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Let $\xi_n \sim N(0,1)$ and $A_n = \frac{\sqrt 2}{\pi n} \xi _n$.

Show that $\sum_{i=1}^\infty |A_i| = \infty$ $\mathbb P$-a.s.


MY ATTEMPT:

Usually when trying to prove or refute almost sure convergence or divergence of a sequence, Borel-Cantelli lemma can be handy (however, this approach can be completely off the mark).

I want to prove:

$$\forall N \in \mathbb N \quad \exists m \in \mathbb N \quad \forall k \geq m \quad \sum _{i=1}^k |A_i| > N \quad \mathbb P -\text{a.s.}$$

$$ \begin{align*} \Leftrightarrow &\quad \mathbb P \left(\bigcap_{N\in \mathbb N}\bigcup _{m \in \mathbb N} \bigcap _{k \geq m} \left\{\sum_{i=1}^k|A_i| > N\right\}\right) = 1\\ \Leftrightarrow &\quad \mathbb P \left(\bigcup_{N\in \mathbb N}\bigcap _{m \in \mathbb N} \bigcup _{k \geq m} \left\{\sum_{i=1}^k|A_i| \leq N \right\}\right) = 0\\ \Leftrightarrow &\quad \mathbb P \left(\bigcup_{N\in \mathbb N} \limsup_{m \rightarrow \infty} B_{m, N}\right) = 0 \end{align*} $$

$$ \text{with} \quad B_{k, N} := \left\{\sum_{i=1}^k|A_i| \leq N \right\}. $$

Now if we could show

$$ \forall N \in \mathbb N \quad \sum _{m=1} ^ \infty \mathbb P \left( B_{m, N}\right) = \sum _{m=1} ^ \infty \mathbb P \left( \sum_{i=1}^m|A_i| \leq N \right)< \infty $$

then with subadditivity of $\mathbb P$ and Borel-Cantelli we would get

$$\mathbb P \left(\bigcup_{N\in \mathbb N} \limsup_{m \rightarrow \infty} B_{m, N}\right) \leq \sum_{N=1}^\infty \mathbb P \left(\limsup_{m \rightarrow \infty} B_{m, N}\right) = 0.$$

I know that $\sum_{i=1}^\infty |A_i|$ is the sum of folded-normal distributed random variables. However, I can't find a way to control the quantity $$\sum _{m=1} ^ \infty \mathbb P \left( \sum_{i=1}^m|A_i| \leq N \right).$$

A rather creative approach was presented in this answer, however, in my case summands are not standard normal (but rather rescaled with $\frac {\sqrt 2 }{\pi n}$), so I can't use the symmetry of multivariate normal as suggested.

Thanks in advance!

nakajuice
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    Here's an idea - $\sum_{n \le k} (n\log n)^{-1} \to \infty$ (as $\log \log k$). So it suffices to show that $|\xi_n| \le \frac{1}{\log n}$ only finitely many times a.s. This is prime territory to for Borel-Cantelli, and the estimates can be easily constructed. – stochasticboy321 Jan 23 '19 at 20:01

1 Answers1

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Let $X=\{n,\, |\xi_n| > 1\}$, by the law of large numbers, $X$ has a.s. natural density some $\sigma > 0$.

With usual asymptotic calculations this proves that the $n$-th element of $X$ is a.s. $n(\sigma+o(1))$ thus the sum of $\frac{1}{n}$ (for $n \in X$) diverges a.s.

Aphelli
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