Measurement Error Models with Nonconstant Covariance Matrices

In this paper we consider measurement error models when the observed random vectors are independent and have mean vector and covariance matrix changing with each observation. The asymptotic behavior of the sample mean vector and the sample covariance matrix are studied for such models. Using the derived results, we study the case of the elliptical multiplicative error-in-variables models, providing formal justification for the asymptotic distribution of consistent slope parameter estimators. The model considered extends a normal model previously considered in the literature. Asymptotic relative efficiencies comparing several estimators are also reported.     

A note on moment inequality for quadratic forms

Moment inequality for quadratic forms of random vectors is of particular interest in covariance matrix testing and estimation problems. In this paper, we prove a Rosenthal-type inequality, which exhibits new features and certain improvement beyond the unstructured Rosenthal inequality of quadratic forms when dimension of the vectors increases without bound. Applications to test the block diagonal structures and detect the sparsity in the high-dimensional covariance matrix are presented.     

The rank of the covariance matrix of an evanescent field

Evanescent random fields arise as a component of the 2D Wold decomposition of homogeneous random fields. Besides their theoretical importance, evanescent random fields have a number of practical applications, such as in modeling the observed signal in the space-time adaptive processing (STAP) of airborne radar data. In this paper we derive an expression for the rank of the low-rank covariance matrix of a finite dimension sample from an evanescent random field. It is shown that the rank of this covariance matrix is completely determined by the evanescent field spectral support parameters, alone. Thus, the problem of estimating the rank lends itself to a solution that avoids the need to estimate the rank from the sample covariance matrix. We show that this result can be immediately applied to considerably simplify the estimation of the rank of the interference covariance matrix in the STAP problem.     

The Probability Content of Cones in Isotropic Random Fields

This paper provides computable representations for the evaluation of the probability content of cones in isotropic random fields. A decomposition of quadratic forms in spherically symmetric random vectors is obtained and a representation of their moments is derived in terms of finite sums. These results are combined to obtain the distribution function of quadratic forms in spherically symmetric or central elliptically contoured random vectors. Some numerical examples involving the sample serial covariance are provided. Ratios of quadratic forms are also discussed.     

Distribution and moments of the vector of the maximum of two absolutely continuous random vectors

In this paper, we determine the exact distribution of the vector of the componentwise maximum of two absolutely continuous dependent random vectors and we show that it is a finite mixture of particular skew distributions studied in the literature. The results are detailed when the two vectors are elliptically distributed and some particular cases are discussed. The exact expression of the covariance matrix is obtained in the normal case.     

On Some Tests of the Covariance Matrix Under General Conditions

We consider the problem of testing the hypothesis about the covariance matrix of random vectors under the assumptions that the underlying distributions are nonnormal and the sample size is moderate. The asymptotic expansions of the null distributions are obtained up to n ^−1/2. It is found that in most cases the null statistics are distributed as a mixture of independent chi-square random variables with degree of freedom one (up to n ^−1/2) and the coefficients of the mixtures are functions of the fourth cumulants of the original random variables. We also provide a general method to approximate such distributions based on a normalization transformation.     

Characteristic Polynomials of Sample Covariance Matrices

We investigate the second-order correlation function of the characteristic polynomial of a sample covariance matrix. Starting from an explicit formula for a generating function, we reobtain several well-known kernels from random matrix theory.     

On a model selection problem from high-dimensional sample covariance matrices

Modern random matrix theory indicates that when the population size p is not negligible with respect to the sample size n, the sample covariance matrices demonstrate significant deviations from the population covariance matrices. In order to recover the characteristics of the population covariance matrices from the observed sample covariance matrices, several recent solutions are proposed when the order of the underlying population spectral distribution is known. In this paper, we deal with the underlying order selection problem and propose a solution based on the cross-validation principle. We prove the consistency of the proposed procedure.     

On limit theorem for the eigenvalues of product of two random matrices

The existence of limiting spectral distribution (LSD) of the product of two random matrices is proved. One of the random matrices is a sample covariance matrix and the other is an arbitrary Hermitian matrix. Specially, the density function of LSD of S_nW_n is established, where S_n is a sample covariance matrix and W_n is Wigner matrix.     

Sphericity Test for High Dimensional Data Based on Random Matrix Theory

In this article we study test of sphericity for high-dimensional covariance matrix in the general population based on random matrix theory. When the sample size is less than data dimension, the classical likelihood ratio test has poor performance for test of sphericity. Thus, we propose a new statistic for test of sphericity by using the higher moments of spectral distribution of the sample covariance matrix, and derive the asymptotic distribution of the statistic under the null hypothesis. Simulation results show that the proposed statistics can effectively improve the power of the test of sphericity for high dimensional data, and have especially significant effects for Spiked model, on the basis of controlling the type-one error probability.     

Multivariate analysis of variance with fewer observations than the dimension

In this article, we consider the problem of testing a linear hypothesis in a multivariate linear regression model which includes the case of testing the equality of mean vectors of several multivariate normal populations with common covariance matrix Σ, the so-called multivariate analysis of variance or MANOVA problem. However, we have fewer observations than the dimension of the random vectors. Two tests are proposed and their asymptotic distributions under the hypothesis as well as under the alternatives are given under some mild conditions. A theoretical comparison of these powers is made.     

