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Linking representations for multivariate extremes via a limit set

Natalia Nolde Department of Statistics, University of British Columbia, Canada Jennifer L. Wadsworth Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Lancaster University, UK
Abstract

The study of multivariate extremes is dominated by multivariate regular variation, although it is well known that this approach does not provide adequate distinction between random vectors whose components are not always simultaneously large. Various alternative dependence measures and representations have been proposed, with the most well-known being hidden regular variation and the conditional extreme value model. These varying depictions of extremal dependence arise through consideration of different parts of the multivariate domain, and particularly exploring what happens when extremes of one variable may grow at different rates to other variables. Thus far, these alternative representations have come from distinct sources and links between them are limited. In this work we elucidate many of the relevant connections through a geometrical approach. In particular, the shape of the limit set of scaled sample clouds in light-tailed margins is shown to provide a description of several different extremal dependence representations.

Key words: multivariate extreme value theory; conditional extremes; hidden regular variation; limit set; asymptotic (in)dependence.

1 Introduction

Multivariate extreme value theory is complicated by the lack of natural ordering in d\mathbb{R}^{d}, and the infinite possibilities for the underlying set of dependence structures between random variables. Some of the earliest characterizations of multivariate extremes were inspired by consideration of the vector of normalized componentwise maxima. Let 𝑿=(X1,,Xd)d\bm{X}=(X_{1},\ldots,X_{d})\in\mathbb{R}^{d} with XjFjX_{j}\sim F_{j}, and consider a sample 𝑿i=(X1i,,Xdi)\bm{X}_{i}=(X_{1i},\ldots,X_{di}), i=1,,ni=1,\ldots,n, of independent copies of 𝑿\bm{X}. For a fixed jj, defining Mj,n=max1in(Xji)M_{j,n}=\max_{1\leq i\leq n}(X_{ji}), the extremal types theorem tells us that if we can find sequences such that (Mj,nbj,n)/aj,n(M_{j,n}-b_{j,n})/a_{j,n} converges to a non-degenerate distribution, then this is the generalized extreme value distribution. Moreover, the sequence bj,nFj1(1c/n)b_{j,n}\sim F_{j}^{-1}(1-c/n), nn\to\infty, i.e., is of the same order as the 11/n1-1/n quantile. A natural multivariate extension is then to examine the distribution of the vector of componentwise maxima, (𝑴n𝒃n)/𝒂n(\bm{M}_{n}-\bm{b}_{n})/\bm{a}_{n}. This is intrinsically tied up with the theory of multivariate regular variation, because it leads to examination of the joint behaviour of the random vector when all components are growing at the rate determined by their 11/n1-1/n quantile. If all components were marginally standardized to focus only on the dependence, then all normalizations would be the same.

In normalizing all components by the same amount, we only consider the dependence structure in a single “direction” in d\mathbb{R}^{d}. In some cases this turns out to provide a rich description of the extremal dependence: if the limiting distribution of componentwise maxima does not have independent components, then an infinite variety of dependence structures are possible, indexed by a moment-constrained measure on a d1d-1 dimensional unit sphere. However, when the limiting dependence structure is independence, or even when some pairs are independent, this representation fails to discriminate between qualitatively different underlying dependence structures. While consideration of componentwise maxima is not necessarily a common applied methodology these days, the legacy of this approach persists: statistical methods that assume multivariate regular variation, such as multivariate generalized Pareto distributions, are still very popular in practice (e.g., Engelke and Hitz,, 2020). A recent theoretical treatment of multivariate regular variation is given in Kulik and Soulier, (2020).

Various other representations for multivariate extremes have emerged that analyze the structure of the dependence when some variables are growing at different rates to others. These include the so-called conditional extreme value model (Heffernan and Tawn,, 2004; Heffernan and Resnick,, 2007), whereby the components of 𝑿\bm{X} are normalized according to how they grow with a single component, XjX_{j} say. Related work examines behaviour in relation to an arbitrary linear functional of 𝑿{\bm{X}} (Balkema and Embrechts,, 2007). The conditional representation allows consideration of those regions where some or all variables grow at a lesser rate than XjX_{j} if this is the region where the observations tend to lie. In other words, the limit theory is suited to giving a more detailed description of a broader range of underlying dependence structures. Another representation that explicitly considers different growth rates is that of Wadsworth and Tawn, (2013). They focus particularly on characterizing joint survival probabilities under certain classes of inhomogeneous normalization; this was found to reveal additional structure that is not evident when applying a common scaling. More recently, Simpson et al., (2020) have examined certain types of unequal scaling with a view to classifying the strength of dependence in any sub group of variables of 𝑿\bm{X}.

An alternative approach to adding detail to the extremal dependence structure focuses not on different scaling orders, but rather on second order effects when applying a common scaling. This idea was introduced by Ledford and Tawn, (1996), and falls under the broader umbrella of hidden regular variation (Resnick,, 2002). Various manuscripts have focused on analogizing concepts from standard multivariate regular variation to the case of hidden regular variation (e.g., Ramos and Ledford,, 2009), but this approach still only focuses on a restricted region of the multivariate space where all variables are large simultaneously. For this reason, although higher-dimensional analogues exist, they are often not practically useful for dimension d>2d>2.

Another manner of examining the extremal behaviour of 𝑿\bm{X} is to consider normalizing the variables such that they converge onto a limit set (e.g., Davis et al.,, 1988; Balkema and Nolde,, 2010), described by a so-called gauge function. This requires light-tailed margins, which may occur naturally or through a transformation. If the margins are standardized to a common light-tailed form, then the shape of the limit set is revealing about the extremal dependence structure of the random variables, exposing in which directions we expect to see more observations.

Although various connections have been made in the literature, many of these representations remain somewhat disjointed. For example, there is no obvious connection between the conditional extremes methodology and the representation of Ledford and Tawn, (1996, 1997), and whilst Wadsworth and Tawn, (2013) provided a modest connection to conditional extremes, many open questions remain. In this paper we reveal several hitherto unknown connections that can be made through the shape of the limit set and its corresponding gauge function, when it exists, and provide a step towards unifying the treatment of multivariate extremes.

We next provide further elaboration and definition of the different representations of extremal dependence. For some definitions, it is convenient to have a standardized marginal form; we focus mainly on standard Pareto or standard exponential margins with notation 𝑿P\bm{X}_{P} and 𝑿E\bm{X}_{E}, respectively. As mentioned above, working with common margins highlights dependence features. In Section 2 we recall the formulations of various representations for multivariate extremes, and provide a thorough background to the concepts of limit sets and their gauge functions, proving a useful new result on marginalization. Section 3 details connections linking conditional extremes, the representation of Wadsworth and Tawn, (2013), Ledford and Tawn, (1996), and that of Simpson et al., (2020). We provide severalillustrative examples in Section 4 and conclude in Section 5.

2 Background and definitions

2.1 Multivariate regular variation

A measurable function f:++f:\mathbb{R}_{+}\to\mathbb{R}_{+} is regularly varying at infinity (respectively, zero) with index ρ\rho\in\mathbb{R} if, for any x>0x>0, f(tx)/f(t)xρf(tx)/f(t)\to x^{\rho}, as tt\to\infty (or, respectively, t0t\to 0). We write fRVρf\in\mathrm{RV}_{\rho}^{\infty} or fRVρ0f\in\mathrm{RV}_{\rho}^{0}, omitting the superscript in generic cases. If fRV0f\in\mathrm{RV}_{0}, then it is called slowly varying.

The random vector 𝑿\bm{X} is multivariate regularly varying on the cone 𝔼=[0,]d{𝟎}\mathbb{E}=[0,\infty]^{d}\setminus\{\bm{0}\}, with index α>0\alpha>0, if for any relatively compact B𝔼B\subset\mathbb{E},

t(𝑿/b(t)B)ν(B),t,\displaystyle t{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}/b(t)\in B)\to\nu(B),\qquad t\to\infty, (2.1)

with ν(B)=0\nu(\partial B)=0, b(t)RV1/αb(t)\in\mathrm{RV}^{\infty}_{1/\alpha}, and the limit measure ν\nu homogeneous of order α-\alpha; see, e.g., Resnick, (2007), Section 6.1.4. The parts of 𝔼\mathbb{E} where ν\nu places mass reveal the broad scale extremal dependence structure of 𝑿\bm{X}. Specifically, note that we have the disjoint union 𝔼=C𝔼C\mathbb{E}=\bigcup_{C}\mathbb{E}_{C}, where

𝔼C={𝒙𝔼:xj>0,jC;xi=0,iC}=:(0,]C×{0}DC,\displaystyle\mathbb{E}_{C}=\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{E}:x_{j}>0,j\in C;x_{i}=0,i\not\in C\}=:(0,\infty]^{C}\times\{0\}^{D\setminus C}, (2.2)

and the union is over all possible subsets CD={1,,d}C\subseteq D=\{1,\ldots,d\}, excluding the empty set. If ν(𝔼C)>0\nu(\mathbb{E}_{C})>0 then the variables indexed by CC can take their most extreme values simultaneously, whilst those indexed by DCD\setminus C are non-extreme.

The definition of multivariate regular variation in equation (2.1) requires tail equivalence of the margins. In practice, it is rare to find variables that have regularly varying tails with common indices, and multivariate regular variation is a dependence assumption placed on standardized variables. Without loss of generality, therefore, we henceforth consider 𝑿=𝑿P\bm{X}=\bm{X}_{P} with standard Pareto(1) margins in which case α=1\alpha=1 and b(t)=tb(t)=t.

Frequently, the set BB in (2.1) is taken as [𝟎,𝒙]c=𝔼[𝟎,𝒙][\bm{0},\bm{x}]^{c}=\mathbb{E}\setminus[\bm{0},\bm{x}], leading to the exponent function,

V(𝒙)=ν([𝟎,𝒙]c).\displaystyle V(\bm{x})=\nu([\bm{0},\bm{x}]^{c}). (2.3)

Suppose that derivatives of VV exist almost everywhere; this is the case for popular parametric models, such as the multivariate logistic (Gumbel,, 1960), Hüsler–Reiss (Hüsler and Reiss,, 1989) and asymmetric logistic distributions (Tawn,, 1990). Let |C|/𝒙C=iC/xi\partial^{|C|}/\partial\bm{x}_{C}=\prod_{i\in C}\partial/\partial x_{i}. If the quantity limxj0,jC|C|V(𝒙)/𝒙C\lim_{x_{j}\to 0,j\not\in C}\partial^{|C|}V(\bm{x})/\partial\bm{x}_{C} is non-zero, then the group of variables indexed by CC places mass on 𝔼C\mathbb{E}_{C} (Coles and Tawn,, 1991).

Multivariate regular variation is often phrased in terms of a radial-angular decomposition. If (2.1) holds, then for r1r\geq 1,

(𝑿P/𝑿PA,𝑿P>tr)/(𝑿P>t)H(A)r1,t,\displaystyle{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{P}/\|\bm{X}_{P}\|\in A,\|\bm{X}_{P}\|>tr)/{\mathbb{P}}(\|\bm{X}_{P}\|>t)\to H(A)r^{-1},\qquad t\to\infty,

where A𝒮={𝒘+d:𝒘=1}A\subset\mathcal{S}=\{\bm{w}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:\|\bm{w}\|=1\} and \|\cdot\| is any norm. That is, the radial variable R=𝑿PR=\|\bm{X}_{P}\| and the angular variable 𝑾=𝑿P/𝑿P\bm{W}=\bm{X}_{P}/\|\bm{X}_{P}\| are independent in the limit, with RR\sim Pareto(1) and 𝑾𝒮\bm{W}\in\mathcal{S} following distribution HH. The support of the so-called spectral measure HH can also be partitioned in a similar manner to 𝔼\mathbb{E}. Letting

𝔸C={𝒘𝒮:wj>0,jC;wi=0,iC},\mathbb{A}_{C}=\{\bm{w}\in\mathcal{S}:w_{j}>0,j\in C;w_{i}=0,i\not\in C\},

we have 𝒮=C𝔸C\mathcal{S}=\bigcup_{C}\mathbb{A}_{C}. The measure ν\nu places mass on 𝔼C\mathbb{E}_{C} if and only if HH places mass on 𝔸C\mathbb{A}_{C}.

2.2 Hidden regular variation

Hidden regular variation arises when: (i) there is multivariate regular variation on a cone (say 𝔼\mathbb{E}), but the mass concentrates on a subcone 𝔼~𝔼\tilde{\mathbb{E}}\subset\mathbb{E}, and (ii) there is multivariate regular variation on the subcone 𝔼𝔼𝔼~\mathbb{E}^{\prime}\subseteq\mathbb{E}\setminus\tilde{\mathbb{E}} with a scaling function of smaller order than on the full cone. Suppose that (2.1) holds, and ν\nu concentrates on 𝔼~\tilde{\mathbb{E}}, in the sense that ν(𝔼𝔼~)=0\nu(\mathbb{E}\setminus\tilde{\mathbb{E}})=0. For measurable B𝔼B\subset\mathbb{E}^{\prime}, we have hidden regular variation on 𝔼\mathbb{E}^{\prime} if

t(𝑿P/c(t)B)ν(B),t,c(t)=o(t),c(t)RVζ,ζ(0,1],\displaystyle t{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{P}/c(t)\in B)\to\nu^{\prime}(B),\qquad t\to\infty,\qquad c(t)=o(t),\quad c(t)\in\mathrm{RV}_{\zeta}^{\infty},\quad\zeta\in(0,1], (2.4)

with ν(B)=0\nu^{\prime}(\partial B)=0 and the limit measure ν\nu^{\prime} homogeneous of order 1/ζ-1/\zeta (Resnick,, 2007, Section 9.4.1).

The most common cone to consider is 𝔼=(0,]d\mathbb{E}^{\prime}=(0,\infty]^{d}. This leads to the residual tail dependence coefficient, ηD(0,1]\eta_{D}\in(0,1] (Ledford and Tawn,, 1996). That is, suppose that (2.4) holds on (0,]d(0,\infty]^{d}, then the regular variation index ζ=ηD\zeta=\eta_{D}. The residual tail dependence coefficient for the subset CDC\subset D is found through considering cones of the form

𝔼C={𝒙𝔼:xj>0,jC;xi[0,],iC}=:(0,]C×[0,]DC,\mathbb{E}^{\prime}_{C}=\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{E}:x_{j}>0,j\in C;x_{i}\in[0,\infty],i\not\in C\}=:(0,\infty]^{C}\times[0,\infty]^{D\setminus C},

for which ζ=ηC\zeta=\eta_{C}.

2.3 Different scaling orders

2.3.1 Coefficients τC(δ)\tau_{C}(\delta)

Simpson et al., (2020) sought to examine the extremal dependence structure of a random vector through determination of the cones 𝔼C\mathbb{E}_{C} for which ν(𝔼C)>0\nu(\mathbb{E}_{C})>0. Direct consideration of (hidden) regular variation conditions on these cones is impeded by the fact that (𝑿P/b(t)B)=0{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{P}/b(t)\in B)=0 for all B𝔼CB\subset\mathbb{E}_{C}, CDC\neq D, since no components of 𝑿P/b(t)\bm{X}_{P}/b(t) are equal to zero for t<t<\infty. Simpson et al., (2020) circumvent this issue by assuming that if ν(𝔼C)>0\nu(\mathbb{E}_{C})>0, then there exists δ<1\delta<1 such that

limtt(miniCXP,i>xt,maxjDCXP,jytδ)=limtt(miniCXP,i/t>x,maxjDCXP,j/tytδ1)>0,x,y>0.\displaystyle\lim_{t\to\infty}t{\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i}>xt,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{P,j}\leq yt^{\delta})=\lim_{t\to\infty}t{\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i}/t>x,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{P,j}/t\leq yt^{\delta-1})>0,\qquad x,y>0. (2.5)

As such, under normalization by tt, components of the random vector indexed by CC remain positive, whereas those indexed by DCD\setminus C concentrate at zero. Note that if assumption (2.5) holds for some δ<1\delta<1 then it also holds for all δ[δ,1]\delta^{\prime}\in[\delta,1]. Simpson et al., (2020) expanded assumption (2.5) to

(miniCXP,i>xt,maxjDCXP,jytδ)RV1/τC(δ),δ[0,1],\displaystyle{\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i}>xt,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{P,j}\leq yt^{\delta})\in\mathrm{RV}_{-1/\tau_{C}(\delta)}^{\infty},\qquad\delta\in[0,1], (2.6)

where (2.6) is viewed as a function of tt, and the regular variation coefficients τC(δ)(0,1]\tau_{C}(\delta)\in(0,1]. For a fixed δ\delta, τC(δ)<1\tau_{C}(\delta)<1 implies either that ν(𝔼C)=0\nu(\mathbb{E}_{C})=0, or that ν(𝔼C)>0\nu(\mathbb{E}_{C})>0, but that δ\delta is too small for (2.5) to hold; see Simpson et al., (2020) for further details. Considering the coefficients τC(δ)\tau_{C}(\delta) over all CC and δ[0,1]\delta\in[0,1] provides information about the cones on which ν\nu concentrates.

2.3.2 Angular dependence function λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega})

Wadsworth and Tawn, (2013) detailed a representation for the tail of 𝑿P\bm{X}_{P} where the scaling functions were of different order in each component. They focussed principally on a sequence of univariate regular variation conditions, characterizing

(𝑿P>t𝝎)=(t;𝝎)tλ(𝝎),𝝎𝒮Σ={𝝎[0,1]d:j=1dωj=1},\displaystyle{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{P}>t^{\bm{\omega}})=\ell(t;\bm{\omega})t^{-\lambda(\bm{\omega})},\qquad\bm{\omega}\in\mathcal{S}_{\Sigma}=\left\{\bm{\omega}\in[0,1]^{d}:\sum_{j=1}^{d}\omega_{j}=1\right\}, (2.7)

where (t;𝝎)RV0\ell(t;\bm{\omega})\in\mathrm{RV}_{0}^{\infty} for each 𝝎\bm{\omega} and λ:𝒮Σ[0,1]\lambda:\mathcal{S}_{\Sigma}\to[0,1]. Equivalently, (𝑿E>𝝎v)=(ev;𝝎)eλ(𝝎)v{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}>\bm{\omega}v)=\ell(e^{v};\bm{\omega})e^{-\lambda(\bm{\omega})v}. When all components of 𝝎\bm{\omega} are equal to 1/d1/d, connection with hidden regular variation on the cone 𝔼D\mathbb{E}_{D} is restored, and we have ηD=dλ(1/d,,1/d)\eta_{D}=d\lambda(1/d,\ldots,1/d). When the subcone 𝔼D\mathbb{E}_{D} of 𝔼\mathbb{E} is charged with mass in limit (2.1), then λ(𝝎)=max1jdωj\lambda(\bm{\omega})=\max_{1\leq j\leq d}\omega_{j}. One can equally focus on sub-vectors indexed by CC to define λC(𝝎)\lambda_{C}(\bm{\omega}) for 𝝎\bm{\omega} in a (|C|1)(|C|-1)-dimensional simplex; we continue to have ηC=|C|λC(1/|C|,,1/|C|)\eta_{C}=|C|\lambda_{C}(1/|C|,\ldots,1/|C|) and ν(𝔼C)>0\nu(\mathbb{E}_{C})>0 implies λC(𝝎)=max1j|C|ωj\lambda_{C}(\bm{\omega})=\max_{1\leq j\leq|C|}\omega_{j}.

