Asymptotics for sums of random variables with local subexponential behaviour

We study distributions F on [0, infinity) such that for some T less than or equal to infinity F*(2)(x, x + T] similar to 2F(x, x + T]. The case T = infinity corresponds to F being subexponential, and our analysis shows that the properties for T < ∞ are, in fact, very similar to this classical case. A parallel theory is developed in the presence of densities. Applications are given to random walks, the key renewal theorem, compound Poisson process and Bellman-Harris branching processes.