Definition and characterization of multivariate negative binomial distribution

The probability generating function (pgf) of an n-variate negative binomial distribution is defined to be [β(s₁,…,s_n)]^?k where β is a polynomial of degree n being linear in each s_i and k > 0. This definition gives rise to two characterizations of negative binomial distributions. An n-variate linear exponential distribution with the probability function h(x₁,…,x_n)$\text{exp}\text{(}\text{Σ}{}_{\mathrm{i=1}}{}^{\mathrm{n}}\text{θ}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{)}\text{f(θ}{}_1\text{,…,θ}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{)}$ is negative binomial if and only if its univariate marginals are negative binomial. Let S_t, t = 1,…, m, be subsets of {s₁,…, s_n} with empty ∩_t=1^mS_t. Then an n-variate pgf is of a negative binomial if and only if for all s in S_t being fixed the function is of the form of the pgf of a negative binomial in other s's and this is true for all t.