Abstract
Let B1, B2, ... be a sequence of independent, identically distributed random variables, letX0 be a random variable that is independent ofBn forn⩾1, let ρ be a constant such that 0<ρ<1 and letX1,X2, ... be another sequence of random variables that are defined recursively by the relationshipsXn=ρXn-1+Bn. It can be shown that the sequence of random variablesX1,X2, ... converges in law to a random variableX if and only ifE[log+¦B1¦]<∞. In this paper we let {B(t):0≦t<∞} be a stochastic process with independent, homogeneous increments and define another stochastic process {X(t):0⩽t<∞} that stands in the same relationship to the stochastic process {B(t):0⩽t<∞} as the sequence of random variablesX1,X2,...stands toB1,B2,.... It is shown thatX(t) converges in law to a random variableX ast →+∞ if and only ifE[log+¦B(1)¦]<∞ in which caseX has a distribution function of class L. Several other related results are obtained. The main analytical tool used to obtain these results is a theorem of Lukacs concerning characteristic functions of certain stochastic integrals.
