Causal conditioning and instantaneous coupling in causality graphs

The paper investigates the link between Granger causality graphs recently formalized by Eichler and directed information theory developed by Massey and Kramer. We particularly insist on the implication of two notions of causality that may occur in physical systems. It is well accepted that dynamical causality is assessed by the conditional transfer entropy, a measure appearing naturally as a part of directed information. Surprisingly the notion of instantaneous causality is often overlooked, even if it was clearly understood in early works. In the bivariate case, instantaneous coupling is measured adequately by the instantaneous information exchange, a measure that supplements the transfer entropy in the decomposition of directed information. In this paper, the focus is put on the multivariate case and conditional graph modeling issues. In this framework, we show that the decomposition of directed information into the sum of transfer entropy and information exchange does not hold anymore. Nevertheless, the discussion allows to put forward the two measures as pillars for the inference of causality graphs. We illustrate this on two synthetic examples which allow us to discuss not only the theoretical concepts, but also the practical estimation issues.Comment: submitte

A Primer on Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces

Reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces are elucidated without assuming prior familiarity with Hilbert spaces. Compared with extant pedagogic material, greater care is placed on motivating the definition of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces and explaining when and why these spaces are efficacious. The novel viewpoint is that reproducing kernel Hilbert space theory studies extrinsic geometry, associating with each geometric configuration a canonical overdetermined coordinate system. This coordinate system varies continuously with changing geometric configurations, making it well-suited for studying problems whose solutions also vary continuously with changing geometry. This primer can also serve as an introduction to infinite-dimensional linear algebra because reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces have more properties in common with Euclidean spaces than do more general Hilbert spaces.Comment: Revised version submitted to Foundations and Trends in Signal Processin

Causalité de Granger pour des signaux à valeurs fonctionnelles

National audienceGranger causality is an answer to knowing whether a signal influences another signal or not. Its principle relies on prediction theory: a first signal causes a second one if the first helps in the prediction of the second. Granger causality was developed for economy applications but is now widely used across many fields, however in stationary situations. Possible extension have already been proposed to tackle nonstationarity, but these are ratherad-hoc. A general theory for Granger causality in nonstationary contexts is still lacking. Motivated by cyclostationary signals, we propose here to model signals as discrete time signals taking values in infinite dimensional Hilbert function spaces. We then extend Granger causality in this particular context, providing strong and weak definitions, and giving some hints to practically apply the theor

Stochastic discrete scale invariance: Renormalization group operators and Iterated Function Systems

International audienceWe revisit here the notion of discrete scale invariance. Initially defined for signal indexed by the positive reals, we present a generalized version of discrete scale invariant signals relying on a renormalization group approach. In this view, the signals are seen as fixed point of a renormalization operator acting on a space of signal. We recall how to show that these fixed point present discrete scale invariance. As an illustration we use the random iterated function system as generators of random processes of the interval that are dicretely scale invariant

Wavelet analysis of the multivariate fractional Brownian motion

The work developed in the paper concerns the multivariate fractional Brownian motion (mfBm) viewed through the lens of the wavelet transform. After recalling some basic properties on the mfBm, we calculate the correlation structure of its wavelet transform. We particularly study the asymptotic behavior of the correlation, showing that if the analyzing wavelet has a sufficient number of null first order moments, the decomposition eliminates any possible long-range (inter)dependence. The cross-spectral density is also considered in a second part. Its existence is proved and its evaluation is performed using a von Bahr-Essen like representation of the function \sign(t) |t|^\alpha. The behavior of the cross-spectral density of the wavelet field at the zero frequency is also developed and confirms the results provided by the asymptotic analysis of the correlation

Projections of determinantal point processes

Let $\mathbf x=\{x^{(1)},\dots,x^{(n)}\}$ be a space filling-design of $n$ points defined in $[0{,}1]^d$. In computer experiments, an important property seeked for $\mathbf x$ is a nice coverage of $[0{,}1]^d$. This property could be desirable as well as for any projection of $\mathbf x$ onto $[0{,}1]^\iota$ for $\iota<d$ . Thus we expect that $\mathbf x_I=\{x_I^{(1)},\dots,x_I^{(n)}\}$, which represents the design $\mathbf x$ with coordinates associated to any index set $I\subseteq\{1,\dots,d\}$, remains regular in $[0{,}1]^\iota$ where $\iota$ is the cardinality of $I$. This paper examines the conservation of nice coverage by projection using spatial point processes, and more specifically using the class of determinantal point processes. We provide necessary conditions on the kernel defining these processes, ensuring that the projected point process $\mathbf{X}_I$ is repulsive, in the sense that its pair correlation function is uniformly bounded by 1, for all $I\subseteq\{1,\dots,d\}$. We present a few examples, compare them using a new normalized version of Ripley's function. Finally, we illustrate the interest of this research for Monte-Carlo integration