On Level Crossings and Cycles in Dam Processes

Abstract
The classical dam with input according to a process with stationary, independent increments and output at unit rate is considered. The stochastic properties of level crossings, i.e. up- and downcrossings of a fixed level x > 0 are studied. It is shown that successive downcrossings of any such level constitute a renewal process with a.s. strictly positive lifetimes. This property allows the content process to be described as a regenerative process. In fact several types of imbedded renewal processes may be defined and various cycles in the content process may be identified. The number of downcrossings of a fixed level in each such cycle as well as other functionals are studied. In particular, some new properties of the zero set of the dam process are obtained. This study has arisen from questions in cost optimization problems of dams and a simple example is discussed to illustrate the use of the results in this context.

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