2.4 Conditional extremes

For conditional extreme value theory (Heffernan and Tawn,, 2004; Heffernan and Resnick,, 2007), we focus on 𝑿E\bm{X}_{E}. Let 𝑿E,j\bm{X}_{E,-j} represent the vector 𝑿E\bm{X}_{E} without the jjth component. The basic assumption is that there exist functions 𝒂j:d1\bm{a}^{j}:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}^{d-1}, 𝒃j:+d1\bm{b}^{j}:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}_{+}^{d-1} and a non-degenerate distribution KjK^{j} on d1\mathbb{R}^{d-1} with no mass at infinity, such that

(𝑿E,j𝒂j(XE,j)𝒃j(XE,j)𝒛,XE,jt>x|XE,j>t)Kj(𝒛)ex,t.\displaystyle{\mathbb{P}}\left(\frac{\bm{X}_{E,-j}-\bm{a}^{j}(X_{E,j})}{\bm{b}^{j}(X_{E,j})}\leq\bm{z},X_{E,j}-t>x~{}\Big{|}~{}X_{E,j}>t\right)\to K^{j}(\bm{z})e^{-x},\qquad t\to\infty. (2.8)

Typically, such assumptions are made for each jDj\in D. The normalization functions satisfy some regularity conditions detailed in Heffernan and Resnick, (2007), but as Heffernan and Resnick, (2007) only standardize the marginal distribution of the conditioning variable (i.e, XjX_{j}), allowing different margins in other variables, these conditions do not strongly characterize the functions 𝒂j\bm{a}^{j} and 𝒃j\bm{b}^{j} as used in (2.8).

When joint densities exist, application of L’Hôpital’s rule gives that convergence (2.8) is equivalent to

(𝑿E,j𝒂j(t)𝒃j(t)𝒛|XE,j=t)Kj(𝒛),t.\displaystyle{\mathbb{P}}\left(\frac{\bm{X}_{E,-j}-\bm{a}^{j}(t)}{\bm{b}^{j}(t)}\leq\bm{z}~{}\Big{|}~{}X_{E,j}=t\right)\to K^{j}(\bm{z}),\qquad t\to\infty.

We will further assume convergence of the full joint density

d1𝒛(𝑿E,j𝒂j(t)𝒃j(t)𝒛|XE,j=t)d1𝒛Kj(𝒛)=:kj(𝒛),t,\displaystyle\frac{\partial^{d-1}}{\partial\bm{z}}{\mathbb{P}}\left(\frac{\bm{X}_{E,-j}-\bm{a}^{j}(t)}{\bm{b}^{j}(t)}\leq\bm{z}~{}\Big{|}~{}X_{E,j}=t\right)\to\frac{\partial^{d-1}}{\partial\bm{z}}K^{j}(\bm{z})=:k^{j}(\bm{z}),\qquad t\to\infty, (2.9)

which is the practical assumption needed for undertaking likelihood-based statistical inference using this model.

Connected to this approach is work in Balkema and Embrechts, (2007), who study asymptotic behaviour of a suitably normalized random vector 𝑿\bm{X} conditional on lying in tHtH, where HH is a half-space not containing the origin and tt\to\infty. The distribution of 𝑿\bm{X} is assumed to have a light-tailed density whose level sets are homothetic, convex and have a smooth boundary. In this setting, with HH taken to be the vertical half-space {𝒙d:xd>1}\{\bm{x}\in{\mathbb{R}}^{d}:\ x_{d}>1\}, the limit is the so-called Gauss-exponential distribution with density exp{𝒖T𝒖/2v}/(2π)(d1)/2\exp\{-\bm{u}^{T}\bm{u}/2-v\}/(2\pi)^{(d-1)/2}, 𝒖d1\bm{u}\in{\mathbb{R}}^{d-1}, v>0v>0.

2.5 Limit sets

2.5.1 Background

Let 𝑿1,,𝑿n{\bm{X}}_{1},\ldots,{\bm{X}}_{n} be independent and identically distributed random vectors in d{\mathbb{R}}^{d}. A random set Nn={𝑿1/rn,,𝑿n/rn}N_{n}=\{{\bm{X}}_{1}/r_{n},\ldots,{\bm{X}}_{n}/r_{n}\} represents a scaled nn-point sample cloud. We consider situations in which there exists a scaling sequence rn>0r_{n}>0, rnr_{n}\to\infty such that scaled sample clouds NnN_{n} converges onto a deterministic set, containing at least two points. Figure 1 illustrates examples of sample clouds for which a limit set exists. Let 𝒦d{\cal K}_{d} denote the family of non-empty compact subsets of d{\mathbb{R}}^{d}, and dH(,)d_{H}(\cdot,\cdot) denote the Hausdorff distance between two sets (Matheron,, 1975). A sequence of random sets NnN_{n} in 𝒦d{\cal K}_{d} converges in probability onto a limit set G𝒦dG\in{\cal K}_{d} if dH(Nn,G)0d_{H}(N_{n},G)\buildrel{\mathbb{P}}\over{\rightarrow}0 for nn\to\infty. The following result gives convenient criteria for showing convergence in probability onto a limit set; see Balkema et al., (2010).

Proposition 1.

Random samples on d{\mathbb{R}}^{d} scaled by rnr_{n} converge in probability onto a deterministic set GG in 𝒦d{\cal K}_{d} if and only if

  1. (i)

    n(𝑿/rnUc)0n{\mathbb{P}}({\bm{X}}/r_{n}\in U^{c})\to 0 for any open set UU containing GG;

  2. (ii)

    n(𝑿/rn{𝒙+ϵB})n{\mathbb{P}}({\bm{X}}/r_{n}\in\{\bm{x}+\epsilon B\})\to\infty for all 𝒙G{\bm{x}}\in G and any ϵ>0\epsilon>0, where BB is the Euclidean unit ball.

Refer to caption
Figure 1: Sample clouds of n=105n=10^{5} points simulated from meta-Gaussian distributions with standard exponential margins and copula correlation parameter ρ=0.5\rho=0.5 (left panel), ρ=0\rho=0 (middle panel) and ρ=0.5\rho=-0.5 (right panel). The samples are scaled by the factor rn=lognr_{n}=\log n. See Examples 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 for details.

Limit sets under various assumptions on the underlying distribution have been derived in Geffroy, (1958, 1959); Fisher, (1969); Davis et al., (1988); Balkema et al., (2010). Kinoshita and Resnick, (1991) give a complete characterization of the possible limit sets as well as describe the class of distribution functions for which sample clouds can be scaled to converge (almost surely) onto a limit set. Furthermore, convergence in probability onto a limit set is implied by the tail large deviation principle studied in de Valk, 2016b ; de Valk, 2016a .

Kinoshita and Resnick, (1991) showed that if sample clouds can be scaled to converge onto a limit set almost surely, then the limit set is compact and star-shaped. A set GG in d{\mathbb{R}}^{d} is star-shaped if 𝒙G{\bm{x}}\in G implies t𝒙Gt{\bm{x}}\in G for all t[0,1]t\in[0,1]. For a set G𝒦dG\in{\cal K}_{d}, if the line segment 𝟎+t𝒙{\bf 0}+t{\bm{x}}, t[0,1)t\in[0,1) is contained in the interior of GG for every 𝒙G{\bm{x}}\in G, then GG can be characterized by a continuous gauge function:

g(𝒙)=inf{t0:𝒙tG},𝒙d.g({\bm{x}})=\inf\{t\geq 0:\ {\bm{x}}\in tG\},\qquad{\bm{x}}\in{\mathbb{R}}^{d}.

A gauge function satisfies homogeneity: g(t𝒙)=tg(𝒙)g(t{\bm{x}})=tg({\bm{x}}) for all t>0t>0, and the set GG can be recovered from its gauge function via G={𝒙d:g(𝒙)1}.G=\{{\bm{x}}\in{\mathbb{R}}^{d}:\ g({\bm{x}})\leq 1\}. Examples of a gauge function include a norm \|\cdot\| on d{\mathbb{R}}^{d}, in which case G={𝒙d:𝒙1}G=\{{\bm{x}}\in{\mathbb{R}}^{d}:\ \|{\bm{x}}\|\leq 1\} is the unit ball in that norm.

The shape of the limit set conveys information about extremal dependence properties of the underlying distribution. In particular, Balkema and Nolde, (2010) make a connection between the shape of the limit set and asymptotic independence, whilst Nolde, (2014) links its shape to the coefficient of residual tail dependence. We emphasize that the shape of the limit set depends on the choice of marginal distributions, as well as dependence structure. For example, if the components of (X1,X2)(X_{1},X_{2}) are independent with common marginal distribution, then G={(x,y)+2:x+y1}G=\{(x,y)\in\mathbb{R}_{+}^{2}:x+y\leq 1\} if the margins are exponential; G={(x,y)2:|x|+|y|1}G=\{(x,y)\in\mathbb{R}^{2}:|x|+|y|\leq 1\} if the margins are Laplace; and G={(x,y)+2:(xβ+yβ)1/β1}G=\{(x,y)\in\mathbb{R}_{+}^{2}:(x^{\beta}+y^{\beta})^{1/\beta}\leq 1\} if the margins are Weibull with shape β>0\beta>0. In contrast, if the margins are exponential but GG takes the latter form, this implies some dependence between the components.

2.5.2 Conditions for convergence onto a limit set

Proposition 1 provides necessary and sufficient conditions for convergence onto the limit set GG, but these conditions are not particularly helpful for determining the form of GG in practice.

In the following proposition, we state a criterion in terms of the joint probability density for convergence of suitably scaled random samples onto a limit set. This result is an adaptation of Proposition 3.7 in Balkema and Nolde, (2010). The marginal tails of the underlying distribution are assumed to be asymptotically equal to a von Mises function. A function of the form eψe^{-\psi} is said to be a von Mises function if ψ\psi is a C2C^{2} function with a positive derivative such that (1/ψ(x))0(1/\psi^{\prime}(x))^{\prime}\to 0 for xx\to\infty. This condition on the margins says that they are light-tailed and lie in the maximum domain of attraction of the Gumbel distribution, i.e., for a random sample from such a univariate distribution, coordinate-wise maxima can be normalized to converge weakly to the Gumbel distribution (Resnick,, 1987, Proposition 1.1).

Proposition 2.

Let the random vector 𝐗{\bm{X}} on [0,)d[0,\infty)^{d} have marginal distribution functions asymptotically equal to a von Mises function: 1Fj(x)eψj(x)1-F_{j}(x)\sim e^{-\psi_{j}(x)} for ψj(x)ψ(x)\psi_{j}(x)\sim\psi(x), xx\to\infty (j=1,,dj=1,\ldots,d) and a joint probability density ff satisfying:

logf(t𝒙t)ψ(t)g(𝒙),t,𝒙t𝒙,𝒙[0,)d\dfrac{-\log f(t{\bm{x}}_{t})}{\psi(t)}\to g_{*}({\bm{x}}),\qquad t\to\infty,\qquad{\bm{x}}_{t}\to{\bm{x}},\qquad{\bm{x}}\in[0,\infty)^{d} (2.10)

for a continuous function gg_{*} on [0,)d[0,\infty)^{d}, which is positive outside a bounded set. Then a sequence of scaled random samples Nn={𝐗1/rn,,𝐗n/rn}N_{n}=\{{\bm{X}}_{1}/r_{n},\ldots,{\bm{X}}_{n}/r_{n}\} from ff converges in probability onto a limit set GG with G={𝐱[0,)d:g(𝐱)1}G=\{{\bm{x}}\in[0,\infty)^{d}:g_{*}({\bm{x}})\leq 1\}. The scaling sequence rnr_{n} can be chosen as ψ(rn)logn\psi(r_{n})\sim\log n. Moreover, maxG=(1,,1)\max G=(1,\ldots,1).

Proof The mean measure of NnN_{n} is given by n(𝑿/rn)n{\mathbb{P}}({\bm{X}}/r_{n}\in\cdot) with intensity hn(𝒙)=nrndf(rn𝒙)h_{n}({\bm{x}})=nr_{n}^{d}f(r_{n}{\bm{x}}). We show the convergence of that mean measure onto GG, implying convergence of scaled samples NnN_{n}; see Balkema et al., (2010), Proposition 2.3. By (2.10) and the choice of rnr_{n}, we have

logf(rn𝒙n)/lognlogf(rn𝒙n)/ψ(rn)g(𝒙),n,𝒙n𝒙.-\log f(r_{n}{\bm{x}}_{n})/\log n\sim-\log f(r_{n}{\bm{x}}_{n})/\psi(r_{n})\to g_{*}({\bm{x}}),\quad n\to\infty,\quad{\bm{x}}_{n}\to{\bm{x}}. (2.11)

Continuous convergence in (2.11) with gg_{*} continuous implies uniform convergence on compact sets. Hence, gg_{*} is bounded on compact sets. For G={g(𝒙)1}G=\{g_{*}({\bm{x}})\leq 1\}, we have g(𝒙)<1g_{*}({\bm{x}})<1 on the interior of GG and g(𝒙)>1g_{*}({\bm{x}})>1 on the complement of GG. Furthermore, applying L’Hôpital’s rule and Lemma 1.2(a) in Resnick, (1987), we have

logrn/ψ(rn)(1/ψ(rn))/rn0,rn.\log r_{n}/\psi(r_{n})\sim(1/\psi^{\prime}(r_{n}))/r_{n}\to 0,\qquad r_{n}\to\infty.

Combining these results, we see that loghn(𝒙n)(g(𝒙n)1)logn-\log h_{n}({\bm{x}}_{n})\sim(g_{*}({\bm{x}}_{n})-1)\log n, which diverges to -\infty on the interior of GG and to ++\infty outside of GG. This implies that

hn(𝒙n){,𝒙Go,0,𝒙Gc,h_{n}({\bm{x}}_{n})\to\begin{cases}\infty,&{\bm{x}}\in G^{o},\\ 0,&{\bm{x}}\in G^{c},\end{cases}

giving convergence (in probability) of NnN_{n} onto limit set GG.

The form of the margins 1Fj(x)eψj(x)1-F_{j}(x)\sim e^{-\psi_{j}(x)} with ψj(x)ψ(x)\psi_{j}(x)\sim\psi(x)\to\infty gives log(1Fj(x))ψ(x)-\log(1-F_{j}(x))\sim\psi(x); i.e.,

log(1Fj(rn))ψ(rn)logn,n.-\log(1-F_{j}(r_{n}))\sim\psi(r_{n})\sim\log n,\qquad n\to\infty.

This choice of rnr_{n} implies that the coordinate-wise maxima scaled by rnr_{n} converge in probability to 1 (Gnedenko, (1943); de Haan, (1970)), so that maxG=(1,,1).\max G=(1,\ldots,1).\square

Remark 1.

Condition (2.10) implies that logf-\log f is multivariate regularly varying on [0,)d[0,\infty)^{d}. Such densities are referred to as Weibull-like. The limit function gg_{*} is homogeneous of some positive order kk: g(t𝒙)=tkg(𝒙)g_{*}(t{\bm{x}})=t^{k}g_{*}({\bm{x}}) for all t>0t>0. The gauge function gg of the limit set GG can thus be obtained from gg_{*} by setting g(𝒙)=g1/k(𝒙)g({\bm{x}})=g_{*}^{1/k}({\bm{x}}).

When the margins are standard exponential, ψ(t)=t\psi(t)=t. Hence, for the random vector 𝑿E\bm{X}_{E} with a Lebesgue density fEf_{E} on +d\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}, condition (2.10) is equivalent to

logfE(t𝒙t)/tg(𝒙),t,𝒙t𝒙,𝒙[0,)d\displaystyle-\log f_{E}(t\bm{x}_{t})/t\to g_{*}(\bm{x}),\qquad t\to\infty,\qquad{\bm{x}}_{t}\to{\bm{x}},\qquad\bm{x}\in[0,\infty)^{d} (2.12)

with the limit function gg_{*} equal to the gauge function gg.

Whilst the assumption of a Lebesgue density might appear strict, it is a common feature in statistical practice of extreme value analysis. The assumption permits simple elucidation of the connection between different representations for multivariate extremes. Furthermore, many statistical models, including elliptical distributions and vine copulas (Joe,, 1996; Bedford and Cooke,, 2001, 2002), are specified most readily in terms of their densities.

Convergence at the density level such as in (2.10) may not always hold. The condition requires the limit function and hence the gauge function of the limit set to be continuous, excluding limit sets for which rays from the origin cross the boundary in more than one point. We provide an example of such a situation in Section 4; see Example 4.1.2. A less restrictive set of sufficient conditions for convergence of sample clouds onto a limit set can be obtained using the survival function. The following proposition is Theorem 2.1 in Davis et al., (1988), with a minor reformulation in terms of scaling.

Proposition 3.

Suppose that the random vector 𝐗{\bm{X}} has support on [0,)d[0,\infty)^{d}, the margins are asymptotically equal to a von Mises function: 1Fj(x)eψ(x)1-F_{j}(x)\sim e^{-\psi(x)} for xx\to\infty (j=1,,dj=1,\ldots,d), and the joint survival function satisfies

log(𝑿t𝒙)ψ(t)g(𝒙),t,𝒙[0,)d{0}.\dfrac{-\log{\mathbb{P}}({\bm{X}}\geq t{\bm{x}})}{\psi(t)}\to g_{*}({\bm{x}}),\qquad t\to\infty,\qquad{\bm{x}}\in[0,\infty)^{d}\setminus\{0\}. (2.13)

Further assume that gg_{*} is strictly increasing, such that g(𝐱)<g(𝐲)g_{*}({\bm{x}})<g_{*}({\bm{y}}) if 𝐱𝐲{\bm{x}}\leq{\bm{y}} and 𝐱𝐲{\bm{x}}\neq{\bm{y}}. Then for rnr_{n} satisfying ψ(rn)logn\psi(r_{n})\sim\log n, the sample cloud Nn={𝐗1/rn,,𝐗n/rn}N_{n}=\{{\bm{X}}_{1}/r_{n},\ldots,{\bm{X}}_{n}/r_{n}\} converges onto G={𝐱[0,)d:g(𝐱)1}G=\{{\bm{x}}\in[0,\infty)^{d}:g_{*}({\bm{x}})\leq 1\}.

