Point Processes

The notion of a random closed set, as developed so far, is still very general. To obtain tractable models for applications, one has to restrict the admissible set classes suitably. One possibility consists in considering sets which are generated as the union set of a countable family of simpler sets, such as compact sets, convex bodies, curves, lines, or flats. The appropriate notion for randomizing such families is that of a point process in a space of geometric objects. Point processes are, besides random sets, the second basic object of stochastic geometry. In many applications, the ‘points’ of the process are ordinary points of R^d, but in others, like those employing random closed sets, the ‘points’ may themselves be sets. For that reason, we study point processes in a general locally compact space E.