Abstract : Gibbs spatial point processes are important models in theoretical physics and in spatial statistics. After a brief survey of Gibbs point processes, we will present a method for approximating their most important characteristic, the intensity of the process. The method has some affinity with the classical saddlepoint approximations of probability densities. For pairwise-interaction processes the approximation can be computed directly : it performs very well in many cases, but not in all cases. For higher-order interactions, we invoke limit results from stochastic geometry due to Roger Miles and the late Peter Hall, in order to compute the approximation.

Joint work with Gopalan Nair.