Conditional Poisson process approximation

Abstract

Point processes are an essential tool when we are interested in where in time or space events occur. The basic starting point for point processes is usually the Poisson process. Over the years, Stein's method has been developed with a great deal of success for Poisson point process approximation. When studying rare events though, typically one only begins modelling after the occurrence of such an event. As a result, a point process that is conditional upon at least one atom, is arguably more appropriate in certain applications. In this paper, we develop Stein's method for conditional Poisson point process approximation, and closely examine what sort of difficulties that this conditioning entails. By utilising a characterising immigration-death process, we calculate bounds for the Stein factors.