An extension of Hewitt's inversion formula and its application to fluctuation theory

Abstract

We analyze fluctuations of random walks with generally distributed increments. Integral representations for key performance measures are obtained by extending an inversion theorem of Hewitt [11] for Laplace-Stieltjes transforms. Another important part of the anal- ysis involves the so-called harmonic measures associated to the distribution of the increment of the walk. It is also pointed out that such representations can be explicitly calculated, if one assumes a form of rational structure for the increment transform. Applications include, but are not restricted to, queueing and insurance risk problems.

arXiv comment20 pages, submitted for publication