The scaling limit of Poisson-driven order statistics with applications in geometric probability

Let ηt be a Poisson point process of intensity t≥1 on some state space Y and let f be a non-negative symmetric function on Yk for some k≥1. Applying f to all k-tuples of distinct points of ηt generates a point process ξt on the positive real half-axis. The scaling limit of ξt as t tends to infinity is shown to be a Poisson point process with explicitly known intensity measure. From this, a limit theorem for the m-th smallest point of ξt is concluded. This is strengthened by providing a rate of convergence. The technical background includes Wiener-Itô chaos decompositions and the Malliavin calculus of variations on the Poisson space as well as the Chen-Stein method for Poisson approximation. The general result is accompanied by a number of examples from geometric probability and stochastic geometry, such as k-flats, random polytopes, random geometric graphs and random simplices. They are obtained by combining the general limit theorem with tools from convex and integral geometry.