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39 votes
3 answers
4k views

Manifold of probability measures: connections between two types of metrics

The space of probability measures could be viewed as an infinite-dimensional manifold, equipped with two possible types of metrics — (1) Wasserstein and (2) Fisher-Rao. Metric (1) is connected with ...
Minkov's user avatar
  • 1,127
28 votes
1 answer
6k views

1-Wasserstein distance between two multivariate normal

The $p$-Wasserstein between two measures $\nu_1$ and $\nu_2$ on $X$ is given by $$d_p(\nu_{1},\nu_{2})=\left(\underset{\pi\in\Gamma(\nu_{1},\nu_{2})}{\inf}\int_{\mathbf{\mathcal{X}}^{2}}d(x,y)^p\pi(dx,...
warsaga's user avatar
  • 1,256
14 votes
2 answers
892 views

Do distance functionals separate probability measures?

Let $(\Omega,d)$ be a compact metric space and $\mathcal P(\Omega)$ its space of Borel probability measures. Let $D=\{ d_p\mid p\in\Omega\}$ where $d_p(x)=d(p,x)$ be the set of all "distance ...
Christian Bueno's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
274 views

Cutting a Gaussian in two pieces that are maximally separated in the Wasserstein metric

Denote the standard Gaussian probability measure on $\mathbb R^n$ by $\gamma$. We partition $\mathbb R^n$ into two sets $A$ and $A^c$ such that $\gamma(A) = \gamma(A^c) = 1/2$. Denote by $\gamma_{A}$...
VSJ's user avatar
  • 1,034
9 votes
3 answers
2k views

2-Wasserstein (optimal transport) and extension to the set of all signed measures

Consider the 2-Wasserstein distance between probability measures $\mu$ and $\nu$ (on $\mathbb{R}^d$), defined as $$ d_{W_2}(\mu,\nu) = \inf_{\gamma} \Big[\int \|x-y\|^2 d\gamma(x,y)\Big]^{1/2} $$ ...
passerby51's user avatar
  • 1,741
8 votes
1 answer
727 views

continuity of the Boltzmann entropy in the Wasserstein metric

For Lebesgue-absolutely continuous probability measures $\rho\ll \mathcal{L}^d$ in the whole space $\mathbb{R}^d$ with finite second moments (i-e $\rho\in \mathcal{P}^2_{ac}(\mathbb{R}^d)$), let $$ \...
leo monsaingeon's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
2k views

How to interpret couplings in optimal transport?

Let $\mu$ and $\nu$ be two measures on some (at least measurable) space $X$. In optimal transport theory, Monge's problem to $$ \text{minimize} \quad \int c(x,T(x))\mu(dx) \quad \text{over measurable ...
vaoy's user avatar
  • 309
8 votes
3 answers
936 views

Question about Wasserstein metric

Let $\mu$ and $\nu$ be two probability measures on $\mathbb R^n$ with finite first moment. Denote by $d:=W_1(\mu,\nu)$, where $W_1(\cdot,\cdot)$ stands for the Wasserstein distance of order $1$. My ...
user111097's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
310 views

Local Lipschitzness of parameterization of Gaussians in Wasserstein space

Fix a positive integer $n$ and consider the $2$-Wasserstein space $\mathcal{P}_2(\mathbb{R}^n)$. Let $X$ be the cone of $n\times n$ symmetric positive semidefinite matrices with Frobenius norm and ...
Justin_other_PhD's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
3k views

The largest Wasserstein distance to uniform distribution among all probability distributions with uniform marginals

I am looking for the largest Wasserstein distance to the uniform distribution among all probability distributions with uniform marginals. More specifically, let $\Xi=\{1,2,\ldots,N\}^2$, and let $\nu$...
O. Richard's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
2k views

Gradient of Wasserstein distance in the sense of Otto's calculus

I am learning the idea of "gradient" of a functional in Otto's calculus. It is defined as follows. Suppose the space we are thinking about is $(\mathcal{P}_{2,AC}(\mathbb{R}^d),W_2)$, the ...
MikeG's user avatar
  • 715
6 votes
2 answers
763 views

How to control Wasserstein distance in terms of characteristic function

Let $\mathcal P(\Omega)$ be the set of probability measures supported on some compact subset $\Omega\subset\mathbb R^d$. For $\mu\in\mathcal P(\Omega)$, denote by $F_{\mu}$ its characteristic function,...
user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
953 views

