All Questions
100 questions
16
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How often two iid variables are close?
Is there a constant $c>0$ such that for $X,Y$ two iid variables supported by $[0,1]$,
$$
\liminf_\epsilon \epsilon^{-1}P(|X-Y|<\epsilon)\geqslant c
$$
I can prove the result if they have a ...
- 1,352
8
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Is every probability measure a pushforward of Lebesgue measure?
If $m$ is a probability measure on a measurable space $(X, \Sigma)$, is there necessarily a measurable function $f : [0, 1] \to X$ such that $m(A) = \mu(f^{-1}(A))$ for all $A \in \Sigma$?
($\mu$ is ...
- 83
8
votes
1
answer
171
views
On the existence of a particular type of finite measure on $\mathbb N$
Let $\mathbb N$ denote the set of all positive integers. Does there exist a countably additive measure $\mu : \mathcal P(\mathbb N) \to [0,\infty)$ such that $\mu(\mathbb N)<\infty$ and $\mu(\{nk: ...
- 1,209
8
votes
1
answer
355
views
Lower Bound of KL-Divergence Between Two Gibbs Measures
Suppose we have two Gibbs measures with densities
$$
p_f(x) \propto \exp(f(x)),\quad q_g(x)\propto \exp(g(x)).
$$
Consider the KL-divergence between $p_f$ and $q_g$, as a functional of $f$ and $g$, ...
- 1,127
8
votes
3
answers
934
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 ...
- 345
8
votes
0
answers
422
views
Non-affine smooth transformation of Gaussian is Gaussian
Suppose $Z\sim N(0,1)$ (standard Gaussian) and $f: \mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ is a differentiable function such that $f(Z)\sim N(0,1)$. My question is whether there exists any such $f$ other than $f(x)...
- 399
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Conditional Expectation for $\sigma$-finite measures
Someone knows of some definition or reference of how to define conditional expectation for a measure space with $\sigma$-finite measure.
I think it should be as follows:
Let $(X,\mathcal{B},\nu)$ ...
- 193
7
votes
0
answers
3k
views
What is vague convergence and what does it accomplish?
For convenience, let's say that I have a locally compact Hausdorff space $X$ and am concerned with probability measures on its Borel $\sigma$-algebra $\mathcal{B}(X)$. Natural vector spaces to ...
- 1,124
6
votes
2
answers
735
views
Negative probabilities - what are two ordinary pgfs that correspond to the gf of a half-coin?
In Half of a Coin: Negative Probabilities, author considers pgf of a fair coin represented by random variable, $X = 1_H$:
$$G_X(z) = E[z^X] = \sum_{x=0,1} z^xP(X=x) = (z^0)(1/2) + (z^1)(1/2) = \frac{...
- 247
6
votes
1
answer
291
views
Comparing $X+Y$ and $X-Y$ for independent random variables with values in an abelian locally compact group
Let $G$ be an abelian locally (separable?) compact group with Haar measure $\mu$. Inspired by the interesting proof of A sum of two binomial random variables :
Let $X$ and $Y$ be $G$-valued ...
- 2,101
6
votes
0
answers
388
views
Closedness of a set of measures, where conditional marginals are in closed $\varepsilon$-ball w.r.t. Wasserstein distance
Let $(E,d)$ be a bounded polish space (separable, complete metric space satisfying $\sup_{x,y\in E} d(x,y) < \infty$). By $\mathcal{P}(E)$ we denote the space of Borel probability measures on $E$ ...
- 1,095
5
votes
2
answers
730
views
Probabilty measures that are both discrete and continuous
Consider a measure space $\left(S,\Sigma\right)$ where each state $s\in S$ can be expressed as $s=\left(x,c\right)$, where $x\in\mathbb R$ and $c\in\mathbb N$. E.g., suppose $s$ denotes the state of a ...
- 101
5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Tight sequence of measures
This is probably a very easy question for experts in probability or measure theory.
I have a sequence of finite measures $\mu_{n}$ on a non-compact metric space $X$ such that $\mu_{n}$ converges to $\...
- 38
5
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Sum of random variables are equal in distribution
Suppose that $X,Y$ are scalar random variables supported on some standard Lebesgue probability space $(\Omega, \mathrm{P})$, such that $X \overset{\mathrm{d}}{=} Y$ in the sense that their pushforward ...
- 85
5
votes
1
answer
356
views
Question abouth Prokhorov metric
Let $X$ and $Y$ be two random variables with first order moments, i.e. $E[|X|]$, $E[|Y|]<+\infty$. Assume further that
$$E\left[|X-Y|\right]<\varepsilon.$$
Set $Law(X)=\mu$ and $Law(Y)=\nu$, ...
- 1,835
4
votes
2
answers
267
views
Grand-canonical Gibbs measure for continuous systems
Let's consider a bounded (maybe compact) set $\Lambda \subset \mathbb{R}^{d}$ with particles interacting on it. Suppose, for each $N \in \mathbb{N}$, $U_{N}: (\mathbb{R}^{d})^{N} \to \mathbb{R}\cup \{+...
