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Consider the following $n \times n$ symmetric matrix of i.i.d. Bernoulli random variables, $X_{ij}$. For $i=1,...,n$ and $i<j\le n$. Let $X_{ij} \sim \text{Bernoulli}(p)$ when $i \ne j$ ($p$ fixed), and let $X_{ji} = X_{ij}$ (symmetry). For $i=j$, let $X_{ii} =0$ deterministically. This random matrix corresponds to a $G(n,p)$ random graph.

I am interested in the expectation of a complex quantity that reduces to the following expression: $$ Y_n = \frac{ \sum_{i,j,a,b,c,d} X_{ij} X_{ia} X_{bj} X_{cd} - \sum_{i,j,k,a,b,c} X_{ij} X_{ik} X_{ab} X_{ac} }{ \sum_{i,j,a,b,c,d} X_{ij} X_{ia} X_{ib} X_{cd} - \sum_{i,j,k,a,b,c} X_{ij} X_{ik} X_{ab} X_{ac} } := \frac{A_n}{B_n}, $$

where all sums are from $1$ to $n$. $A_n$ and $B_n$ are shorthand for the numerator and denominator.

This quantity is undefined (0/0) with positive probability for all $n$, so technically the expectation is undefined. However, under the following decomposition:

$$\mathbb E[Y_n] = \Pr[B_n = 0] \mathbb E[Y_n | B_n =0] + \Pr[B_n \ne 0] \mathbb E[Y_n | B_n \ne 0]$$

we have that $\mathbb E[Y_n | B_n =0]$ is undefined but $\mathbb E[Y_n | B_n \ne 0]$ is defined. It's possible to show that $\Pr[B_n = 0] \rightarrow 0$ as $n \rightarrow \infty$, so I'm interested in $\mathbb E[Y_n | B_n \ne 0]$, which is conditioning on a high probability event.

I have derived the following expectations:

\begin{eqnarray} \mathbb E [ \sum_{i,j,a,b,c,d} X_{ij} X_{ia} X_{bj} X_{cd}] &=& (n^6 -6n^5+7n^4)p^4 + (2n^5-2n^4)p^3 + n^4p^2 + O(n^3) \\ \mathbb E [ \sum_{i,j,a,b,c,d} X_{ij} X_{ia} X_{ib} X_{cd}] &=& (n^6 -7n^5+11n^4)p^4 + (3n^5-6n^4)p^3 + n^4p^2 + O(n^3) \\ \mathbb E [ \sum_{i,j,k,a,b,c} X_{ij} X_{ik} X_{ab} X_{ac}] &=& (n^6 -6n^5+5n^4)p^4 + (2n^5)p^3 + n^4p^2 + O(n^3) \end{eqnarray}

The resulting expectations of $A_n$ and $B_n$ are then:

\begin{eqnarray*} \mathbb E [A_n ] &=& (n^6 -6n^5+7n^4)p^4 + (2n^5-2n^4)p^3 + n^4p^2 - (n^6 -6n^5+5n^4)p^4 \\ && - (2n^5)p^3 - n^4p^2 + O(n^3) \\ &=& -2(p^3-p^4)n^4 + O(n^3), \end{eqnarray*} \begin{eqnarray*} \mathbb E [ B_n] &=& (n^6 -7n^5+11n^4)p^4 + (3n^5-6n^4)p^3 + n^4p^2 - (n^6 -6n^5+5n^4)p^4 \\ && - (2n^5)p^3 - n^4p^2 + O(n^3) \\ &=& (p^3-p^4)n^5 - 6(p^3 -p^4)n^4 + O(n^3). \end{eqnarray*}

I am wondering, what are ways of establishing that $\mathbb E[A_n /B_n | B_n \ne 0] = \mathbb E[A_n] / \mathbb E[B_n] + o(1)$ for such quantities?

The two approaches I have tried are:

  • Multivariate delta method: this requires establishing a CLT that $(A_n,B_n)$ is a joint normal distribution. This is going to require a CLT for the dependent variables that constitute the sums in question, but they are not $m$-dependent for any fixed $m$. I've also looked into CLTs for quadratic forms, but I haven't seen an answer there either.

  • Taylor expansion: in order to prove that the remainder is bounded, I need to establish a concentration inequality on both the numerator and denominator that is nearly the same as establishing a CLT, but perhaps a little easier. For more on this strategy, see here.

Suggestions for how to make one of these approaches work, or another approach, would be very much appreciated.

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One possibility is to write $$ \mathbb{E} \frac{A}{B} = \mathbb{E} \frac{A}{1 + (B - 1)} = \sum_{k \ge 0} (-1)^k \mathbb{E} [A (B-1)^k]. $$ If you can show that $\mathbb E[A(B-1)^k] = (1+o(1)) \mathbb{E}[A] \mathbb{E}[(B-1)^k]$ for every $k$ (where $1+o(1)$ is uniform in $k$) then you have $\mathbb{E}[A/B] = (1 + o(1)) \mathbb{E}[A] \mathbb{E}[1/B]$.

In order to have $\mathbb{E}[1/B] = (1 + o(1)) 1/\mathbb{E}[B]$, you need to know that $B$ has almost no lower tail. For example, if $B > 0$ then you have $$ \begin{align*} \mathbb{E}[1/B] &= \int_0^\infty \Pr(1/B \ge t)\, dt \\ &= \int_0^\infty \Pr(B \le 1/t)\, dt \\ &\le \frac{1}{(1-\epsilon)\mathbb{E} [B]} + \int_{0}^{(1-\epsilon)\mathbb{E}[B]} \Pr(B \le s) \frac{ds}{s^2}, \end{align*} $$ and so it is enough to have upper bounds on $\Pr(B \le s)$ when $s$ is noticeably smaller than $\mathbb{E}[B]$

I'm not sure that this is the best/easiest approach to the problem, but somehow you need to do something like this. You can only reasonably expect $\mathbb{E}[A/B] \approx \mathbb{E}[A] / \mathbb{E}[B]$ if

  • $A$ and $B$ are more-or-less independent
  • $B$ is strongly concentrated, particularly in its lower tail.

The two things you would need to check (namely, $\mathbb E[A(B-1)^k] = (1+o(1)) \mathbb{E}[A] \mathbb{E}[(B-1)^k]$ and upper bounds on $\Pr(B \le s)$) are somehow versions of these.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you very much Joe for proposing this approach, and your clear explanation. I will explore it and get back to this thread if/when I have any further questions. $\endgroup$ Oct 2, 2014 at 23:14

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