General linear-fractional branching processes with discrete time

Abstract

We study a linear-fractional Bienaym\'e-Galton-Watson process with a general type space. The corresponding tree contour process is described by an alternating random walk with the downward jumps having a geometric distribution. This leads to the linear-fractional distribution formula for an arbitrary observation time, which allows us to establish transparent limit theorems for the subcritical, critical and supercritical cases. Our results extend recent findings for the linear-fractional branching processes with countably many types.