Poisson splitting by factors

Abstract

Given a homogeneous Poisson process on ℝ^d with intensity λ, we prove that it is possible to partition the points into two sets, as a deterministic function of the process, and in an isometry-equivariant way, so that each set of points forms a homogeneous Poisson process, with any given pair of intensities summing to λ. In particular, this answers a question of Ball [Electron. Commun. Probab. 10 (2005) 60–69], who proved that in d = 1, the Poisson points may be similarly partitioned (via a translation-equivariant function) so that one set forms a Poisson process of lower intensity, and asked whether the same is possible for all d. We do not know whether it is possible similarly to add points (again chosen as a deterministic function of a Poisson process) to obtain a Poisson process of higher intensity, but we prove that this is not possible under an additional finitariness condition.