Optimal heteroskedasticity testing in nonparametric regression

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kotekal, Subhodh, Kundu, Soumyabrata
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Kotekal, Subhodh
Kundu, Soumyabrata
author_facet Kotekal, Subhodh
Kundu, Soumyabrata
contents Heteroskedasticity testing in nonparametric regression is a classic statistical problem with important practical applications, yet fundamental limits are unknown. Adopting a minimax perspective, this article considers the testing problem in the context of an $α$-Hölder mean and a $β$-Hölder variance function. For $α> 0$ and $β\in (0, 1/2)$, the sharp minimax separation rate $n^{-4α} + n^{-4β/(4β+1)} + n^{-2β}$ is established. To achieve the minimax separation rate, a kernel-based statistic using first-order squared differences is developed. Notably, the statistic estimates a proxy rather than a natural quadratic functional (the squared distance between the variance function and its best $L^2$ approximation by a constant) suggested in previous work. The setting where no smoothness is assumed on the variance function is also studied; the variance profile across the design points can be arbitrary. Despite the lack of structure, consistent testing turns out to still be possible by using the Gaussian character of the noise, and the minimax rate is shown to be $n^{-4α} + n^{-1/2}$. Exploiting noise information happens to be a fundamental necessity as consistent testing is impossible if nothing more than zero mean and unit variance is known about the noise distribution. Furthermore, in the setting where the variance function is $β$-Hölder but heteroskedasticity is measured only with respect to the design points, the minimax separation rate is shown to be $n^{-4α} + n^{-\left((1/2) \vee (4β/(4β+1))\right)}$ when the noise is Gaussian and $n^{-4α} + n^{-4β/(4β+1)} + n^{-2β}$ when the noise distribution is unknown.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_12424
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optimal heteroskedasticity testing in nonparametric regression
Kotekal, Subhodh
Kundu, Soumyabrata
Statistics Theory
Methodology
Heteroskedasticity testing in nonparametric regression is a classic statistical problem with important practical applications, yet fundamental limits are unknown. Adopting a minimax perspective, this article considers the testing problem in the context of an $α$-Hölder mean and a $β$-Hölder variance function. For $α> 0$ and $β\in (0, 1/2)$, the sharp minimax separation rate $n^{-4α} + n^{-4β/(4β+1)} + n^{-2β}$ is established. To achieve the minimax separation rate, a kernel-based statistic using first-order squared differences is developed. Notably, the statistic estimates a proxy rather than a natural quadratic functional (the squared distance between the variance function and its best $L^2$ approximation by a constant) suggested in previous work. The setting where no smoothness is assumed on the variance function is also studied; the variance profile across the design points can be arbitrary. Despite the lack of structure, consistent testing turns out to still be possible by using the Gaussian character of the noise, and the minimax rate is shown to be $n^{-4α} + n^{-1/2}$. Exploiting noise information happens to be a fundamental necessity as consistent testing is impossible if nothing more than zero mean and unit variance is known about the noise distribution. Furthermore, in the setting where the variance function is $β$-Hölder but heteroskedasticity is measured only with respect to the design points, the minimax separation rate is shown to be $n^{-4α} + n^{-\left((1/2) \vee (4β/(4β+1))\right)}$ when the noise is Gaussian and $n^{-4α} + n^{-4β/(4β+1)} + n^{-2β}$ when the noise distribution is unknown.
title Optimal heteroskedasticity testing in nonparametric regression
topic Statistics Theory
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.12424