2.5.3 Marginalization

When d>2d>2, a key question is the marginalization from dimension dd to dimension m<dm<d. We prove below that, as long as the minimum over each coordinate of gg is well-defined, then the gauge function determining the limit set in mm dimensions is found through minimizing over the coordinates to be marginalized.

A continuous map hh from the vector space VV into the vector space V~\widetilde{V} is positive-homogeneous if h(r𝒙)=rh(𝒙)h(r{\bm{x}})=rh({\bm{x}}) for all 𝒙V{\bm{x}}\in V and all r>0r>0. If V~=m\widetilde{V}={\mathbb{R}}^{m}, the map hh is determined by the mm coordinate maps hj:Vh_{j}:V\to{\mathbb{R}}, j=1,,mj=1,\ldots,m and in this case it suffices that these maps are continuous and positive-homogeneous.

Convergence onto a limit set is preserved under linear transformations (e.g., Lemma 4.1 in Nolde, (2014)) and more generally under continuous positive-homogeneous maps with the same scaling sequences (Theorem 1.9 in Balkema and Nolde, (2020)). A consequence of the latter result, referred to as the Mapping Theorem, is that projections of sample clouds onto lower-dimensional sub-spaces also converge onto a limit set.

Proposition 4.

Let NnN_{n} be an nn-point sample cloud from a distribution of random vector 𝐗{\bm{X}} on d{\mathbb{R}}^{d}. Assume NnN_{n} converges in probability, as nn\to\infty, onto a limit set G={𝐱d:g(𝐱)1}G=\{{\bm{x}}\in{\mathbb{R}}^{d}:g({\bm{x}})\leq 1\} for a gauge function gg. Let 𝐗~=(Xi)iIm\widetilde{\bm{X}}=(X_{i})_{i\in I_{m}} denote an mm-dimensional marginal of 𝐗{\bm{X}}, where ImI={1,,d}I_{m}\subset I=\{1,\ldots,d\} is an index set with |Im|=m|I_{m}|=m. Sample clouds from 𝐗~\widetilde{\bm{X}} also converge, with the same scaling, and the limit set G~=Pm(G)={𝐲m:g~(𝐲)1}\tilde{G}=P_{m}(G)=\{{\bm{y}}\in{\mathbb{R}}^{m}:\tilde{g}({\bm{y}})\leq 1\}, where PmP_{m} is a projection map onto the coordinates of 𝐗~\widetilde{\bm{X}} and

g~(𝒚)=min{xi:iIIm}g(𝒙),𝒙=(x1,,xd),𝒚=(xi)iIm.\tilde{g}({\bm{y}})=\min_{\{x_{i}:i\in I\setminus I_{m}\}}g({\bm{x}}),\qquad{\bm{x}}=(x_{1},\ldots,x_{d}),\qquad{\bm{y}}=(x_{i})_{i\in I_{m}}.

Proof Consider the bivariate case first with 𝑿~=X2\widetilde{\bm{X}}=X_{2}. Sample clouds from X2X_{2} converge onto the limit set G~\tilde{G}\subset{\mathbb{R}}, which is the projection of GG onto the x1x_{1}-coordinate axis, by the Mapping Theorem. The projection is determined by the tangent to the level curve {𝒙2:g(𝒙)=1}\{{\bm{x}}\in{\mathbb{R}}^{2}:g({\bm{x}})=1\} orthogonal to the x1x_{1}-coordinate axis. Similarly, level curves of the gauge function g~\tilde{g} of the set G~\widetilde{G} are determined by tangents to the level curves {𝒙2:g(𝒙)=c}\{{\bm{x}}\in{\mathbb{R}}^{2}:g({\bm{x}})=c\} for c[0,1]c\in[0,1] orthogonal to the x1x_{1}-coordinate axis. These projections correspond to x1x_{1} values which minimize g(x1,x2)g(x_{1},x_{2}). Sequentially minimizing over each of the coordinates to be marginalized gives the result.   \square

An illustration of this result is given in Section 4.2.

3 Linking representations for extremes to the limit set

For simplicity of presentation, in what follows we standardize to consider exponential margins for the light-tailed case. This choice is convenient when there is positive association in the extremes, but hides structure related to negative dependence. We comment further on this case in Section 5. Owing to the standardized marginals, it makes sense to refer to the limit set, rather than a limit set.

Connections between multivariate and hidden regular variation are well established, with the latter requiring the former for proper definition. Some connection between regular variation and conditional extremes was made in Heffernan and Resnick, (2007) and Das and Resnick, (2011), although they did not specify to exponential-tailed margins. The shape of the limit set has been linked to the asymptotic (in)dependence structure of a random vector (Balkema and Nolde,, 2010, 2012). Asymptotic independence is related to the position of mass from convergence (2.1) on 𝔼\mathbb{E}, but regular variation and the existence of a limit set in suitable margins are different conditions and one need not imply the other. Nolde, (2014) links the limit set GG to the coefficient of residual tail dependence, ηD\eta_{D}.

In this section we present some new connections between the shape of the limit set, when it exists, and normalizing functions in conditional extreme value theory, the residual tail dependence coefficient, the function λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}) and the coefficients τC(δ)\tau_{C}(\delta).

3.1 Conditional extremes

For the conditional extreme value model, the form of the normalizing functions 𝒂j,𝒃j\bm{a}^{j},\bm{b}^{j} is determined by the pairwise dependencies between (XE,i,XE,j)(X_{E,i},X_{E,j}), iDji\in D\setminus j. The two-dimensional marginalization of any dd-dimensional gauge function is given by Proposition 4, and we simply denote this by gg here.

Proposition 5.

Suppose that for 𝐗E=(XE,1,XE,2)\bm{X}_{E}=(X_{E,1},X_{E,2}) convergence (2.9) and assumption (2.12) hold, where the domain of KjK^{j} includes (0,)(0,\infty). Define αj=limxaj(x)/x\alpha_{j}=\lim_{x\to\infty}a^{j}(x)/x, j=1,2j=1,2. Then

  1. (i)

    g(1,α1)=1g(1,\alpha_{1})=1, g(α2,1)=1g(\alpha_{2},1)=1.

  2. (ii)

    Suppose that logfE(t𝒙t)/t=g(𝒙t)+v(t)-\log f_{E}(t\bm{x}_{t})/t=g(\bm{x}_{t})+v(t), with v(t)RV1v(t)\in\mathrm{RV}_{-1}^{\infty} or v(t)=o(1/t)v(t)=o(1/t), and aj(t)=αjt+Bj(t)a^{j}(t)=\alpha_{j}t+B^{j}(t) with either Bj(t)/bj(t)RV0B^{j}(t)/b^{j}(t)\in\mathrm{RV}^{\infty}_{0}, or Bj(t)=o(bj(t))B^{j}(t)=o(b^{j}(t)). For β1,β21\beta_{1},\beta_{2}\leq 1, if g(1,α1+)1RV1/(1β1)0g(1,\alpha_{1}+\cdot)-1\in\mathrm{RV}_{1/(1-\beta_{1})}^{0}, then b1(x)RVβ1b^{1}(x)\in\mathrm{RV}_{\beta_{1}}^{\infty}; similarly if g(α2+,1)1RV1/(1β2)0g(\alpha_{2}+\cdot,1)-1\in\mathrm{RV}_{1/(1-\beta_{2})}^{0}, then b2(x)RVβ2b^{2}(x)\in\mathrm{RV}_{\beta_{2}}^{\infty}.

  3. (iii)

    If there are multiple values α\alpha satisfying g(1,α)=1g(1,\alpha)=1, then α1\alpha_{1} is the maximum such α\alpha, and likewise for α2\alpha_{2}.

Before the proof of Proposition 5, we give some geometric intuition. Figure 2 presents several examples of the unit level set of possible gauge functions, illustrating the shape of the limit set, for two-dimensional random vectors with exponential margins. On each figure, the slope of the red line indicates the value of α1\alpha_{1}; i.e., the equation of the red line is y=α1xy=\alpha_{1}x. Intuitively, conditional extreme value theory poses the question: “given that variable XX is growing, how does variable YY grow as a function of XX?”. We can now see that this is neatly described by the shape of the limit set: to first order, the values of YY occurring with large XX are determined by the direction for which XX is growing at its maximum rate. The necessity of a scale normalization in the conditional extreme value limit depends on the local curvature and particularly the rate at which g(α1+u,1)g(\alpha_{1}+u,1) approaches 1 as u0u\to 0. For cases (i), (iv), (v) and (vi) of Figure 2, the function approaches zero linearly in uu: as a consequence bj(t)RV0b^{j}(t)\in\mathrm{RV}_{0}^{\infty}. For case (ii) the order of decay is u2u^{2} and so bj(t)RV1/2b^{j}(t)\in\mathrm{RV}_{1/2}^{\infty}, whilst for (iii) the order is u1/θu^{1/\theta} so bj(t)RV1θb^{j}(t)\in\mathrm{RV}_{1-\theta}^{\infty}.

The class of distributions represented by gauge function (vi) (bottom left) can be thought of as those arising from a mixture of distributions with gauge functions (i) and (iii), up to differences in parameter values. In such an example, there are two normalizations that would lead to a non-degenerate limit in (2.8), but ruling out mass at infinity produces the unique choice α1=α2=1\alpha_{1}=\alpha_{2}=1, β1=β2=0\beta_{1}=\beta_{2}=0. If instead we chose to rule out mass at -\infty, then we would have α1=α2=0\alpha_{1}=\alpha_{2}=0 and β1=β2=1θ\beta_{1}=\beta_{2}=1-\theta.

Proof of Proposition 5.

In all cases we just prove one statement as the other follows analogously.
(i) By assumption (2.12), (XE,1,XE,2)(X_{E,1},X_{E,2}) have a joint density fEf_{E} and so conditional extremes convergence (2.9) can be expressed as

b1(t)fE(t,b1(t)z+a1(t))etk1(z)=:eh1(z),t,z[limta1(t)/b1(t),)b^{1}(t)f_{E}(t,b^{1}(t)z+a^{1}(t))e^{t}\to k^{1}(z)=:e^{-h^{1}(z)},\qquad t\to\infty,~{}~{}~{}z\in[\lim_{t\to\infty}-a^{1}(t)/b^{1}(t),\infty)

with k1=eh1k^{1}=e^{-h^{1}} a density. Taking logs, we have

logfE(t,b1(t)z+a1(t))tlogb1(t)h1(z),t.\displaystyle-\log f_{E}(t,b^{1}(t)z+a^{1}(t))-t-\log b^{1}(t)\to h^{1}(z),\qquad t\to\infty. (3.14)

Now use assumption (2.12) with 𝒙t=(1,xt)=(1,a1(t)/t+zb1(t)/t)\bm{x}_{t}=(1,x_{t})=(1,a^{1}(t)/t+zb^{1}(t)/t). That is,

logfE(t,b1(t)z+a1(t))=tg(1,x)[1+o(1)]=tg(1,xt)[1+o(1)],\displaystyle-\log f_{E}(t,b^{1}(t)z+a^{1}(t))=tg(1,x)[1+o(1)]=tg(1,x_{t})[1+o(1)], (3.15)

with x=limta1(t)/t+zb1(t)/tx=\lim_{t\to\infty}a^{1}(t)/t+zb^{1}(t)/t. As the support of K1K^{1} includes (0,)(0,\infty), h1(z)<h^{1}(z)<\infty for all z(0,)z\in(0,\infty), and combining (3.14) and (3.15) we have

g(1,xt)[1+o(1)]=1+h1(z)/t+logb1(t)/t+o(1/t).\displaystyle g(1,x_{t})[1+o(1)]=1+h^{1}(z)/t+\log b^{1}(t)/t+o(1/t). (3.16)

Suppose that b1(t)/tγ>0b^{1}(t)/t\to\gamma>0. Then xtα1+γzx_{t}\to\alpha_{1}+\gamma z, and taking tt\to\infty in (3.16) leads to g(1,α1+γz)=1g(1,\alpha_{1}+\gamma z)=1 for any zz. But since the coordinatewise supremum of GG is (1,1)(1,1), g(x,y)max(x,y)g(x,y)\geq\max(x,y) which would entail z(1α1)/γz\leq(1-\alpha_{1})/\gamma. No such upper bound applies, so we conclude γ=0\gamma=0, i.e., b1(t)=o(t)b^{1}(t)=o(t). Now taking limits in (3.16) leads to g(1,α1)=1.g(1,\alpha_{1})=1.

(ii) Let g(1,α1+u)1=:r(u)RVρ0g(1,\alpha_{1}+u)-1=:r(u)\in\mathrm{RV}_{\rho}^{0}, ρ>0\rho>0. We also have from (3.16) g(1,α1+b1(t)/t+B1(t)/t)1=h1(1)/t+logb1(t)/tv(t)+o(1/t)g(1,\alpha_{1}+b^{1}(t)/t+B^{1}(t)/t)-1=h^{1}(1)/t+\log b^{1}(t)/t-v(t)+o(1/t), so that the function b1(t)b^{1}(t) is a solution to the equation

r(b1(t)/t+B1(t)/t)=h1(1)/t+logb1(t)/tv(t)+o(1/t).\displaystyle r(b^{1}(t)/t+B^{1}(t)/t)=h^{1}(1)/t+\log b^{1}(t)/t-v(t)+o(1/t). (3.17)

Equation (3.17) admits a solution if b1b^{1} is regularly varying at infinity. A rearrangement provides that

b1(t)=tr1(h1(1)/t+logb1(t)/tv(t)+o(1/t))[1+B1(t)/b1(t)]1;\displaystyle b^{1}(t)=tr^{-1}(h^{1}(1)/t+\log b^{1}(t)/t-v(t)+o(1/t))[1+B^{1}(t)/b^{1}(t)]^{-1};

if b1b^{1} is regularly varying then logb1(t)/tRV1\log b^{1}(t)/t\in\mathrm{RV}_{-1}^{\infty}, so that using the fact that v(t)RV1v(t)\in\mathrm{RV}_{-1}^{\infty} or v(t)=o(1/t)v(t)=o(1/t), combined with r1RV1/ρ0r^{-1}\in\mathrm{RV}_{1/\rho}^{0}, yields b1(t)RV11/ρb^{1}(t)\in\mathrm{RV}_{1-1/\rho}^{\infty}. We now argue that such a solution is unique in this context. We know that the normalization functions a1,b1a^{1},b^{1} lead to a non-degenerate distribution K1K^{1} that places no mass at infinity. By the convergence to types theorem (Leadbetter et al., (1983, p.7), see also part (iii) of this proof), any other function b~1\tilde{b}^{1} leading to a non-degenerate limit with no mass at infinity must satisfy b~1(t)db1(t)\tilde{b}^{1}(t)\sim db^{1}(t), tt\to\infty, for some d>0d>0, so that b~1RV11/ρ\tilde{b}^{1}\in\mathrm{RV}_{1-1/\rho}^{\infty} also. Finally, setting β1=11/ρ\beta_{1}=1-1/\rho gives b1RVβ1b^{1}\in\mathrm{RV}_{\beta_{1}}^{\infty}.

(iii) Suppose that

(XE,2a1(t)b1(t)z|XE,1>t)K1(z),(XE,2a~1(t)b~1(t)z|XE,1>t)K~1(z),{\mathbb{P}}\left(\frac{X_{E,2}-a^{1}(t)}{b^{1}(t)}\leq z\big{|}X_{E,1}>t\right)\to K^{1}(z),~{}~{}~{}~{}{\mathbb{P}}\left(\frac{X_{E,2}-\tilde{a}^{1}(t)}{\tilde{b}^{1}(t)}\leq z\big{|}X_{E,1}>t\right)\to\tilde{K}^{1}(z),

where neither K1K^{1} nor K~1\tilde{K}^{1} has mass at ++\infty. Then by the convergence to types theorem, a~1(t)=a1(t)+cb1(t)+o(b1(t))\tilde{a}^{1}(t)=a^{1}(t)+cb^{1}(t)+o(b^{1}(t)) and b~1(t)=db1(t)+o(b1(t))\tilde{b}^{1}(t)=db^{1}(t)+o(b^{1}(t)), for some d>0d>0, and K~1(z)=K1(z/d+c)\tilde{K}^{1}(z)=K^{1}(z/d+c). As such, a~1(t)/ta1(t)/tα1\tilde{a}^{1}(t)/t\sim a^{1}(t)/t\sim\alpha_{1}. We conclude that if there was a non-degenerate K~1\tilde{K}^{1} limit for which a~1(t)/tα~1>α1\tilde{a}^{1}(t)/t\sim\tilde{\alpha}_{1}>\alpha_{1} then K1K^{1} must place mass at ++\infty; since by assumption it does not, then α1\alpha_{1} is the maximum value satisfying g(1,α1)=1g(1,\alpha_{1})=1.   \square

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Figure 2: Unit level sets of six possible gauge functions for bivariate random vectors with exponential margins. The limit set GG is the set bounded by these level sets and the axes. In each case the red line is y=α1xy=\alpha_{1}x, the blue lines represent λ(ω,1ω)\lambda(\omega,1-\omega) and dots η1,2\eta_{1,2} (see Section 3.2). Dashed lines represent the boundary max(x,y)=1\max(x,y)=1. Clockwise from top left, the gauge functions represented are: (i) max(x,y)/θ+(11/θ)min(x,y)\max(x,y)/\theta+(1-1/\theta)\min(x,y); (ii) (x+y2θxy)/(1θ2)(x+y-2\theta\sqrt{xy})/(1-\theta^{2}); (iii) (x1/θ+y1/θ)θ(x^{1/\theta}+y^{1/\theta})^{\theta}; (iv) max{(xy)/θ,(yx)/θ,min(xμy,yμx)/(1θμ)}\max\{(x-y)/\theta,(y-x)/\theta,\min(x-\mu y,y-\mu x)/(1-\theta-\mu)\}; (v) max((xy)/θ,(yx)/θ,(x+y)/(2θ))\max((x-y)/\theta,(y-x)/\theta,(x+y)/(2-\theta)); (vi) min{max(x,y)/θ1+(11/θ1)min(x,y),(x1/θ2+y1/θ2)θ2}\min\{\max(x,y)/\theta_{1}+(1-1/\theta_{1})\min(x,y),(x^{1/\theta_{2}}+y^{1/\theta_{2}})^{\theta_{2}}\}. In each case θ(0,1)\theta\in(0,1); in some cases the endpoints are permitted as well. For case (iv), θ+μ<1\theta+\mu<1.

For distributions whose sample clouds converge onto a limit set described by a gauge function with piecewise-continuous partial derivatives possessing finite left and right limits, further detail can be given about βj\beta_{j}.

