Weakly dependent functional data

Functional data often arise from measurements on fine time grids and are obtained by separating an almost continuous time record into natural consecutive intervals, for example, days. The functions thus obtained form a functional time series, and the central issue in the analysis of such data consists in taking into account the temporal dependence of these functional observations. Examples include daily curves of financial transaction data and daily patterns of geophysical and environmental data. For scalar and vector valued stochastic processes, a large number of dependence notions have been proposed, mostly involving mixing type distances between $\sigma$-algebras. In time series analysis, measures of dependence based on moments have proven most useful (autocovariances and cumulants). We introduce a moment-based notion of dependence for functional time series which involves $m$-dependence. We show that it is applicable to linear as well as nonlinear functional time series. Then we investigate the impact of dependence thus quantified on several important statistical procedures for functional data. We study the estimation of the functional principal components, the long-run covariance matrix, change point detection and the functional linear model. We explain when temporal dependence affects the results obtained for i.i.d. functional observations and when these results are robust to weak dependence.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-AOS768 the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Consistency of the mean and the principal components of spatially distributed functional data

This paper develops a framework for the estimation of the functional mean and the functional principal components when the functions form a random field. More specifically, the data we study consist of curves $X(\mathbf{s}_k;t),t\in[0,T]$, observed at spatial points $\mathbf{s}_1,\mathbf{s}_2,\ldots,\mathbf{s}_N$. We establish conditions for the sample average (in space) of the $X(\mathbf{s}_k)$ to be a consistent estimator of the population mean function, and for the usual empirical covariance operator to be a consistent estimator of the population covariance operator. These conditions involve an interplay of the assumptions on an appropriately defined dependence between the functions $X(\mathbf{s}_k)$ and the assumptions on the spatial distribution of the points $\mathbf{s}_k$. The rates of convergence may be the same as for i.i.d. functional samples, but generally depend on the strength of dependence and appropriately quantified distances between the points $\mathbf{s}_k$. We also formulate conditions for the lack of consistency.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.3150/12-BEJ418 the Bernoulli (http://isi.cbs.nl/bernoulli/) by the International Statistical Institute/Bernoulli Society (http://isi.cbs.nl/BS/bshome.htm

Subsampling the mean of heavy-tailed dependent observations

We establish the validity of subsampling confidence intervals for the mean of a dependent series with heavy-tailed marginal distributions. Using point process theory, we study both linear and nonlinear GARCH-like time series models. We propose a data-dependent method for the optimal block size selection and investigate its performance by means of a simulation study.Heavy tails, linear time series, subsampling

Detection of periodicity in functional time series

We derive several tests for the presence of a periodic component in a time series of functions. We consider both the traditional setting in which the periodic functional signal is contaminated by functional white noise, and a more general setting of a contaminating process which is weakly dependent. Several forms of the periodic component are considered. Our tests are motivated by the likelihood principle and fall into two broad categories, which we term multivariate and fully functional. Overall, for the functional series that motivate this research, the fully functional tests exhibit a superior balance of size and power. Asymptotic null distributions of all tests are derived and their consistency is established. Their finite sample performance is examined and compared by numerical studies and application to pollution data

Near-integrated GARCH sequences

Motivated by regularities observed in time series of returns on speculative assets, we develop an asymptotic theory of GARCH(1,1) processes {y_k} defined by the equations y_k=\sigma_k\epsilon_k, \sigma_k^2=\omega +\alpha y_{k-1}^2+\beta \sigma_{k-1}^2 for which the sum \alpha +\beta approaches unity as the number of available observations tends to infinity. We call such sequences near-integrated. We show that the asymptotic behavior of near-integrated GARCH(1,1) processes critically depends on the sign of \gamma :=\alpha +\beta -1. We find assumptions under which the solutions exhibit increasing oscillations and show that these oscillations grow approximately like a power function if \gamma \leq 0 and exponentially if \gamma >0. We establish an additive representation for the near-integrated GARCH(1,1) processes which is more convenient to use than the traditional multiplicative Volterra series expansion.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051604000000783 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

A randomness test for functional panels

Functional panels are collections of functional time series, and arise often in the study of high frequency multivariate data. We develop a portmanteau style test to determine if the cross-sections of such a panel are independent and identically distributed. Our framework allows the number of functional projections and/or the number of time series to grow with the sample size. A large sample justification is based on a new central limit theorem for random vectors of increasing dimension. With a proper normalization, the limit is standard normal, potentially making this result easily applicable in other FDA context in which projections on a subspace of increasing dimension are used. The test is shown to have correct size and excellent power using simulated panels whose random structure mimics the realistic dependence encountered in real panel data. It is expected to find application in climatology, finance, ecology, economics, and geophysics. We apply it to Southern Pacific sea surface temperature data, precipitation patterns in the South-West United States, and temperature curves in Germany.Comment: Supplemental material from the authors' homepage or upon reques

Estimation and testing for spatially indexed curves with application to ionospheric and magnetic field trends

We develop methodology for the estimation of the functional mean and the functional principal components when the functions form a spatial process. The data consist of curves $X(\mathbf{s}_k;t),t\in[0,T],$ observed at spatial locations $\mathbf{s}_1,\mathbf{s}_2,...,\mathbf{s}_N$. We propose several methods, and evaluate them by means of a simulation study. Next, we develop a significance test for the correlation of two such functional spatial fields. After validating the finite sample performance of this test by means of a simulation study, we apply it to determine if there is correlation between long-term trends in the so-called critical ionospheric frequency and decadal changes in the direction of the internal magnetic field of the Earth. The test provides conclusive evidence for correlation, thus solving a long-standing space physics conjecture. This conclusion is not apparent if the spatial dependence of the curves is neglected.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-AOAS524 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

On discriminating between long-range dependence and changes in mean

We develop a testing procedure for distinguishing between a long-range dependent time series and a weakly dependent time series with change-points in the mean. In the simplest case, under the null hypothesis the time series is weakly dependent with one change in mean at an unknown point, and under the alternative it is long-range dependent. We compute the CUSUM statistic $T_n$, which allows us to construct an estimator $\hat{k}$ of a change-point. We then compute the statistic $T_{n,1}$ based on the observations up to time $\hat{k}$ and the statistic $T_{n,2}$ based on the observations after time $\hat{k}$. The statistic $M_n=\max[T_{n,1},T_{n,2}]$ converges to a well-known distribution under the null, but diverges to infinity if the observations exhibit long-range dependence. The theory is illustrated by examples and an application to the returns of the Dow Jones index.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053606000000254 in the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org