Does weak convergence to a continuous distribution imply strong convergence of measures

measure-theoryprobabilityprobability distributionsprobability theoryweak-convergence

Let $X_n$ be a sequence of real-valued random variables with cumulative distribution function $F_n$. Let $X$ be another real-valued random variable with CDF $F$.

Here it is stated that $F_n$ converges strongly to $F$ if $F_n(x) \to F(x)$ for every $x\in\mathbb{R}$. The book cites this paper as a reference. However, the paper defines strong convergence of measures (say $\mu_n$ converges strongly to $\mu$) if $\mu_n(A) \to \mu(A)$ for every set $A$ in the sigma field on which measures are defined.

Are these two equivalent i.e. strong convergence of cdfs implies strong convergence of measures defined by the cdfs ?

Best Answer

Please notice following example. Let \begin{equation*} F_n(x)=\frac{[n(x^+\wedge 1)]}{n}, \quad n\ge 1,\qquad F(x)=x^+\wedge 1,\quad x\in\mathbb{R}, \tag{1} \end{equation*} $\mu_n,\mu$ be the measures generated by $F_n,F$ on $(\mathbb{R},\mathscr{B}_{\mathbb{R}})$ respectively. Then, as $n\to\infty$,
\begin{equation*} \mu_n\overset{w}{\to} \mu,\qquad F_n(x)\to F(x), \quad \forall x\in \mathbb{R}. \tag{2} \end{equation*} Also, let \begin{equation*} A_n=\Big\{\frac{k}{n}, k=0,1,\cdots,n\Big\},\quad n\ge1,\qquad A=\bigcup_{n\ge 1}A_n, \end{equation*} then $A_n,A$ are countable and \begin{gather*} \mu_n(A_n)=\mu_n(A)=1,\qquad n\ge 1, \tag{3}\\ \mu(A_n)=\mu(A)=0, \qquad n\ge 1. \tag{4} \end{gather*} (2)--(4) means that weak convergence (to a continuous distribution) does not imply "strong convergence" of measures.