Comparison of Information and Wasserstein Topologies

There are many possible metrics one can place on the space of Gaussian probability measures on $\mathbb{R}^n$, with strictly positive definite co-variance matrices. Let's denote this space by $X$. I'...
Catologist_who_flies_on_Monday's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
396 views

Universal decay rate of the Fisher information along the heat flow

I'm looking for a reference for the following fact: In the torus $\mathbb T^d$ let me denote by $u_t=u(t,x)$ the (unique, distributional) solution of the heat equation $$ \partial_t u=\Delta u $$ ...
leo monsaingeon's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Earth mover/Wasserstein distance between a pdf and an empirical distribution

This question is inspired by this much older question: Convergence of an empirical distribution w.r.t. the Hellinger distance Let $P$ be a continuous probability distribution on a compact subset of $...
Hans Flores's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
159 views

Log Sobolev inequality uniform in parameters

Fix a positive integer $N$. For $\theta \in [0,2\pi]$, set $\sigma_k(\theta) :=(\cos(k\theta),\sin(k\theta)) \in S^1$ for each integer $1\leq k\leq N$. Now for vectors $x_1,\ldots,x_N\in \mathbb{R}^2$,...
Matt Rosenzweig's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
244 views

Distribution of point knowing target in optimal matching

I am a young PhD student in statistics. Recently, papers (Ambrosio, Stra and Trevisan; Talagrand; Ledoux to cite but a few) tackled the problem of finding the expected cost in an optimal matching, ...
Gilles Mordant's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
415 views

Effect of perturbing the atoms of a measure on the Wasserstein distance

Let $(X,d)$ be a metric space, $x_1,\ldots,x_N\in X$ and $x_1',\ldots,x_N'\in X$ be atoms, and $G=\sum_{i=1}^Np_i\delta_{x_i}$, $G'=\sum_{i=1}^Np_i'\delta_{x_i}$, and $G''=\sum_{i=1}^Np_i'\delta_{x_i'}...
JohnA's user avatar
  • 710
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Wasserstein distance between product measures

For two probability measures $\mu,\nu$ on $\mathbb{R}^n$, let $$W_p(\mu,\nu)^p=\inf_{\pi}\int\|x-y\|^p_2\ \pi(dx\ dy)$$ denote the $p^\text{th}$ Wasserstein distance between $\mu, \nu$, where the ...
Ribhu's user avatar
  • 407
4 votes
1 answer
444 views

PDE-Based Triangle Inequality for Optimal Transportation

Suppose $\Omega$ is a suitably regular domain in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and $\rho_0,\rho_1\in\textrm{Prob}(\Omega)$. Benamou and Brenier showed that the $L_2$ transportation distance between $\rho_0$ and $\...
Justin's user avatar
  • 705
4 votes
2 answers
256 views

Are the sublevel sets of Boltzmann entropy compact in Wasserstein distance?

For Lebesgue-absolutely continuous probability measures $\rho\ll \mathcal{L}^d$ in the whole space $\mathbb{R}^d$ with finite second moments (i-e $\rho\in \mathcal{P}^2_{ac}(\mathbb{R}^d)$), let $$ \...
Akira's user avatar
  • 825
4 votes
1 answer
360 views

Measurability of Markov kernel wrt the Borel $\sigma$-algebra generated by the weak topology

Consider two Polish metric probability spaces $(\mathcal{A}, \Sigma_\mathcal{A})$ and $(\mathcal{B}, \Sigma_\mathcal{B})$, endowed with their Borel $\sigma$-algebras. Denote as $\mathcal{P}_\mathcal{B}...
ECL's user avatar
  • 345
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Earth movers distance (EMD) between two multivariate normals. Is it negative definite distance?

I was looking at the closed form formula for 2-Wassersteins distance for multivariate normal distribution on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasserstein_metric#Normal_distributions It has a ...
user24318's user avatar
  • 141
4 votes
1 answer
597 views

Monge-Kantorovich duality with a $\{0,1\}$ cost function

Consider the usual Monge-Kantorovich transportation problem where $X$ and $Y$ are Polish spaces, $\mu$ and $\nu$ are probability measures on $X$ and $Y$, and $c:X\times Y \to \mathbb{R}^+ \cup \{+\...
Tom Solberg's user avatar
  • 4,049
4 votes
1 answer
209 views

Riemannian submanifolds of $2$-Wasserstein space

In the article "Wasserstein Geometry Of Gaussian Measures" by Asuka Takatsu the author shows how the space of d-dimensional Gaussian probability measures with non-singular covariance ...
Annie's user avatar
  • 91
4 votes
0 answers
117 views

