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2 votes
1 answer
250 views

Absolute continuity of infinite product of probability measures

Let $(A_i,\mathcal{B}_i,\mu_i)$ for $i=1,2,\ldots$ be a sequence of probability spaces. Let $\nu_i$ be another sequence of probability measures on the same underlying measurable spaces. Assume that $\...
2 votes
1 answer
103 views

Matuszewska Index and finite variance

Suppose there is a random variable, $X$, with finite variance, and c.d.f. $F(x)$. Does this imply that the upper Matuszewska index of $\bar F(x)$ exists and is strictly smaller than $-2$? The upper ...
3 votes
0 answers
504 views

Continuity of the conditional expectation

Consider the conditional expectation of $x$ given $y$, $$ \mathbb{E}(x | y) $$ where $x \in X$ and $y \in Y$ where $X, Y$ are Hilbert spaces (possibly infinite dimensional). Question : I am looking ...
2 votes
1 answer
193 views

A question on the partial sum of infinite doubly stochastic matrix

Let $A=(a_{ij})$ be an infinite doubly stochastic matrix. Is the following statement true ? $$ \lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^n\sum_{j=1}^na_{ij} >0 $$ Any reference or comment on this is ...
8 votes
1 answer
391 views

On the limit of partial sum of infinite doubly stochastic matrix

Let $A=(a_{ij})$ be an infinite doubly stochastic matrix. Does there necessarily exist a subsequence $\{n_k\}_{k=1}^\infty$ such that $$ \lim_{k\to\infty}\frac{1}{n_k}\sum_{i=1}^{n_k}\sum_{j=1}^{n_k}...
3 votes
1 answer
213 views

A really simple probabilistic inequality on the unit interval

Given a probability distribution on the interval $[0,1]$, is there any relationship between the quantity $$\sup_{S}{\mathbb{E}(X|X\in S)^{2}\Pr(X\in S)}$$ over all measurable subsets $S$, and the ...
3 votes
1 answer
461 views

Bounding the "spikiness" of a probability distribution

Are there any well-known conditions that guarantee that a probability distribution isn't too "spiky"? I ask this question because I am interested in the families of probability distributions $f(x)$ ...
21 votes
2 answers
981 views

What is the optimal speed to approach a red light?

Suppose from distance $d$, while driving at speed $v_0$, I notice that there's a red traffic light in front of me. Suppose that there are no other vehicles, my vehicle has perfect brakes, my maximum ...
1 vote
0 answers
94 views

Measure of the boundary of the support of a certain function defined by an expectation

Suppose: $\mathcal{S} = \{ S \in \mathbb{R}^d \ | \ S_i > 0, \forall i = 1,...,d \} $ $R$ is a random vector (on some probability space, $\Omega$) such that, $R: \Omega \to \mathcal{S}$. $h : ...
1 vote
1 answer
357 views

Does CLT hold for joint distribution of two dependent binomial variables?

Let $S_n$ and $T_m$ be two binomial variables satisfying $S_n\sim B(n,\frac12)$ and $T_m\sim B(m,\frac12)$. Define $\tilde{S}_n=\frac{2S_n-n}{\sqrt{n}}$ and define $\tilde{T}_m$ similarly. For any ...
3 votes
0 answers
240 views

About optimizing decay rate of Fourier transforms?

Suppose we have a density function $f(t)$ of a random variable and $f \in C^1(R)$. If characteristic function of $f$ is $\phi_f(x) \asymp O(x^{-\beta})$ and $f$ satisfies some restrictive conditions ...
3 votes
1 answer
113 views

maximum likelihood estimation of X is better than that of f(X)?

