Functional summary statistics for point processes on the sphere with an application to determinantal point processes

We study point processes on $\mathbb S^d$, the $d$-dimensional unit sphere $\mathbb S^d$, considering both the isotropic and the anisotropic case, and focusing mostly on the spherical case $d=2$. The first part studies reduced Palm distributions and functional summary statistics, including nearest neighbour functions, empty space functions, and Ripley's and inhomogeneous $K$-functions. The second part partly discusses the appealing properties of determinantal point process (DPP) models on the sphere and partly considers the application of functional summary statistics to DPPs. In fact DPPs exhibit repulsiveness, but we also use them together with certain dependent thinnings when constructing point process models on the sphere with aggregation on the large scale and regularity on the small scale. We conclude with a discussion on future work on statistics for spatial point processes on the sphere

Score, Pseudo-Score and Residual Diagnostics for Spatial Point Process Models

We develop new tools for formal inference and informal model validation in the analysis of spatial point pattern data. The score test is generalized to a "pseudo-score" test derived from Besag's pseudo-likelihood, and to a class of diagnostics based on point process residuals. The results lend theoretical support to the established practice of using functional summary statistics, such as Ripley's $K$-function, when testing for complete spatial randomness; and they provide new tools such as the compensator of the $K$-function for testing other fitted models. The results also support localization methods such as the scan statistic and smoothed residual plots. Software for computing the diagnostics is provided.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-STS367 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Determinantal point process models on the sphere

We consider determinantal point processes on the $d$-dimensional unit sphere $\mathbb S^d$. These are finite point processes exhibiting repulsiveness and with moment properties determined by a certain determinant whose entries are specified by a so-called kernel which we assume is a complex covariance function defined on $\mathbb S^d\times\mathbb S^d$. We review the appealing properties of such processes, including their specific moment properties, density expressions and simulation procedures. Particularly, we characterize and construct isotropic DPPs models on $\mathbb{S}^d$, where it becomes essential to specify the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions in a spectral representation for the kernel, and we figure out how repulsive isotropic DPPs can be. Moreover, we discuss the shortcomings of adapting existing models for isotropic covariance functions and consider strategies for developing new models, including a useful spectral approach

Does Corporate Performance Improve After Mergers?

We examine the post-acquisition operating performance of merged firms using a sample of the 50 largest mergers between U.S. public industrial firms completed in the period 1979 to 1983. The results indicate that merged firms have significant improvement in asset productivity relative to their industries after the merger, leading to higher post-merger operating cash flow returns. Sample firms maintain their capital expenditure and R&D rates relative to their industries after the merger, indicating that merged firms do not reduce their long-term investments. There is a strong positive relation between postmerger increases in operating cash flows and abnormal stock returns at merger announcements, indicating that expectations of economic improvements underlie the equity revaluations of the merging firms.

On simulation of continuous determinantal point processes

We review how to simulate continuous determinantal point processes (DPPs) and improve the current simulation algorithms in several important special cases as well as detail how certain types of conditional simulation can be carried out. Importantly we show how to speed up the simulation of the widely used Fourier based projection DPPs, which arise as approximations of more general DPPs. The algorithms are implemented and published as open source software