Improving log-Sobolev inequalities via quadratic regularisation

Suppose that $\mu(dx) = \exp(-\psi(x)) \, \mathrm{dx}$ is a probability measure on $\mathbf{R}^d$. For suitable functions $g \geqslant 0$, define $$\text{Ent}(g) = \int \mu(dx) g(x) \log \left( \frac{...
πr8's user avatar
  • 801
4 votes
0 answers
757 views

Tangent space and gradient on subspace of Wasserstein space given by finitely supported measures

Let $\mathcal{P}_2(M)$ be the 2-Wasserstein space over some Riemannian manifold $(M,g)$ (connected, complete, and without boundary). Let $\mathcal{FP}_2(M,n)$ be the subspace of probability measures ...
S.Surace's user avatar
  • 1,675
4 votes
0 answers
589 views

Optimal transport between two distributions in a Markov chain

In a previous question, given an ergodic Markov chain, I'm interesting in sampling as short a path as possible with prescribed distributions for its endpoints. In a comment, I propose that the ...
dohmatob's user avatar
  • 6,853
3 votes
2 answers
295 views

Wasserstein convergence of "series expansion'' of probability measure

Let $X$ be a Polish space and let $(\mu_i)_{i=1}^{\infty}$ be a sequence of probability measures in the Wasserstein space $\mathcal{P}(X)$ on $X$. Let $(\beta_i)_{i=1}^{\infty}$ be a summable ...
ABIM's user avatar
  • 5,405
3 votes
1 answer
989 views

About the metrizability of the space of Probability measures $\mathcal{P}(S)$

It is often proved in Books that the space of Probability measures $\mathcal{P}(S)$ on a Polish metric space $(S,\rho)$ endowed with the weak/narrow topology induced by declaring it to be be the ...
vaoy's user avatar
  • 309
3 votes
2 answers
165 views

continuity/ measurablity of optimal transport

given polish space $(X,d)$, consider weak* topology of probability. optimal transport of probability $u,v$ is defined by $\pi(u,v)$ such that $\pi(u,v)$ minimizes: $\{\int d(x,y) d \pi(dx,dy): \pi \...
jason's user avatar
  • 553
3 votes
1 answer
269 views

Does complete and separable Wasserstein space imply a complete base space?

Also asked on math.SE. Let $(Z,d)$ be a metric space, and for $p\geq 1$, consider a metric space $(W_p,d_{W_p})$ defined by The Wasserstein Space $\begin{align}W_p = \{\mu|\mu\textrm{ is a Borel ...
Kaira's user avatar
  • 305
3 votes
1 answer
403 views

Regularity of transport map

Let $\mu$ and $\nu$ be probability measures on $\mathbb{R}^n$ with first moment and suppose that both $\mu$ and $\nu$ have a densities with respect to the $n$-dimensional Lebesgue measure. Fix some ...
ABIM's user avatar
  • 5,405
3 votes
2 answers
758 views

Multi-marginal optimal transport

The notion of Wasserstein distance between two probability measures is well-studied and well-motivated in many different branches of math and stat. Let $\mu$ and $\nu$ be any two probability measures ...
math-Student's user avatar
  • 1,109
3 votes
1 answer
151 views

Is this set $\sigma$-compact in the Wasserstein space?

This is a follow-up to this question. Fix a finite first moment probability measure $q\in\mathcal{P}_1(\mathbb R ^d)$, and real numbers $K,M,R$. Consider the following set: $$A:=\left\{p\in\mathcal{P}...
J.R.'s user avatar
  • 291
3 votes
1 answer
151 views

Is this map (from the space of probability densities to the Wasserstein space) Lipschitz?

Let $p \in [1, \infty)$. Let $\mathcal P_p(\mathbb R^d)$ be the space of all Borel probability measures on $\mathbb R^d$ with finite $p$-th moments. Let $D_p$ be the collection of all Borel measurable ...
Analyst's user avatar
  • 657
3 votes
1 answer
530 views

Wasserstein-type concentration inequalities for empirical measures on polish spaces

Let $(\mathcal{X},d)$ be a Polish (metric) space and let $\{X_n\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$ be a sequence of i.i.d. $\mathcal{X}$-valued random elements defined on a common complete (standard) probability space ...
ABIM's user avatar
  • 5,405
3 votes
2 answers
206 views

Getting Wasserstein closeness from a derivative estimate

In my setting, $\mu$ and $\nu$ are probability measures on $\mathbb{R}^{2}$ with compact support. For any function $f\in{C^{2}_{b}(\mathbb{R}^{2})}$, I have the estimate: $$ |\mathbb{E}_{\mu}(f)-\...
David Pechersky's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
311 views

