Poisson splitting by factors

Abstract

Given a homogeneous Poisson process on ${\mathbb{R}}^d$ with intensity $λ$, we prove that it is possible to partition the points into two sets, as a deterministic function of the process, and in an isometry-equivariant way, so that each set of points forms a homogeneous Poisson process, with any given pair of intensities summing to $λ$. In particular, this answers a question of Ball [Electron. Commun. Probab. 10 (2005) 60--69], who proved that in $d=1$, the Poisson points may be similarly partitioned (via a translation-equivariant function) so that one set forms a Poisson process of lower intensity, and asked whether the same is possible for all $d$. We do not know whether it is possible similarly to add points (again chosen as a deterministic function of a Poisson process) to obtain a Poisson process of higher intensity, but we prove that this is not possible under an additional finitariness condition.

Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-AOP651 the Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org)