Gaussian and Non-Gaussian Linear Time Series and Random Fields

Much of this book is concerned with autoregressive and moving av­ erage linear stationary sequences and random fields. These models are part of the classical literature in time series analysis, particularly in the Gaussian case. There is a large literature on probabilistic and statistical aspects of these models-to a great extent in the Gaussian context. In the Gaussian case best predictors are linear and there is an extensive study of the asymptotics of asymptotically optimal esti­ mators. Some discussion of these classical results is given to provide a contrast with what may occur in the non-Gaussian case. There the prediction problem may be nonlinear and problems of estima­ tion can have a certain complexity due to the richer structure that non-Gaussian models may have. Gaussian stationary sequences have a reversible probability struc­ ture, that is, the probability structure with time increasing in the usual manner is the same as that with time reversed. Chapter 1 considers the question of reversibility for linear stationary sequences and gives necessary and sufficient conditions for the reversibility. A neat result of Breidt and Davis on reversibility is presented. A sim­ ple but elegant result of Cheng is also given that specifies conditions for the identifiability of the filter coefficients that specify a linear non-Gaussian random field.