Out of n i.i.d. random vectors in d let X*n be the one closest to the origin. We show that X*n has a nondegenerate limit distribution if and only if the common probability distribution satisfies a condition of multidimensional regular variation. The result is then applied to a problem of density...

An abundance of high quality data sets requiring heavy tailed models necessitates reliablemethods of estimating the shape parameter governing the degree of tail heaviness.The Hill estimator is a popular method for doing this but its practical use isencumbered by several difficulties. We show...