Kantorovich duality with pseudometrics

The usual framework for the Kantorovich duality in optimal transport theory uses Polish spaces as ground spaces for the distributions that should be transported. Are there results available that ...
Markus Holzleitner's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
752 views

Wasserstein convergence of conditional measures

Suppose $W_r(\mu_n,\mu)\to0$, where $\mu_n$ and $\mu$ are discrete probability measures on some metric space $\Omega$, and that all measures have the same number of atoms $d$ (but not the same atoms): ...
JohnA's user avatar
  • 710
3 votes
1 answer
385 views

Are there any results on concentration bounds of Wasserstein distances between empirical measures?

I know there are concentration bounds on $W(\mu,\hat{\mu})$ where $\mu$ and $\hat{\mu}$ are true and empirical distributions respectively, but is there anything out there on $W(\mu,\nu)$ versus $W(\...
Kashif's user avatar
  • 383
3 votes
1 answer
170 views

Reformulation as optimization on probability distributions

This is a "soft" question, in the sense that I'm looking for historical remarks and general commentary rather than a definite answer. For compact $X \in R^n$ and $f : R^n \to R$ consider the problem ...
golden-rabbit's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
202 views

Is there a coupling that induces a given coupling via a transition kernel?

Let $X,Y$ be two measurable spaces, $\mu,\nu$ two probability measures on $X$, and $\kappa$ a transition kernel from $X$ to $Y$. Define $\tilde\mu(dy)=\int_X\kappa(dy|x)\mu(dx)$ and $\tilde\nu(dy)=\...
S.Surace's user avatar
  • 1,675
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Closed-form formula for Wasserstein distance between uniform discrete distribution and discrete distribution with same support

Let $x_1,\ldots,x_n$ be $n \ge 1$ distinct points in $\mathbb R^d$ and consider two discrete distributions on these points $\mu = (1/n)\sum_{i=1}^n\delta_{x_i}$, and $\nu = \sum_{i=1}^n\nu_i\delta_{...
dohmatob's user avatar
  • 6,853
3 votes
0 answers
230 views

Are 1-Wasserstein and 2-Wasserstein distances between multivariate normal distributions equivalent?

The $p$-Wasserstein between two measures $\nu_1$ and $\nu_2$ on $X$ is given by $$W^p_p(\nu_{1},\nu_{2})=\underset{\pi\in\Gamma(\nu_{1},\nu_{2})}{\inf}\int_{\mathbf{\mathcal{X}}^{2}}d(x,y)^p\pi(dx,dy)$...
Vladimir Zolotov's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
137 views

On the continuity with respect to the increasing convex order

For $p\ge 1$, let $\mathcal P_p(\mathbb R)$ be the set of probability measures on $\mathbb R$ of finite $p^{\rm th}$ moment. Denote by $W_p$ the Wasserstein metric of order $p$ and by $\preceq$ the ...
Fawen90's user avatar
  • 1,409
3 votes
0 answers
163 views

A new "adversarial" Wasserstein distance?

Let us consider $\mu_1, \mu_2$ and $\mu_3$ three probability measures living on $[0,1]^{k_1}, [0,1]^{k_2}$ and $[0,1]^k$respectively, with $k_1 +k_2=k$. Let us denote by $\Gamma(\mu,\nu)$ the set of ...
Gilles Mordant's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
243 views

Parametric distances on product spaces of measures

Disclaimer: Please excuse my loose language. I'm neither an expert in geometry nor probability. Please ask for clarification if something appears unclear or awkward to you. Let $X$ be a topological ...
dohmatob's user avatar
  • 6,853
2 votes
1 answer
237 views

Is the following set compact w.r.t. the Wasserstein distance?

Fix a finite first moment probability measure $q\in\mathcal{P}_1(\mathbb R ^d)$, and real numbers $K,M,R$. Consider the following set: $$A:=\left\{p\in\mathcal{P}_1(\mathbb R ^d): \int |x|dp\leq K, \...
J.R.'s user avatar
  • 291
2 votes
1 answer
1k views

Wasserstein interpolation between two probability measures on a metric space

Question 1 Given probability measures $\mu$ and $\nu$ on the same metric space $X=(X,d)$, and $\alpha \in [0, 1]$, is it always possible to find another probability measure $\lambda_\alpha$ on $X$ ...
dohmatob's user avatar
  • 6,853