On an Auxiliary Function for Log-Density Estimation

In this note we provide explicit expressions and expansions for a special function which appears in nonparametric estimation of log-densities. This function returns the integral of a log-linear function on a simplex of arbitrary dimension. In particular it is used in the R-package LogCondDEAD by Cule et al. (2007).

A law of the iterated logarithm for Grenanders estimator

In this note we prove the following law of the iterated logarithm for the Grenander estimator of a monotone decreasing density: If $f(t_0) > 0$, $f(t_0) < 0$, and $f$ is continuous in a neighborhood of $t_0$, then begin{eqnarray*} limsup_{nrightarrow infty} left ( frac{n}{2log log n} right )^{1/3} ( widehat{f}_n (t_0 ) - f(t_0) ) = left| f(t_0) f(t_0)/2 right|^{1/3} 2M end{eqnarray*} almost surely where $ M equiv sup_{g in {cal G}} T_g = (3/4)^{1/3}$ and $ T_g equiv mbox{argmax}_u { g(u) - u^2 } $; here ${cal G}$ is the two-sided Strassen limit set on $R$. The proof relies on laws of the iterated logarithm for local empirical processes, Groenebooms switching relation, and properties of Strassens limit set analogous to distributional properties of Brownian motion.

Confidence Bands for Distribution Functions: A New Look at the Law of the Iterated Logarithm

We present a general law of the iterated logarithm for stochastic processes on the open unit interval having subexponential tails in a locally uniform fashion. It applies to standard Brownian bridge but also to suitably standardized empirical distribution functions. This leads to new goodness-of-fit tests and confidence bands which refine the procedures of Berk and Jones (1979) and Owen (1995). Roughly speaking, the high power and accuracy of the latter procedures in the tail regions of distributions are essentially preserved while gaining considerably in the central region.

Stochastic Search for Semiparametric Linear Regression Models

This paper introduces and analyzes a stochastic search method for parameter estimation in linear regression models in the spirit of Beran and Millar (1987). The idea is to generate a random finite subset of a parameter space which will automatically contain points which are very close to an unknown true parameter. The motivation for this procedure comes from recent work of Duembgen, Samworth and Schuhmacher (2011) on regression models with log-concave error distributions.

Approximation by log-concave distributions, with applications to regression

We study the approximation of arbitrary distributions $P$ on $d$-dimensional space by distributions with log-concave density. Approximation means minimizing a Kullback--Leibler-type functional. We show that such an approximation exists if and only if $P$ has finite first moments and is not supported by some hyperplane. Furthermore we show that this approximation depends continuously on $P$ with respect to Mallows distance $D_1(cdot,cdot)$. This result implies consistency of the maximum likelihood estimator of a log-concave density under fairly general conditions. It also allows us to prove existence and consistency of estimators in regression models with a response $Y=mu(X)+epsilon$, where $X$ and $epsilon$ are independent, $mu(cdot)$ belongs to a certain class of regression functions while $epsilon$ is a random error with log-concave density and mean zero.

Adaptive Confidence Sets for the Optimal Approximating Model

In the setting of high-dimensional linear models with Gaussian noise, we investigate the possibility of confidence statements connected to model selection. Although there exist numerous procedures for adaptive point estimation, the construction of adaptive confidence regions is severely limited (cf. Li, 1989). The present paper sheds new light on this gap. We develop exact and adaptive confidence sets for the best approximating model in terms of risk. One of our constructions is based on a multiscale procedure and a particular coupling argument. Utilizing exponential inequalities for noncentral chi-squared distributions, we show that the risk and quadratic loss of all models within our confidence region are uniformly bounded by the minimal risk times a factor close to one.

Multivariate Log-Concave Distributions as a Nearly Parametric Model

In this paper we show that the family P_d of probability distributions on R^d with log-concave densities satisfies a strong continuity condition. In particular, it turns out that weak convergence within this family entails (i) convergence in total variation distance, (ii) convergence of arbitrary moments, and (iii) pointwise convergence of Laplace transforms. Hence the nonparametric model P_d has similar properties as parametric models such as, for instance, the family of all d-variate Gaussian distributions.

Maximum likelihood estimation of a log-concave density and its distribution function: Basic properties and uniform consistency

We study nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation of a log-concave probability density and its distribution and hazard function. Some general properties of these estimators are derived from two characterizations. It is shown that the rate of convergence with respect to supremum norm on a compact interval for the density and hazard rate estimator is at least $(log(n)/n)^{1/3}$ and typically $(log(n)/n)^{2/5}$, whereas the difference between the empirical and estimated distribution function vanishes with rate $o_{mathrm{p}}(n^{-1/2})$ under certain regularity assumptions.

Least Squares and Shrinkage Estimation under Bimonotonicity Constraints

In this paper we describe active set type algorithms for minimization of a smooth function under general order constraints, an important case being functions on the set of bimonotone r-by-s matrices. These algorithms can be used, for instance, to estimate a bimonotone regression function via least squares or (a smooth approximation of) least absolute deviations. Another application is shrinkage estimation in image denoising or, more generally, regression problems with two ordinal factors after representing the data in a suitable basis which is indexed by pairs (i,j) in {1,...,r}x{1,...,s}. Various numerical examples illustrate our methods.