Related papers: A note on the maximum probability of ultra log-con…

A remarkable conjecture of Feige (2006) asserts that for any collection of $n$ independent non-negative random variables $X_1, X_2, \dots, X_n$, each with expectation at most $1$, $$ \mathbb{P}(X < \mathbb{E}[X] + 1) \geq \frac{1}{e}, $$…

The log-concave maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) problem answers: for a set of points $X_1,...X_n \in \mathbb R^d$, which log-concave density maximizes their likelihood? We present a characterization of the log-concave MLE that leads to…

We prove that the Poisson distribution maximises entropy in the class of ultra-log-concave distributions, extending a result of Harremo\"{e}s. The proof uses ideas concerning log-concavity, and a semigroup action involving adding Poisson…

We develop the notion of discrete degrees of freedom of a log-concave sequence and use it to prove that geometric distribution minimises R\'enyi entropy of order infinity under fixed variance, among all discrete log-concave random variables…

We show that for every mean zero log-concave real random variable $X$ one has $\|X\|_p \leq \frac{p}{q} \|X\|_q$ for $p \geq q \geq 1$, going beyond the well-known case of symmetric random variables. We also prove that in the class of…

Sufficient conditions are developed, under which the compound Poisson distribution has maximal entropy within a natural class of probability measures on the nonnegative integers. Recently, one of the authors [O. Johnson, {\em Stoch. Proc.…

We study nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation of a log-concave probability density and its distribution and hazard function. Some general properties of these estimators are derived from two characterizations. It is shown that the…

We study the problem of computing the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of multivariate log-concave densities. Our main result is the first computationally efficient algorithm for this problem. In more detail, we give an algorithm that, on…

We study nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation for two classes of multivariate distributions that imply strong forms of positive dependence; namely log-supermodular (MTP$_2$) distributions and log-$L^\#$-concave (LLC) distributions.…

Let X_1, ..., X_n be independent and identically distributed random vectors with a log-concave (Lebesgue) density f. We first prove that, with probability one, there exists a unique maximum likelihood estimator of f. The use of this…

We establish concentration inequalities in the class of ultra log-concave distributions. In particular, we show that ultra log-concave distributions satisfy Poisson concentration bounds. As an application, we derive concentration bounds for…

Given a set of independent Poisson random variables with common mean, we study the distribution of their maximum and obtain an accurate asymptotic formula to locate the most probable value of the maximum. We verify our analytic results with…

Motivated, in part, by the desire to develop an information-theoretic foundation for compound Poisson approximation limit theorems (analogous to the corresponding developments for the central limit theorem and for simple Poisson…

It has been conjectured by W. Chen that the distribution of the length of the longest increasing subsequence in a uniformly random permutation is log-concave. We propose a stronger version of this conjecture which involves the Kronecker…

We study the problem of maximum likelihood estimation of densities that are log-concave and lie in the graphical model corresponding to a given undirected graph $G$. We show that the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) is the product of the…

We consider the problem of computing the maximum likelihood multivariate log-concave distribution for a set of points. Specifically, we present an algorithm which, given $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and an accuracy parameter $\epsilon>0$,…

In this note we study the maximal perimeter of a convex set in $\mathbb{R}^n$ with respect to various classes of measures. Firstly, we show that for a probability measure $\mu$ on $ \mathbb{R}^n$, satisfying very mild assumptions, there…

The assumption of log-concavity is a flexible and appealing nonparametric shape constraint in distribution modelling. In this work, we study the log-concave maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of a probability mass function (pmf). We show…

A lower bound on the probability $P(0<X<\delta)$ for all real $\delta>0$ and all random variables $X$ with log-concave p.d.f.'s such that $EX=0$ and $EX^2=1$ is obtained.

In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of the maximum magnitude of a complex random polynomial with i.i.d. uniformly distributed random roots on the unit circle. More specifically, let $\{n_k\}_{k=1}^{\infty}$ be an infinite…