11,789 research outputs found
Uniform test of algorithmic randomness over a general space
The algorithmic theory of randomness is well developed when the underlying
space is the set of finite or infinite sequences and the underlying probability
distribution is the uniform distribution or a computable distribution. These
restrictions seem artificial. Some progress has been made to extend the theory
to arbitrary Bernoulli distributions (by Martin-Loef), and to arbitrary
distributions (by Levin). We recall the main ideas and problems of Levin's
theory, and report further progress in the same framework.
- We allow non-compact spaces (like the space of continuous functions,
underlying the Brownian motion).
- The uniform test (deficiency of randomness) d_P(x) (depending both on the
outcome x and the measure P should be defined in a general and natural way.
- We see which of the old results survive: existence of universal tests,
conservation of randomness, expression of tests in terms of description
complexity, existence of a universal measure, expression of mutual information
as "deficiency of independence.
- The negative of the new randomness test is shown to be a generalization of
complexity in continuous spaces; we show that the addition theorem survives.
The paper's main contribution is introducing an appropriate framework for
studying these questions and related ones (like statistics for a general family
of distributions).Comment: 40 pages. Journal reference and a slight correction in the proof of
Theorem 7 adde
Computability of probability measures and Martin-Lof randomness over metric spaces
In this paper we investigate algorithmic randomness on more general spaces
than the Cantor space, namely computable metric spaces. To do this, we first
develop a unified framework allowing computations with probability measures. We
show that any computable metric space with a computable probability measure is
isomorphic to the Cantor space in a computable and measure-theoretic sense. We
show that any computable metric space admits a universal uniform randomness
test (without further assumption).Comment: 29 page
- …