Absolute continuity and convergence of densities for random vectors on Wiener chaos Ivan Nourdin, David Nualart and Guillaume Poly ∗ † ‡ 2 July 24, 2012 1 0 2 l u J Abstract 1 2 The aim of this paper is to establish some new results on the absolute continuity and the convergence in total variation for a sequence of d-dimensional vectors whose ] R components belong to a finite sum of Wiener chaoses. First we show that the prob- P ability that the determinant of the Malliavin matrix of such vectors vanishes is zero . h or one, and this probability equals to one is equivalent to say that the vector takes t values in the set of zeros of a polynomial. We provide a bound for the degree of this a m annihilating polynomial improving a result by Kusuoka [8]. On the other hand, we [ showthattheconvergence inlawimpliestheconvergence intotalvariation, extending to the multivariate case a recent result by Nourdin and Poly [11]. This follows from 1 v an inequality relating the total variation distance with the Fortet-Mourier distance. 5 Finally, applications tosomeparticularcasesarediscussedandseveralopenquestions 1 are listed. 1 5 . 7 1 Introduction 0 2 1 : Thepurposeofthispaperistoestablishsomenewresultsontheabsolutecontinuityandthe v convergence ofthe densities insome Lp(Rd) fora sequence of d-dimensionalrandomvectors i X whose components belong to finite sum of Wiener chaos. These result generalize previous r a works by Kusuoka [8] and by Nourdin and Poly [11], and are based on a combination of the techniques of Malliavin calculus, the Carbery-Wright inequality and some recent work on algebraic dependence for a family of polynomials. ∗Institut Élie Cartan, Université de Lorraine, BP 70239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France, [email protected]; IN is partially supported by the ANR grants ANR-09-BLAN-0114 and ANR-10- BLAN-0121. †Department of Mathematics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 66045 USA, [email protected];DN is supported by the NSF grant DMS-1208625. ‡Laboratoire d’Analyse et de Mathématiques Appliquées, UMR 8050, Université Paris-Est Marne- la-Vallée, 5 Bld Descartes, Champs-sur-Marne, 77454 Marne-la-Vallée Cedex 2, France, [email protected]. 1 Let us describe our main results. Given two d-dimensional random vectors F and G, we denote by d (F,G) the total variation distance between the laws of F and G, defined TV by d (F,G) = sup P(F A) P(G A) , TV | ∈ − ∈ | A∈B(Rd) where the supremum is taken over all Borel sets A of Rd. On the other hand, we denote by d (F,G) the Fortet-Mourier distance, given by FM d (F,G) = sup E[φ(F)] E[φ(G)] , FM | − | φ where the supremum is taken over all 1-Lipschitz functions φ : Rd R which are bounded → by 1. It is well-known that d metrizes the convergence in distribution. FM Consider a sequence of random vectors F = (F ,...,F ) whose components belong n 1,n d,n to q , where stands for the kth Wiener chaos, and assume that F converges in ⊕k=0Hk Hk n distribution towards a random variable F . Denote by Γ(F ) the Malliavin matrix of F , ∞ n n and assume that E[detΓ(F )] is bounded away from zero. Then we prove that there exist n constants c,γ > 0 (depending on d and q) such that, for any n > 1, d (F ,F ) 6 cd (F ,F )γ. (1.1) TV n ∞ FM n ∞ So, our result implies that the sequence F converges not only in law but also in total n variation. In [11] this result has been proved for d = 1. In this case γ = 1 , and one only 2q+1 needs that F is not identically zero, which turns out to be equivalent to the fact that ∞ the law of F is absolutely continuous. This equivalence is not true for d > 2. The proof ∞ of this result is based on the Carbery-Wright inequality for the law of a polynomial on Gaussian random variables and the also on the integration-by-parts formula of Malliavin calculus. In the multidimensional case we make use of the integration-by-parts formula based on the Poisson kernel developed by Bally and Caramelino in [1]. The convergence in total variation is equivalent to the convergence of the densities in L1(Rd). Weimprove this results proving that under theabove assumptions onthesequence F , the densities converge in Lp(Rd) for some explicit p > 1 depending solely on d and q. n Motivated by the above inequality, in the first part of the paper we discuss the absolute continuity ofthelawofa d-dimensionalrandomvector F = (F ,...,F ) whose components 1 d belong to a finite sum of Wiener chaoses q . Our main result says that the three ⊕k=0Hk following conditions are equivalent: 1. The law of F is not absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure on Rd. 2. There exists a nonzero polynomial H in d variables of degree at most dqd−1 such that H(F) = 0. 