Proposition 6.

Let GG be a limit set whose gauge function gg has piecewise-continuous partial derivatives g1(x,y)=g(x,y)/xg_{1}(x,y)=\partial g(x,y)/\partial x, g2(x,y)=g(x,y)/yg_{2}(x,y)=\partial g(x,y)/\partial y possessing finite left and right limits, and for which the conditions of Proposition 5 hold. Then (i) β10\beta_{1}\geq 0 if g2(1,(α1)+)=0g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+})=0; (ii) β1=0\beta_{1}=0 if 0<g2(1,(α1)+)<0<g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+})<\infty. Further, if α1>0\alpha_{1}>0 then 0g2(1,(α1)+)<0\leq g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+})<\infty, so that β10\beta_{1}\geq 0. Analogous statements hold for α2,β2\alpha_{2},\beta_{2}.

Proof.

Consider the partial derivative

g2(1,(α1)+)=limu0+g(1,α1+u)g(1,α1)u0,g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+})=\lim_{u\to 0^{+}}\frac{g(1,\alpha_{1}+u)-g(1,\alpha_{1})}{u}\geq 0,

as g(1,α1+u)g(1,α1)g(1,\alpha_{1}+u)\geq g(1,\alpha_{1}). We note g(1,α1)=1g(1,\alpha_{1})=1, such that g(1,α1+u)1ug2(1,(α1)+)g(1,\alpha_{1}+u)-1\sim ug_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+}), u0+u\to 0^{+}. Since this is regularly varying with index 1/(1β1)1/(1-\beta_{1}) by assumption, g2(1,(α1)+)=0g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+})=0 implies g(1,α1+u)1=o(u)g(1,\alpha_{1}+u)-1=o(u), hence 1/(1β1)11/(1-\beta_{1})\geq 1, and 0<g2(1,(α1)+)<0<g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+})<\infty implies 1/(1β1)=11/(1-\beta_{1})=1, so (i) and (ii) follow. If gg is differentiable at the point (1,α1)(1,\alpha_{1}), then since g(1,y)1g(1,y)\geq 1, g2(1,(α1)+)=g2(1,(α1))=0g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+})=g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{-})=0 and (i) holds. Otherwise, in a neighbourhood of (1,α1)(1,\alpha_{1}), we can express

g(x,y)={g^(x,y),yα1xg~(x,y),yα1x,\displaystyle g(x,y)=\begin{cases}\hat{g}(x,y),&y\leq\alpha_{1}x\\ \tilde{g}(x,y),&y\geq\alpha_{1}x,\end{cases}

where the homogeneous functions g~\tilde{g} and g^\hat{g} have continuous partial derivatives at (1,α1)(1,\alpha_{1}). Euler’s homogeneous function theorem gives 1=g~1(1,α1)+g~2(1,α1)α1=g1(1,α1)+α1g2(1,(α1)+)1=\tilde{g}_{1}(1,\alpha_{1})+\tilde{g}_{2}(1,\alpha_{1})\alpha_{1}=g_{1}(1_{-},\alpha_{1})+\alpha_{1}g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+}) so that for α1>0\alpha_{1}>0, g2(1,(α1)+)<g_{2}(1,(\alpha_{1})_{+})<\infty, and hence (i) or (ii) hold.   \square

We remark on links with existing work on conditional extreme value limits for variables with a polar-type representation, whereby (X1,X2)=R(W1,W2)(X_{1},X_{2})=R(W_{1},W_{2}) for R>0R>0 and (W1,W2)(W_{1},W_{2}) constrained by some functional dependence. Abdous et al., (2005), Fougères and Soulier, (2010) and Seifert, (2014) consider a type of conditional extremes limit for certain such polar constructions, where in the light-tailed case, the shape of the constraint on (W1,W2)(W_{1},W_{2}) feeds into the normalization and limit distribution. However, limit sets are sensitive to marginal choice, and because the above papers do not consider conditional extreme value limits in standardized exponential-tailed margins, further connections are limited.

3.2 Different scaling orders: λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega})

We now focus on the connection with λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}), as defined in Section 2.3. When 𝝎=(1/d,,1/d)\bm{\omega}=(1/d,\ldots,1/d), this yields the link with the residual tail dependence coefficient ηD\eta_{D}, which has already been considered in Nolde, (2014). Define the region

R𝝎=(ω1max(ω1,,ωd),]××(ωdmax(ω1,,ωd),].R_{\bm{\omega}}=\left(\frac{\omega_{1}}{\max(\omega_{1},\ldots,\omega_{d})},\infty\right]\times\cdots\times\left(\frac{\omega_{d}}{\max(\omega_{1},\ldots,\omega_{d})},\infty\right].
Proposition 7.

Suppose that the sample cloud Nn={𝐗E1/logn,,𝐗En/logn}N_{n}=\{\bm{X}_{E}^{1}/\log n,\ldots,\bm{X}_{E}^{n}/\log n\} converges onto a limit set GG, and that for each 𝛚𝒮Σ\bm{\omega}\in\mathcal{S}_{\Sigma}, equation (2.7) holds. Then

λ(𝝎)=max(𝝎)×r𝝎1,\lambda(\bm{\omega})=\max(\bm{\omega})\times r_{\bm{\omega}}^{-1},

where

r𝝎=min{r[0,1]:rR𝝎G=}.r_{\bm{\omega}}=\min\left\{r\in[0,1]:rR_{\bm{\omega}}\cap G=\emptyset\right\}.
Corollary 1 (Nolde, (2014)).
1/ηD=dλ(1/d,,1/d)=r(1/d,,1/d)1=[min{r[0,1]:(r,]dG=}]1.1/\eta_{D}=d\lambda(1/d,\ldots,1/d)=r_{(1/d,\ldots,1/d)}^{-1}=\left[\min\left\{r\in[0,1]:\left(r,\infty\right]^{d}\cap G=\emptyset\right\}\right]^{-1}.
Proof of Proposition 7.

The proof follows very similar lines to Proposition 2.1 of Nolde, (2014). Firstly note that λ(𝝎)=κ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega})=\kappa(\bm{\omega}), where κ:[0,)d{𝟎}(0,)\kappa:[0,\infty)^{d}\setminus\{\bm{0}\}\to(0,\infty) is a 1-homogeneous function defined by

(𝑿E>𝜷t)=(et;𝜷)etκ(𝜷),(;𝜷)RV0for every𝜷[0,)d{𝟎}.{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}>\bm{\beta}t)=\ell(e^{t};\bm{\beta})e^{-t\kappa(\bm{\beta})},\qquad\ell(\cdot;\bm{\beta})\in\mathrm{RV}_{0}^{\infty}~{}\text{for every}~{}\bm{\beta}\in[0,\infty)^{d}\setminus\{\bm{0}\}.

As a consequence,

λ(𝝎)max(𝝎)=limtlog{𝑿E>t𝝎/max(𝝎)}/t.\displaystyle\frac{\lambda(\bm{\omega})}{\max(\bm{\omega})}=\lim_{t\to\infty}-\log{\mathbb{P}}\{\bm{X}_{E}>t\bm{\omega}/\max(\bm{\omega})\}/t. (3.18)

Without loss of generality, suppose that max(𝝎)=ωd\max(\bm{\omega})=\omega_{d}, so that R𝝎=(ω1/ωd,]××(ωd1/ωd,]×(1,]R_{\bm{\omega}}=(\omega_{1}/\omega_{d},\infty]\times\cdots\times(\omega_{d-1}/\omega_{d},\infty]\times(1,\infty]. Because of the convergence of the sample cloud onto GG, we have by Proposition 1 that for any ϵ>0\epsilon>0 and large enough tt

(𝑿Eteϵr𝝎R𝝎)(𝑿EtR(0,,0,1))=et(𝑿Eteϵr𝝎R𝝎),{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}\in te^{\epsilon}r_{\bm{\omega}}R_{\bm{\omega}})\leq{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}\in tR_{(0,\ldots,0,1)})=e^{-t}\leq{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}\in te^{-\epsilon}r_{\bm{\omega}}R_{\bm{\omega}}),

implying log(𝑿Etr𝝎R𝝎)t-\log{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}\in tr_{\bm{\omega}}R_{\bm{\omega}})\sim t. Therefore log(𝑿EtR𝝎)tr𝝎1-\log{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}\in tR_{\bm{\omega}})\sim tr_{\bm{\omega}}^{-1}, and combining with equation (3.18) gives the result.

\square

Figure 3 illustrates some of the concepts used in the proof of Proposition 7 when d=2d=2 and 𝝎=(ω,1ω)\bm{\omega}=(\omega,1-\omega).

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Figure 3: Illustration of the concepts used in the proof of Proposition 7: the green line represents the ray x={ω/(1ω)}yx=\{\omega/(1-\omega)\}y, ω<1/2\omega<1/2. The region above the purple line represents R(0,1)R_{(0,1)}, the region to the north-east of the thick dotted blue lines represents rωRωr_{\omega}R_{\omega}, whilst the two sets of thin dotted blue lines illustrate the regions eϵrωRωe^{-\epsilon}r_{\omega}R_{\omega} and eϵrωRωe^{\epsilon}r_{\omega}R_{\omega}. The ratio of the distance from the origin to where the green line intersects the boundary of the limit set GG, and where the green line intersects the boundary max(x,y)=1\max(x,y)=1, is equal to rωr_{\omega}.

The blue lines in Figure 2 represent λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}), depicting the unit level set of λ(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)\lambda(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega), and the dots illustrate the value of r1/2=η1,2r_{1/2}=\eta_{1,2}. We can now see clearly how, in two dimensions, different dependence features are picked out by the conditional extremes representation and hidden regular variation based on η1,2\eta_{1,2}. Often, values of η1,2>1/2\eta_{1,2}>1/2 or α>0\alpha>0 are associated with positive extremal dependence. From example (iv) of Figure 2 (bottom right), we observe η1,2<1/2\eta_{1,2}<1/2 but α>0\alpha>0. We have that YY does grow with XX (and vice versa) but only at a specific rate. On the other hand, joint extremes, where (X,Y)(X,Y) take similar values, are rare, occurring less frequently than under independence.

From example (iv) we can also see that one of the conclusions following Proposition 2.1 in Nolde, (2014) is not true: the point (r1/2,r1/2)(r_{1/2},r_{1/2}) need not lie on the boundary of GG, meaning that we do not necessarily have ηD=1/g(𝟏)\eta_{D}=1/g(\bm{1}), although we can deduce the bound ηD1/g(𝟏)\eta_{D}\geq 1/g(\bm{1}). Similarly, there are occasions when g(r𝝎𝝎/max(𝝎))=1g(r_{\bm{\omega}}\bm{\omega}/\max(\bm{\omega}))=1, implying λ(𝝎)=g(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega})=g(\bm{\omega}), but clearly this is not always true. In Proposition 8, we resolve when this is the case by representing r𝝎r_{\bm{\omega}} in terms of gg.

Define B𝝎B_{\bm{\omega}} to be the boundary of the region R𝝎R_{\bm{\omega}}, i.e.,

B𝝎=i=1d{𝒙+d:xi=ωi/max(𝝎),xjωj/max(𝝎),ji}.B_{\bm{\omega}}=\bigcup_{i=1}^{d}\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:x_{i}=\omega_{i}/\max(\bm{\omega}),x_{j}\geq\omega_{j}/\max(\bm{\omega}),j\neq i\}.
Proposition 8.

Assume the conditions of Proposition 7. Then

r𝝎=[min𝒚B𝝎g(𝒚)]1,and henceλ(𝝎)=max(𝝎)×min𝒚B𝝎g(𝒚).r_{\bm{\omega}}=\left[\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\bm{\omega}}}g(\bm{y})\right]^{-1},~{}~{}~{}\text{and hence}~{}~{}~{}\lambda(\bm{\omega})=\max(\bm{\omega})\times\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\bm{\omega}}}g(\bm{y}).

From Proposition 8, we observe that λ(𝝎)=g(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega})=g(\bm{\omega}) if argminyB𝝎g(𝒚)=𝝎/max(𝝎)\arg\min_{y\in B_{\bm{\omega}}}g(\bm{y})=\bm{\omega}/\max(\bm{\omega}), i.e., the vertex of the set B𝝎B_{\bm{\omega}}. The proof of Proposition 8 is deferred until after Proposition 11, for which the proof is very similar.

Remark 2.

We note that min𝒚B𝝎g(𝒚)=min𝒚R𝝎g(𝒚)\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\bm{\omega}}}g(\bm{y})=\min_{\bm{y}\in R_{\bm{\omega}}}g(\bm{y}).

3.3 Coefficients τC(δ)\tau_{C}(\delta)

3.3.1 Connections to limit set GG

In two dimensions, the coefficients τ1(δ)\tau_{1}(\delta) and τ2(δ)\tau_{2}(\delta) provide a somewhat complementary concept to the function λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}). Rather than considering the impact of the limit set GG on the shape of the function defined by both variables exceeding thresholds growing at different rates, we are considering what is occurring when one variable exceeds a growing threshold and the other is upper bounded by a certain lesser growth rate. The left and centre panels in Figure 4 provide an illustration of λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}) and τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta) in two dimensions.

Define the region RC,δ=(1,]C×[0,δ]DC={𝒙:xi(1,],iC,xj[0,δ],jDC}R_{C,\delta}=(1,\infty]^{C}\times[0,\delta]^{D\setminus C}=\{\bm{x}:x_{i}\in(1,\infty],i\in C,x_{j}\in[0,\delta],j\in D\setminus C\}, so that, for example, when d=3d=3, R{1,3},δ=(1,]×[0,δ]×(1,]R_{\{1,3\},\delta}=(1,\infty]\times[0,\delta]\times(1,\infty].

Proposition 9.

Suppose that the sample cloud Nn={𝐗E1/logn,,𝐗En/logn}N_{n}=\{\bm{X}_{E}^{1}/\log n,\ldots,\bm{X}_{E}^{n}/\log n\} converges onto a limit set GG, and that the assumption in equation (2.6) holds. For δ[0,1]\delta\in[0,1], and CDC\subset D,

τC(δ)\displaystyle\tau_{C}(\delta) =rC,δ=min{r[0,1]:rRC,δG=}.\displaystyle=r_{C,\delta}=\min\left\{r\in[0,1]:rR_{C,\delta}\cap G=\emptyset\right\}.

The coefficient τD=ηD\tau_{D}=\eta_{D}, and does not depend on δ\delta.

Proof.

The coefficient τD\tau_{D} describes the order of hidden regular variation on the cone (0,]d(0,\infty]^{d}, which is precisely the same as ηD\eta_{D}. For τC(δ)\tau_{C}(\delta), |C|<d|C|<d, we consider the function of tt

(miniCXP,i>tx,maxjDCXP,jytδ)RV1/τC(δ),0<x,y<.\displaystyle{\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i}>tx,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{P,j}\leq yt^{\delta})\in\mathrm{RV}_{-1/\tau_{C}(\delta)}^{\infty},\qquad 0<x,y<\infty.

Take x=y=1x=y=1. Then

τC(δ)\displaystyle\tau_{C}(\delta) =limtlog(XP,1>t)log(miniCXP,i>t,maxjDCXP,jtδ)\displaystyle=\lim_{t\to\infty}\frac{-\log{\mathbb{P}}(X_{P,1}>t)}{-\log{\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i}>t,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{P,j}\leq t^{\delta})}
=limtlog(XE,1>t)log(miniCXE,i>t,maxjDCXE,jδt),\displaystyle=\lim_{t\to\infty}\frac{-\log{\mathbb{P}}(X_{E,1}>t)}{-\log{\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{E,i}>t,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{E,j}\leq\delta t)}, (3.19)

where the denominator in (3.19) can be expressed log(𝑿EtRδ)-\log{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}\in tR_{\delta}). As in the proof of Proposition 7, the convergence onto the limit set and exponential margins enables us to conclude that log(𝑿EtrC,δRδ)t-\log{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}\in tr_{C,\delta}R_{\delta})\sim t, and hence log(𝑿EtRδ)trC,δ1-\log{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}\in tR_{\delta})\sim tr_{C,\delta}^{-1}. Combining with (3.19) gives τC(δ)=rC,δ\tau_{C}(\delta)=r_{C,\delta}.   \square

In the two-dimensional case, it is possible to express τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta) simply in terms of the gauge function. For higher dimensions, we refer to Proposition 11.

Proposition 10.

Assume the conditions of Proposition 9. When d=2d=2, τ1(δ)=[minγ[0,δ]g(1,γ)]1\tau_{1}(\delta)=[\min_{\gamma\in[0,\delta]}g(1,\gamma)]^{-1} and τ2(δ)=[minγ[0,δ]g(γ,1)]1\tau_{2}(\delta)=[\min_{\gamma\in[0,\delta]}g(\gamma,1)]^{-1}.

Proof.

For γ[0,1]\gamma\in[0,1], the points (1/g(1,γ),γ/g(1,γ))\left(1/g(1,\gamma),\gamma/g(1,\gamma)\right) lie on the curve {(x,y)[0,1]2:g(x,y)=1,xy}\{(x,y)\in[0,1]^{2}:g(x,y)=1,x\geq y\}. The value r1,δr_{1,\delta} is the maximum value of 1/g(1,γ)1/g(1,\gamma) for γ[0,δ]\gamma\in[0,\delta], hence τ1(δ)=[minγ[0,δ]g(1,γ)]1\tau_{1}(\delta)=[\min_{\gamma\in[0,\delta]}g(1,\gamma)]^{-1}. A symmetric argument applies to τ2(δ)\tau_{2}(\delta).   \square

The right panel of Figure 4 provides an illustration: in blue the value of δ\delta is such that τ1(δ)<1\tau_{1}(\delta)<1; in red the value of δ\delta is such that τ2(δ)=1\tau_{2}(\delta)=1. Further detail on this example is given in Section 4.1.6.

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Figure 4: Illustration of λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}) and τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta) for the gauge function g(x,y)=max{(xy)/θ,(yx)/θ,(x+y)/(2θ)}g(x,y)=\max\{(x-y)/\theta,(y-x)/\theta,(x+y)/(2-\theta)\}. The left panel illustrates λ(ω,1ω)\lambda(\omega,1-\omega) in blue. The centre panel illustrates τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta) in purple: τ1(δ),δ[0,1]\tau_{1}(\delta),\delta\in[0,1] is represented by the values below the main diagonal, whilst τ2(δ)\tau_{2}(\delta) is represented by those values above. The set GG is added on both panels with dashed lines. The right panel illustrates τ1(δ)\tau_{1}(\delta) and τ2(δ)\tau_{2}(\delta) in terms of the gauge function.

