Geometry of $\ell_p^n$-balls: Classical results and recent developments
This survey will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming "Proceedings of the HDP VIII Conference".
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Publications and source records attributed to Christoph Thäle.
This survey will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming "Proceedings of the HDP VIII Conference".
For an isotropic convex body $K\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ we consider the isotropic constant $L_{K_N}$ of the symmetric random polytope $K_N$ generated by $N$ independent random points which are distributed according to the cone probability measure on the boundary of $K$. We show that with overwhelming probability $L_{K_N}\leq C\sqrt{\log(2N/n)}$, where $C\in(0,\infty)$ is an absolute constant. If $K$ is unconditional we argue that even $L_{K_N}\leq C$ with overwhelming probability. The proofs are based on concentration inequalities for sums of sub-exponential or sub-Gaussian random variables, respectively, and, in the unconditional case, on a new $ψ_2$-estimate for linear functionals with respect to the cone measure in the spirit of Bobkov and Nazarov, which might be of independent interest.
Let $r=r(n)$ be a sequence of integers such that $r\leq n$ and let $X_1,\ldots,X_{r+1}$ be independent random points distributed according to the Gaussian, the Beta or the spherical distribution on $\mathbb{R}^n$. Limit theorems for the log-volume and the volume of the random convex hull of $X_1,\ldots,X_{r+1}$ are established in high dimensions, that is, as $r$ and $n$ tend to infinity simultaneously. This includes, Berry-Esseen-type central limit theorems, log-normal limit theorems, moderate and large deviations. Also different types of mod-$ϕ$ convergence are derived. The results heavily depend on the asymptotic growth of $r$ relative to $n$. For example, we prove that the fluctuations of the volume of the simplex are normal (respectively, log-normal) if $r=o(n)$ (respectively, $r\sim αn$ for some $0 < α< 1$).
Let $P_n$ be an $n$-dimensional regular polytope from one of the three infinite series (regular simplices, regular crosspolytopes, and cubes). Project $P_n$ onto a random, uniformly distributed linear subspace of dimension $d\geq 2$. We prove that the expected number of $k$-dimensional faces of the resulting random polytope is an increasing function of $n$. As a corollary, we show that the expected number of $k$-faces of the Gaussian polytope is an increasing function of the number of points used to generate the polytope. Similar results are obtained for the symmetric Gaussian polytope and the Gaussian zonotope.
This paper establishes expectation and variance asymptotics for statistics of the Poisson--Voronoi approximation of general sets, as the underlying intensity of the Poisson point process tends to infinity. Statistics of interest include volume, surface area, Hausdorff measure, and the number of faces of lower-dimensional skeletons. We also consider the complexity of the so-called Voronoi zone and the iterated Voronoi approximation. Our results are consequences of general limit theorems proved with an abstract Steiner-type formula applicable in the setting of sums of stabilizing functionals.
A Poisson or a binomial process on an abstract state space and a symmetric function $f$ acting on $k$-tuples of its points are considered. They induce a point process on the target space of $f$. The main result is a functional limit theorem which provides an upper bound for an optimal transportation distance between the image process and a Poisson process on the target space. The technical background are a version of Stein's method for Poisson process approximation, a Glauber dynamics representation for the Poisson process and the Malliavin formalism. As applications of the main result, error bounds for approximations of U-statistics by Poisson, compound Poisson and stable random variables are derived, and examples from stochastic geometry are investigated.
A branching random tessellation (BRT) is a stochastic process that transforms a coarse initial tessellation of $\mathbb{R}^d$ into a finer tessellation by means of random cell divisions in continuous time. This concept generalises the so-called STIT tessellations, for which all cells split up independently of each other. Here, we allow the cells to interact, in that the division rule for each cell may depend on the structure of the surrounding tessellation. Moreover, we consider coloured tessellations, for which each cell is marked with an internal property, called its colour. Under a suitable condition, the cell interaction of a BRT can be specified by a measure kernel, the so-called division kernel, that determines the division rules of all cells and gives rise to a Gibbsian characterisation of BRTs. For translation invariant BRTs, we introduce an "inner" entropy density relative to a STIT tessellation. Together with an inner energy density for a given "moderate" division kernel, this leads to a variational principle for BRTs with this prescribed kernel, and further to an existence result for such BRTs.
We combine Malliavin calculus with Stein's method to derive bounds for the Variance-Gamma approximation of functionals of isonormal Gaussian processes, in particular of random variables living inside a fixed Wiener chaos induced by such a process. The bounds are presented in terms of Malliavin operators and norms of contractions. We show that a sequence of distributions of random variables in the second Wiener chaos converges to a Variance-Gamma distribution if and only if their moments of order two to six converge to that of a Variance-Gamma distributed random variable (six moment theorem). Moreover, simplified versions for Laplace or symmetrized Gamma distributions are presented. Also multivariate extensions and a universality result for homogeneous sums are considered.