2.S1. Convergence concepts

$\newcommand{\argmin}{\mathop{\mathrm{argmin}}\limits}$ $\newcommand{\argmax}{\mathop{\mathrm{argmax}}\limits}$

This is a quick review of convergence concepts and their relations.


Relationship between convergence concepts

$X_n \overset{L^p}{\to} X \implies X_n \overset{P}{\to} X.$

I already mentioned the proof of it: Use Markov-Chebyshev inequality.

Let $X_n, X \in L^p$ be random variables that $X_n \overset{P}{\to} X.$ If there exists $Y\in L^p$ such that $|X_n - X| \le Y$ for all $n$, then $X_n \overset{L^p}{\to} X.$

The result directly follows from the dominated convergence theorem.

For $1\le q < p$, $X_n \overset{L^p}{\to} X \implies X_n \overset{L^q}{\to} X.$

This is from the Jensen’s inequality. Hölder’s inequality can also yield the result.

convergence.png
Relationship between convergence concepts.


Counterexamples


Let $(\Omega, \mathcal{F}, P) = ((0,1], \mathcal{B}((0,1]), \lambda)$ where $\lambda$ is the Lebesgue measure.
Let $X_{n,m}(\omega) = \begin{cases} 1 &,~ \frac{m-1}{2^n} < \omega \le \frac{m}{2^n} \\ 0 &,~ \text{otherwise} \end{cases}$
Let $\{Y_n:~ n\in\mathbb{N}\} = \{X_{1,1}, X_{1,2}, X_{2,1}, X_{2,2}, \cdots\}.$ Then $Y_n \overset{P}{\to} 0$ and $Y_n \overset{L^p}{\to} 0$, but $Y_n \not\to 0 \text{ a.s.}$

Let $(\Omega, \mathcal{F}, P) = ((0,1], \mathcal{B}((0,1]), \lambda)$ where $\lambda$ is the Lebesgue measure.
$X_n(\omega) := \begin{cases} 2^n &,~ 0 < \omega \le \frac{1}{2^n}\\ 0 &,~ \text{otherwise} \end{cases}$
Then $X_n \overset{P}{\to} 0$ but not in $L^p$ nor $a.s.$ In fact, it does not $L^p$-converge to a constant at all if $p > 1.$



Acknowledgement

This post series is based on the textbook Probability: Theory and Examples, 5th edition (Durrett, 2019) and the lecture at Seoul National University, Republic of Korea (instructor: Prof. Johan Lim).




Author | Sihyung Park

I am Sihyung Park (pronounced “See-He-Young”), a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University. My research focuses on causal inference, specifically addressing unmeasured confounding and principal stratification in observational studies, as well as high-dimensional methods. Grounded in my early background in ecology and genomics, I aim to bring methodological insights to problems in genomics and evolutionary biology.