Consider a binary variable $C$ with $\Pr(C=0)=\Pr(C=1)=0.5$. Consider a random vector $X \in \mathbb{R}^d$, characterized by $C$, with PDF $p_m(x)$, $m\in\{0,1\}$. Define a maximum likelihood (ML) ...
3 votes
1 answer
113 views

Asymptotic expansion of nonlinear Gaussian transformation in terms of covariance

I'm reading this paper and on page 8 the authors state without proof an asymptotic expansion of a multivariate Gaussian integral in terms of the covariance obtained by applying what they call the "...
12 votes
2 answers
812 views

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 [...
2 votes
0 answers
46 views

increasing inter-class distances results in decreasing linear regression error

Let $\{\mathbf{x}_i, y_i \}$ be a set of binary-labeled samples ($\mathbf{x}_i \in \mathbb{R}^d, y_i \in \{a,b\}, a,b\in\mathbb{R}$). Let $\{ \mathbf{x}'_i, y_i \}$ be also such a set. Define $\mathbf{...
2 votes
1 answer
165 views

If $Z$ is standard normal and $f$ is analytic. Is $g(t)= E[ f(Z-t)]$ analytic?

Let $Z$ be a standard normal. Now define \begin{align} g(t)= E[ f(Z-t)] \end{align} where $f(x)$ is a real-analytic function and $|f(x)| \le x^4$. Question: Is it true that $g(t)$ is also a real ...
5 votes
1 answer
305 views

Expectation of max of Gaussian multiplied by a functional of Gaussian

Let $X \in \mathbb{R}^{d}$ follows the standard Gaussian distribution $N(0, I_d)$. Let $Y = \max_{j\in[d] } X_j$. It is not hard to see that \begin{align} \mathbb{E}\left [ Y \cdot X\right] = \sum_{j=...
3 votes
1 answer
188 views

Equivalent Definitions of the Gaussian Surface Measure for Regular Sets

I wonder if the following definitions of the Gaussian surface measure are equivalent. First, let $\mathbb{R}^n$ be the Euclidean space and $A \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ be a sufficiently regular set, e....
1 vote
1 answer
203 views

Why study the moment problem in one dimensional case( Hamburger moment problem)

I have been reading about moment problem and I have been curious about the following question. What is the motivation for studying the Hamburger moment problem(one dimensional moment problem? I ...
7 votes
0 answers
549 views

Counter-example to the completeness of the Wasserstein metric

$\newcommand{\P}{\mathcal{P}}$ Let $(E,d)$ be a complete metric space, let $\P(E)$ be the set of all probability measures on $(E,\mathcal{B}(E))$. Let $W_d$ be the $1$-Wasserstein (Kantorovich) ...
7 votes
1 answer
624 views

Expectation involving maximum of Gaussian variables

Let $X\sim N(0, I_d)$ be a $d$-dimensional Gaussian random vector. Let $W_1, \ldots, W_k \in \mathbb{R}^d$ be $k$ fixed vectors in general positions. It is clear that $w_i^\top X, \ldots, w_k^\top X$ ...
4 votes
1 answer
225 views

Multivariate Zero-Bias Transform

The zero-bias transform for a univariate random variable $W$ is defined as a random variable $W^*$ satisfying \begin{align} \mathbb{E} [ W \cdot f(W )] = \mathbb{E} [ f' (W^*)] \end{align} for any ...
2 votes
0 answers
86 views

when is the average of a function with Gaussian inputs bounded away from zero

Define a function $\phi(x):\mathbb{R}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$. Consider the expected value function defined as follows \begin{align*} \mu(\beta)=E[g\phi (\beta g)]\quad with \quad g\sim\mathcal{N}(0,1)\...
26 votes
4 answers
2k views

$\binom{x}{2}+\binom{x}{4}+\cdots+\binom{x}{2u}$ is a convex function on $[0,+\infty)$?

Let $f(x)=\binom{x}{2}+\binom{x}{4}+\cdots+\binom{x}{2u}$, where $u\in\mathbb{Z}^+$ and $\binom{x}{l}=\frac{x(x-1)\dots(x-l+1)}{l!}$ for all $l\in\mathbb{Z}^+$. Then can we prove $f(x)$ is a convex ...
3 votes
0 answers
109 views

Weak convergence of series representing the log characteristic function

Disclaimer. I already asked this question on math.stackexchange.com without any answers or comments as of yet. In which weak sense does the series representation of the log-characteristic function ...
3 votes
1 answer
940 views

What is the mathematical characterization of sufficient statistics of a given $\sigma$-dominated probability model?

Given a probability model $\mathcal{P}=\{P_{\theta},\theta \in \Theta \}$ dominated by a $\sigma$-finite measure $\lambda$ (e.g. Lebesgue measure) on a locally compact space $\cal{X}$ along with $\...
7 votes
2 answers
340 views

Sign-oscillations for power series with random coefficients

Let $p(x) = \sum_{k \geq 0} a_k x^k$ where the $a_k$'s are IID random variables taken from a mean-zero random variable taking finitely many values in $\mathbb{R}$; it clearly converges for $-1<x<...
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

For what nonnegative measures $\mu$ does $\mu*e^{-|\cdot|}\in L^{\infty}$?

I am trying to characterize all measures on $\mathbb{R}$ such that $$ \sup_{x\in\mathbb{R}} \: (\mu*f)(x)<+\infty, $$ where $f(x)$ is some specific integrable functions, such as $f(x)=e^{-|x|}$, ...
-1 votes
1 answer
519 views

Poisson kernel is the Cauchy distribution, reference?

Let $d = 2$, and consider the domain $D = \mathbb{H}$, the upper half-plane. Can someone give me a reference to a proof that the Poisson kernel is the Cauchy distribution?
106 votes
5 answers
10k views

integral of a "sin-omial" coefficients=binomial

I find the following averaged-integral amusing and intriguing, to say the least. Is there any proof? For any pair of integers $n\geq k\geq0$, we have $$\frac1{\pi}\int_0^{\pi}\frac{\sin^n(x)}{\...
11 votes
2 answers
2k views

Multi-dimensional moment problem

Let $\mu$ be a measure on $\def\r{\mathbb{R}}\r^n$, $1\le n \le \infty$. Given a (finite) multi-index $\bar{i} = (i_1, i_2, \ldots)$, one can define the moment $$ m_{\bar i} = \int x_i^{i_1} x_2^{i_2}...
2 votes
1 answer
71 views

Distances between probability distributions by the variance of the test functions

Let $P$ and $Q$ be two probability distributions on $\mathbb{R}$. The goal is to obtain a notion of ``distance'' between $P$ and $Q$, e.g., total variation distance, K-L divergence. Let $f\colon \...
2 votes
1 answer
251 views

Automorphism on the unit interval compatible with a measure preserving set function

Cross-posting from math stack-exchange since it's not getting any visibility there. I am given a function $F: \{[0, y]: y \in I\} \to \Sigma(I)$, such that $\lambda(F([0, y])) = y$, and $F([0, y]) \...
3 votes
1 answer
156 views

How many steps do I have tto complete? Recursive sequence

Maybe it's a simple question... Fix a positive $N$. Let $a_{n}$ be the recursive sequence: $$a_{1} = N$$ $$a_{n}=a_{n-1}-(a_{n-1})^{\frac{2}{3}}.$$ How many steps do I have to complete in order to ...
4 votes
0 answers
147 views

The asymptotic behavior of the ratio between the largest two of $n$ i.i.d. chi-square random variables

My question is about the asymptotic behavior of the ratio between the largest and second largest values of $n$ independent chi-square random variables. Let $X_1, \ldots, X_n$ be $n$ independent and ...
3 votes
0 answers
1k views

Concentration of Sub-exponential random Vectors

I was wondering if there is a similar definition of multivariate sub-exponential distribution as the sub-Gaussian case. Specifically, a random vector $X \in \mathbf{R}^d$ is sub-Gaussian if \begin{...
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 ...
2 votes
0 answers
63 views

