English

Transport information geometry I: Riemannian calculus on probability simplex

Differential Geometry 2022-04-05 v2 Information Theory math.IT

Abstract

We formulate the Riemannian calculus of the probability set embedded with L2L^2-Wasserstein metric. This is an initial work of transport information geometry. Our investigation starts with the probability simplex (probability manifold) supported on vertices of a finite graph. The main idea is to embed the probability manifold as a submanifold of the positive measure space with a nonlinear metric tensor. Here the nonlinearity comes from the linear weighted Laplacian operator. By this viewpoint, we establish torsion-free Christoffel symbols, Levi-Civita connections, curvature tensors and volume forms in the probability manifold by Euclidean coordinates. As a consequence, the Jacobi equation, Laplace-Beltrami and Hessian operators on the probability manifold are derived. These geometric computations are also provided in the infinite-dimensional density space (density manifold) supported on a finite-dimensional manifold. In particular, an identity is given connecting the Baker-{\'E}mery Γ2\Gamma_2 operator (carr{\'e} du champ it{\'e}r{\'e}) by connecting Fisher-Rao information metric and optimal transport metric. Several examples are demonstrated.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1803.06360,
  title  = {Transport information geometry I: Riemannian calculus on probability simplex},
  author = {Wuchen Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1803.06360},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

This draft is the revision of previous paper: "Geometry of probability simplex via optimal transport"

R2 v1 2026-06-23T00:55:50.240Z