The question arises: does Proposition 10 still hold for d>2,|C|=1d>2,|C|=1? Let gCg_{C} denote the gauge function for the limit set of (XE,j:jC)(X_{E,j}:j\in C). By Proposition 4, we know that gi,j(xi,xj)=min𝒙i,j[0,)d2gD(𝒙)g_{i,j}(x_{i},x_{j})=\min_{\bm{x}_{-i,-j}\in[0,\infty)^{d-2}}g_{D}(\bm{x}). As such, equality will hold if argmin𝒙i,j[0,)d2gD(𝒙)[0,δ]d2\arg\min_{\bm{x}_{-i,-j}\in[0,\infty)^{d-2}}g_{D}(\bm{x})\in[0,\delta]^{d-2}. Note that the dimension does indeed play a key role here: when looking at τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta) for a dd-dimensional problem, we are looking at the situation where d1d-1 coordinates are upper bounded by a growth rate determined by δ\delta. In contrast, when marginalizing and looking at τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta) for a 2-dimensional problem, the d2d-2 coordinates that we have marginalized over are unrestricted and so can represent small or large values. As such, the answer to our question is negative in general.

Proposition 11 details the precise value of τC(δ)\tau_{C}(\delta) in terms of gg for any dimension dd. In a similar spirit to Section 3.2, define the boundary of the region RC,δR_{C,\delta} as

BC,δ=BC,δ1BC,δδ,B_{C,\delta}=B_{C,\delta}^{1}\cup B_{C,\delta}^{\delta},

where

BC,δ1\displaystyle B_{C,\delta}^{1} =iC{𝒙+d:xi=1,xj1jCi,xkδkDC}\displaystyle=\bigcup_{i\in C}\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:x_{i}=1,x_{j}\geq 1~{}\forall j\in C\setminus i,~{}x_{k}\leq\delta~{}\forall k\in D\setminus C\}
BC,δδ\displaystyle B_{C,\delta}^{\delta} =iDC{𝒙+d:xi=δ,xjδj(DC)i,xk1kC},\displaystyle=\bigcup_{i\in D\setminus C}\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:x_{i}=\delta,x_{j}\leq\delta~{}\forall j\in(D\setminus C)\setminus i,~{}x_{k}\geq 1~{}\forall k\in C\},

so, for example, when d=3d=3,

B{1,3},δ={𝒙+3:x1=1,x2δ,x31}{𝒙+3:x11,x2=δ,x31}{𝒙+3:x11,x2δ,x3=1}.B_{\{1,3\},\delta}=\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{3}_{+}:x_{1}=1,x_{2}\leq\delta,x_{3}\geq 1\}\cup\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{3}_{+}:x_{1}\geq 1,x_{2}=\delta,x_{3}\geq 1\}\cup\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{3}_{+}:x_{1}\geq 1,x_{2}\leq\delta,x_{3}=1\}.

For C=DC=D, RD=(1,]dR_{D}=(1,\infty]^{d}, and BD={𝒙:min(𝒙)=1}B_{D}=\{\bm{x}:\min(\bm{x})=1\}.

Proposition 11.

Assume the conditions of Proposition 9. For any CDC\subseteq D,

τC(δ)=[min𝒚BC,δg(𝒚)]1=[min𝒚BC,δ1g(𝒚)]1.\tau_{C}(\delta)=\left[\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}}g(\bm{y})\right]^{-1}=\left[\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}^{1}}g(\bm{y})\right]^{-1}.
Proof.

The vertex of the region RC,δR_{C,\delta}, or its boundary BC,δB_{C,\delta}, which has components 1 on the coordinates indexed by CC, and δ\delta in the other coordinates, lies on 𝒮:={𝒙+d:max(𝒙)=1}\mathcal{S}_{\vee}:=\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:\max(\bm{x})=1\}. The region G𝒮G\subseteq\mathcal{S}_{\vee}, and because the coordinatewise supremum of GG is 𝟏\bm{1}, the boundary of GG intersects with 𝒮\mathcal{S}_{\vee}. Now consider scaling the region RC,δR_{C,\delta} by rC,δ(0,1]r_{C,\delta}\in(0,1] until it intersects with GG. The point of intersection must lie on the boundary of the scaled region rC,δRC,δr_{C,\delta}R_{C,\delta}, i.e., on rC,δBC,δr_{C,\delta}B_{C,\delta}, and on the boundary of GG, {𝒙+d:g(𝒙)=1}\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:g(\bm{x})=1\}. Therefore, there exists 𝒙BC,δ\bm{x}^{\star}\in B_{C,\delta} such that g(rC,δ𝒙)=1g(r_{C,\delta}\bm{x}^{\star})=1, which is rearranged to give τC(δ)=rC,δ=1/g(𝒙)\tau_{C}(\delta)=r_{C,\delta}=1/g(\bm{x}^{\star}). Furthermore, we must have that such a point 𝒙=argmin𝒚BC,δg(𝒚)\bm{x}^{\star}=\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}}g(\bm{y}), otherwise there exists some 𝒙BC,δ\bm{x}^{\prime}\in B_{C,\delta} such that g(𝒙)<g(𝒙)g(\bm{x}^{\prime})<g(\bm{x}^{\star}) and so g(rC,δ𝒙)<1g(r_{C,\delta}\bm{x}^{\prime})<1, meaning that rC,δmin{r(0,1]:rRC,δG=}r_{C,\delta}\neq\min\{r\in(0,1]:rR_{C,\delta}\cap G=\emptyset\}. We conclude that 𝒙=argmin𝒚BC,δg(𝒚)\bm{x}^{\star}=\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}}g(\bm{y}), so τC(δ)=1/min𝒚BC,δg(𝒚)\tau_{C}(\delta)=1/\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}}g(\bm{y}).

To show that argmin𝒚BC,δg(𝒚)BC,δ1\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}}g(\bm{y})\in B_{C,\delta}^{1}, let 𝒙¯=argmin𝒚BC,δ1g(𝒚)\bar{\bm{x}}=\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}^{1}}g(\bm{y}), 𝒙~=argmin𝒚BC,δδg(𝒚)\tilde{\bm{x}}=\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}^{\delta}}g(\bm{y}), and let x~l=minkCx~k1\tilde{x}_{l}=\min_{k\in C}\tilde{x}_{k}\geq 1. Then g(𝒙~)=x~lg(𝒙~/x~l)g(\tilde{\bm{x}})=\tilde{x}_{l}g(\tilde{\bm{x}}/\tilde{x}_{l}), but 𝒙~/x~lBC,δ1\tilde{\bm{x}}/\tilde{x}_{l}\in B_{C,\delta}^{1}, so g(𝒙~/x~l)g(𝒙¯)g(\tilde{\bm{x}}/\tilde{x}_{l})\geq g(\bar{\bm{x}}) and hence x~lg(𝒙~/x~l)g(𝒙¯)\tilde{x}_{l}g(\tilde{\bm{x}}/\tilde{x}_{l})\geq g(\bar{\bm{x}}) as x~l1\tilde{x}_{l}\geq 1.   \square

When d=2d=2 and |C|=1|C|=1, we note that B{j},δ1={𝒙:xj=1,xiδ}B_{\{j\},\delta}^{1}=\{\bm{x}:x_{j}=1,x_{i}\leq\delta\}, which gives the equality in Proposition 10.

Proof of Proposition 8.

The proof follows exactly as for the first equality in Proposition 11, replacing RC,δ,BC,δR_{C,\delta},B_{C,\delta} and rC,δr_{C,\delta} with R𝝎,B𝝎R_{\bm{\omega}},B_{\bm{\omega}} and r𝝎r_{\bm{\omega}}.   \square

3.3.2 Estimation of coefficients τC(δ)\tau_{C}(\delta)

When C=DC=D, equation (2.6) yields (miniDXP,i>t)RV1/τD{\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in D}X_{P,i}>t)\in\mathrm{RV}^{\infty}_{-1/\tau_{D}}, implying that τD\tau_{D} can be estimated as the reciprocal of the tail index of the so-called structure variable miniDXP,i\min_{i\in D}X_{P,i}. This is identical to estimating the residual tail dependence coefficient ηD\eta_{D}, for which the Hill estimator is commonly employed. However, for CC with |C|<d|C|<d, we assume (miniCXP,i>t,maxjDCXP,j<tδ)RV1/τC(δ){\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i}>t,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{P,j}<t^{\delta})\in\mathrm{RV}^{\infty}_{-1/\tau_{C}(\delta)}, but this representation does not lend itself immediately to an estimation strategy, as there is no longer a simple structure variable for which 1/τC(δ)1/\tau_{C}(\delta) is the tail index.

In order to allow estimation, Simpson et al., (2020) considered (miniCXP,i>t,maxjDCXP,j<(miniCXP,i)δ){\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i}>t,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{P,j}<(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i})^{\delta}), but they only offered empirical evidence that the assumed index of regular variation for this probability was the same as in equation (2.6). We now prove this to be the case.

Define RC,δx={𝒙+d:xi>1,iC,xjδminlCxl,jDC}R_{C,\delta}^{x}=\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:x_{i}>1,i\in C,~{}x_{j}\leq\delta\min_{l\in C}x_{l},j\in D\setminus C\}, and BC,δx=BC,δx,1BC,δx,δB_{C,\delta}^{x}=B_{C,\delta}^{x,1}\cup B_{C,\delta}^{x,\delta} to be its boundary, where

BC,δx,1=BC,δ1\displaystyle B_{C,\delta}^{x,1}=B_{C,\delta}^{1} =iC{𝒙+d:xi=1,xj1jCi,xkδminlCxl=δkDC}\displaystyle=\bigcup_{i\in C}\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:x_{i}=1,x_{j}\geq 1~{}\forall j\in C\setminus i,~{}x_{k}\leq\delta\min_{l\in C}x_{l}=\delta~{}\forall k\in D\setminus C\}
BC,δx,δ\displaystyle B_{C,\delta}^{x,\delta} =iDC{𝒙+d:xi=δminlCxl,xjδminlCxlj(DC)i,xk1kC},\displaystyle=\bigcup_{i\in D\setminus C}\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:x_{i}=\delta\min_{l\in C}x_{l},~{}x_{j}\leq\delta\min_{l\in C}x_{l}~{}\forall j\in(D\setminus C)\setminus i,~{}x_{k}\geq 1~{}\forall k\in C\},

and we specifically note the equality BC,δx,1=BC,δ1B_{C,\delta}^{x,1}=B_{C,\delta}^{1}.

Proposition 12.

Assume the conditions of Proposition 9. If (miniCXP,i>t,maxjDCXP,j<tδ)RV1/τC(δ){\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i}>t,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{P,j}<t^{\delta})\in\mathrm{RV}^{\infty}_{-1/\tau_{C}(\delta)}, and (miniCXP,i>t,maxjDCXP,j<(miniCXP,i)δ)RV1/τ~C(δ),{\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i}>t,\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{P,j}<(\min_{i\in C}X_{P,i})^{\delta})\in\mathrm{RV}_{-1/\tilde{\tau}_{C}(\delta)}^{\infty}, then τ~C(δ)=τC(δ)\tilde{\tau}_{C}(\delta)=\tau_{C}(\delta).

Proof.

Define rC,δx=min{r[0,1]:rRC,δxG=}r_{C,\delta}^{x}=\min\left\{r\in[0,1]:rR_{C,\delta}^{x}\cap G=\emptyset\right\}, where for r>0r>0, rRC,δx={𝒙+d:xi>r,iC,xjδminlCxl,jDC}rR_{C,\delta}^{x}=\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:x_{i}>r,i\in C,~{}x_{j}\leq\delta\min_{l\in C}x_{l},j\in D\setminus C\}. Similarly to Propositions 7 and 9,

log(𝑿EtrC,δxRC,δx)=log(miniCXE,i>trC,δx,maxjDCXE,j<δminiCXE,i)t,\displaystyle-\log{\mathbb{P}}(\bm{X}_{E}\in tr_{C,\delta}^{x}R_{C,\delta}^{x})=-\log{\mathbb{P}}(\min_{i\in C}X_{E,i}>tr_{C,\delta}^{x},\max_{j\in D\setminus C}X_{E,j}<\delta\min_{i\in C}X_{E,i})\sim t,

and we conclude τ~C(δ)=rC,δx\tilde{\tau}_{C}(\delta)=r_{C,\delta}^{x}. As in Proposition 11, we have rC,δx=min𝒚BC,δxg(𝒚)r_{C,\delta}^{x}=\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}^{x}}g(\bm{y}). Noting again that argmin𝒚BC,δxg(𝒚)BC,δx,1=BC,δ1\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{C,\delta}^{x}}g(\bm{y})\in B_{C,\delta}^{x,1}=B_{C,\delta}^{1} shows that rC,δx=rC,δ=τC(δ)r_{C,\delta}^{x}=r_{C,\delta}=\tau_{C}(\delta).   \square

4 Examples

We illustrate several of the findings of Section 3 with some concrete examples. In Section 4.1 we focus on the intuitive and geometrically simple case d=2d=2; in Section 4.2, we examine some three-dimensional examples for which visualization is still possible but more intricate.

Proposition 2 implies that on +d\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}, the same limit set GG as in exponential margins will arise for any marginal choice with ψj(x)x\psi_{j}(x)\sim x, xx\to\infty, provided eψj(x)e^{-\psi_{j}(x)} is a von Mises function. In some of the examples below, it is convenient to establish a limit set and its gauge function using this observation rather than transforming to exactly exponential margins.

Models with convenient dependence properties are often constructed through judicious combinations of random vectors with known dependence structures; see, for example, Engelke et al., (2019) for a detailed study of so-called random scale or random location constructions. In Section 4.3, we use our results to elucidate the shape of the limit set when independent exponential-tailed variables are mixed additively. The spatial dependence model of Huser and Wadsworth, (2019) provides a case study.

4.1 Examples and illustrations for d=2d=2

All of the examples considered in this section are symmetric, so, for the conditional extremes representation and coefficients τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta), we only consider one case, omitting the subscript on the quantities αj\alpha_{j} and βj\beta_{j}. Table LABEL:tab:bivariate summarizes the dependence information from various bivariate distributions described in Sections 4.1.14.1.5.

4.1.1 Meta-Gaussian distribution: nonnegative correlation

Starting with a Gaussian bivariate random vector and transforming its margins to standard exponential, we obtain a meta-Gaussian distribution with exponential margins. Such a distribution inherits the copula of the Gaussian distribution. For simplicity, we consider the case where the underlying Gaussian random vector has standard normal components with correlation ρ\rho.

Then, for ρ0\rho\geq 0, the joint probability density fEf_{E} satisfies:

logfE(tx,ty)/t=(x+y2ρ(xy)1/2)/(1ρ2)+O(logt/t),t,x,y0,\displaystyle-\log f_{E}(tx,ty)/t=(x+y-2\rho(xy)^{1/2})/(1-\rho^{2})+O(\log t/t),\quad t\to\infty,\quad x,y\geq 0,

so that g(x,y)=(x+y2ρ(xy)1/2)/(1ρ2)g(x,y)=(x+y-2\rho(xy)^{1/2})/(1-\rho^{2}). The convergence in (2.10) holds on [0,)d[0,\infty)^{d} and hence the limit set exists and is given by {𝒙[0,)d:g(𝒙)1}\{{\bm{x}}\in[0,\infty)^{d}:g({\bm{x}})\leq 1\}. This is example (ii) in Figure 2.

Conditional extremes:

Setting g(α,1)=1g(\alpha,1)=1 leads to (α1/2ρ)2=0(\alpha^{1/2}-\rho)^{2}=0, i.e., α=ρ2\alpha=\rho^{2}. For β\beta we have g(ρ2+u,1)1=u2/{2ρ(1ρ2)}+O(u3)RV20g(\rho^{2}+u,1)-1=u^{2}/\{2\rho(1-\rho^{2})\}+O(u^{3})\in\mathrm{RV}_{2}^{0}, hence β=1/2\beta=1/2.

Function λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}):

By Proposition 8, we need to find 1/rω=min𝒚Bωg(x,y)1/r_{\omega}=\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\omega}}g(x,y). If min(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)ρ2\min(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega)\leq\rho^{2}, then min𝒚Bωg(x,y)=1\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\omega}}g(x,y)=1, with the minima occuring at the points (1,ρ2)(1,\rho^{2}), (ρ2,1)(\rho^{2},1). Otherwise, if min(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)ρ2\min(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega)\geq\rho^{2}, then min𝒚Bωg(x,y)=g(1,min(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω))\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\omega}}g(x,y)=g(1,\min(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega)). Putting this together with Proposition 7, we find

λ(ω,1ω)={max(ω,1ω),min(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)ρ2g(ω,1ω)=12ρ(ω(1ω))1/21ρ2,min(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)ρ2.\lambda(\omega,1-\omega)=\begin{cases}\max(\omega,1-\omega),&\min(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega)\leq\rho^{2}\\ g(\omega,1-\omega)=\frac{1-2\rho(\omega(1-\omega))^{1/2}}{1-\rho^{2}},&\min(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega)\geq\rho^{2}.\end{cases}

This is the same form as given in Wadsworth and Tawn, (2013). We therefore have η1,2=[2g(1/2,1/2)]1=g(1,1)1=(1+ρ)/2\eta_{1,2}=[2g(1/2,1/2)]^{-1}=g(1,1)^{-1}=(1+\rho)/2.

Coefficients τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta):

From Proposition 10, we have τ1(δ)=[minγ[0,δ]g(1,γ)]1=[g(1,min(δ,ρ2))]1\tau_{1}(\delta)=[\min_{\gamma\in[0,\delta]}g(1,\gamma)]^{-1}=[g(1,\min(\delta,\rho^{2}))]^{-1}. Therefore, τ1(δ)=1\tau_{1}(\delta)=1 if δρ2\delta\geq\rho^{2}, else τ1(δ)=(1ρ2)/(1+δ2ρδ1/2)<1\tau_{1}(\delta)=(1-\rho^{2})/(1+\delta-2\rho\delta^{1/2})<1. Note that these values are very laborious to calculate via Gaussian survival functions, and they were not given in Simpson et al., (2020).

4.1.2 Meta-Gaussian distribution: negative correlation

When ρ<0\rho<0, Proposition 2 cannot be applied as the continuous convergence condition (2.10) does not hold along the axes. Hence, we only gain a partial specification, when x>0,y>0x>0,y>0, through this route. Instead, here we can apply Proposition 3 since the limit function gg in (2.13) satisfies the monotonicity condition given immediately thereafter. This limit function is given by

g(x,y)={(x+y2ρ(xy)1/2)/(1ρ2),x>0,y>0,x,y=0,y,x=0.\displaystyle g(x,y)=\begin{cases}(x+y-2\rho(xy)^{1/2})/(1-\rho^{2}),&x>0,~{}y>0,\\ x,&y=0,\\ y,&x=0.\end{cases}
Refer to caption
Figure 5: Top row: Limit sets {(x,y):g(x,y)1}\{(x,y):g(x,y)\leq 1\} for a bivariate meta-Gaussian distribution with exponential margins. Bottom row: corresponding plots of function g(x,y)g(x,y) for a fixed value of yy.