- 3,515
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'}...
- 710
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Examples of convergence in distribution not implying convergence in moments
It is well know that the convergence in distributions does not necessarily imply convergence in expectation, but implies convergence in expectation of bounded continuous functions.
Let $\{X_n\}$ be a ...
- 227
4
votes
2
answers
855
views
Disintegration, conditional probabilities, and conditional expectation
On the Wikipedia page there is a note that conditional probability measures can be described by disintegration. However, I can seem to find a clear exposée of how this construction is related to ...
- 5,405
4
votes
3
answers
3k
views
What is the name for a non-normalized distribution?
For some analysis work with probability distributions, I remember a common trick being to drop the "integrate to 1" requirement, so the set becomes closed under addition and is more convenient to work ...
4
votes
1
answer
206
views
Existence of measures with given 1d marginals
This is a question about marginals of probability measures, which seems unrelated to previous questions.
Let $\mathbb{S}^{d-1}\subset \mathbb{R}^d$ be the unit sphere. Assume that for each $\theta\in \...
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
General version of Skorokhod representation of random variables
Let $F: \mathbb{R} \to [0,1]$ be cumulative distribution function (cdf). The standard way to build a random variable $\tau$ on $([0,1],\mathcal{B},\text{Leb})$ with $F$ as its cdf is using the ...
- 941
4
votes
2
answers
274
views
Does strong stochastic ordering exist?
For two probability measure $\mu$ and $\nu$ on $\mathbb{R}$, we call $\mu$ is stochastically smaller than $\nu$ (i.e., $\mu\leq\nu$) , if $\int f \, d\mu\leq\int f \, d\nu$ for any nonnegative bounded ...
- 43
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
wasserstein distance between distributions with bounded ratio
Let $p$ and $q$ be probability distributions on a metric space $X=(X, d)$ with densities $dp$ and $dq$, such that there exists $0 < \alpha < \beta < \infty$ satisfying
$$
\alpha d p \le dq \...
- 6,853
4
votes
1
answer
220
views
Question about the weak convergence of probability
Let $\mu$ be a probability measure on $\mathbb R$ and set
$$c(K):=\int_{\mathbb R}(x-K)^+d\mu(x).$$
Assume that one has a sequence of probability measures $(\mu_n)_{n\ge 1}$ s.t.
$$\int_{\mathbb R}\...
- 1,835
4
votes
1
answer
265
views
Bounds on discrepancy metric of product measures
Consider two measurable spaces $X_1 = (\mathbb{R}^m,\mathcal{B}(\mathbb{R}^m),\mu_1)$ and $X_2 = (\mathbb{R}^m,\mathcal{B}(\mathbb{R}^m),\mu_2)$ and the product spaces
$$X_1^{q} = (\times_{i=1}^q\...
- 2,712
4
votes
0
answers
160
views
Can we show equivalence of two distributions based on their statistics?
Let $p,q$ be two distributions on $\mathbb{R}^d$. Let $f:\mathbb{R}^d\times\mathbb{R}^d\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$. Under what conditions does $\mathbb{E}_{x\sim p}f(x,z)=\mathbb{E}_{x\sim q}f(x,z)\ \...
- 57
4
votes
0
answers
95
views
Approximating martingales given marginal distributions
Let $(\mu_0,\mu_1)$ be a vector of probability measures on $\mathbb R$ that are of finite first moment, i.e.
$$\int_{\mathbb{R}}|x|\mu_i(dx)~<~+\infty \mbox{ for } i=0,1$$
and increasing in ...
- 1,835
4
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Total variation and Hellinger distance inequality between truncated Gaussians
We know that the total variation distance, $d_{TV}(P,Q) = \frac{1}{2}\left|\left|P-Q\right|\right|_1$, between any two distributions $P$ and $Q$ is lower bounded by their squared Hellinger distance, $...
- 41
4
votes
0
answers
867
views
For what sub-$\sigma$-algebra are these two measures equivalent?
In two statistics papers (linked inline below) I have come across two definitions of certain probability measures. I conjecture that for particular choices of the construction that they are ...
- 2,791
3
votes
1
answer
688
views
Is it possible to construct any random variable on the Euclidean Probability space?
Let $(\Omega,\mathscr A,P)$ be an arbitrary probability space,
and let $X:\Omega\to\mathbb R$ be a random variable.
Then,
one can generate a random variable $Y$ from the probability space $\big([0,1],\...
user34424
3
votes
3
answers
379
views
Support of an infinitely divisible measure.
Hello,
if $G$ is a compact Lie group. Let $\mu$ be an infinitely divisible measure on $G$, such that $e$, the neutral element of $G$, is in the support of $\mu$. Is that true that the support of $\...
- 31
3
votes
1
answer
651
views
What conditions on a probability distribution defined by long-time averaging do I need to satisfy a central limit theorem?
