872 research outputs found
Batch means and spectral variance estimators in Markov chain Monte Carlo
Calculating a Monte Carlo standard error (MCSE) is an important step in the
statistical analysis of the simulation output obtained from a Markov chain
Monte Carlo experiment. An MCSE is usually based on an estimate of the variance
of the asymptotic normal distribution. We consider spectral and batch means
methods for estimating this variance. In particular, we establish conditions
which guarantee that these estimators are strongly consistent as the simulation
effort increases. In addition, for the batch means and overlapping batch means
methods we establish conditions ensuring consistency in the mean-square sense
which in turn allows us to calculate the optimal batch size up to a constant of
proportionality. Finally, we examine the empirical finite-sample properties of
spectral variance and batch means estimators and provide recommendations for
practitioners.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-AOS735 the Annals of
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Markov Chain Monte Carlo: Can We Trust the Third Significant Figure?
Current reporting of results based on Markov chain Monte Carlo computations
could be improved. In particular, a measure of the accuracy of the resulting
estimates is rarely reported. Thus we have little ability to objectively assess
the quality of the reported estimates. We address this issue in that we discuss
why Monte Carlo standard errors are important, how they can be easily
calculated in Markov chain Monte Carlo and how they can be used to decide when
to stop the simulation. We compare their use to a popular alternative in the
context of two examples.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-STS257 the Statistical
Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Constrained Reductions of 2D dispersionless Toda Hierarchy, Hamiltonian Structure and Interface Dynamics
Finite-dimensional reductions of the 2D dispersionless Toda hierarchy,
constrained by the ``string equation'' are studied. These include solutions
determined by polynomial, rational or logarithmic functions, which are of
interest in relation to the ``Laplacian growth'' problem governing interface
dynamics. The consistency of such reductions is proved, and the Hamiltonian
structure of the reduced dynamics is derived. The Poisson structure of the
rationally reduced dispersionless Toda hierarchies is also derivedComment: 18 pages LaTex, accepted to J.Math.Phys, Significantly updated
version of the previous submissio
Simplest miniversal deformations of matrices, matrix pencils, and contragredient matrix pencils
V. I. Arnold [Russian Math. Surveys 26 (2) (1971) 29-43] constructed a simple
normal form for a family of complex n-by-n matrices that smoothly depend on
parameters with respect to similarity transformations that smoothly depend on
the same parameters. We construct analogous normal forms for a family of real
matrices and a family of matrix pencils that smoothly depend on parameters,
simplifying their normal forms by D. M. Galin [Uspehi Mat. Nauk 27 (1) (1972)
241-242] and by A. Edelman, E. Elmroth, B. Kagstrom [Siam J. Matrix Anal. Appl.
18 (3) (1997) 653-692].Comment: 20 page
An Improved Cryosat-2 Sea Ice Freeboard Retrieval Algorithm Through the Use of Waveform Fitting
We develop an empirical model capable of simulating the mean echo power cross product of CryoSat-2 SAR and SAR In mode waveforms over sea ice covered regions. The model simulations are used to show the importance of variations in the radar backscatter coefficient with incidence angle and surface roughness for the retrieval of surfaceelevation of both sea ice floes and leads. The numerical model is used to fit CryoSat-2 waveforms to enable retrieval of surface elevation through the use of look-up tables and a bounded trust region Newton least squares fitting approach. The use of a model to fit returns from sea ice regions offers advantages over currently used threshold retrackingmethods which are here shown to be sensitive to the combined effect of bandwidth limited range resolution and surface roughness variations. Laxon et al. (2013) have compared ice thickness results from CryoSat-2 and IceBridge, and found good agreement, however consistent assumptions about the snow depth and density of sea ice werenot used in the comparisons. To address this issue, we directly compare ice freeboard and thickness retrievals from the waveform fitting and threshold tracker methods of CryoSat-2 to Operation IceBridge data using a consistent set of parameterizations. For three IceBridge campaign periods from March 20112013, mean differences (CryoSat-2 IceBridge) of 0.144m and 1.351m are respectively found between the freeboard and thickness retrievals using a 50 sea ice floe threshold retracker, while mean differences of 0.019m and 0.182m are found when using the waveform fitting method. This suggests the waveform fitting technique is capable of better reconciling the seaice thickness data record from laser and radar altimetry data sets through the usage of consistent physical assumptions
Diffusion-Limited Aggregation on Curved Surfaces
We develop a general theory of transport-limited aggregation phenomena
occurring on curved surfaces, based on stochastic iterated conformal maps and
conformal projections to the complex plane. To illustrate the theory, we use
stereographic projections to simulate diffusion-limited-aggregation (DLA) on
surfaces of constant Gaussian curvature, including the sphere () and
pseudo-sphere (), which approximate "bumps" and "saddles" in smooth
surfaces, respectively. Although curvature affects the global morphology of the
aggregates, the fractal dimension (in the curved metric) is remarkably
insensitive to curvature, as long as the particle size is much smaller than the
radius of curvature. We conjecture that all aggregates grown by conformally
invariant transport on curved surfaces have the same fractal dimension as DLA
in the plane. Our simulations suggest, however, that the multifractal
dimensions increase from hyperbolic () geometry, which
we attribute to curvature-dependent screening of tip branching.Comment: 4 pages, 3 fig
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