Figure 5 illustrates the limit sets GG for the three cases ρ>0,ρ=0\rho>0,\rho=0 and ρ<0\rho<0. In the latter case, large values of one variable tend to occur with small values of the other, which causes the limit set to include lines along the axes and the function gg is not continuous. Such difficulties can be alleviated by consideration of Laplace margins for distributions displaying negative dependence, which is discussed further in Section 5.

4.1.3 Logistic generalized Pareto copula

The logistic generalized Pareto distribution with conditionally exponential margins ((XE~>x)=(XE~>0)ex{\mathbb{P}}(X_{\tilde{E}}>x)={\mathbb{P}}(X_{\tilde{E}}>0)e^{-x}, x>0x>0) and dependence parameter θ(0,1)\theta\in(0,1) satisfies

fE~(x,y)\displaystyle f_{\tilde{E}}(x,y) =θ12θe(x+y)/θ(ex/θ+ey/θ)θ2\displaystyle=\theta^{-1}2^{-\theta}e^{-(x+y)/\theta}(e^{-x/\theta}+e^{-y/\theta})^{\theta-2}
logfE~(tx,ty)/t\displaystyle-\log f_{\tilde{E}}(tx,ty)/t =θ1max(x,y)+(1θ1)min(x,y)+O(1/t),\displaystyle=\theta^{-1}\max(x,y)+(1-\theta^{-1})\min(x,y)+O(1/t),

so the gauge function is g(x,y)=θ1max(x,y)+(1θ1)min(x,y)g(x,y)=\theta^{-1}\max(x,y)+(1-\theta^{-1})\min(x,y). This form of gauge function is found throughout several symmetric asymptotically dependent examples, such as those distributions whose spectral measure HH places no mass on 0 and 1 and possess densities that are regularly varying at the endpoints 0, 1 such that dH(w)/dwRV1/θ20\mathrm{d}H(w)/\mathrm{d}w\in\mathrm{RV}_{1/\theta-2}^{0}, dH(1w)/dwRV1/θ20-\mathrm{d}H(1-w)/\mathrm{d}w\in\mathrm{RV}_{1/\theta-2}^{0}. This is example (i) in Figure 2.

Conditional extremes:

Solving for g(α,1)=1g(\alpha,1)=1, we obtain α=1\alpha=1, whilst g(1+u,1)1=u/θRV10g(1+u,1)-1=u/\theta\in\mathrm{RV}_{1}^{0}, hence β=0\beta=0.

Function λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}):

We have that argmin𝒚Bωg(𝒚)=(1,1)\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\omega}}g(\bm{y})=(1,1), so rω=1r_{\omega}=1 and λ(ω,1ω)=max(ω,1ω)\lambda(\omega,1-\omega)=\max(\omega,1-\omega). Therefore η1,2=1\eta_{1,2}=1.

Coefficients τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta):

τ1(δ)=[minγ[0,δ]g(1,γ)]1=[g(1,δ)]1=[θ1+(1θ1δ)]1\tau_{1}(\delta)=[\min_{\gamma\in[0,\delta]}g(1,\gamma)]^{-1}=[g(1,\delta)]^{-1}=[\theta^{-1}+(1-\theta^{-1}\delta)]^{-1}. This matches the value calculated in the Supplementary Material of Simpson et al., (2020).

4.1.4 Inverted extreme value distribution

The inverted extreme value copula is the joint lower tail of an extreme value copula, translated to be the joint upper tail. That is, if (U1,U2)(U_{1},U_{2}) have an extreme value copula with uniform margins, then (1U1,1U2)(1-U_{1},1-U_{2}) have an inverted extreme value copula. In two dimensions, its density in exponential margins may be expressed as

fE(x,y)={l1(x,y)l2(x,y)l12(x,y)}exp{l(x,y)},f_{E}(x,y)=\{l_{1}(x,y)l_{2}(x,y)-l_{12}(x,y)\}\exp\{-l(x,y)\},

where l(𝒙)=V(1/𝒙)l(\bm{x})=V(1/\bm{x}), for VV the exponent function in (2.3), is the 1-homogeneous stable tail dependence function (e.g., Beirlant et al.,, 2004, Ch.8) of the corresponding extreme value distribution, and l1(x,y)=l(x,y)/xl_{1}(x,y)=\partial l(x,y)/\partial x, etc. We thus have

logfE(tx,ty)/t=l(x,y)+O(1/t),t,-\log f_{E}(tx,ty)/t=l(x,y)+O(1/t),\qquad t\to\infty,

so g(x,y)=l(x,y)g(x,y)=l(x,y).

Conditional extremes:

Stable tail dependence functions always satisfy l(x,0)=x,l(0,y)=yl(x,0)=x,l(0,y)=y and so g(1,0)=g(0,1)=1g(1,0)=g(0,1)=1. Hence, if α=0\alpha=0 is the only solution to g(α,1)=1g(\alpha,1)=1, then a(x)/x0a(x)/x\sim 0. An example of this is given by the inverted extreme value logistic copula, whereby l(x,y)=(x1/θ+y1/θ)θ,θ(0,1]l(x,y)=(x^{1/\theta}+y^{1/\theta})^{\theta},\theta\in(0,1]. This is example (iii) of Figure 2, for which we have α=0\alpha=0 and β=1θ\beta=1-\theta.

Papastathopoulos and Tawn, (2016) study conditional extreme value limits for general classes of inverted extreme value distributions. One case they consider is where the spectral measure defining the distribution in two dimensions has support on a sub-interval [wl,wu][0,1][w_{l},w_{u}]\subset[0,1]. We give a simple example to illustrate their findings in this context. Let wl=1wu=w[0,1/2)w_{l}=1-w_{u}=w^{\star}\in[0,1/2), and H(w)=(ww)/(12w),w[w,1w]H(w)=(w-w^{\star})/(1-2w^{\star}),w\in[w^{\star},1-w^{\star}]. Then

l(x,y)\displaystyle l(x,y) =w1wmax(wx,(1w)y)dH(w)\displaystyle=\int_{w^{\star}}^{1-w^{\star}}\max(wx,(1-w)y)\mathrm{d}H(w)
={x,y<xw/(1w)x12w{(1w)2(yx+y)2}+y12w{(1w)2(xx+y)2},xw/(1w)yx(1w)/wy,y>x(1w)/w.\displaystyle=\begin{cases}x,&y<xw^{\star}/(1-w^{\star})\\ \frac{x}{1-2w^{\star}}\left\{(1-w^{\star})^{2}-\left(\frac{y}{x+y}\right)^{2}\right\}+\frac{y}{1-2w^{\star}}\left\{(1-w^{\star})^{2}-\left(\frac{x}{x+y}\right)^{2}\right\},&xw^{\star}/(1-w^{\star})\leq y\leq x(1-w^{\star})/w^{\star}\\ y,&y>x(1-w^{\star})/w^{\star}.\end{cases}

In this case, g(α,1)=1g(\alpha,1)=1 for all α[0,w/(1w)]\alpha\in[0,w^{\star}/(1-w^{\star})], so by Proposition 5 (iii), α=w/(1w)\alpha=w^{\star}/(1-w^{\star}). Following a Taylor expansion in which linear terms in uu vanish, we have g(w/(1w)+u,1)1RV20g(w^{\star}/(1-w^{\star})+u,1)-1\in\mathrm{RV}^{0}_{2}, so β=1/2\beta=1/2. Papastathopoulos and Tawn, (2016) show that for this distribution, a(x)=xw/(1w)a(x)=xw^{\star}/(1-w^{\star}) and b(x)=x1/2b(x)=x^{1/2}.

A further interesting example studied by Papastathopoulos and Tawn, (2016) is that of the inverted Hüsler–Reiss distribution, for which

g(x,y)=xΦ(λ/2+log(x/y)/λ)+yΦ(λ/2+log(y/x)/λ),λ>0.g(x,y)=x\Phi(\lambda/2+\log(x/y)/\lambda)+y\Phi(\lambda/2+\log(y/x)/\lambda),\qquad\lambda>0.

The unique solution to g(α,1)=1g(\alpha,1)=1 is α=0\alpha=0 (obtained as a limit) and g(u,1)1g(u,1)-1 is rapidly varying, i.e., g(u,1)1RV0g(u,1)-1\in\mathrm{RV}_{\infty}^{0}, corresponding to β=1\beta=1. The forms of the normalization functions detailed in Papastathopoulos and Tawn, (2016) are

a(x)=xexp{λ(2logx)1/2+λloglogx(2logx)1/2+λ2/2},b(x)=a(x)/(logx)1/2,\displaystyle a(x)=x\exp\left\{-\lambda(2\log x)^{1/2}+\frac{\lambda\log\log x}{(2\log x)^{1/2}}+\lambda^{2}/2\right\},\qquad b(x)=a(x)/(\log x)^{1/2},

for which a(x)/x0a(x)/x\to 0 and b(x)RV1b(x)\in\mathrm{RV}_{1}^{\infty}.

Function λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}):

Since g(x,y)=l(x,y)g(x,y)=l(x,y), and ll is a convex function satisfying l(x,0)=x,l(0,y)=yl(x,0)=x,l(0,y)=y, argmin𝒚Bωg(𝒚)=(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\omega}}g(\bm{y})=(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega). Hence, λ(ω,1ω)=g(ω,1ω)\lambda(\omega,1-\omega)=g(\omega,1-\omega) in this case.

Coefficients τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta):

Since g(1,0)=1g(1,0)=1, we have τ1(δ)=1\tau_{1}(\delta)=1 for all δ[0,1]\delta\in[0,1].

4.1.5 Hüsler–Reiss generalized Pareto copula

The bivariate Hüsler–Reiss generalized Pareto distribution with conditionally exponential margins has density

fE~(x,y)exp{12((xy)22(1ρ)+x+y)},f_{\tilde{E}}(x,y)~{}~{}\propto~{}~{}\exp\left\{-\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{(x-y)^{2}}{2(1-\rho)}+x+y\right)\right\},

from which it can be seen that

logfE~(t𝒙)/t{,xy,x,x=y.-\log f_{\tilde{E}}(t\bm{x})/t\to\begin{cases}\infty,&x\neq y,\\ x,&x=y.\end{cases}

While Proposition 2 cannot be applied here due to the lack of uniform convergence, the form of the limit set is nonetheless G={(x,y):x=y1}G=\{(x,y):x=y\leq 1\}, which is the same limit set as arises under perfect dependence. This can be explained by the construction of the Hüsler–Reiss model, which has a dependence structure asymptotically equivalent to that of E+(Z1,Z2)E+(Z_{1},Z_{2}), where EExp(1)E\sim\mbox{Exp}(1) is independent of (Z1,Z2)N2(𝟎,Σ)(Z_{1},Z_{2})\sim N_{2}(\bm{0},\Sigma). The marginal distributions of such a construction satisfy ψ(x)x\psi(x)\sim x, xx\to\infty so that with the sample cloud constructed by taking rn=lognr_{n}=\log n, the contribution from the Gaussian component converges in probability to zero, leaving only the contribution from the common term EE.

Conditional extremes:

We have g(α,1)=1g(\alpha,1)=1 for α=1\alpha=1, but cannot use Proposition 5 to determine β\beta since g(1+u,1)1RV0g(1+u,1)-1\not\in\mathrm{RV}^{0}.

Function λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}):

The quantity rω=1r_{\omega}=1 and so λ(ω,1ω)=max(ω,1ω)\lambda(\omega,1-\omega)=\max(\omega,1-\omega), and η1,2=1\eta_{1,2}=1.

Coefficients τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta):

τ1(δ)=[minγ[0,δ]g(1,γ)]1=0\tau_{1}(\delta)=[\min_{\gamma\in[0,\delta]}g(1,\gamma)]^{-1}=0 for δ<1\delta<1 and =1=1 for δ=1\delta=1. This implies that (XP>t,YPtδ)RV{\mathbb{P}}(X_{P}>t,Y_{P}\leq t^{\delta})\in\mathrm{RV}^{\infty}_{-\infty}, i.e., is rapidly varying.

4.1.6 Density defined by gg

If g:+d+g:\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}\to\mathbb{R}_{+} is a gauge function describing a limit set GG, then f(𝒙)=eg(𝒙)/(d!|G|)f(\bm{x})=e^{-g(\bm{x})}/(d!|G|) is a density (see Balkema and Nolde,, 2010). In general, except for the case of g(𝒙)=i=1dxig(\bm{x})=\sum_{i=1}^{d}x_{i}, the margins are not exactly exponential, and may be heavier than exponential, for example in the case g(𝒙)=max1id(xi)g(\bm{x})=\max_{1\leq i\leq d}(x_{i}).

We consider the density defined by g(x,y)=max{(xy)/θ,(yx)/θ,(x+y)/(2θ)}g(x,y)=\max\{(x-y)/\theta,(y-x)/\theta,(x+y)/(2-\theta)\}, θ(0,1]\theta\in(0,1]: this is example (vi) in Figure 2, and illustrated in Figure 4. The marginal density is given by

[2exθex/θ2(1θ)ex/(1θ)]/[4θ3θ2].[2e^{-x}-\theta e^{-x/\theta}-2(1-\theta)e^{-x/(1-\theta)}]/[4\theta-3\theta^{2}].
Conditional extremes:

Solving for g(α,1)=1g(\alpha,1)=1, we obtain α=1θ\alpha=1-\theta, whilst g(1θ+u,1)1=u/(2θ)RV10g(1-\theta+u,1)-1=u/(2-\theta)\in\mathrm{RV}_{1}^{0}, hence β=0\beta=0.

Function λ(𝝎)\lambda(\bm{\omega}):

If min(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)1θ\min(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega)\leq 1-\theta, then argmin𝒚Bω=(1,1θ)\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\omega}}=(1,1-\theta), or (1θ,1)(1-\theta,1) and rω=1r_{\omega}=1; otherwise, argmin𝒚Bω=(1,ω/(1ω))\arg\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\omega}}=(1,\omega/(1-\omega)) or ((1ω)/ω,1)((1-\omega)/\omega,1), and rω={1+min(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)/(2θ)}r_{\omega}=\{1+\min(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega)/(2-\theta)\}. As such

λ(ω,1ω)={max(ω,1ω),min(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)1θg(ω,1ω)=12θ,min(ω,1ω)/max(ω,1ω)1θ,\lambda(\omega,1-\omega)=\begin{cases}\max(\omega,1-\omega),&\min(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega)\leq 1-\theta\\ g(\omega,1-\omega)=\frac{1}{2-\theta},&\min(\omega,1-\omega)/\max(\omega,1-\omega)\geq 1-\theta,\end{cases}

and the residual tail dependence coefficient η1,2=1θ/2\eta_{1,2}=1-\theta/2.

Coefficients τj(δ)\tau_{j}(\delta):

τ1(δ)=[minγ[0,δ]g(1,γ)]1=[g(1,min(δ,1θ))]1\tau_{1}(\delta)=[\min_{\gamma\in[0,\delta]}g(1,\gamma)]^{-1}=[g(1,\min(\delta,1-\theta))]^{-1}. Therefore, τ1(δ)=1\tau_{1}(\delta)=1 if δ1θ\delta\geq 1-\theta, else τ1(δ)=θ/(1δ)<1\tau_{1}(\delta)=\theta/(1-\delta)<1.

4.1.7 Boundary case between asymptotic dependence and independence

We give two examples of distributions whose limit set is described by the gauge function g(x,y)=max(x,y)g(x,y)=\max(x,y). The first of these displays asymptotic dependence, i.e., ν(𝔼1,2)>0\nu(\mathbb{E}_{1,2})>0, for ν\nu as in Section 2.1, while the second displays asymptotic independence. In both cases, λ(𝝎)=max(ω,1ω),η1,2=1\lambda(\bm{\omega})=\max(\omega,1-\omega),\eta_{1,2}=1, and τ1(δ)=τ2(δ)=1\tau_{1}(\delta)=\tau_{2}(\delta)=1 for all δ(0,1)\delta\in(0,1). The conditional extremes convergences are however rather different, and need to be derived carefully as some of the hypotheses in Proposition 5 fail.

Example 1: asymptotic dependence

We consider a particular instance of a bivariate extreme value distribution with spectral measure density dH(w)/dw=h(w)=Cw1(1w)1exp{(logw)1/2(log(1w))1/2}\mathrm{d}H(w)/\mathrm{d}w=h(w)=Cw^{-1}(1-w)^{-1}\exp\{-(-\log w)^{1/2}-(-\log(1-w))^{1/2}\}. The density is regularly varying at 0 and 1 with index 1-1, but its integral is finite. For the exponent function VV as in (2.3), h(w)=V12(w,1w)h(w)=-V_{12}(w,1-w) with V12(x,y)=2V(x,y)/(xy)V_{12}(x,y)=\partial^{2}V(x,y)/(\partial x\partial y), so

h(xx+y)=V12(xx+y,yx+y)=(x+y)3V12(x,y),h\left(\frac{x}{x+y}\right)=-V_{12}\left(\frac{x}{x+y},\frac{y}{x+y}\right)=-(x+y)^{3}V_{12}(x,y),

and therefore

V12(x,y)=C(x+y)xyexp{(logx+log(x+y))1/2(logy+log(x+y))1/2}.-V_{12}(x,y)=\frac{C}{(x+y)xy}\exp\{-(-\log x+\log(x+y))^{1/2}-(-\log y+\log(x+y))^{1/2}\}.

For the corresponding multivariate max-stable or generalized Pareto distribution with Gumbel/exponential margins, the gauge function is determined by

fE~(x,y)ex+yV12(ex,ey)1ex+eyexp{(x+log(ex+ey))1/2(y+log(ex+ey))1/2},f_{\tilde{E}}(x,y)~{}~{}\propto~{}~{}e^{x+y}V_{12}(e^{x},e^{y})~{}~{}\propto~{}~{}\frac{1}{e^{x}+e^{y}}\exp\{-(-x+\log(e^{x}+e^{y}))^{1/2}-(-y+\log(e^{x}+e^{y}))^{1/2}\},

and logfE~(tx,ty)tmax(x,y)-\log f_{\tilde{E}}(tx,ty)\sim t\max(x,y). That is, g(x,y)=max(x,y)g(x,y)=\max(x,y).

