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Suppose $Z_1, \ldots, Z_k$ are random variables with mean $0$ and variance $1$ that are "approximately jointly Gaussian" in the sense that for any scalars $c_1, \ldots, c_k$, we have that $\mathbb P(c_1Z_1 + \cdots + c_kZ_k\leq t)$ is equal to the probability of a mean $0$ and certain variance (depending on the scalars $c_i$ and the covariances of the $Z_i$, which we may assume are smaller than some small absolute constant and actually going to $0$ as $k$ increases) Gaussian being at most $t$, up to an error which is bounded by $C_Ak^{-A}$ for any $A>0$, where $c_A$ is a constant depending on $A$. (You should think that $k$ is going to $\infty$ and for each $k$, I have a different collection of $k$ random variables.)

Do you know if this information is enough to deduce a quantitative multivariate central limit theorem for $Z = (Z_1, \ldots, Z_k)$? It feels like there should be a way, especially since the distribution of the linear combinations of the $Z_i$ fully determines the distribution of the random vector $Z$.

I am aware of the existence of Stein's method and that it would probably work here, but I am trying to avoid it for now and see if there's an easier and more straightforward way to get the distribution of $Z$ quantitatively close to that of a multivariate normal, from the information of each of the linear combinations being quantitatively close to a Gaussian.

Thank you in advance!

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  • $\begingroup$ If you coud prove that for any $\xi=(\xi_1,\dotsc, \xi_k)$ the random variable $(\xi,Z)=\sum\xi_iZ_i$ converges in distribution to a normal random variable then, using Fourier transform you can conclude that $Z$ converges in distribution to a random vector $Z_\infty$ such that $(\xi,Z_\infty)$ is a normal random variable for any $\xi$. This forces $Z_\infty$ to be a Gaussian random vector. $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 9 at 15:56
  • $\begingroup$ @LiviuNicolaescu I understand that, but the emphasis is on getting quantitative bounds. Do you think the method you describe allows to transfer quantitative CLT for linear combinations to a quantitative multivariate CLT for the vector? $\endgroup$
    – Besfort
    Commented Dec 9 at 16:00
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    $\begingroup$ Up to an orthonormal change of coordinates you can assume the compenents of $Z_\infty$ are independent. For scalar random variables you can use the Fourier transform to estimate the Prohorov distance www-users.cse.umn.edu/~bobko001/papers/… $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 9 at 18:17
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the great reference! Perhaps it does make sense to make convergence of the characteristic function (which only depends on the linear combinations) quantitative using what I have, and then use that to get a bound on the distance between the distributions. I will try. $\endgroup$
    – Besfort
    Commented Dec 9 at 21:05
  • $\begingroup$ For anyone who may be interested in this in the future, here is a very recent paper that came out only a few days after this post addressing a more general version of this question: arxiv.org/pdf/2412.10276. $\endgroup$
    – Besfort
    Commented yesterday

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