Gaussian mixtures closest to a given measure via optimal transport

Given a determinate (multivariate) probability measure $\mu $, we characterize Gaussian mixtures $\nu _\phi $ which minimize the Wasserstein distance $W_2(\mu ,\nu _\phi )$ to $\mu $ when the mixing probability measure $\phi $ on the parameters $(\mathbf{m},\mathbf{\Sigma })$ of the Gaussians is sup...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lasserre, Jean B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Académie des sciences 2024-11-01
Series:Comptes Rendus. Mathématique
Subjects:
Online Access:https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/mathematique/articles/10.5802/crmath.657/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1825206169893863424
author Lasserre, Jean B.
author_facet Lasserre, Jean B.
author_sort Lasserre, Jean B.
collection DOAJ
description Given a determinate (multivariate) probability measure $\mu $, we characterize Gaussian mixtures $\nu _\phi $ which minimize the Wasserstein distance $W_2(\mu ,\nu _\phi )$ to $\mu $ when the mixing probability measure $\phi $ on the parameters $(\mathbf{m},\mathbf{\Sigma })$ of the Gaussians is supported on a compact set $S$. (i) We first show that such mixtures are optimal solutions of a particular optimal transport (OT) problem where the marginal $\nu _{\phi }$ of the OT problem is also unknown via the mixing measure variable $\phi $. Next (ii) by using a well-known specific property of Gaussian measures, this optimal transport is then viewed as a Generalized Moment Problem (GMP) and if the set $S$ of mixture parameters $(\mathbf{m},\mathbf{\Sigma })$ is a basic compact semi-algebraic set, we provide a “mesh-free” numerical scheme to approximate as closely as desired the optimal distance by solving a hierarchy of semidefinite relaxations of increasing size. In particular, we neither assume that the mixing measure is finitely supported nor that the variance is the same for all components. If the original measure $\mu $ is not a Gaussian mixture with parameters $(\mathbf{m},\mathbf{\Sigma })\in S$, then a strictly positive distance is detected at a finite step of the hierarchy. If the original measure $\mu $ is a Gaussian mixture with parameters $(\mathbf{m},\mathbf{\Sigma })\in S$, then all semidefinite relaxations of the hierarchy have same zero optimal value. Moreover if the mixing measure is atomic with finite support, its components can sometimes be extracted from an optimal solution at some semidefinite relaxation of the hierarchy when Curto & Fialkow’s flatness condition holds for some moment matrix.
format Article
id doaj-art-9885b8d64ca44b09856de14e5627b22e
institution Kabale University
issn 1778-3569
language English
publishDate 2024-11-01
publisher Académie des sciences
record_format Article
series Comptes Rendus. Mathématique
spelling doaj-art-9885b8d64ca44b09856de14e5627b22e2025-02-07T11:23:50ZengAcadémie des sciencesComptes Rendus. Mathématique1778-35692024-11-01362G111455147310.5802/crmath.65710.5802/crmath.657Gaussian mixtures closest to a given measure via optimal transportLasserre, Jean B.0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0860-9913LAAS-CNRS and Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), BP 54200, 7 Avenue du Colonel Roche, 31031 Toulouse cédex 4, FranceGiven a determinate (multivariate) probability measure $\mu $, we characterize Gaussian mixtures $\nu _\phi $ which minimize the Wasserstein distance $W_2(\mu ,\nu _\phi )$ to $\mu $ when the mixing probability measure $\phi $ on the parameters $(\mathbf{m},\mathbf{\Sigma })$ of the Gaussians is supported on a compact set $S$. (i) We first show that such mixtures are optimal solutions of a particular optimal transport (OT) problem where the marginal $\nu _{\phi }$ of the OT problem is also unknown via the mixing measure variable $\phi $. Next (ii) by using a well-known specific property of Gaussian measures, this optimal transport is then viewed as a Generalized Moment Problem (GMP) and if the set $S$ of mixture parameters $(\mathbf{m},\mathbf{\Sigma })$ is a basic compact semi-algebraic set, we provide a “mesh-free” numerical scheme to approximate as closely as desired the optimal distance by solving a hierarchy of semidefinite relaxations of increasing size. In particular, we neither assume that the mixing measure is finitely supported nor that the variance is the same for all components. If the original measure $\mu $ is not a Gaussian mixture with parameters $(\mathbf{m},\mathbf{\Sigma })\in S$, then a strictly positive distance is detected at a finite step of the hierarchy. If the original measure $\mu $ is a Gaussian mixture with parameters $(\mathbf{m},\mathbf{\Sigma })\in S$, then all semidefinite relaxations of the hierarchy have same zero optimal value. Moreover if the mixing measure is atomic with finite support, its components can sometimes be extracted from an optimal solution at some semidefinite relaxation of the hierarchy when Curto & Fialkow’s flatness condition holds for some moment matrix.https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/mathematique/articles/10.5802/crmath.657/Gaussian mixturesWasserstein distancesemidefinite relaxationsMoment-SOS hierarchy
spellingShingle Lasserre, Jean B.
Gaussian mixtures closest to a given measure via optimal transport
Comptes Rendus. Mathématique
Gaussian mixtures
Wasserstein distance
semidefinite relaxations
Moment-SOS hierarchy
title Gaussian mixtures closest to a given measure via optimal transport
title_full Gaussian mixtures closest to a given measure via optimal transport
title_fullStr Gaussian mixtures closest to a given measure via optimal transport
title_full_unstemmed Gaussian mixtures closest to a given measure via optimal transport
title_short Gaussian mixtures closest to a given measure via optimal transport
title_sort gaussian mixtures closest to a given measure via optimal transport
topic Gaussian mixtures
Wasserstein distance
semidefinite relaxations
Moment-SOS hierarchy
url https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/mathematique/articles/10.5802/crmath.657/
work_keys_str_mv AT lasserrejeanb gaussianmixturesclosesttoagivenmeasureviaoptimaltransport