with initial population size k is shown to be asymptotically equivalent to two integral transforms: one involving the kth iterate of the probability generating function and one involving the generating function itself. Relating the growth of these transforms to the regular variation of their arguments, immediately connects statements involving the regular variation of the probability generating function, its iterates at 0, the quasistationary measures, their partial sums, and the limiting distribution of the time to extinction. In the critical case of finite variance we also give the growth of the mean time to extinction, conditioned on extinction occurring by time n.

We make a correction to an important result by Cline [D. B. H. Cline, ‘Convolutions of distributions with exponential tails’, J. Austral. Math. Soc. (Series A)43 (1987), 347–365; D. B. H. Cline, ‘Convolutions of distributions with exponential tails: corrigendum’, J. Austral. Math. Soc. (Series A)48 (1990), 152–153] on the closure of the exponential class under convolution power mixtures (random summation).

The binary interval tree is a random structure that underlies interval division and parking problems. Five incomplete one-sided variants of binary interval trees are considered, providing additional flavors and variations on the main applications. The size of each variant is studied, and a Gaussian tendency is proved in each case via an analytic approach. Differential equations on half scale and delayed differential equations arise and can be solved asymptotically by local expansions and Tauberian theorems. Unlike the binary case, in an incomplete interval tree the size determines most other parameters of interest, such as the height or the internal path length.

Assume that for a measurable funcion f on (0, ∞) there exist a positive auxiliary function a(t) and some γ ∈ R such that . Then f is said to be of generalized regular variation. In order to control the asymptotic behaviour of certain estimators for distributions in extreme value theory we are led to study regular variation of second order, that is, we assume that exists non-trivially with a second auxiliary function a1(t). We study the possible limit functions in this limit relation (defining generalized regular variation of second order) and their domains of attraction. Furthermore we give the corresponding relation for the inverse function of a monotone f with the stated property. Finally, we present an Abel-Tauber theorem relating these functions and their Laplace transforms.

In this note, an irreducible semi-Markov process is considered whose finite state space is partitioned into two non-empty sets A and B. Let MB(t) stand for the number of visits of Y to B during the time interval [0, t], t > 0. A renewal argument is used to derive closed-form expressions for the Laplace transform (with respect to t) of a certain family of functions in terms of which the moments of MB(t) are easily expressible. The theory is applied to a small reliability model in conjunction with a Tauberian argument to evaluate the behaviour of the first two moments of MB(t) as t →∞.

Let {Xn} be an infinite sequence of independent non-negative random variables. Let the distribution function of Xi, i = 1, 2, …, be either F1 or F2 where F1 and F2 are distinct. Set Sn = X1 + X2 + … + Xn and for t > 0 define and Zt = SN(t)+1 – t. The limit distributions of N(t), Yt and Zt as t → ∞ are obtained when F1 and F2 are in the domains of attraction of stable laws with exponents α1 and α2, respectively and Sn properly normalised has the composition of these two stable laws as its limit distribution.

It is shown that, under certain conditions, satisfied by stable distributions, symmetric distributions, distributions with zero mean and finite second moment and other distributions, the distribution function of the maxima of successive partial sums of identically distributed random variables has an asymptotic property. This property implies the regular variation of the tail of the distribution of the hitting times of the associated random walk, and hence that these hitting times belong to the domain of attraction of a stable law.

A problem of estimating waiting time in the statistical analysis of queues is investigated. The continuous time study of the M/M/1 queue made by Bailey is adapted to obtain the asymptotic variance of a direct estimate of waiting time as obtained under conditions of incomplete information. This is then compared with the asymptotic variance of the maximum likelihood estimate as obtained under conditions of complete information and based on the results of Clarke.