Random Dirichlet series arising from records

Abstract

We study the distributions of the random Dirichlet series with parameters $(s, \beta)$ defined by $$ S=\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{I_n}{n^s}, $$ where $(I_n)$ is a sequence of independent Bernoulli random variables, $I_n$ taking value $1$ with probability $1/n^\beta$ and value $0$ otherwise. Random series of this type are motivated by the record indicator sequences which have been studied in extreme value theory in statistics. We show that when $s>0$ and $0< \beta \le 1$ with $s+\beta>1$ the distribution of $S$ has a density; otherwise it is purely atomic or not defined because of divergence. In particular, in the case when $s>0$ and $\beta=1$, we prove that for every $0<s<1$ the density is bounded and continuous, whereas for every $s>1$ it is unbounded. In the case when $s>0$ and $0<\beta<1$ with $s+\beta>1$, the density is smooth. To show the absolute continuity, we obtain estimates of the Fourier transforms, employing van der Corput's method to deal with number-theoretic problems. We also give further regularity results of the densities, and present an example of non atomic singular distribution which is induced by the series restricted to the primes.