Stochastic Point Processes

Stochastic geometry is the branch of mathematics that studies geometric structures associated with random configurations, such as random graphs, tilings and mosaics. Due to its close ties with stereology and spatial statistics, the results in this area are relevant for a large number of important applications, e.g. to the mathematical modeling and statistical analysis of telecommunication networks, geostatistics and image analysis. In recent years – due mainly to the impetus of the authors and their collaborators – a powerful connection has been established between stochastic geometry and the Malliavin calculus of variations, which is a collection of probabilistic techniques based on the properties of infinite-dimensional differential operators. This has led in particular to the discovery of a large number of new quantitative limit theorems for high-dimensional geometric objects. This unique book presents an organic collection of authoritative surveys written by the principal actors in this rapidly evolving field, offering a rigorous yet lively presentation of its many facets.

Stochastic Point Processes are interesting from many points of view. From and abstract point of view, point process is a simple version of random measure; these processes have acquired importance mainly due their viability in modeling a variety of phenomena spanning physical, biological, economic and engineering sciences. This volume with contributions from leading probabilists contains, besides surveys on the state-of-art of the theory, papers dealing with problems of queues, inventory, reliability and population evolution. There are also papers dealing with practical aspects like statistical inference and nonlinear filtering. The book will be of interest to a wide spectrum of people including those working in the area of operations research, signal processing, electrical communications & control and neural network.

Point processes and random measures find wide applicability in telecommunications, earthquakes, image analysis, spatial point patterns, and stereology, to name but a few areas. The authors have made a major reshaping of their work in their first edition of 1988 and now present their Introduction to the Theory of Point Processes in two volumes with sub-titles Elementary Theory and Models and General Theory and Structure. Volume One contains the introductory chapters from the first edition, together with an informal treatment of some of the later material intended to make it more accessible to readers primarily interested in models and applications. The main new material in this volume relates to marked point processes and to processes evolving in time, where the conditional intensity methodology provides a basis for model building, inference, and prediction. There are abundant examples whose purpose is both didactic and to illustrate further applications of the ideas and models that are the main substance of the text.

There has been much recent research on the theory of point processes, i.e., on random systems consisting of point events occurring in space or time. Applications range from emissions from a radioactive source, occurrences of accidents or machine breakdowns, or of electrical impluses along nerve fibres, to repetitive point events in an individual's medical or social history. Sometimes the point events occur in space rather than time and the application here raneg from statistical physics to geography. The object of this book is to develop the applied mathemathics of point processes at a level which will make the ideas accessible both to the research worker and the postgraduate student in probability and statistics and also to the mathemathically inclined individual in another field interested in using ideas and results. A thorough knowledge of the key notions of elementary probability theory is required to understand the book, but specialised "pure mathematical" coniderations have been avoided.

This book gives a self-contained introduction to the dynamic martingale approach to marked point processes (MPP). Based on the notion of a compensator, this approach gives a versatile tool for analyzing and describing the stochastic properties of an MPP. In particular, the authors discuss the relationship of an MPP to its compensator and particular classes of MPP are studied in great detail. The theory is applied to study properties of dependent marking and thinning, to prove results on absolute continuity of point process distributions, to establish sufficient conditions for stochastic ordering between point and jump processes, and to solve the filtering problem for certain classes of MPPs.

Stochastic point processes are sets of randomly located points in time, on the plane or in some general space. This book provides a general introduction to the theory, starting with simple examples and an historical overview, and proceeding to the general theory. It thoroughly covers recent work in a broad historical perspective in an attempt to provide a wider audience with insights into recent theoretical developments. It contains numerous examples and exercises. This book aims to bridge the gap between informal treatments concerned with applications and highly abstract theoretical treatments.