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Consider a sequence of random variables $\{X_1,...,X_n\}$ in which $X_k\sim N(0,\sigma^2),\; \forall k=1,...,n$ and $\operatorname{Corr}(X_k,X_{k+h})=\phi^h$ where $0< \phi<1$ and $h=1,...,n-1$. Suppose:

$$\lim_{n\rightarrow \infty} \operatorname{Var} \left[\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^n X_i^2 \right]=0.$$

Determine the limit distribution of

$$\sqrt{n}\frac{\bar{X}_n}{S_n}$$

where

$$\bar{X}_n=\sum_{i=1}^n \frac{X_i}{n} \quad \text{and} \quad S_n^2=\sum_{i=1}^n \frac{(X_i-\bar{X}_n)^2}{n-1}.$$

Attempt.

The main difficulty here is that the random variables aren't independent, although they are identically distributed. Note that we can rewrite the quantity of interest:

$$ \sqrt{n}\frac{\bar{X}_n}{S_n} = \frac{\sigma}{S_n} \cdot \frac{\sqrt{n} \bar{X}_n}{\sigma} = \frac{\sigma}{S_n} \cdot \frac{\bar{X}_n}{\sigma/\sqrt{n}} $$

Note that since $ \displaystyle S_n \stackrel{P}{\to} \sigma, \frac{\sigma}{S_n} \stackrel{P}{\to} \frac{\sigma}{\sigma}=1$. What's left to do is determine the distribution of $ \displaystyle \frac{\bar{X}_n}{\sigma/\sqrt{n}} $. Then we can simply use Slutsky's Theorem.

The result will give a normal distribution, but how can I prove that it follows this distribution with its respective parameters.

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  • $\begingroup$ The absence of independence makes this interesting... with independence this is just the CLT. I suspect that even without independence, the distribution will still be Normal. Also the mean will surely be zero, since the $X_i's$ have zero mean. The variance can be tricky. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 23:27
  • $\begingroup$ Please do not add content to the post that was written for you, @Allan. You are free to improve the post *in your own words." $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 23:36
  • $\begingroup$ @amWhy is just a reformulation of the text. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 23:38
  • $\begingroup$ You never included context; @Sigma put words in your mouth for you, when in fact you have yet to provide context *in your own words". Nothing in your post, nor in comments to Sigma, gave them the right to do that; Please visit How to ask a good question, for tips on how to improve your question, and have more success in the future. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 23:43
  • $\begingroup$ @amWhy, just leave it as it is, I want help in the beginning of the question, the rephrased question will not get in the way, if you help me at this point, i'm glad with you. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 23:56

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Assuming joint normality, $\sqrt{n}\overline{X}_n$ is normal with mean 0 and some variance $\sigma^2_n$ that we can calculate. Then $\sqrt{n}\overline{X}_n$ converges in distribution to a mean 0 normal distribution with the limit of $\sigma^2_n$ as variance.

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