Conditions for the convergence in distribution of maxima of stationary normal processes

The asymptotic distribution of the maximum M_n=max_1?t?nξ_t in a stationary normal sequence ξ₁,ξ,… depends on the correlation r_t between ξ₀ and ξ_t. It is well known that if r_t log t → 0 as t → ∞ or if Σr²_t<∞, then the limiting distribution is the same as for a sequence of independent normal variables. Here it is shown that this also follows from a weaker condition, which only puts a restriction on the number of t-values for which rt log t islarge. The condition gives some insight into what is essential for this asymptotic behaviour of maxima. Similar results are obtained for a stationary normal process in continuous time.