5
$\begingroup$

Consider $m$ vectors $v_1,\dots,v_m$ in $\mathbb R^n$, drawn uniformly and independetly from unit sphere. It is pretty straightforward from Chebyshev inequality that $$ \mathrm P (\forall i\ne j \ |v_i \cdot v_j|\leq \varepsilon) \to 1\ \text{as} \ n \to \infty. $$

But what about quantitative version of this limit, i.e. if we define $$ f(m, \varepsilon, \delta) = \min\{n : \mathrm P(\forall i\ne j\ |v_i \cdot v_j| \leq \varepsilon)\geq 1 - \delta\} $$

what can we say about asymptotic behavior of $f$?

$\endgroup$
2

1 Answer 1

4
$\begingroup$

$\newcommand{\ep}{\varepsilon} \newcommand{\Ga}{\Gamma} \newcommand{\de}{\delta}$ For $\ep\in(0,1)$, let
\begin{equation*} P_{m,n}:=P\Big(\bigcap_{1\le i<j\le m}\{|v_i\cdot v_j|\le\ep\}\Big) =1-Q_{m,n}, \end{equation*} where \begin{equation*} Q_{m,n}:=P\Big(\bigcup_{1\le i<j\le m}\{|v_i\cdot v_j|>\ep\}\Big). \end{equation*} By Bonferroni inequalities, \begin{equation*} Mp\ge Q_{m,n}\ge Mp-R/2, \end{equation*} where \begin{equation*} p:=P(|v_1\cdot v_2|>\ep), \end{equation*} \begin{equation*} M:=m(m-1)/2, \end{equation*} \begin{equation*} R:=\sum_{1\le i<j\le m}\;\sum_{1\le k<l\le m,\,(k,l)\ne(i,j)} P(|v_i\cdot v_j|>\ep,|v_k\cdot v_l|>\ep). \end{equation*} If $\{i,j\}\cap\{k,l\}=\emptyset$, then $P(|v_i\cdot v_j|>\ep,|v_k\cdot v_l|>\ep)=P(|v_i\cdot v_j|>\ep)\,P(|v_k\cdot v_l|>\ep)=p^2$. If $\{i,j\}\cap\{k,l\}\ne\emptyset$ but $\{i,j\}\ne\{k,l\}$, then, using the iid condition on the $u_i$'s and the spherical symmetry, for (say) the unit vector $e_1$ of the standard orthonormal basis of $\mathbb R^n$, we have \begin{multline} P(|v_i\cdot v_j|>\ep,|v_k\cdot v_l|>\ep) =P(|v_1\cdot v_2|>\ep,|v_1\cdot v_3|>\ep) \\ =P(|e_1\cdot v_2|>\ep,|e_1\cdot v_3|>\ep) =P(|e_1\cdot v_2|>\ep)\,P(|e_1\cdot v_3|>\ep)=p^2. \end{multline} So, $P(|v_i\cdot v_j|>\ep,|v_k\cdot v_l|>\ep)=p^2$ for any $i,j,k,l$ such that $1\le i<j\le m,\,1\le k<l\le m,\,(k,l)\ne(i,j)$. So, \begin{equation*} R=M(M-1)p^2. \end{equation*}

Next, \begin{equation*} p=P(|e_1\cdot v_1|>\ep)=K_nI_n, \end{equation*} where, with $n\to\infty$, \begin{equation*} K_n:=\frac{\Ga(n/2)}{\Ga(1/2)\Ga((n-1)/2)(n-1)^{1/2}}\to1/\sqrt\pi, \end{equation*} \begin{equation*} I_n:=(n-1)^{1/2}\int_{\sqrt c}^\infty(1+t^2)^{-n/2}\,dt=e^{-nc/(2+o(1))}, \end{equation*} \begin{equation*} c:=\frac{\ep^2}{1-\ep^2}. \end{equation*}

Collecting the pieces, we see that \begin{equation} Q_{m,n}=Me^{-nc/(2+o(1))}. \end{equation} Setting now $\de=Q_{m,n}\to0$, we find the asymptotics of the needed $n$: \begin{equation} n\sim2\frac{1-\ep^2}{\ep^2}\,\ln\frac{m(m-1)}{2\de}. \end{equation}

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .