English

Concentration inequalities via zero bias couplings

Probability 2014-11-26 v3

Abstract

The tails of the distribution of a mean zero, variance σ2\sigma^2 random variable YY satisfy concentration of measure inequalities of the form P(Yt)exp(B(t))\mathbb{P}(Y \ge t) \le \exp(-B(t)) for B(t)=\frac{t^2}{2( \sigma^2 + ct)} \quad \mbox{for $t \ge 0$, and} \quad B(t)=\frac{t}{c}\left( \log t - \log \log t - \frac{\sigma^2}{c}\right) \quad \mbox{for $t>e$} whenever there exists a zero biased coupling of YY bounded by cc, under suitable conditions on the existence of the moment generating function of YY. These inequalities apply in cases where YY is not a function of independent variables, such as for the Hoeffding statistic Y=i=1naiπ(i)Y=\sum_{i=1}^n a_{i\pi(i)} where A=(aij)1i,jnRn×nA=(a_{ij})_{1 \le i,j \le n} \in \mathbb{R}^{n \times n} and the permutation π\pi has the uniform distribution over the symmetric group, and when its distribution is constant on cycle type.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1304.5001,
  title  = {Concentration inequalities via zero bias couplings},
  author = {Larry Goldstein and Umit Islak},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.5001},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

11 pages, presentation revised, shortened by referencing existing constructions

R2 v1 2026-06-22T00:02:02.883Z