In mathematics, Varadhan's lemma is a result from the large deviations theory named after S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan. The result gives information on the asymptotic distribution of a statistic ÃÂ(Z<sub>õ</sub>) of a family of random variables Z<sub>õ</sub> as õ becomes small in terms of a rate function for the variables.
Let X be a regular topological space; let (Z<sub>õ</sub>)<sub>õ>0</sub> be a family of random variables taking values in X; let ü<sub>õ</sub> be the law (probability measure) of Z<sub>õ</sub>. Suppose that (ü<sub>õ</sub>)<sub>õ>0</sub> satisfies the large deviation principle with good rate function I : X â [0, +âÂÂ]. Let à: X â R be any continuous function. Suppose that at least one of the following two conditions holds true: either the tail condition
where 1(E) denotes the indicator function of the event E; or, for some ó > 1, the moment condition
Then