English

Discrete Gaussian distributions via theta functions

Algebraic Geometry 2019-04-19 v2 Probability Statistics Theory Statistics Theory

Abstract

We study a discrete analogue of the classical multivariate Gaussian distribution. It is supported on the integer lattice and is parametrized by the Riemann theta function. Over the reals, the discrete Gaussian is characterized by the property of maximizing entropy, just as its continuous counterpart. We capitalize on the theta function representation to derive statistical properties. Throughout, we exhibit strong connections to the study of abelian varieties in algebraic geometry.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1801.02373,
  title  = {Discrete Gaussian distributions via theta functions},
  author = {Daniele Agostini and Carlos Améndola},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.02373},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

23 pages. Final version. To appear in SIAGA. v2: changed notation and added references

R2 v1 2026-06-22T23:39:03.866Z