arXiv subjects

Stefka Asenova

Publications and source records attributed to Stefka Asenova.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Max-linear graphical models with heavy-tailed factors on trees of transitive tournaments

Graphical models with heavy-tailed factors can be used to model extremal dependence or causality between extreme events. In a Bayesian network, variables are recursively defined in terms of their parents according to a directed acyclic graph (DAG). We focus on max-linear graphical models with respect to a special type of graphs, which we call a tree of transitive tournaments. The latter are block graphs combining in a tree-like structure a finite number of transitive tournaments, each of which is a DAG in which every two nodes are connected. We study the limit of the joint tails of the max-linear model conditionally on the event that a given variable exceeds a high threshold. Under a suitable condition, the limiting distribution involves the factorization into independent increments along the shortest trail between two variables, thereby imitating the behavior of a Markov random field. We are also interested in the identifiability of the model parameters in case some variables are latent and only a subvector is observed. It turns out that the parameters are identifiable under a criterion on the nodes carrying the latent variables which is easy and quick to check.

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arXiv2023

Extremes of Markov random fields on block graphs: max-stable limits and structured Hüsler-Reiss distributions

We study the joint occurrence of large values of a Markov random field or undirected graphical model associated to a block graph. On such graphs, containing trees as special cases, we aim to generalize recent results for extremes of Markov trees. Every pair of nodes in a block graph is connected by a unique shortest path. These paths are shown to determine the limiting distribution of the properly rescaled random field given that a fixed variable exceeds a high threshold. The latter limit relation implies that the random field is multivariate regularly varying and it determines the max-stable distribution to which component-wise maxima of independent random samples from the field are attracted. When the sub-vectors induced by the blocks have certain limits parametrized by Hüsler-Reiss distributions, the global Markov property of the original field induces a particular structure on the parameter matrix of the limiting max-stable Hüsler-Reiss distribution. The multivariate Pareto version of the latter turns out to be an extremal graphical model according to the original block graph. Thanks to these algebraic relations, the parameters are still identifiable even if some variables are latent.

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arXiv2021

Inference on extremal dependence in the domain of attraction of a structured Hüsler-Reiss distribution motivated by a Markov tree with latent variables

A Markov tree is a probabilistic graphical model for a random vector indexed by the nodes of an undirected tree encoding conditional independence relations between variables. One possible limit distribution of partial maxima of samples from such a Markov tree is a max-stable Hüsler-Reiss distribution whose parameter matrix inherits its structure from the tree, each edge contributing one free dependence parameter. Our central assumption is that, upon marginal standardization, the data-generating distribution is in the max-domain of attraction of the said Hüsler-Reiss distribution, an assumption much weaker than the one that data are generated according to a graphical model. Even if some of the variables are unobservable (latent), we show that the underlying model parameters are still identifiable if and only if every node corresponding to a latent variable has degree at least three. Three estimation procedures, based on the method of moments, maximum composite likelihood, and pairwise extremal coefficients, are proposed for usage on multivariate peaks over thresholds data when some variables are latent. A typical application is a river network in the form of a tree where, on some locations, no data are available. We illustrate the model and the identifiability criterion on a data set of high water levels on the Seine, France, with two latent variables. The structured Hüsler-Reiss distribution is found to fit the observed extremal dependence patterns well. The parameters being identifiable we are able to quantify tail dependence between locations for which there are no data.

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