Sensitivity of a function against its random arguments

Let $g:R^{n+m} \to R$ be a deterministic function of some independent random variables $x_1,\ldots,x_n$ with distributions $f_{x_1}(x),\ldots,f_{x_n}(x)$ and some deterministic variables $z_1,\ldots,...
3 votes
0 answers
228 views

Sub-multiplicative function in expectation or pointwise? [closed]

Consider the function that satisfies $$ \mathbb{E}[f(X)f(Y)]\leq \mathbb{E}[f(XY)],$$ where $X\in\mathbb{R}$ and $Y\in\mathbb{R}$ are Gaussian random variables with mean $0$ and variance $1$, and ...
0 votes
1 answer
172 views

Taking away the "almost sure" [closed]

Given an arbitrary sequence of random variables (or say measurable functions on a finite-measure space) $\xi_n$, one can show by a truncation and Borel-Cantelli argument that there always exists a ...
1 vote
0 answers
106 views

Improper integral of products and ratios of probability density functions

I am trying to find out whether the following integral is finite. The integrand consists of product of probability density functions. $\int \frac{f(x_1,x_2, x_4^*)}{f(x_1^*,x_2, x^*_4)}\frac{f(x_1,...
7 votes
0 answers
394 views

Fixed radius mean value property implies harmonicity?

Let $f$ be a continuous real-valued function on $\mathbb{R}^n$. It is well known that the following are equivalent: $f$ is harmonic. $f$ satisfies the ball mean value property $$ f(x)=\frac{1}{|B(x,r)...
4 votes
0 answers
141 views

Level sets of function of inner products of vectors on hypercube

Let $H = \{ 0, 1\}^d$ be the $d$-th Cartesian product of $\{0, 1\}$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Suppose $v_1, \ldots, v_k$ are $k$ vectors in $H$ in general position. We define function $F \colon H^{k}\...
1 vote
0 answers
447 views

Largest possible variance for log-concave distributions on a bounded interval

Let $f$ be the density of a log-concave probability distribution on the interval $[0,1]$ (with respect to Lebesgue measure). To be concrete, suppose that $f(x) = \exp( - \varphi(x))$, for some convex ...
2 votes
1 answer
207 views

Expectation of Truncated Bivariate Gaussian Random Variables

Suppose $Z , \epsilon \sim N(0, 1)$ are independent Gaussian random variables. Let $a \ll 1$ be a small positive number. Let $W = aZ + \epsilon$. It can be show that \begin{align} \mathbb{E} [ W^2 (Z^...
2 votes
1 answer
5k views

Smooth Approximation of Indicator Function of Convex Sets in $\mathbb{R}^n$

Let $( \mathbb{R}^n, \| \cdot \|_P)$ be the $n$-dimensional Euclidean space equipped with $\ell_p$-norm $\| \cdot \|_p$ for some $p\in [1, + \infty]$. Let $A$ be a convex set in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and ...
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

About the generating structure of Borel field

This is a graduate-level measure theory problem. I have thought throught it and asked on math.SE but received no satisfying answer. On P.32 of [P.Billingsley] Probability and Measure, 3ed, 1993, the ...
2 votes
0 answers
254 views

Prove this function is increasing

I'm stuck in showing that the following function is increasing over the domain $\left[0,\hat{b}\right]$: \begin{eqnarray} \Pi\left(z\right) & = & \int_{0}^{\phi\left(z\right)}\int_{x}^{\bar{x}...
4 votes
2 answers
436 views

Variation of Radon transform for probability measures on $\mathbb C$

Let $\mu$ be a probability measure on $\mathbb C$. For $z \in \mathbb C$, let $$f^z \colon \mathbb C \to \mathbb R_{\geq 0}$$ be the function $f^z(\lambda) = |\lambda - z|$. Consider now the family $(\...
5 votes
1 answer
308 views

Density of convolution

Let $\{X_i\}$ be i.i.d random variables uniform on a measurable, symmetric set $A$ contained in $[-1,1]$. Let $g_{n}$ be density of $X_1+\ldots + X_n$. Question (general): Is there any non-trivial ...

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