English

The Shape of the Noncentral Chi-square Density

Statistics Theory 2011-06-28 v1 Classical Analysis and ODEs Statistics Theory

Abstract

A noncentral chi-square density is log-concave if the degree of freedom is nu>=2. We complement this known result by showing that, for each 0<nu<2, there exists lambda_nu>0 such that the chi-square with nu degrees of freedom and noncentrality parameter lambda has a decreasing density if lambda <= lambda_nu, and is bi-modal otherwise. The critical lambda_nu is characterized by an equation involving a ratio of modified Bessel functions. When an interior mode exists we derive precise bounds on its location.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1106.5241,
  title  = {The Shape of the Noncentral Chi-square Density},
  author = {Yaming Yu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1106.5241},
  year   = {2011}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T18:27:47.864Z