New techniques for empirical processes of dependent data

We present a new technique for proving the empirical process invariance principle for stationary processes _(Xn)n≥0${\left(X_n\right)}_{n\ge 0}$. The main novelty of our approach lies in the fact that we only require the central limit theorem and a moment bound for a restricted class of functions _(f(Xn))n≥0${\left(f\left(X_n\right)\right)}_{n\ge 0}$, not containing the indicator functions. Our approach can be applied to Markov chains and dynamical systems, using spectral properties of the transfer operator. Our proof consists of a novel application of chaining techniques.     

An empirical central limit theorem for dependent sequences

We prove a central limit theorem for the d$d$-dimensional distribution function of a class of stationary sequences. The conditions are expressed in terms of some coefficients which measure the dependence between a given σ$\sigma$-algebra and indicators of quadrants. These coefficients are weaker than the corresponding mixing coefficients, and can be computed in many situations. In particular, we show that they are well adapted to functions of mixing sequences, iterated random functions, and a class of dynamical systems.     

Limit distributions of generalized order statistics in a stationary Gaussian sequence

In this paper we study the limit distributions of extreme, intermediate and central m-generalized order statistics, as well as m-dual generalized order statistics, of a stationary Gaussian sequence under equi-correlated set up. Moreover, the result of extremes is extended to a wide subclass of generalized order statistics, as well as dual generalized order statistics, when the parameters γ_1,n, γ_2,n,?…?, γ_n,n are assumed to be pairwise different.     

Weak convergence of the tail empirical process for dependent sequences

This paper proves weak convergence in D$D$ of the tail empirical process–the renormalized extreme tail of the empirical process–for a large class of stationary sequences. The conditions needed for convergence are (i) moment restrictions on the amount of clustering of extremes, (ii) restrictions on long range dependence (absolute regularity or strong mixing), and (iii) convergence of the covariance function. We further show how the limit process is changed if exceedances of a nonrandom level are replaced by exceedances of a high quantile of the observations. Weak convergence of the tail empirical process is one key to asymptotics for extreme value statistics and its wide range of applications, from geoscience to finance.     

Asymptotic results for the empirical process of stationary sequences

We prove a strong invariance principle for the two-parameter empirical process of stationary sequences under a new weak dependence assumption. We give several applications of our results.     

Power variation for Gaussian processes with stationary increments

We develop the asymptotic theory for the realised power variation of the processes X=?•G$X=?•G$, where G$G$ is a Gaussian process with stationary increments. More specifically, under some mild assumptions on the variance function of the increments of G$G$ and certain regularity conditions on the path of the process ?$?$ we prove the convergence in probability for the properly normalised realised power variation. Moreover, under a further assumption on the Hölder index of the path of ?$?$, we show an associated stable central limit theorem. The main tool is a general central limit theorem, due essentially to Hu and Nualart [Y. Hu, D. Nualart, Renormalized self-intersection local time for fractional Brownian motion, Ann. Probab. (33) (2005) 948–983], Nualart and Peccati [D. Nualart, G. Peccati, Central limit theorems for sequences of multiple stochastic integrals, Ann. Probab. (33) (2005) 177–193] and Peccati and Tudor [G. Peccati, C.A. Tudor, Gaussian limits for vector-valued multiple stochastic integrals, in: M. Emery, M. Ledoux, M. Yor (Eds.), Seminaire de Probabilites XXXVIII, in: Lecture Notes in Math, vol. 1857, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2005, pp. 247–262], for sequences of random variables which admit a chaos representation.     

Asymptotic behavior of central order statistics from stationary processes

In this paper, we show that central order statistics from strictly stationary and ergodic sequences are strongly consistent estimators of population quantiles provided that the quantiles are unique. We generalize this result to strictly stationary but not necessarily ergodic sequences. We also describe three types of possible asymptotic behavior of central order statistics in the case when the corresponding population quantile is not unique. We give applications of the presented results to linear processes with both absolutely continuous and discrete innovations.     

On Toeplitz type quadratic functionals of stationary Gaussian processes

Summary A central limit theorem for Toeplitz type quadratic functionals of a stationary Gaussian processX(t),t, is proved, generalizing the result of Avram [1] for discrete time processes. The result is applied to the problem of nonparametric estimation of linear functionals of an unknown spectral density function. We give some upper bounds for the minimax mean square risk of the nonparametric estimators, similar to those by Ibragimov and Has'minskii [12] for a probability density function.     

Weak invariance principles for sums of dependent random functions

Motivated by problems in functional data analysis, in this paper we prove the weak convergence of normalized partial sums of dependent random functions exhibiting a Bernoulli shift structure.     

