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Finite-Sample Bounds for Expected Signature Estimation under Weak Dependence

Statistics Theory 2026-05-21 v1 Probability Statistics Theory

Abstract

The expected signature uniquely determines the law of a random rough path under a moment-growth condition, yet finite-sample bounds for estimating it from a single long dependent trajectory have been lacking. We study a stationary stochastic process whose sample paths can be interpreted as geometric rough paths, partitioned into blocks of equally-spaced observations, and prove a non-asymptotic mean-squared error bound for the block-averaging estimator. Rough-path theory is required for the estimand to be well-defined when paths have H\"older regularity at most 1/21/2, because Young and Riemann--Stieltjes integration cannot define the signature's iterated integrals. Under moment and stationarity assumptions together with a covariance-decay condition on block signatures -- strictly weaker than α\alpha-mixing and applicable to long-range-dependent drivers -- the error separates into a discretization term and a fluctuation term, with rates determined respectively by path regularity and dependence strength. A level-wise rough-factorial variance analysis keeps finite-truncation constants explicit and yields an optimal allocation rule under a fixed observation budget. We verify the assumptions for fractional Ornstein--Uhlenbeck processes in three regimes, namely rough (Hurst H<1/2H<1/2), semimartingale (H=1/2H=1/2), and long-range (H>1/2H>1/2). Monte Carlo experiments show empirical convergence rates faster than the theoretical upper bounds.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.20541,
  title  = {Finite-Sample Bounds for Expected Signature Estimation under Weak Dependence},
  author = {Bryson Schenck},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.20541},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

51 pages, 1 figure