Asymptotic Probabilities of Attaining the Maximum in Heterogeneous Gaussian Samples
Abstract
We study asymptotic probabilities of attaining the maximum in heterogeneous Gaussian samples. In the two-group setting, the first sample has variance and size , while the second has variance and size . We investigate the probability that the maximum of the standard-variance group exceeds that of the high-variance group. Using the classical extreme-value normalization for Gaussian maxima together with a second-order comparison of the centering terms, we show that this probability admits a non-degenerate limit if and only if as for some . In that regime, the limit admits an integral representation. Outside the critical regime, the comparison necessarily degenerates to or . We then extend the analysis to finitely many independent Gaussian groups and obtain a generalized integral representation for the limiting winning probabilities. The results provide a complete asymptotic classification for this maximum-comparison problem
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2605.21155,
title = {Asymptotic Probabilities of Attaining the Maximum in Heterogeneous Gaussian Samples},
author = {Chunxu Zhang and Baiqi Miao and Tiantian Mao},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.21155},
year = {2026}
}