Based on the ratio of two block maxima, we propose a large sample test for the length of memory of a stationary symmetric $\alpha$-stable discrete parameter random field. We show that the power function converges to one as the sample-size increases to infinity under various classes of alternatives having longer memory in the sense of Samorodnitsky(2004). Ergodic theory of nonsingular $\mathbb{ Z}^d$-actions play a very important role in the design and analysis of our large sample test.
Categories: math.PR math.ST stat.TH