# Statisfaction

## Sub-Gaussian property for the Beta distribution (part 1)

Posted in General by Julyan Arbel on 2 May 2017

With my friend Olivier Marchal (mathematician, not filmmaker, nor the cop), we have just arXived a note on the sub-Gaussianity of the Beta and Dirichlet distributions.

The notion, introduced by Jean-Pierre Kahane, is as follows:

A random variable $X$ with finite mean $\mu=\mathbb{E}[X]$ is sub-Gaussian if there is a positive number $\sigma$ such that:

$\mathbb{E}[\exp(\lambda (X-\mu))]\le\exp\left(\frac{\lambda^2\sigma^2}{2}\right)\,\,\text{for all } \lambda\in\mathbb{R}.$

Such a constant $\sigma^2$ is called a proxy variance, and we say that $X$ is $\sigma^2$-sub-Gaussian. If $X$ is sub-Gaussian, one is usually interested in the optimal proxy variance:

$\sigma_{\text{opt}}^2(X)=\min\{\sigma^2\geq 0\text{ such that } X \text{ is } \sigma^2\text{-sub-Gaussian}\}.$

Note that the variance always gives a lower bound on the optimal proxy variance: $\text{Var}[X]\leq \sigma_{\text{opt}}^2(X)$. In particular, when $\sigma_{\text{opt}}^2(X)=\text{Var}[X]$, $X$ is said to be strictly sub-Gaussian.

The sub-Gaussian property is closely related to the tails of the distribution. Intuitively, being sub-Gaussian amounts to having tails lighter than a Gaussian. This is actually a characterization of the property. Let $Z\sim\mathcal{N}(0,1)$. Then:

$X \text{ is sub-Gaussian } \iff \exists c, \forall x\geq0:\, \mathsf{P}(|X-\mathbb{E}[X]|\geq x) \leq c\mathsf{P}(|Z|\geq x).$

That equivalence clearly implies exponential upper bounds for the tails of the distribution since a Gaussian $Z\sim\mathcal{N}(0,\sigma^2)$ satisfies

$\mathsf{P}(Z\ge x)\le\exp(-\frac{x^2}{2\sigma^2}).$

That can also be seen directly: for a $\sigma^2$-sub-Gaussian variable $X$,

$\forall\, \lambda>0\,:\,\,\mathsf{P}(X-\mu\geq x) = \mathsf{P}(e^{\lambda(X-\mu)}\geq e^{\lambda x})\leq \frac{\mathbb{E}[e^{\lambda(X-\mu)}]}{e^{\lambda x}}\quad\text{by Markov inequality,}$

$\leq\exp(\frac{\sigma^2\lambda^2}{2}-\lambda x)\quad\text{by sub-Gaussianity.}$

The polynomial function $\lambda\mapsto \frac{\sigma^2\lambda^2}{2}-\lambda x$ is minimized on $\mathbb{R}_+$ at $\lambda = \frac{x}{\sigma^2}$, for which we obtain

$\mathsf{P}(X-\mu\geq x) \leq\exp(-\frac{x^2}{2\sigma^2})$.

In that sense, the sub-Gaussian property of any compactly supported random variable $X$ comes for free since in that case the tails are obviously lighter than those of a Gaussian. A simple general proxy variance is given by Hoeffding’s lemma. Let $X$ be supported on $[a,b]$ with $\mathbb{E}[X]=0$. Then for any $\lambda\in\mathbb{R}$,

$\mathbb{E}[\exp(\lambda X)]\leq\exp\left(\frac{(b-a)^2}{8}\lambda^2\right)$

so $X$ is $\frac{(b-a)^2}{4}$-sub-Gaussian.

Back to the Beta where $[a,b]=[0,1]$, this shows the Beta is $\frac{1}{4}$-sub-Gaussian. The question of finding the optimal proxy variance is a more challenging issue. In addition to characterizing the optimal proxy variance of the Beta distribution in the note, we provide the simple upper bound $\frac{1}{4(\alpha+\beta+1)}$. It matches with Hoeffding’s bound for the extremal case $\alpha\to0$, $\beta\to0$, where the Beta random variable concentrates on the two-point set $\{0,1\}$ (and when Hoeffding’s bound is tight).

In getting the bound $\frac{1}{4(\alpha+\beta+1)}$, we prove a recent conjecture made by Sam Elder in the context of Bayesian adaptive data analysis. I’ll say more about getting the optimal proxy variance in a next post soon.

Cheers!

Julyan

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### 9 Responses

1. […] a follow-up on my previous post on the sub-Gaussian property for the Beta distribution [1], I’ll give here a visual […]

2. […] a follow-up on my previous post on the sub-Gaussian property for the Beta distribution [1], I’ll give here a visual illustration […]

3. […] a follow-up on my previous post on the sub-Gaussian property for the Beta distribution [1], I’ll give here a visual illustration […]

4. […] a follow-up on my previous post on the sub-Gaussian property for the Beta distribution [1], I’ll give here a visual […]

5. […] this third and last post about the Sub-Gaussian property for the Beta distribution [1] (post 1 and post 2), I would like to show the interplay with the Bernoulli distribution as well as some […]

6. […] this third and last post about the Sub-Gaussian property for the Beta distribution [1] (post 1 and post 2), I would like to show the interplay with the Bernoulli distribution as well as some […]

7. […] this third and last post about the Sub-Gaussian property for the Beta distribution [1] (post 1 and post 2), I would like to show the interplay with the Bernoulli distribution as well as some […]

8. […] this third and last post about the Sub-Gaussian property for the Beta distribution [1] (post 1 and post 2), I would like to show the interplay with the Bernoulli distribution as well as some […]

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