A Randomized Central Limit Theorem

The Central Limit Theorem (CLT), one of the most elemental pillars of Probability Theory and Statistical Physics, asserts that: the universal probability law of large aggregates of independent and identically distributed random summands with zero mean and finite variance, scaled by the square root of the aggregate-size (n), is Gaussian. The scaling scheme of the CLT is deterministic and uniform - scaling all aggregate-summands by the common and deterministic factor n. This Letter considers scaling schemes which are stochastic and non-uniform, and presents a “Randomized Central Limit Theorem” (RCLT): we establish a class of random scaling schemes which yields universal probability laws of large aggregates of independent and identically distributed random summands. The RCLT universal probability laws, in turn, are the one-sided and the symmetric Lévy laws.