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Main Authors: Ma, Ya-Jing, Wang, Feng, Wu, Xian-Yuan, Cai, Kai-Yuan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.12227
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author Ma, Ya-Jing
Wang, Feng
Wu, Xian-Yuan
Cai, Kai-Yuan
author_facet Ma, Ya-Jing
Wang, Feng
Wu, Xian-Yuan
Cai, Kai-Yuan
contents Given probability distributions ${\bf p}=(p_1,p_2,\ldots,p_m)$ and ${\bf q}=(q_1,q_2,\ldots, q_n)$ with $m,n\geq 2$, denote by ${\cal C}(\bf p,q)$ the set of all couplings of $\bf p,q$, a convex subset of $\R^{mn}$. Denote by ${\cal C}_e({\bf p},{\bf q})$ the finite set of all extreme points of ${\cal C}(\bf p,q)$. It is well known that, as a strictly concave function, the Shannan entropy $H$ on ${\cal C}(\bf p,q)$ takes its minimal value in ${\cal C}_e({\bf p},{\bf q})$. In this paper, first, the detailed structure of ${\cal C}_e({\bf p},{\bf q})$ is well specified and all extreme points are enumerated by a special algorithm. As an application, the exact solution of the minimum-entropy coupling problem is obtained. Second, it is proved that for any strict Schur-concave function $Ψ$ on ${\cal C}(\bf p,q)$, $Ψ$ also takes its minimal value on ${\cal C}_e({\bf p},{\bf q})$. As an application, the exact solution of the minimum-entropy coupling problem is obtained for $(Φ,\hbar)$-entropy, a large class of entropy including Shannon entropy, Rényi entropy and Tsallis entropy etc. Finally, all the above are generalized to multi-marginal case.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_12227
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Explicit Description of Extreme Points of the Set of Couplings with Given Marginals: with Application to Minimum-Entropy Coupling Problems
Ma, Ya-Jing
Wang, Feng
Wu, Xian-Yuan
Cai, Kai-Yuan
Probability
Given probability distributions ${\bf p}=(p_1,p_2,\ldots,p_m)$ and ${\bf q}=(q_1,q_2,\ldots, q_n)$ with $m,n\geq 2$, denote by ${\cal C}(\bf p,q)$ the set of all couplings of $\bf p,q$, a convex subset of $\R^{mn}$. Denote by ${\cal C}_e({\bf p},{\bf q})$ the finite set of all extreme points of ${\cal C}(\bf p,q)$. It is well known that, as a strictly concave function, the Shannan entropy $H$ on ${\cal C}(\bf p,q)$ takes its minimal value in ${\cal C}_e({\bf p},{\bf q})$. In this paper, first, the detailed structure of ${\cal C}_e({\bf p},{\bf q})$ is well specified and all extreme points are enumerated by a special algorithm. As an application, the exact solution of the minimum-entropy coupling problem is obtained. Second, it is proved that for any strict Schur-concave function $Ψ$ on ${\cal C}(\bf p,q)$, $Ψ$ also takes its minimal value on ${\cal C}_e({\bf p},{\bf q})$. As an application, the exact solution of the minimum-entropy coupling problem is obtained for $(Φ,\hbar)$-entropy, a large class of entropy including Shannon entropy, Rényi entropy and Tsallis entropy etc. Finally, all the above are generalized to multi-marginal case.
title An Explicit Description of Extreme Points of the Set of Couplings with Given Marginals: with Application to Minimum-Entropy Coupling Problems
topic Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.12227