SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

Stephen Jordan Harrison

Publications and source records attributed to Stephen Jordan Harrison.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Tail Bounds via Southwest Boundary

We derive upper bounds for probabilities of the form $P(g(\mathbf{X})\geq t)$ using the southwest boundary (recently introduced in our previous work) $\partial_{\mathrm{SW}} Q(g^{-1}[t,\infty))$, where $Q$ is a reflection to the first quadrant. Under natural continuity, symmetry, and monotonicity assumptions on $g$, this yields explicit and computable bounds of the form $P(g(\mathbf{X})\ge t)\le ns_t$, where $s_t$ is the unique parameter at which the line $L(s)=(f_1^{-1}(s),\dots,f_n^{-1}(s))$ intersects the southwest boundary. In particular, when $g$ is a homogeneous polynomial of degree $k$ (plus a constant $C$) and all tail bounds on the random variables are identical, the bound proves to the closed-form expression $$ P(g(\mathbf{X})\ge t)\leq nf\bigg(\frac{(t-C)^{1/k}}{(\sum_i|a_i|)^{1/k}}\bigg) $$ where $a_i$ are the coefficients of the monomials in $g$. We then obtain an explicit tail bound for the trace of a Schur multiplier acting on random matrices with identical tail bounds on the random variables. No assumptions are made about independence or dependence.

math.PR

On Sharpest Tail Bounds for Functions of Tail Bounded Random Variables

Consider $n$ real/complex, independent/dependent random variables with respective tail bounds and $g$ a measurable function of the r.v.'s. Consider $f$ the "sharpest" tail bound of $g$ (sharpest in the sense that if $f$ were any less, then for some $X_1,...,X_n$ satisfying the conditions, $g(X_1,...,X_n)$ would not satisfy $f$). Significant research has been done to approximate $f$ often with high accuracy. These results are often of the form that for $g$ in this family and tail bounds of $X_k$ in this family, $f$ is bounded by some $f'$ with high accuracy. However, the question "what would it take to find $f$ exactly?" has received little attention, apparently even for simple cases. This is the question we try to answer. For $X_1,...,X_n$ required to be mutually independent, first the $X_k$ are simplified to be monotone on $(0,1)$ WLOG. This strengthens convergence in distribution to convergence a.e. (Skorokhod's representation theorem) and allows defining shift operators, which help reduce the space of r.v.'s one searches to find $f$ and/or the maximum measure of a subset. We do find $f$ in some special cases, however $f$ rarely has a closed form. For $X_1,...,X_n$ dependent/not necessarily independent, another reduction in the space of r.v.'s one searches to find $f$ is done.

math.PR