An asymptotic expansion for the expected number, μ(t), of particles of an age-dependent branching process is obtained with a general submultiplicative estimate for the remainder term. The influence of the roots of the characteristic equation on the asymptotic behaviour of μ(t) is taken into account.

A Malthusian parameter for the generation-dependent general branching process is introduced and some asymptotics of the expected population size, counted by a general non-negative characteristic, are discussed. Processes both with and without immigration are considered.

Let be a supercritical Bellman-Harris process with finite offspring mean. Cohn [17] has shown that there always exist constants Ct such that limt→∞Zt/Ct = W almost surely for some non-degenerate random variable W. In this paper we give an alternative proof, based on the study of (Zt) as a point process. Our methods are to some extent analytical and parallel Seneta's [18] and Heyde's [11] approaches in the case of the Galton–Watson process. We further identify Ct as 1/(–log Ft(–1)(γ)), where Ft(γ) = E(γzt), i.e. the norming constants found by Seneta [18] for the Galton–Watson process, apply also to the Bellman-Harris process. Finally we derive a weak law of large numbers for W, prove that W is continuous on (0,∞) and show that W has [0,∞) as its support.

A branching process with immigration of the following type is considered. For every i, a random number Ni of particles join the system at time . These particles evolve according to a one-dimensional age-dependent branching process with offspring p.g.f. and life time distribution G(t). Assume . Then it is shown that Z(t) e–αt converges in distribution to an extended real-valued random variable Y where a is the Malthusian parameter. We do not require the sequences {τi} or {Ni} to be independent or identically distributed or even mutually independent.

We consider d-dimensional stochastic processes which take values in (R+)d These processes generalize Galton-Watson branching processes, but the main assumption of branching processes, independence between particles, is dropped. Instead, we assume for some

Here τ:(R+)d→R +, |x| = σ1d |x(i)|, A {x ∈(R+)d: |x| 1} and T: A→A. Under various assumptions on the maps τ and T it is shown that with probability one there exists a ρ > 1, a fixed point p ∈ A of T and a random variable w such that limn→∞Zn|ρnwp. This result is a generalization of the main limit theorem for supercritical branching processes; note, however, that in the present situation both ρ and ρ are random as well. The results are applied to a population genetical model for zygotic selection without mutation at one locus.

We consider d-dimensional stochastic processes which take values in (R+)d. These processes generalize Galton-Watson branching processes, but the main assumption of branching processes, independence between particles, is dropped. Instead, we assume for some

Here τ: (R+)d → R+, |x| = Σ1d |x(i)| A = {x ∈ (R+)d: |x| = 1} and T: A → A. Under various assumptions on the maps τ and T it is shown that with probability one there exists a ρ > 1, a fixed point p ∈ A of T and a random variable w such that limn→∞Znρ−n = wp. This result is a generalization of the main limit theorem for super-critical branching processes; note, however, that in the present situation both p and ρ are random as well. The results are applied to a population genetical model for zygotic selection without mutation at one locus.