English

Empirical approximation of the gaussian distribution in $\mathbb{R}^d$

Probability 2024-11-14 v2 Functional Analysis

Abstract

Let G1,,GmG_1,\dots,G_m be independent copies of the standard gaussian random vector in Rd\mathbb{R}^d. We show that there is an absolute constant cc such that for any ASd1A \subset S^{d-1}, with probability at least 12exp(cΔm)1-2\exp(-c\Delta m), for every tRt\in\mathbb{R}, supxA1mi=1m1{Gi,xt}P(G,xt)Δ+σ(t)Δ. \sup_{x \in A} \left| \frac{1}{m}\sum_{i=1}^m 1_{ \{\langle G_i,x\rangle \leq t \}} - \mathbb{P}(\langle G,x\rangle \leq t) \right| \leq \Delta + \sigma(t) \sqrt\Delta. Here σ(t)\sigma(t) is the variance of 1{G,xt}1_{\{\langle G,x\rangle\leq t\}} and ΔΔ0\Delta\geq \Delta_0, where Δ0\Delta_0 is determined by an unexpected complexity parameter of AA that captures the set's geometry (Talagrand's γ1\gamma_1 functional). The bound, the probability estimate, and the value of Δ0\Delta_0 are all (almost) optimal. We use this fact to show that if Γ=i=1mGi,xei\Gamma=\sum_{i=1}^m \langle G_i,x\rangle e_i is the random matrix that has G1,,GmG_1,\dots,G_m as its rows, then the structure of Γ(A)={Γx:xA}\Gamma(A)=\{\Gamma x: x\in A\} is far more rigid and well-prescribed than was previously expected.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2309.02013,
  title  = {Empirical approximation of the gaussian distribution in $\mathbb{R}^d$},
  author = {Daniel Bartl and Shahar Mendelson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.02013},
  year   = {2024}
}