Any random variable with right-unbounded distributional support is the minimum of independent and very heavy-tailed random variables

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Foss, Sergey, Tarasenko, Anton, Krivtsov, Georgiy
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Foss, Sergey
Tarasenko, Anton
Krivtsov, Georgiy
author_facet Foss, Sergey
Tarasenko, Anton
Krivtsov, Georgiy
contents A random variable $ξ$ has a {\it light-tailed} distribution (for short: is light-tailed) if it possesses a finite exponential moment, $\E \exp (λξ) <\infty$ for some $λ>0$, and has a {\it heavy-tailed} distribution (is heavy-tailed) if $\E \exp (λξ) = \infty$, for all $λ>0$. In (Leipus et al., AIMS Mathematics, 2023), the authors presented a particular example of a light-tailed random variable that is the minimum of two independent heavy-tailed random variables. We will show that this phenomenon is universal: {\it any} light-tailed random variable with right-unbounded support may be represented as the minimum of two independent heavy-tailed random variables. Moreover, a more general fact holds: these two independent random variables may have as heavy-tailed distributions as one wishes. Further, we will extend the latter result onto the minimum of any finite number of independent random variables. We will also comment on possible generalizations of our result to the case of dependent random variables.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_08954
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Any random variable with right-unbounded distributional support is the minimum of independent and very heavy-tailed random variables
Foss, Sergey
Tarasenko, Anton
Krivtsov, Georgiy
Probability
60E05
A random variable $ξ$ has a {\it light-tailed} distribution (for short: is light-tailed) if it possesses a finite exponential moment, $\E \exp (λξ) <\infty$ for some $λ>0$, and has a {\it heavy-tailed} distribution (is heavy-tailed) if $\E \exp (λξ) = \infty$, for all $λ>0$. In (Leipus et al., AIMS Mathematics, 2023), the authors presented a particular example of a light-tailed random variable that is the minimum of two independent heavy-tailed random variables. We will show that this phenomenon is universal: {\it any} light-tailed random variable with right-unbounded support may be represented as the minimum of two independent heavy-tailed random variables. Moreover, a more general fact holds: these two independent random variables may have as heavy-tailed distributions as one wishes. Further, we will extend the latter result onto the minimum of any finite number of independent random variables. We will also comment on possible generalizations of our result to the case of dependent random variables.
title Any random variable with right-unbounded distributional support is the minimum of independent and very heavy-tailed random variables
topic Probability
60E05
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08954