We have g(α,1)=1g(\alpha,1)=1 for all α[0,1]\alpha\in[0,1], so α=1\alpha=1 is the maximum such value, and g(1,1+u)1=uRV10g(1,1+u)-1=u\in\mathrm{RV}^{0}_{1}, giving β=0\beta=0. Taking aj(t)=ta^{j}(t)=t, bj(t)=1b^{j}(t)=1, we see

fE~(t,t+z)et(1+ez)1exp{[log(1+ez)]1/2},z.f_{\tilde{E}}(t,t+z)e^{t}~{}~{}\propto~{}~{}(1+e^{z})^{-1}\exp\{-[\log(1+e^{-z})]^{1/2}\},\qquad z\in\mathbb{R}.

The limit is in fact exact for all tt here because of the multivariate generalized Pareto form.

Example 2: asymptotic independence

Consider the density f(x,y)=emax(x,y)/2f(x,y)=e^{-\max(x,y)}/2, x,y>0x,y>0. The marginal densities are f(x)=(1+x)ex/2f(x)=(1+x)e^{-x}/2, which is a mixture of Gamma(1,1)\rm{Gamma(1,1)} and Gamma(2,1)\rm{Gamma(2,1)} densities, and is heavier tailed than standard exponential. We firstly verify asymptotic independence by examining limt(X>t|Y>t)\lim_{t\to\infty}{\mathbb{P}}(X>t|Y>t). The joint survival function (X>x,Y>y)={2+max(x,y)min(x,y)}emax(x,y)/2{\mathbb{P}}(X>x,Y>y)=\{2+\max(x,y)-\min(x,y)\}e^{-\max(x,y)}/2, while (X>x)=ex(1+x/2){\mathbb{P}}(X>x)=e^{-x}(1+x/2). Hence limt(X>t|Y>t)=0\lim_{t\to\infty}{\mathbb{P}}(X>t|Y>t)=0.

Again, Proposition 2 ensures that the limit set with gauge function g(x,y)=max(x,y)g(x,y)=\max(x,y) would also arise in exponential margins. However, we make the transformation explicitly here to study the conditional extremes convergence on the same scale as previously. The change to exponential margins entails XE=Xlog(1+X/2)X_{E}=X-\log(1+X/2), leading to the density

fE(x,y)=exp[max{x+log(1+x/2+O(logx)),y+log(1+y/2+O(logy))}][21+O(x1)+O(y1)],f_{E}(x,y)=\exp[-\max\{x+\log(1+x/2+O(\log x)),y+\log(1+y/2+O(\log y))\}][2^{-1}+O(x^{-1})+O(y^{-1})],

from which we can also see logfE(tx,ty)tmax(x,y)-\log f_{E}(tx,ty)\sim t\max(x,y).

If we were to suppose that a conditional extremes limit with support including (0,)(0,\infty) exists, then Proposition 5 (i) and (iii) would mean α1=α2=1\alpha_{1}=\alpha_{2}=1, while g(1+u,1)1=uRV10g(1+u,1)-1=u\in\mathrm{RV}^{0}_{1}, so that Proposition 5 (ii) would give β1=β2=0\beta_{1}=\beta_{2}=0. However, for positive zz, consideration of b(t)fE(t,a(t)+b(t)z)etb(t)f_{E}(t,a(t)+b(t)z)e^{t} yields no possibilities for a non-degenerate limit. Nonetheless, for z<0z<0 we can take a(t)=b(t)=ta(t)=b(t)=t leading to

tfE(t,t+tz)et(1+t/2)1t/21,t,z(1,0),tf_{E}(t,t+tz)e^{t}\sim(1+t/2)^{-1}t/2\to 1,\qquad t\to\infty,\qquad z\in(-1,0),

i.e., a uniform limit distribution on (1,0)(-1,0).

We comment that the results of Proposition 5 do indeed focus predominantly on the positive end of the support for limit distributions, but most known examples of conditional limits have support including (0,)(0,\infty). A natural next step is to consider the implications relating to negative support. We particularly note the possibility that the order of regular variation of the two functions g(1,α1+u)1RV1/(1β1+)0g(1,\alpha_{1}+u)-1\in\mathrm{RV}^{0}_{1/(1-\beta_{1}^{+})} and g(1,α1u)1RV1/(1β1)0g(1,\alpha_{1}-u)-1\in\mathrm{RV}^{0}_{1/(1-\beta_{1}^{-})} need not be equal, though for each of our examples where both functions are regularly varying, β+=β\beta^{+}=\beta^{-}. If β+>β\beta^{+}>\beta^{-}, it seems likely that a limit distribution with positive support only would arise, and vice versa when β+<β\beta^{+}<\beta^{-}.

4.2 Examples and illustrations for d=3d=3

In this section we give two examples, focusing on issues that arise for d>2d>2.

4.2.1 Gaussian copula

The general form of the gauge function for a meta-Gaussian distribution with standard exponential margins and correlation matrix Σ\Sigma with non-negative entries is

g(𝒙)=(𝒙1/2)Σ1𝒙1/2.g(\bm{x})=(\bm{x}^{1/2})^{\top}\Sigma^{-1}\bm{x}^{1/2}.

Figure 6 displays the level set g(𝒙)=1g(\bm{x})=1 when the Gaussian correlations in Σ\Sigma are ρ12=0.75,ρ13=0.25,ρ23=0.4\rho_{12}=0.75,\rho_{13}=0.25,\rho_{23}=0.4. The red dots on the level set are the points (1,1,γ)/g(1,1,γ)(1,1,\gamma)/g(1,1,\gamma), (1,γ,1)/g(1,γ,1)(1,\gamma,1)/g(1,\gamma,1) and (γ,1,1)/g(γ,1,1)(\gamma,1,1)/g(\gamma,1,1) for γ[0,1]\gamma\in[0,1]. The figure also provides an illustration of τ2,3(δ)\tau_{2,3}(\delta) for δ=0.2\delta=0.2 and δ=0.8\delta=0.8: in each case the light blue line from the origin is γ×(δ,1,1)\gamma\times(\delta,1,1), γ[0,1]\gamma\in[0,1], whilst the pink lines trace out the boundary B{2,3},δB_{\{2,3\},\delta} and τ2,3(δ)B{2,3},δ\tau_{2,3}(\delta)B_{\{2,3\},\delta}. We see that when δ=0.2\delta=0.2 (left panel), τ2,3(0.2)=1/g(0.2,1,1)\tau_{2,3}(0.2)=1/g(0.2,1,1), i.e., min𝒚B{2,3},0.2g(𝒚)=g(0.2,1,1)\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\{2,3\},0.2}}g(\bm{y})=g(0.2,1,1). However, when δ=0.8\delta=0.8, min𝒚B{2,3},0.8g(𝒚)=g(γ,1,1)\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{\{2,3\},0.8}}g(\bm{y})=g(\gamma^{\star},1,1), for γ[0,0.8]\gamma^{\star}\in[0,0.8], so τ2,3(0.8)=1/g(γ,1,1)\tau_{2,3}(0.8)=1/g(\gamma^{\star},1,1). We note that the same value of τ2,3(δ)\tau_{2,3}(\delta) applies for any δγ\delta\geq\gamma^{\star}: for this example, when δγ0.51\delta\geq\gamma^{\star}\approx 0.51, τ2,3(δ)=0.7=η2,3\tau_{2,3}(\delta)=0.7=\eta_{2,3}.

The reason that τ2,3(δ)=η2,3\tau_{2,3}(\delta)=\eta_{2,3} for sufficiently large δ\delta is because in this case argminx1g(x1,1,1)=γ\arg\min_{x_{1}}g(x_{1},1,1)=\gamma^{\star}, meaning that the two-dimensional marginalization g{2,3}(1,1)=g(γ,1,1)g_{\{2,3\}}(1,1)=g(\gamma^{\star},1,1), and we further have that g{2,3}(1,1)=min𝒚B2,3g{2,3}(𝒚)g_{\{2,3\}}(1,1)=\min_{\bm{y}\in B_{2,3}}g_{\{2,3\}}(\bm{y}), so η2,3=1/g2,3(1,1)\eta_{2,3}=1/g_{2,3}(1,1). In Section 4.2.2 we will illustrate a gauge function for which argminx3g(1,1,x3)>1\arg\min_{x_{3}}g(1,1,x_{3})>1, and consequently τ1,2(δ)<η1,2\tau_{1,2}(\delta)<\eta_{1,2} for all δ1\delta\leq 1.

The right panel of Figure 6 illustrates τ1(δ)\tau_{1}(\delta) for δ=0.2\delta=0.2 and δ=0.6\delta=0.6. When δ=0.6\delta=0.6, the boundary B1,δB_{1,\delta} already touches GG, and so τ1(0.6)=1\tau_{1}(0.6)=1. In this example, τ1(δ)=1\tau_{1}(\delta)=1 for any δ0.5625=ρ122\delta\geq 0.5625=\rho_{12}^{2}. As such, τ1(0.2)<1\tau_{1}(0.2)<1 as illustrated in the figure. We comment that if we had marginalized over X2X_{2}, and were looking at τ1(δ)\tau_{1}(\delta) for the variables (X1,X3)(X_{1},X_{3}), then we would have τ1(δ)=1\tau_{1}(\delta)=1 for any δ0.0625=ρ132\delta\geq 0.0625=\rho_{13}^{2}. This provides an illustration of the dimensionality of the problem interacting with τC(δ)\tau_{C}(\delta), and is again related to the point at which the minimum point defining the lower-dimensional gauge function occurs.

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Figure 6: Level set g(𝒙)=1g(\bm{x})=1 for a trivariate meta-Gaussian distribution with exponential margins. The left panel illustrates τ2,3(0.2)\tau_{2,3}(0.2): the boundary set indicated by the pink lines is scaled along the blue trajectory until it touches GG, which happens in this case at the corner point (0.2,1,1)/g(0.2,1,1)(0.2,1,1)/g(0.2,1,1). The centre panel illustrates τ2,3(0.8)\tau_{2,3}(0.8): the boundary set is again pulled back along the indicated trajectory until it touches GG: in this case this does not occur at a corner point. The right panel illustrates τ1(δ)\tau_{1}(\delta) in a similar manner, for δ=0.2,0.6\delta=0.2,0.6.

4.2.2 Vine copula

Three-dimensional vine copulas are specified by three bivariate copulas: two in the “base layer”, giving the dependence between, e.g., X1,X2X_{1},X_{2} and X2,X3X_{2},X_{3} and a further copula specifying the dependence between X1|X2X_{1}|X_{2} and X3|X2X_{3}|X_{2}. Here we take the base copulas to be independence for (X1,X2)(X_{1},X_{2}), and the inverted Clayton copula with parameter β>0\beta>0 for (X2,X3)(X_{2},X_{3}). The final copula is taken as inverted Clayton with parameter γ>0\gamma>0. The gauge function that arises in exponential margins is

g(𝒙)=(1+β)max(x2,x3)βmin(x2,x3)\displaystyle g(\bm{x})=(1+\beta)\max(x_{2},x_{3})-\beta\min(x_{2},x_{3}) γx1(γ+1)(β+1)(max(x2,x3)x2)\displaystyle-\gamma x_{1}-(\gamma+1)(\beta+1)(\max(x_{2},x_{3})-x_{2})
+(2γ+1)max(x1,(β+1)(max(x2,x3)x2)).\displaystyle+(2\gamma+1)\max(x_{1},(\beta+1)(\max(x_{2},x_{3})-x_{2})). (4.20)

Figure 7 displays the level set g(𝒙)=1g(\bm{x})=1. In this figure we also give an illustration of a case where τC(1)<ηC\tau_{C}(1)<\eta_{C}: in particular, for this example τ1,2(1)<η1,2,3=η1,2=1/2\tau_{1,2}(1)<\eta_{1,2,3}=\eta_{1,2}=1/2. The purple lines represent the boundary of the region τ1,2(1)R{1,2},1=τ1,2(1,]2×[0,1]\tau_{1,2}(1)R_{\{1,2\},1}=\tau_{1,2}(1,\infty]^{2}\times[0,1], while the green lines represent the boundary of the region η1,2,3(1,]3\eta_{1,2,3}(1,\infty]^{3}. Theorem 1 of Simpson et al., (2020) tells us that η1,2=max(τ1,2(1),τ1,2,3)\eta_{1,2}=\max(\tau_{1,2}(1),\tau_{1,2,3}), where τ1,2,3=η1,2,3\tau_{1,2,3}=\eta_{1,2,3}. Therefore τ1,2(1)<η1,2\tau_{1,2}(1)<\eta_{1,2} guarantees that η1,2=η1,2,3\eta_{1,2}=\eta_{1,2,3}.

We also illustrate Proposition 4, minimizing (4.2.2) over x3x_{3}. If x2>x3x_{2}>x_{3} then the minimum over x3x_{3} occurs by setting x3=x2x_{3}=x_{2} and is equal to x2+(1+γ)x1x_{2}+(1+\gamma)x_{1}. If x2<x3x_{2}<x_{3} then owing to the final term we need to consider the cases x3x1/(1+β)+x2x_{3}\lessgtr x_{1}/(1+\beta)+x_{2}. In both cases, the mimimum is attained at x3=x1/(1+β)+x2x_{3}=x_{1}/(1+\beta)+x_{2}, and is equal to x1+x2<(1+γ)x1+x2x_{1}+x_{2}<(1+\gamma)x_{1}+x_{2}. As such, minx3g(x1,x2,x3)=x1+x2\min_{x_{3}}g(x_{1},x_{2},x_{3})=x_{1}+x_{2}. This result is as expected since the bivariate margins of vine copulas that are directly specified in the base layer are equal to the specified copula: in this case, independence.

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Figure 7: Level set g(𝒙)=1g(\bm{x})=1 with gg as in (4.2.2). The figure illustrates τ1,2(1)\tau_{1,2}(1) and η1,2,3=η1,2=1/2\eta_{1,2,3}=\eta_{1,2}=1/2.

4.3 Mixing independent vectors

Here we exploit the results from previous sections to consider what happens when independent exponential random vectors are additively mixed such that the resulting vector still has exponential type tails. We consider as a case study the spatial model of Huser and Wadsworth, (2019), which following a reparameterization can be expressed

{XE~(s)=γSE+VE(s):s𝒮2},γ(0,),\displaystyle\{X_{\tilde{E}}(s)=\gamma S_{E}+V_{E}(s):s\in\mathcal{S}\subset\mathbb{R}^{2}\},\qquad\gamma\in(0,\infty), (4.21)

where SEExp(1)S_{E}\sim\mbox{Exp}(1) is independent of the spatial process VEV_{E}, which also possesses unit exponential margins and is asymptotically independent at all spatial lags s1s20s_{1}-s_{2}\neq 0. The process VEV_{E} is assumed to possess hidden regular variation, with residual tail dependence coefficient satisfying ηV(s1,s2)<1\eta^{V}(s_{1},s_{2})<1 for all s1s2s_{1}\neq s_{2}. The resulting process XE~X_{\tilde{E}} is asymptotically independent for γ(0,1]\gamma\in(0,1] and asymptotically dependent for γ>1\gamma>1; see also Engelke et al., (2019) for related results.

When γ<1\gamma<1, (XE~(s)>x)ex/(1γ){\mathbb{P}}(X_{\tilde{E}}(s)>x)\sim e^{-x}/(1-\gamma). In this case, Huser and Wadsworth, (2019) show that the residual tail dependence coefficient for the process XE~X_{\tilde{E}} is given by

ηX={ηV,γ<ηVγ,ηVγ1.\displaystyle\eta^{X}=\begin{cases}\eta^{V},&\gamma<\eta^{V}\\ \gamma,&\eta^{V}\leq\gamma\leq 1.\end{cases} (4.22)

That is, the strength of the extremal dependence as measured by the residual tail dependence coefficient ηX\eta^{X} is increasing in γ\gamma for γηV\gamma\geq\eta^{V}. In contrast, Wadsworth and Tawn, (2019) showed that under mild conditions, the process (4.21) has the same conditional extremes normalization as the process VE(s)V_{E}(s), with identical limit distribution when the scale normalizations bss0(t)b_{s-s_{0}}(t)\to\infty as tt\to\infty. Here, the subscript ss0s-s_{0} alludes to the fact that the conditioning event in (2.8) is {VE(s0)>t}\{V_{E}(s_{0})>t\} and we study the normalization at some other arbitrary location s𝒮s\in\mathcal{S}. In combination, we see that the results of Huser and Wadsworth, (2019) and Wadsworth and Tawn, (2019) suggest that the addition of the variable γSE\gamma S_{E} to VEV_{E} affects the extremal dependence of XE~X_{\tilde{E}} differently for different extreme value representations. We elucidate these results further in the context of the limit sets and their gauge functions.

Let us suppose that 𝑺E+d\bm{S}_{E}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+} has unit exponential margins, density fSEf_{S_{E}}, and gauge function gSg_{S}, and is independent of 𝑽E+d\bm{V}_{E}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}, which has unit exponential margins, density fVEf_{V_{E}}, and gauge function gVg_{V}. Let 𝒁E=(𝑺E,𝑽E)+2d\bm{Z}_{E}=(\bm{S}_{E},\bm{V}_{E})\in\mathbb{R}^{2d}_{+} be the concatenation of these vectors. Then, since its density fZE(𝒛)=fSE(z1,,zd)fVE(zd+1,,z2d)f_{Z_{E}}(\bm{z})=f_{S_{E}}(z_{1},\ldots,z_{d})f_{V_{E}}(z_{d+1},\ldots,z_{2d}), it is clear that 𝒁E\bm{Z}_{E} has unit exponential margins and gauge function gZ(𝒛)=gS(z1,,zd)+gV(zd+1,,z2d)g_{Z}(\bm{z})=g_{S}(z_{1},\ldots,z_{d})+g_{V}(z_{d+1},\ldots,z_{2d}).

