Limiting behavior of general branching processes (Q1081218)

Let \(X(t)=\sum_{x}\chi_ x(t-\tau_ x)\), \(t\geq 0\) be the stochastic process that expresses at time t the total production of a general branching population consisting of independent effects \(\chi_ x\) of individuals x having birth times \(\tau_ x\). In the paper, necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of limits \[ (1)\quad \lim_{t\to \infty}E \exp \{-\theta X(t)\},\quad \theta >0, \] and in the critical case \[ (2)\quad \lim_{t_ k\uparrow \infty}P[X(t_ k)/E\{X(t_ k)| S(t_ k)\}\leq x| S(t_ k)] \] are given, where \(\{\) S(t)\(\}\) is a family of events such that \([X(t)>0]\subset S(t)\) and \(P[S(t)]>0\). The theorems presented generalize earlier results by the author [ibid. 34, No.3, 453-461 (1983; Zbl 0534.60075)] and a result obtained by \textit{P. J. Green} [J. Appl. Probab. 14, 451-463 (1977; Zbl 0374.60108)].