Darling-Kac theorem for renewal shifts in the absence of regular variation (Q2209311)

Consider a null recurrent Markov chain on the non-negative integers, with renewals at the times that the chain returns to zero. In this setting, a regular variation of the normalizing sequence is usually assumed for the existence of a distributional limit of the occupation time of zero. The authors relax this hypothesis, assuming only that the renewal distribution belongs to the domain of geometric partial attraction of a semistable law. A distributional limit (along subsequences) for the occupation time is derived under this assumption and asymptotic properties of the renewal function and a Karamata-type theorem are discussed. Illustrative examples are provided, and the authors conclude by showing that their results can apply to systems that are not isomorphic to Markov renewal chains.