Extreme value limit laws in the nonidentically distributed case

LetX ₁, ...,X _n be independent random variables, letF _i be the distribution function ofX _i (1≦i≦n) and letX _1n ≦... ≦X _nn be the corresponding order statistics. We consider the statisticsX _kn, wherek=k(n),k/n → 1 andn−k → ∞. Under some additional restrictions concerning the behaviour of the sequences {a _n>0,b _n,k(n),F _n} we characterize the class of all distribution functionsH such that Prob{(X _kn −b _n )/a _n <x)}→H. Dedicated to the Memory of N. V. Smirnov (1900–1966)