# Inequality in Gaussian space — possibly provable by rearrangement?

The following problem arose for my collaborators and me when studying the computational complexity of the Maximum-Cut problem.

Let $f : \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ be an odd function. Let $\rho \in [0,1]$. Let $X$ and $Y$ be standard Gaussians with covariance $\rho$. Prove that $\mathbf{E}[f(X)f(Y)]$ ≤ $\mathbf{E}[f(X)^2 \mathrm{sgn}(X) \mathrm{sgn}(Y)]$.

The quantity on the left-hand side arises naturally in many contexts; e.g., it is the integral of $f(x)f(y)$ against the Mehler kernel (with parameter $\rho$).

I have some reason to believe this inequality is true. For one piece of evidence, suppose $f$'s range is $\pm 1$. Then the inequality reduces to

$\mathbf{E}[f(X)f(Y)]$ ≤ $\mathbf{E}[\mathrm{sgn}(X) \mathrm{sgn}(Y)]$;

i.e., it's saying that $\mathrm{sgn}$ is the $\pm 1$-valued odd function maximizing the LHS. This is indeed true; it follows from a result of Christer Borell ("Geometric bounds on the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck velocity process"), proved by Ehrhard symmetrization. It was also given a different proof by Beckner, deducing it from a rearrangment inequality on the sphere.

The second inequality generalizes to the case of functions $f : \mathbb{R}^n \to$ {$-1,1$}, but I believe the first inequality, which I would like to prove, is inherently $1$-dimensional.

Any ideas, or pointers to literature that might help? Thanks!

-

Using the antisymmetry of f and sgn to bring the expectations to integral expressions over [0, inf) x [0, inf), the first expectation takes the form:

const* int f(x) f(y) exp(-(x^2+y^2)/(2*(1-rho^2))) sinh(2*rho*x*y/(2*(1-rho^2))) dx dy

while for the second case f(y) is replaced by f(x).

The proof becomes an application of the Cauchy–Schwarz inequality.

-

That is just Cuchy-Schwartz (though pretty well hidden). Writing everything down in terms of the joint density, dropping irrelevant factors, and taking into account that $f(-t)=-f(t)$, we see that the inequality in question is equivalent to $$\iint_{(0,+\infty)^2}e^{-\frac 12(x^2+y^2)}(e^{\rho xy}-e^{-\rho xy})f(x)f(y)dxdy\le \iint_{(0,+\infty)^2}e^{-\frac 12(x^2+y^2)}(e^{\rho xy}-e^{-\rho xy})f(x)^2 dxdy$$ Now, $$e^{\rho xy}-e^{-\rho xy}=\sum_n c_n(\rho) x^ny^n$$ with $c_n(\rho)\ge 0$. Thus, it suffices to show that $$\iint_{(0,+\infty)^2}e^{-\frac 12(x^2+y^2)}x^ny^nf(x)f(y)dxdy\le \iint_{(0,+\infty)^2}e^{-\frac 12(x^2+y^2)}x^ny^n f(x)^2 dxdy$$ But, since the integrands are pure products now, this rewrites as $$\left[\int_{(0,+\infty)}e^{-\frac 12 x^2}x^n f(x)dx\right]^2\le \left[\int_{(0,+\infty)}e^{-\frac 12 x^2}x^n f(x)^2dx\right]\cdot \left[\int_{(0,+\infty)}e^{-\frac 12 x^2}x^n dx\right],$$ which is pure Cauchy-Schwartz.

-