Empirical processes of multidimensional systems with multiple mixing properties

We establish a multivariate empirical process central limit theorem for stationary R^d-valued stochastic processes (X_i)_i≥1 under very weak conditions concerning the dependence structure of the process. As an application, we can prove the empirical process CLT for ergodic torus automorphisms. Our results also apply to Markov chains and dynamical systems having a spectral gap on some Banach space of functions. Our proof uses a multivariate extension of the techniques introduced by Dehling et al. (2009) [9] in the univariate case. As an important technical ingredient, we prove a 2pth moment bound for partial sums in multiple mixing systems.     

Functional limit theorems for generalized quadratic variations of Gaussian processes

In this paper, we establish functional convergence theorems for second order quadratic variations of Gaussian processes which admit a singularity function. First, we prove a functional almost sure convergence theorem, and a functional central limit theorem, for the process of second order quadratic variations, and we illustrate these results with the example of the fractional Brownian sheet (FBS). Second, we do the same study for the process of localized second order quadratic variations, and we apply the results to the multifractional Brownian motion (MBM).     

Composing the cumulative quantile regression function and the Goldie concentration curve

The model we discuss in this paper deals with inequality in distribution in the presence of a covariate. To elucidate that dependence, we propose to consider the composition of the cumulative quantile regression (CQR) function and the Goldie concentration curve, the standardized counterpart of which gives a fraction to fraction plot of the response and the covariate. It has the merit of enhancing the visibility of inequality in distribution when the latter is present. We shall examine the asymptotic properties of the corresponding empirical estimator. The associated empirical process involves a randomly stopped partial sum process of induced order statistics. Strong Gaussian approximations of the processes are constructed. The result forms the basis for the asymptotic theory of functional statistics based on these processes.     

On spline regression under Gaussian subordination with long memory

Motivated by an example from neurobiology, we consider estimation in a spline regression model with long-range dependent errors that are generated by Gaussian subordination. Consistency and the asymptotic distribution are derived for general Hermite ranks. Simulations illustrate the asymptotic results and finite sample properties. The method is applied to optical measurements of calcium concentration in the antennal lobe of honey bees used in the study of olfactory patterns.     

Statistical estimation of a mixture of Gaussian distributions

The paper is devoted to the problem of statistical estimation of a multivariate distribution density, which is a discrete mixture of Gaussian distributions. A heuristic approach is considered, based on the use of the EM algorithm and nonparametric density estimation with a sequential increase in the number of components of the mixture. Criteria for testing of model adequacy are discussed.     

On the false discovery proportion convergence under Gaussian equi-correlation

We study the convergence of the false discovery proportion (FDP) of the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure in the Gaussian equi-correlated model, when the correlation ρ_m converges to zero as the hypothesis number m grows to infinity. In this model, the FDP converges to the false discovery rate (FDR) at rate {min(m,1/ρ_m)}^1/2, which is different from the standard convergence rate m^1/2 holding under independence.     

An invariance principle for stationary random fields under Hannan’s condition

We establish an invariance principle for a general class of stationary random fields indexed by Z^d${\mathbb{Z}}^d$, under Hannan’s condition generalized to Z^d${\mathbb{Z}}^d$. To do so we first establish a uniform integrability result for stationary orthomartingales, and second we establish a coboundary decomposition for certain stationary random fields. At last, we obtain an invariance principle by developing an orthomartingale approximation. Our invariance principle improves known results in the literature, and particularly we require only finite second moment.     

Jackknife-blockwise empirical likelihood methods under dependence

Empirical likelihood for general estimating equations is a method for testing hypothesis or constructing confidence regions on parameters of interest. If the number of parameters of interest is smaller than that of estimating equations, a profile empirical likelihood has to be employed. In case of dependent data, a profile blockwise empirical likelihood method can be used. However, if too many nuisance parameters are involved, a computational difficulty in optimizing the profile empirical likelihood arises. Recently, Li et al. (2011) [9] proposed a jackknife empirical likelihood method to reduce the computation in the profile empirical likelihood methods for independent data. In this paper, we propose a jackknife-blockwise empirical likelihood method to overcome the computational burden in the profile blockwise empirical likelihood method for weakly dependent data.     

The hyper-Dirichlet process and its discrete approximations: The butterfly model

The aim of this paper is the study of some random probability distributions, called hyper-Dirichlet processes. In the simplest situation considered in the paper these distributions charge the product of three sample spaces, with the property that the first and the last component are independent conditional to the middle one. The law of the marginals on the first two and on the last two components are specified to be Dirichlet processes with the same marginal parameter measure on the common second component. The joint law is then obtained as the hyper-Markov combination, introduced in [A.P. Dawid, S.L. Lauritzen, Hyper-Markov laws in the statistical analysis of decomposable graphical models, Ann. Statist. 21 (3) (1993) 1272-1317], of these two Dirichlet processes. The processes constructed in this way in fact are in fact generalizations of the hyper-Dirichlet laws on contingency tables considered in the above paper. Our main result is the convergence to the hyper-Dirichlet process of the sequence of hyper-Dirichlet laws associated to finer and finer “discretizations” of the two parameter measures, which is proved by means of a suitable coupling construction.