Local behaviour of first passage probabilities

Abstract

Suppose that S is an asymptotically stable random walk with norming sequence c_{n} and that T_{x} is the time that S first enters (x,\inf), where x\ge 0. The asymptotic behaviour of P(T_0=n) has been described in a recent paper of Vatutin and Wachtel, \cite{vw}, and here we build on that result to give three estimates for P(T_{x}=n), which hold uniformly as n\to\inf in the regions x=o(c_{n}), x=O(c_{n}), and x/c_{n}\to\inf, respectively.