For integer $n$, $1 \le n \le N$, consider the random variables
$X_n = \cos[t \omega_n]$
For any fixed $N$, we can take the mean
$Y_N = \frac{1}{N} \sum_{n=1}^N X_n$
and define a (cumulative) ...
- 846
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Measurable functions in product space
I am reading a book by Billingsley (convergence of probability measures) and he makes a footnote on page 27 which I am struggling to understand. I'll explain the setup below.
Suppose $(X_n,Y_n)$ are ...
- 33
3
votes
1
answer
304
views
Question abouth Skorokhod representation of random variables
It is known that for any two probability measures $\mu$ and $\nu$ on $\mathbb R$ that are close in the Prokhorov metric $\rho$, i.e.
$$\rho(\mu,\nu)<\varepsilon,$$
then there exist two random ...
- 1,835
3
votes
2
answers
227
views
Example of measure for some algebra over N
$\mathcal F$ is set of events. Can you give an example of some algebra $\mathcal A$ over $\mathbb N$ and a non-zero finitely additive measure $\mu$ on this algebra, which has a countably additive ...
- 113
3
votes
2
answers
278
views
The disintegration of the convolution of two probability measures
Let $G$ be a topological group with all the topological conditions in order that some form of the disintegration theorem be applicable (for instance, take $G$ metrizable). Let $N$ be normal and closed,...
- 5,407
3
votes
1
answer
156
views
Measurability of a particular set generated by discrete probability measures
Suppose that $(S,\Sigma)$ is a measurable space with $S$ Polish and $\Sigma$ its Borel sigma algebra. Let $\mathcal{C}$ be the collection of discrete probability measures on $S$ having countably ...
- 33
3
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Empirical estimator for total variation distance between two product distributions
Let $X = (X_1, X_2, \ldots , X_n)$ be an $n$-dimensional random variable, where each $X_i$ is a random variable on finite discrete set $S$. In addition, $X_i$ are independent of each other (but not ...
- 35
3
votes
0
answers
179
views
Probability terminology
This is strictly a low-level terminology question. If I have a probability space $\Omega$ and a measurable space $S$, then a random variable $X:\Omega\rightarrow S$ gives rise via pushforward to a ...
- 23k
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 ...
- 6,853
2
votes
1
answer
170
views
Law of large numbers for a continuum of Bernoullis
Suppose I have a family of $n$ independent Bernoulli random variables described by a vector of parameters $(p_i)_{i=1}^n$. As it is well known, the number of successes within this family is a random ...
2
votes
1
answer
268
views
Union bound probability of random union
Let $(\Omega,\mathcal{F},\mathbb{P})$ be a probability space. Let $\{E_i\}_{i = 1}^N,$ with $E_i \in\mathcal{F}$ be a set of events and let $i(X)$ be a R.V. assuming values in $\{1,...,N\}$
Is there ...
- 245
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Explicitly representing a random variable in terms of indicator functions
Motivation:
I want to compute $$E[g(X)] := \int_{\Omega} g(X(\omega)) d\mathbb{P}(\omega) \tag{*}$$ without needing change of variable formula.
I want to prove the change of variable formula (you ...
- 247
2
votes
1
answer
216
views
Measure space for trees and other algebraic datatypes
Given a measure space $\mathcal M$, I am wondering what kind of measure space $\mathcal T(\mathcal M)$ one could associate to the set of binary trees with elements from $\mathcal M$ at each node.
The ...
- 1,241
2
votes
1
answer
469
views
If two probability distributions have the same weak limit and one of them satisfies Large Deviation Principle, what can we say about the other?
If the probability distribution function of two sequences of random variables have the same weak limit and one of the sequences satisfies a Large deviation principle, then does it imply that the other ...
- 3,245
2
votes
2
answers
2k
views
The probability distribution of random variable of random variable
In my understanding, random variable is a measurable function from a probability space to a measurable space. Suppose $X$ is a random variable from $(A, \sigma_{A},P_A)$ to $(B,\sigma_{B})$. And $Y$ ...
- 131
2
votes
1
answer
86
views
From convergence of sequences to uniform convergence in probability
For $n=1, 2,\ldots$ consider a sequence of sets of ascending integers $I_n=\{\underline{i}_n,\underline{i}_n+1, \ldots, \overline{i}_n\}$, with $\underline{i}_n \to \infty$ and $\underline{i}_n=o(\...
- 195
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
measure of a degenerate Gaussian distribution
I want to do computations with a degenerate Gaussian measure, but I do not know how to represent it
in a close form.
After starting with a Gaussian random variable and restricting it to a condition, I ...
- 23
2
votes
1
answer
241
views
Weak continuity of law
Let $\mathcal{P}_2(\mathbb{R}^n)$ denote the set of all Borel probability measures on $\mathbb{R}^n$ with finite variance and weak topology. Let $X_t$ be a strong solution to the SDE with initial ...
- 5,405