A phase transition in random coin tossing (Q1872241)

Suppose that a coin with bias \(\theta\) is tossed at the renewal times of a renewal process and a fair coin is tossed at all other times. Let \(\mu_\theta\) be the distribution of the observed sequences of coin tosses and \(u_n\) denote the probability of a renewal at time \(n\). The authors prove that, for some renewal sequences \(\{u_n\}\), there is a phase transition at a critical parameter \(\theta_c \in (0, 1)\) such that the measures \(\mu_0\) and \(\mu_\theta\) are mutually absolutely continuous for \(|\theta|< \theta_c\) but, for \(|\theta |> c\), the measures are singular with respect to each other. These results are connected with a conjecture stated by \textit{M. Harris} and \textit{M. Keane} [Probab. Theory Relat. Fields 109, No.~1, 27-37 (1997; Zbl 0882.60085)] generalizing the work of \textit{S. Kakutani} [Ann. Math., II. Ser. 49, 214-224 (1948; Zbl 0030.02303)] on the equivalence of infinite product measures.