English

Identifiability of directed Gaussian graphical models with one latent source

Statistics Theory 2015-05-08 v1 Statistics Theory

Abstract

We study parameter identifiability of directed Gaussian graphical models with one latent variable. In the scenario we consider, the latent variable is a confounder that forms a source node of the graph and is a parent to all other nodes, which correspond to the observed variables. We give a graphical condition that is sufficient for the Jacobian matrix of the parametrization map to be full rank, which entails that the parametrization is generically finite-to-one, a fact that is sometimes also referred to as local identifiability. We also derive a graphical condition that is necessary for such identifiability. Finally, we give a condition under which generic parameter identifiability can be determined from identifiability of a model associated with a subgraph. The power of these criteria is assessed via an exhaustive algebraic computational study on models with 4, 5, and 6 observable variables.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1505.01583,
  title  = {Identifiability of directed Gaussian graphical models with one latent source},
  author = {Dennis Leung and Mathias Drton and Hisayuki Hara},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.01583},
  year   = {2015}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T09:29:30.597Z