Related papers: A note on the maximum probability of ultra log-con…
If the log likelihood is approximately quadratic with constant Hessian, then the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) is approximately normally distributed. No other assumptions are required. We do not need independent and identically…
Let $P\in\Z[n]$ with $P(0)=0$ and $\VE>0$. We show, using Fourier analytic techniques, that if $N\geq \exp\exp(C\VE^{-1}\log\VE^{-1})$ and $A\subseteq\{1,\...,N\}$, then there must exist $n\in\N$ such that \[\frac{|A\cap…
Let $P_n(x) = \sum_{k=0}^{n} \xi_k x^k$ be a Kac random polynomial, where the coefficients $\xi_k$ are i.i.d.\ copies of a given random variable $\xi$. Based on numerical experiments, it has been conjectured that if $\xi$ has mean zero,…
Two old conjectures from problem sections, one of which from SIAM Review, concern the question of finding distributions that maximize P(Sn <= t), where Sn is the sum of i.i.d. random variables X1, ..., Xn on the interval [0,1], satisfying…
Consider $M_n$ the maximal position at generation $n$ of a supercritical branching random walk. A\"id\'ekon (2013) obtained and described the convergence in law, as time $n$ goes to infinity, of $M_n-m_n$, where $m_n$ is an explicit…
Let $X_1$, $X_2$, $\ldots$, $X_n$ be a sequence of coherent random variables, i.e., satisfying the equalities $$ X_j=\mathbb{P}(A|\mathcal{G}_j),\qquad j=1,\,2,\,\ldots,\,n,$$ almost surely for some event $A$. The paper contains the proof…
By using optimal mass transport theory, we provide a direct proof to the sharp $L^p$-log-Sobolev inequality $(p\geq 1)$ involving a log-concave homogeneous weight on an open convex cone $E\subseteq \mathbb R^n$. The perk of this proof is…
This paper investigates maximizers of the information divergence from an exponential family $E$. It is shown that the $rI$-projection of a maximizer $P$ to $E$ is a convex combination of $P$ and a probability measure $P_-$ with disjoint…
In this article we derive the best possible upper bound for $E[\max{X_i}-\min_i{X_i}]$ under given means and variances on $n$ random variables $X_i$. The random vector $(X_1,...,X_n)$ is allowed to have any dependence structure, provided $E…
Let $P_N$ be a uniform random $N\times N$ permutation matrix and let $\chi_N(z)=\det(zI_N- P_N)$ denote its characteristic polynomial. We prove a law of large numbers for the maximum modulus of $\chi_N$ on the unit circle, specifically, \[…
We study the convexity of mutual information as a function of time along the flow of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. We prove that if the initial distribution is strongly log-concave, then mutual information is eventually convex, i.e.,…
We prove, using the Brascamp-Lieb inequality, that the Gaussian measure is the only strong log-concave measure having a strong log-concavity parameter equal to its covariance matrix. We also give a similar characterization of the Poisson…
For $X(n)$ a Steinhaus random multiplicative function, we study the maximal size of the random Dirichlet polynomial $$ D_N(t) = \frac1{\sqrt{N}} \sum_{n \leq N} X(n) n^{it}, $$ with $t$ in various ranges. In particular, for fixed $C>0$ and…
Let $\xi(n, x)$ be the local time at $x$ for a recurrent one-dimensional random walk in random environment after $n$ steps, and consider the maximum $\xi^*(n) = \max_x \xi(n,x)$. It is known that $\limsup \xi^*(n)/n$ is a positive constant…
Every student in statistics or data science learns early on that when the sample size largely exceeds the number of variables, fitting a logistic model produces estimates that are approximately unbiased. Every student also learns that there…
We expect that some observers in perceptual signal detection experiments, such as radiologists, will make rational decisions, and therefore ratings from those observers are expected to form a convex ROC curve. However, measured and…
Let $p\geq 1$, $\eps >0$, $r\geq (1+\eps) p$, and $X$ be a $(-1/r)$-concave random vector in $\R^n$ with Euclidean norm $|X|$. We prove that $(\E |X|^{p})^{1/{p}}\leq c (C(\eps) \E|X|+\sigma_{p}(X))$, where $\sigma_{p}(X)=\sup_{|z|\leq…
We show that for any isotropic log-concave probability measure $\mu$ on $\mathbb R^n$, for every $\varepsilon > 0$, every $1 \leq k \leq \sqrt{n}$ and any $E \in G_{n,k}$ there exists $F \in G_{n,k}$ with $d(E,F) < \varepsilon$ and…
Classically, the continuous-time Langevin diffusion converges exponentially fast to its stationary distribution $\pi$ under the sole assumption that $\pi$ satisfies a Poincar\'e inequality. Using this fact to provide guarantees for the…
On observing a sequence of i.i.d.\ data with distribution $P$ on $\mathbb{R}^d$, we ask the question of how one can test the null hypothesis that $P$ has a log-concave density. This paper proves one interesting negative and positive result:…