A Central Limit Theorem for Semidiscrete Wasserstein Distances


Abstract in English

We address the problem of proving a Central Limit Theorem for the empirical optimal transport cost, $sqrt{n}{mathcal{T}_c(P_n,Q)-mathcal{W}_c(P,Q)}$, in the semi discrete case, i.e when the distribution $P$ is finitely supported. We show that the asymptotic distribution is the supremun of a centered Gaussian process which is Gaussian under some additional conditions on the probability $Q$ and on the cost. Such results imply the central limit theorem for the $p$-Wassertein distance, for $pgeq 1$. Finally, the semidiscrete framework provides a control on the second derivative of the dual formulation, which yields the first central limit theorem for the optimal transport potentials.

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