## The Annals of Probability

### Total variation asymptotics for sums of independent integer random variables

#### Abstract

Let $W_n := \sum_{j=1}^n Z_j$ be a sum of independent integer-valued random variables. In this paper, we derive an asymptotic expansion for the probability $\mathbb{P}[W_n \in A]$ of an arbitrary subset $A \in \mathbb{Z}$. Our approximation improves upon the classical expansions by including an explicit, uniform error estimate, involving only easily computable properties of the distributions of the $Z_j:$ an appropriate number of moments and the total variation distance $d_{\mathrm{TV}}(\mathscr{L}(Z_j), \mathscr{L}(Z_j + 1))$. The proofs are based on Stein’s method for signed compound Poisson approximation.

#### Article information

Source
Ann. Probab., Volume 30, Number 2 (2002), 509-545.

Dates
First available in Project Euclid: 7 June 2002

Permanent link to this document
https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aop/1023481001

Digital Object Identifier
doi:10.1214/aop/1023481001

Mathematical Reviews number (MathSciNet)
MR1905850

Zentralblatt MATH identifier
1018.60049

#### Citation

Barbour, A. D.; Ćekanavićius, V. Total variation asymptotics for sums of independent integer random variables. Ann. Probab. 30 (2002), no. 2, 509--545. doi:10.1214/aop/1023481001. https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.aop/1023481001

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