Bayesian nonparametric statistical inference for Poisson point processes

Summary A random measure is said to be selected by a weighted gamma prior probability if the values it assigns to disjoint sets are independent gamma random variables with positive multipliers. If the intensity measure of a nonhomogeneous Poisson point process is selected by a weighted gamma prior probability and if a sample is drawn from the Poisson point process having this intensity measure, then the posterior random intensity measure given the observations is also selected by a weighted gamma prior probability. If the measure space is Euclidean and if the true intensity measure is continuous and finite, the centered posterior process, rescaled by the square root of the sample size, will converge weakly in Skorohod topology to a Wiener process subject to a change of time scale.This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation Grants MCS 77-10376 and MCS 75-14194