Skorokhod's representation theorem

In mathematics and statistics, Skorokhod's representation theorem is a result that shows that a weakly convergent sequence of probability measures whose limit measure is sufficiently well-behaved can be represented as the distribution/law of a pointwise convergent sequence of random variables defined on a common probability space. It is named for the Ukrainian mathematician A.V. Skorokhod.

Statement of the theorem

Let $\mu _{n}$, $n\in \mathbb {N}$ be a sequence of probability measures on a metric space $S$ such that $\mu _{n}$ converges weakly to some probability measure $\mu _{\infty }$ on $S$ as $n\to \infty$. Suppose also that the support of $\mu _{\infty }$ is separable. Then there exist random variables $X_{n}$ defined on a common probability space $(\Omega ,{\mathcal {F}},\mathbf {P} )$ such that the law of $X_{n}$ is $\mu _{n}$ for all $n$ (including $n=\infty$) and such that $X_{n}$ converges to $X_{\infty }$, $\mathbf {P}$-almost surely.

See also

• Convergence in distribution

References

• Billingsley, Patrick (1999). Convergence of Probability Measures. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-19745-9. (see p. 7 for weak convergence, p. 24 for convergence in distribution and p. 70 for Skorokhod's theorem)