English

Minimax optimal seriation in polynomial time

Statistics Theory 2025-12-10 v3 Statistics Theory

Abstract

We consider the seriation problem, whose goal is to recover a hidden ordering from a noisy observation of a permuted Robinson matrix. We establish sharp minimax rates under average-Lipschitz conditions that strictly extend the bi-Lipschitz framework of [Giraud et al., 2023]. We further design a polynomial-time algorithm that attains these optimal rates, thereby resolving two open questions raised in [Giraud et al., 2023]. Finally, our analysis extends to a broader class of matrices beyond those generated by exact permutations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2405.08747,
  title  = {Minimax optimal seriation in polynomial time},
  author = {Yann Issartel and Christophe Giraud and Nicolas Verzelen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.08747},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T16:27:14.089Z