Cauchy-Schwarz不等式的推广

在非负定矩阵的偏序意义下讨论了对Cauchy-Schwarz不等式的推广,将随机变量情形下的Cauchy-Schwarz不等式推广到随机向量情形,而且两个随机向量的维数不要求相等,一个是随机变量另一个是随机向量是其中的一个特殊情形,另外还研究了有限维空间中的向量情形的Cauchy-Schwarz不等式在矩阵情形下的推广,得到一个十分简明的结果,并将此结果用于讨论一类随机向量簇的协方差阵的下界,不仅得到下界的具体表达式,而且给出能达到该下界的充分必要条件.     

Student's t Vector Random Fields with Power-Law and Log-Law Decaying Direct and Cross Covariances

This article deals with the Student's t vector random field, which is formulated as a scale mixture of Gaussian vector random fields, and whose finite-dimensional distributions decay in power-law and have heavy tails. There are two classes of Student's t vector random fields, one with second-order moments, and the other without a second-order moment. A Cauchy vector random field is an example of Student's t vector random fields without a first-order moment, and is also an example of Stable vector random fields. A second-order Student's t vector random field allows for any given correlation structure, just as a Gaussian vector random field does. We propose four types of covariance matrix structures for second-order Student's t vector random fields, which decay in power-law or log-law.     

Likelihood ratio tests of correlated multivariate samples

We develop methods to compare multiple multivariate normally distributed samples which may be correlated. The methods are new in the context that no assumption is made about the correlations among the samples. Three types of null hypotheses are considered: equality of mean vectors, homogeneity of covariance matrices, and equality of both mean vectors and covariance matrices. We demonstrate that the likelihood ratio test statistics have finite-sample distributions that are functions of two independent Wishart variables and dependent on the covariance matrix of the combined multiple populations. Asymptotic calculations show that the likelihood ratio test statistics converge in distribution to central Chi-squared distributions under the null hypotheses regardless of how the populations are correlated. Following these theoretical findings, we propose a resampling procedure for the implementation of the likelihood ratio tests in which no restrictive assumption is imposed on the structures of the covariance matrices. The empirical size and power of the test procedure are investigated for various sample sizes via simulations. Two examples are provided for illustration. The results show good performance of the methods in terms of test validity and power.     

Operator geometric stable laws

Operator geometric stable laws are the weak limits of operator normed and centered geometric random sums of independent, identically distributed random vectors. They generalize operator stable laws and geometric stable laws. In this work we characterize operator geometric stable distributions, their divisibility and domains of attraction, and present their application to finance. Operator geometric stable laws are useful for modeling financial portfolios where the cumulative price change vectors are sums of a random number of small random shocks with heavy tails, and each component has a different tail index.     

Bayesian Variable Selection for Logistic Models Using Auxiliary Mixture Sampling

This article presents a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for both variable and covariance selection in the context of logistic mixed effects models. This algorithm allows us to sample solely from standard densities with no additional tuning. We apply a stochastic search variable approach to select explanatory variables as well as to determine the structure of the random effects covariance matrix.

Prior determination of explanatory variables and random effects is not a prerequisite because the definite structure is chosen in a data-driven manner in the course of the modeling procedure. To illustrate the method, we give two bank data examples.     

Properties of spectral covariance for linear processes with infinite variance

We consider a measure of dependence for symmetric α-stable random vectors, which was introduced by the second author in 1976. We demonstrate that this measure of dependence, which we suggest to call the spectral covariance, can be extended to random vectors in the domain of normal attraction of general stable vectors. We investigate the asymptotic of the spectral covariance function for linear stable (Ornstein–Uhlenbeck, log-fractional, linear-fractional) processes with infinite variance and show that, in comparison with the results on the properties of codifference of these processes, obtained two decades ago, the results for the spectral variance are obtained under more general conditions and calculations are simpler.     

Bartlett分解与多元正态总体均值的广义推断

对多个正态总体均值的统计推断是一个古老而令人感兴趣的问题.本文利用样本协方差矩阵的Bartlett分解和广义p-值的概念给出一些关于均值的精确检验.模拟显示这些检验比已有的检验有更高的功效.同时,还根据协方差矩阵的Bartlett分解和样本均值向量,得到一个分布和未知参数无关的统计量,用它可以对多个正态总体共同均值做精确检验.模拟显示,这些检验犯第一错误的概率小于显著性水平,而且有更高的检验功效.     

On a Class of Covariance Operators

This paper is the continuation of [1] in which complex symmetries of distributions and their covariance operators are investigated. Here we also study the most general quaternion symmetries of random vectors. Complete classification theorems on these symmetries are proved in terms of covariance operator spectra.     

A graphical method for assessing multivariate normality

Summary  In this paper we suggest a simple graphical device for assessing multivariate normality. The method is based on the characteristic that linear combinations of the sample mean and sample covariance matrix are independent if and only if the random variable is normally distributed. We demonstrate the usage of the suggested method and compare it to the classical Q-Q plot by using some multivariate data sets.