Now consider the linear transformation of 𝒁E\bm{Z}_{E} to

A𝒁E=(γZE,1+ZE,d+1,,γZE,d+ZE,2d,ZE,1,,ZE,d)=(γ𝑺E+𝑽E,𝑺E)=(𝑿E~,𝑺E),\displaystyle A\bm{Z}_{E}=(\gamma Z_{E,1}+Z_{E,d+1},\ldots,\gamma Z_{E,d}+Z_{E,2d},Z_{E,1},\ldots,Z_{E,d})=(\gamma\bm{S}_{E}+\bm{V}_{E},\bm{S}_{E})=(\bm{X}_{\tilde{E}},\bm{S}_{E}),

where A2d×2dA\in\mathbb{R}^{2d\times 2d} is the matrix describing this transformation: the first dd rows have γ\gamma and 11 in the jjth and j+dj+dth positions, respectively, for j=1,,dj=1,\ldots,d, while the second dd rows have 11 in the jjth position for j=1,,dj=1,\ldots,d. All other entries are zero. The matrix A1A^{-1} has the same configuration but with γ-\gamma in place of γ\gamma. By Lemma 4.1 of Nolde, (2014), the normalized sample cloud {A𝒁E,i/logn:i=1,,n}\{A\bm{Z}_{E,i}/\log n:i=1,\ldots,n\} converges onto the set AGAG, where G={𝒛+2d:gZ(𝒛)1}G=\{\bm{z}\in\mathbb{R}^{2d}_{+}:g_{Z}(\bm{z})\leq 1\}, so AG={𝒛+2d:A1𝒛G}={𝒛+2d:gZ(A1𝒛)1}AG=\{\bm{z}\in\mathbb{R}^{2d}_{+}:A^{-1}\bm{z}\in G\}=\{\bm{z}\in\mathbb{R}^{2d}_{+}:g_{Z}(A^{-1}\bm{z})\leq 1\}. Consequently, the gauge function of A𝒁EA\bm{Z}_{E} is gZ(A1𝒛)g_{Z}(A^{-1}\bm{z}), i.e., gZ(𝒙,𝒔)=gS(𝒔)+gV(𝒙γ𝒔)g_{Z}(\bm{x},\bm{s})=g_{S}(\bm{s})+g_{V}(\bm{x}-\gamma\bm{s}), for 𝒙>γ𝒔\bm{x}>\gamma\bm{s}.

Next we apply Proposition 4 to the vector A𝒁A\bm{Z}, marginalizing over the last dd coordinates, which are equal to 𝑺E\bm{S}_{E}. This leaves us with the gauge function of XE~X_{\tilde{E}}, denoted gXg_{X}, and given by

gX(𝒙)=min𝒔[𝟎,𝒙/γ]gS(s1,,sd)+gV(x1γs1,,xdγsd).\displaystyle g_{X}(\bm{x})=\min_{\bm{s}\in[\bm{0},\bm{x}/\gamma]}g_{S}(s_{1},\ldots,s_{d})+g_{V}(x_{1}-\gamma s_{1},\ldots,x_{d}-\gamma s_{d}).

To illustrate the results of Huser and Wadsworth, (2019) and Wadsworth and Tawn, (2019) concerning model (4.21), we need to take 𝑺E=SE𝟏\bm{S}_{E}=S_{E}\bm{1}, i.e., perfect dependence. Although such a vector does not have a dd-dimensional Lebesgue density, convergence of the sample cloud based on the univariate random variable SES_{E} onto the unit interval [0,1][0,1] implies that the limit set is GS={𝒙+d:x1=x2==xd=x,x1}G_{S}=\{\bm{x}\in\mathbb{R}^{d}_{+}:x_{1}=x_{2}=\cdots=x_{d}=x,x\leq 1\}. Such a set can be described by the gauge function

gS(𝒔)={,sisjfor anyi,js,s1==sd=s.g_{S}(\bm{s})=\begin{cases}\infty,&s_{i}\neq s_{j}~{}~{}\mbox{for any}~{}~{}i,j\\ s,&s_{1}=\cdots=s_{d}=s.\end{cases}

As such, in this case, gX(𝒙)=mins[0,min(𝒙)/γ]{s+gV(𝒙γs)}.g_{X}(\bm{x})=\min_{s\in[0,\min(\bm{x})/\gamma]}\{s+g_{V}(\bm{x}-\gamma s)\}.

Residual tail dependence

To find the residual tail dependence coefficient ηX\eta^{X}, we require

min𝒙:min(𝒙)=1gX(𝒙)\displaystyle\min_{\bm{x}:\min(\bm{x})=1}g_{X}(\bm{x}) =min𝒙:min(𝒙)=1mins[0,min(𝒙)/γ]{s+gV(𝒙γs)}\displaystyle=\min_{\bm{x}:\min(\bm{x})=1}\min_{s\in[0,\min(\bm{x})/\gamma]}\{s+g_{V}(\bm{x}-\gamma s)\}
=mins[0,1/γ]min𝒙:min(𝒙)=1{s+gV(𝒙γs)}.\displaystyle=\min_{s\in[0,1/\gamma]}\min_{\bm{x}:\min(\bm{x})=1}\{s+g_{V}(\bm{x}-\gamma s)\}.

For fixed ss, consider min𝒙:min(𝒙)=1gV(𝒙γs)=min𝒛:min(𝒛)=1γsgV(𝒛)=gV(𝒚×(1γs))\min_{\bm{x}:\min(\bm{x})=1}g_{V}(\bm{x}-\gamma s)=\min_{\bm{z}:\min(\bm{z})=1-\gamma s}g_{V}(\bm{z})=g_{V}(\bm{y}^{\star}\times(1-\gamma s)), where 𝒚=argmin𝒚:min(𝒚)=1gV(𝒚)\bm{y}^{\star}=\arg\min_{\bm{y}:\min(\bm{y})=1}g_{V}(\bm{y}). As such

min𝒙:min(𝒙)=1gX(𝒙)\displaystyle\min_{\bm{x}:\min(\bm{x})=1}g_{X}(\bm{x}) =mins[0,1/γ]{s+gV(𝒚)(1γs)}={gV(𝒚),γ<1/gV(𝒚),1/γ,γ1/gV(𝒚).\displaystyle=\min_{s\in[0,1/\gamma]}\{s+g_{V}(\bm{y}^{\star})(1-\gamma s)\}=\begin{cases}g_{V}(\bm{y}^{\star}),&\gamma<1/g_{V}(\bm{y}^{\star}),\\ 1/\gamma,&\gamma\geq 1/g_{V}(\bm{y}^{\star}).\end{cases}

Recalling that ηX=[min𝒙:min(𝒙)=1gX(𝒙)]1\eta^{X}=[\min_{\bm{x}:\min(\bm{x})=1}g_{X}(\bm{x})]^{-1} and ηV=1/gV(𝒚)\eta^{V}=1/g_{V}(\bm{y}^{\star}), this yields (4.22).

Conditional extremes

For the conditional extremes normalization, we now let gVg_{V} and gXg_{X} denote two-dimensional gauge functions. Suppose that αV,βV\alpha_{V},\beta_{V} are such that gV(αV,1)=1g_{V}(\alpha_{V},1)=1 and gV(αV+u,1)1RV1/(1βV)0g_{V}(\alpha_{V}+u,1)-1\in\mathrm{RV}_{1/(1-\beta_{V})}^{0}. We have

1=gX(αX,1)=mins{s+gV(αXγs,1γs)}.\displaystyle 1=g_{X}(\alpha_{X},1)=\min_{s}\{s+g_{V}(\alpha_{X}-\gamma s,1-\gamma s)\}. (4.23)

Suppose that the right hand side of (4.23) is minimized at s0s^{\star}\geq 0, i.e., gX(αX,1)=s+gV(αXγs,1γs)g_{X}(\alpha_{X},1)=s^{\star}+g_{V}(\alpha_{X}-\gamma s^{\star},1-\gamma s^{\star}). Because αX1\alpha_{X}\leq 1 and gV(v1,v2)max(v1,v2)g_{V}(v_{1},v_{2})\geq\max(v_{1},v_{2}), this yields 1=gX(αX,1)1+(1γ)sg_{X}(\alpha_{X},1)\geq 1+(1-\gamma)s^{\star}, therefore we must have s=0s^{\star}=0 for γ(0,1)\gamma\in(0,1). Consequently, αX=αV=α\alpha_{X}=\alpha_{V}=\alpha.

For the scale normalization, let su=argmins0{s+gV(αXγs+u,1γs)}s_{u}^{\star}=\arg\min_{s\geq 0}\{s+g_{V}(\alpha_{X}-\gamma s+u,1-\gamma s)\}. Then

0gX(α+u,1)1=su+gV(αγsu+u,1γsu)1gV(α+u,1)1,\displaystyle 0\leq g_{X}(\alpha+u,1)-1=s_{u}^{\star}+g_{V}(\alpha-\gamma s_{u}^{\star}+u,1-\gamma s_{u}^{\star})-1\leq g_{V}(\alpha+u,1)-1, (4.24)

and because gV(x,y)max(x,y)g_{V}(x,y)\geq\max(x,y), if α<1\alpha<1 then for sufficiently small uu

(1γ)susu+gV(αγsu+u,1γsu)1.\displaystyle(1-\gamma)s_{u}^{\star}\leq s_{u}^{\star}+g_{V}(\alpha-\gamma s_{u}^{\star}+u,1-\gamma s_{u}^{\star})-1. (4.25)

Combining inequalities (4.24) and (4.25) shows that for γ(0,1)\gamma\in(0,1)

0(1γ)sugX(α+u,1)1gV(α+u,1)10,u0,\displaystyle 0\leq(1-\gamma)s_{u}^{\star}\leq g_{X}(\alpha+u,1)-1\leq g_{V}(\alpha+u,1)-1\to 0,\qquad u\to 0, (4.26)

meaning in particular that su0s_{u}^{\star}\to 0 as u0u\to 0. To examine the minimizing sequence sus_{u}^{\star} in further detail, we consider the derivative of s+gV(αγs+u,1γs)s+g_{V}(\alpha-\gamma s+u,1-\gamma s), assuming that gVg_{V} has piecewise continuous partial derivatives possessing finite left and right limits, denoted by gV,1,gV,2g_{V,1},g_{V,2}, such that

s[s+gV(αγs+u,1γs)]\displaystyle\frac{\partial}{\partial s}\left[s+g_{V}(\alpha-\gamma s+u,1-\gamma s)\right] =1γ[gV,1(α+uγs,1γs)+gV,2(α+uγs,1γs)]\displaystyle=1-\gamma\left[g_{V,1}(\alpha+u-\gamma s,1-\gamma s)+g_{V,2}(\alpha+u-\gamma s,1-\gamma s)\right]
=1γ[gV(α+uγs,1γs)+{1(α+uγs)}gV,1(α+uγs,1γs)\displaystyle=1-\gamma\left[g_{V}(\alpha+u-\gamma s,1-\gamma s)+\{1-(\alpha+u-\gamma s)\}g_{V,1}(\alpha+u-\gamma s,1-\gamma s)\right.
γsgV,2(α+uγs,1γs)],\displaystyle\qquad\qquad\left.-\gamma sg_{V,2}(\alpha+u-\gamma s,1-\gamma s)\right], (4.27)

using Euler’s homogeneous function theorem on the second line. Consider (4.27) evaluated at sus_{u}^{\star} and take the limit as u0u\to 0, yielding

1γ[1+(1α)gV,1(α+,1)].\displaystyle 1-\gamma[1+(1-\alpha)g_{V,1}(\alpha_{+},1)]. (4.28)

For gVg_{V} differentiable at (α,1)(\alpha,1), gV,1(α+,1)=gV,1(α,1)=0g_{V,1}(\alpha_{+},1)=g_{V,1}(\alpha_{-},1)=0, so the limit of (4.27) is 1γ>01-\gamma>0, and hence there exists ϵ>0\epsilon>0 such that (4.27) is positive for all u<ϵu<\epsilon, giving su=0s_{u}^{\star}=0 for all u<ϵu<\epsilon. Consequently, gX(α+u,1)1gV(α+u,1)1g_{X}(\alpha+u,1)-1\sim g_{V}(\alpha+u,1)-1, u0u\to 0.

For gVg_{V} not differentiable at (α,1)(\alpha,1), (4.28) is positive when gV,1(α+,1)<(1/γ1)/(1α)g_{V,1}(\alpha_{+},1)<(1/\gamma-1)/(1-\alpha), and again in this case gX(α+u,1)1gV(α+u,1)1g_{X}(\alpha+u,1)-1\sim g_{V}(\alpha+u,1)-1, u0u\to 0. When gV,1(α+,1)>(1/γ1)/(1α)g_{V,1}(\alpha_{+},1)>(1/\gamma-1)/(1-\alpha), then the minimizing sequence sus_{u}^{\star} should be as large as possible, i.e., equal to its upper bound of [gX(α+u,1)1]/(1γ)=[su+gV(αγsu+u,1γsu)1]/(1γ)[g_{X}(\alpha+u,1)-1]/(1-\gamma)=[s_{u}^{\star}+g_{V}(\alpha-\gamma s_{u}^{\star}+u,1-\gamma s_{u}^{\star})-1]/(1-\gamma) from inequality (4.26). Further asymptotic detail on this bound is obtained through a Taylor expansion:

gV(αγsu+u,1γsu)=gV(α,1)+(uγsu)gV,1(α+,1)γsugV,2(α,1)+O(max(u2,su2,usu)),\displaystyle g_{V}(\alpha-\gamma s_{u}^{\star}+u,1-\gamma s_{u}^{\star})=g_{V}(\alpha,1)+(u-\gamma s_{u}^{\star})g_{V,1}(\alpha_{+},1)-\gamma s_{u}^{\star}g_{V,2}(\alpha,1_{-})+O(\max(u^{2},s_{u}^{\star 2},us_{u}^{\star})), (4.29)

giving

suugV,1(α+,1)γ[gV,1(α+,1)+gV,2(α,1)1][1+o(1)]=uγ(1α)+o(u).\displaystyle s_{u}^{\star}\leq\frac{ug_{V,1}(\alpha_{+},1)}{\gamma[g_{V,1}(\alpha_{+},1)+g_{V,2}(\alpha,1_{-})-1]}[1+o(1)]=\frac{u}{\gamma(1-\alpha)}+o(u).

Taking sus_{u}^{\star} at this upper bound and using the expansion (4.29),

gX(α+u,1)1=su+gV(αγsu+u,1γsu)1=1γγ(1α)u+o(u),\displaystyle g_{X}(\alpha+u,1)-1=s_{u}^{\star}+g_{V}(\alpha-\gamma s_{u}^{\star}+u,1-\gamma s_{u}^{\star})-1=\frac{1-\gamma}{\gamma(1-\alpha)}u+o(u),

such that gX(α+u,1)1RV10g_{X}(\alpha+u,1)-1\in\mathrm{RV}^{0}_{1}. Since we also have gV(α+u,1)1ugV,1(α+,1)RV10g_{V}(\alpha+u,1)-1\sim ug_{V,1}(\alpha_{+},1)\in\mathrm{RV}^{0}_{1}, the regular variation indices are identical with βX=βV=0\beta_{X}=\beta_{V}=0. This represents a case where the scale normalizations bss0(t)b_{s-s_{0}}(t) in the conditional extremes representation do not diverge to infinity, meaning a potential difference in the limit distribution.

Figure 8 displays examples of gauge functions gVg_{V} and gXg_{X}. We observe from this figure how, when γ\gamma is sufficiently large, the shape of gVg_{V} is modified to produce gXg_{X}. The modification is focussed around the diagonal, and explains visually why the residual tail dependence coefficient changes while the conditional extremes normalization does not. The left and right panels illustrate differentiable cases, with su0s_{u}^{\star}\equiv 0 for sufficiently small uu; the centre panel depicts an example with sus_{u}^{\star} linear in uu as u0u\to 0.

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Figure 8: Solid red lines depict the level sets gV(𝒙)=1g_{V}(\bm{x})=1, where gVg_{V} is of the form (ii), (iii) and (iv) (L–R) from Figure 2. Dashed black lines depict the level sets gX(𝒙)=1g_{X}(\bm{x})=1. In each picture the blue solid line segment is from (0,0)(0,0) to (γ,γ)(\gamma,\gamma), and denotes the limit set of the fully dependent random vector γSE\gamma S_{E}. From left to right, γ=0.9,0.5,0.8\gamma=0.9,0.5,0.8.

5 Discussion

In this work we have demonstrated how several concepts of extremal dependence can be unified through the shape of the limit set GG of the scaled sample cloud Nn={𝑿1/rn,,𝑿n/rn}N_{n}=\{\bm{X}_{1}/r_{n},\ldots,\bm{X}_{n}/r_{n}\} arising for distributions with light-tailed margins. For concreteness our focus has been on exponential margins, but other choices can be useful. In the case of negative dependence between extremes — such that large values of one variable are most likely to occur with small values of another — the double exponential-tailed Laplace margins can be more enlightening. As an example, for the bivariate Gaussian copula with ρ<0\rho<0 we observed that the limit set GG is described by a discontinuous gauge function gg that cannot be established through the simple mechanism of Proposition 2. In Nolde, (2014), the gauge function for this distribution in Laplace margins is calculated as

g(x,y)={(|x|+|y|2ρ|xy|1/2)/(1ρ2),x,y0orx,y0,(|x|+|y|+2ρ|xy|1/2)/(1ρ2),x0,y0orx0,y0.\displaystyle g(x,y)=\begin{cases}(|x|+|y|-2\rho|xy|^{1/2})/(1-\rho^{2}),&x,y\geq 0~{}~{}\mbox{or}~{}~{}x,y\leq 0,\\ (|x|+|y|+2\rho|xy|^{1/2})/(1-\rho^{2}),&x\geq 0,y\leq 0~{}~{}\mbox{or}~{}~{}x\leq 0,y\geq 0.\end{cases}

When ρ<0\rho<0, this yields g(1,ρ2)=1g(1,-\rho^{2})=1 , and g(1,ρ2+u)RV20g(1,-\rho^{2}+u)\in\mathrm{RV}_{2}^{0}, so that extending Proposition 5, we would find that the conditional extremes normalizations are aj(t)ρ2ta^{j}(t)\sim-\rho^{2}t and bj(t)RV1/20b^{j}(t)\in\mathrm{RV}^{0}_{1/2}, as given in Keef et al., (2013).

The study of extremal dependence features through the limit set GG is enlightening both for asymptotically dependent and asymptotically independent random vectors, particularly as it can be revealing for mixture structures where mass is placed on a variety of cones 𝔼C\mathbb{E}_{C} as defined in (2.2). However, many traditional measures of dependence within the asymptotically dependent framework, which are typically functions of the exponent function VV given in equation (2.3), or spectral measure HH, are not revealed by limit set GG. For example, it was noted in the example of Section 4.1.3 that the limit set described by the gauge function g(x,y)=θ1max(x,y)+(1θ1)min(x,y)g(x,y)=\theta^{-1}\max(x,y)+(1-\theta^{-1})\min(x,y) can arise for several different spectral measures, although clearly the parameter θ\theta demonstrates some link between strength of dependence and shape of GG.

Nonetheless, multivariate regular variation and associated limiting measures have been well-studied in extreme value theory, but representations that allow greater discrimination between asymptotically independent or mixture structures much less so. The limit set elucidates many of these alternative dependence concepts and provides meaningful connections between them. We have not directly considered connections between the various dependence measures without reference to GG, and we note that the limit set might not always exist. We leave such study to future work.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the editor and two reviewers for constructive feedback and valuable comments that helped improve the paper. NN acknowledges financial support of the Natural Sciences and Research Council of Canada. JLW gratefully acknowledges funding from EPSRC grant EP/P002838/1.

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