Testing the Sphericity of a covariance matrix when the dimension is much larger than the sample size

This paper focuses on the prominent sphericity test when the dimension $p$ is much lager than sample size $n$. The classical likelihood ratio test(LRT) is no longer applicable when $p\gg n$. Therefore a Quasi-LRT is proposed and asymptotic distribution of the test statistic under the null when $p/n\rightarrow\infty, n\rightarrow\infty$ is well established in this paper. Meanwhile, John's test has been found to possess the powerful {\it dimension-proof} property, which keeps exactly the same limiting distribution under the null with any $(n,p)$-asymptotic, i.e. $p/n\rightarrow[0,\infty]$, $n\rightarrow\infty$. All asymptotic results are derived for general population with finite fourth order moment. Numerical experiments are implemented for comparison

On singular value distribution of large dimensional auto-covariance matrices

Let $(\varepsilon_j)_{j\geq 0}$ be a sequence of independent $p-$dimensional random vectors and $\tau\geq1$ a given integer. From a sample $\varepsilon_1,\cdots,\varepsilon_{T+\tau-1},\varepsilon_{T+\tau}$ of the sequence, the so-called lag $-\tau$ auto-covariance matrix is $C_{\tau}=T^{-1}\sum_{j=1}^T\varepsilon_{\tau+j}\varepsilon_{j}^t$. When the dimension $p$ is large compared to the sample size $T$, this paper establishes the limit of the singular value distribution of $C_\tau$ assuming that $p$ and $T$ grow to infinity proportionally and the sequence satisfies a Lindeberg condition on fourth order moments. Compared to existing asymptotic results on sample covariance matrices developed in random matrix theory, the case of an auto-covariance matrix is much more involved due to the fact that the summands are dependent and the matrix $C_\tau$ is not symmetric. Several new techniques are introduced for the derivation of the main theorem

On testing for high-dimensional white noise

Testing for white noise is a classical yet important problem in statistics, especially for diagnostic checks in time series modeling and linear regression. For high-dimensional time series in the sense that the dimension p is large in relation to the sample size T, the popular omnibus tests including the multivariate Hosking and Li-McLeod tests are extremely conservative, leading to substantial power loss. To develop more relevant tests for high-dimensional cases, we propose a portmanteau-type test statistic which is the sum of squared singular values of the first q lagged sample autocovariance matrices. It, therefore, encapsulates all the serial correlations (upto the time lag q) within and across all component series. Using the tools from random matrix theory and assuming both p and T diverge to infinity, we derive the asymptotic normality of the test statistic under both the null and a specific VMA(1) alternative hypothesis. As the actual implementation of the test requires the knowledge of three characteristic constants of the population cross-sectional covariance matrix and the value of the fourth moment of the standardized innovations, non trivial estimations are proposed for these parameters and their integration leads to a practically usable test. Extensive simulation confirms the excellent finite-sample performance of the new test with accurate size and satisfactory power for a large range of finite (p, T) combinations, therefore ensuring wide applicability in practice. In particular, the new tests are consistently superior to the traditional Hosking and Li-McLeod tests

Identifying the number of factors from singular values of a large sample auto-covariance matrix

Identifying the number of factors in a high-dimensional factor model has attracted much attention in recent years and a general solution to the problem is still lacking. A promising ratio estimator based on the singular values of the lagged autocovariance matrix has been recently proposed in the literature and is shown to have a good performance under some specific assumption on the strength of the factors. Inspired by this ratio estimator and as a first main contribution, this paper proposes a complete theory of such sample singular values for both the factor part and the noise part under the large-dimensional scheme where the dimension and the sample size proportionally grow to infinity. In particular, we provide the exact description of the phase transition phenomenon that determines whether a factor is strong enough to be detected with the observed sample singular values. Based on these findings and as a second main contribution of the paper, we propose a new estimator of the number of factors which is strongly consistent for the detection of all significant factors (which are the only theoretically detectable ones). In particular, factors are assumed to have the minimum strength above the phase transition boundary which is of the order of a constant; they are thus not required to grow to infinity together with the dimension (as assumed in most of the existing papers on high-dimensional factor models). Empirical Monte-Carlo study as well as the analysis of stock returns data attest a very good performance of the proposed estimator. In all the tested cases, the new estimator largely outperforms the existing estimator using the same ratios of singular values.Comment: This is a largely revised version of the previous manuscript (v1 & v2

Robust estimation for number of factors in high dimensional factor modeling via Spearman correlation matrix

Determining the number of factors in high-dimensional factor modeling is essential but challenging, especially when the data are heavy-tailed. In this paper, we introduce a new estimator based on the spectral properties of Spearman sample correlation matrix under the high-dimensional setting, where both dimension and sample size tend to infinity proportionally. Our estimator is robust against heavy tails in either the common factors or idiosyncratic errors. The consistency of our estimator is established under mild conditions. Numerical experiments demonstrate the superiority of our estimator compared to existing methods