3. E[detΓ(F)] = 0. 2 Notice that the criterion of the Malliavin calculus for the absolute continuity of the law of a random vector F says that detΓ(F) > 0 almost surely implies the absolute continuity of the law of F. We prove the stronger result that P(detΓ(F) = 0) is zero of one; as a consequence, P(detΓ(F) > 0) = 1 turns out to be equivalent to the absolute continuity. The equivalence with condition 2 improves a classical result by Kusuoka ([8]), in the sense that we provide a simple proof of the existence of the annihilating polynomial based on a recent result by Kayal [7] and we give an upper bound for the degree of this polynomial. Also, it is worthwhile noting that, compared to condition 2, condition 3 is often easier to check in practical situations, see also the end of Section 3. The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 contains some preliminary material on Malliavin calculus, the Carbery-Wright inequality and the results on algebraic dependence that will be used in the paper. In Section 3 we provide equivalent conditions for absolute continuity in the case of a random vector in a sum of Wiener chaoses. Section 4 is devoted to establish the inequality (1.1), and also the convergence in Lp(Rd) for some p. Section 5 contains applications of these results in some particular cases. Finally, we list two open questions in Section 6. 2 Preliminaries This section contains some basic elements on Gaussian analysis that will be used through- out this paper. We refer the reader to the books [10, 13] for further details. 2.1 Multiple stochastic integrals Let H be a real separable Hilbert space. We denote by X = X(h),h H an isonormal { ∈ } Gaussian process over H. That means, X isa centered Gaussianfamilyof randomvariables defined in some probability space (Ω, ,P), with covariance given by F E[X(h)X(g)] = h,g , H h i for any h,g H. We also assume that is generated by X. ∈ F For every k 1, we denote by the kth Wiener chaos of X defined as the closed k ≥ H linear subspace of L2(Ω) generated by the family of random variables H (X(h)),h k { ∈ H, h = 1 , where H is the kth Hermite polynomial given by H k k k } Hk(x) = (−1)kex22 ddxkk e−x22 . (cid:16) (cid:17) We write by convention = R. For any k > 1, we denote by H⊗k the kth tensor product 0 H of H. Then, the mapping I (h⊗k) = H (X(h)) can be extended to a linear isometry k k between the symmetric tensor product H⊙k (equipped with the modified norm √k! ) H⊗k k·k and the kth Wiener chaos . For k = 0 we write I (x) = c, c R. In the particular k 0 H ∈ case H = L2(A, ,µ), where µ is a σ-finite measure without atoms, then H⊙k coincides A 3 with the space L2(µk) of symmetric functions which are square integrable with respect to s the product measure µk, and for any f H⊙k the random variable I (f) is the multiple k ∈ stochastic integral of f with respect to the centered Gaussian measure generated by X. Any random variable F L2(Ω) admits an orthogonal decomposition of the form ∈ F = ∞ I (f ), where f = E[F], and the kernels f H⊙k are uniquely determined by k=0 k k 0 k ∈ F. P Let e ,i > 1 be a complete orthonormal system in H. Given f H⊙k and g H⊙j, i { } ∈ ∈ for every r = 0,...,k j, the contraction of f and g of order r is the element of H⊗(k+j−2r) ∧ defined by ∞ f g = f,e e g,e e . ⊗r h i1 ⊗···⊗ iriH⊗r ⊗h i1 ⊗···⊗ iriH⊗r i1,.X..,ir=1 The contraction f g is not necessarily symmetric, and we denote by f g its sym- r r ⊗ ⊗ metrization. e 2.2 Malliavin calculus Let be the set of all cylindrical random variables of the form S F = g(X(h ),...,X(h )), 1 n where n > 1, h H, and g is infinitely differentiable such that all its partial derivatives i ∈ have polynomial growth. The Malliavin derivative of F is the element of L2(Ω;H) defined by n ∂g DF = (X(h ),...,X(h ))h . 1 n i ∂x i i=1 X By iteration, for every m > 2, we define the mth derivative DmF which is an element of L2(Ω;H⊙m). For m > 1 and p > 1, Dm,p denote the closure of with respect to the norm S defined by m,p k·k m F p = E[ F p]+ E DjF p . k km,p | | k kH⊗j j=1 X (cid:2) (cid:3) We also set D∞ = Dm,p. m>1 p>1 ∩ ∩ As a consequence of the hypercontractivity property of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semi- group, all the -norms are equivalent in a finite Wiener chaos. This is a basic result m,p k·k that will be used along the paper. We denote by δ the adjoint of the operator D, also called the divergence operator. An element u L2(Ω;H) belongs to the domain of δ, denoted Domδ, if E DF,u 6 H ∈ | h i | 4 c F foranyF D1,2, where c isaconstant depending onlyonu. Then, therandom u L2(Ω) u k k ∈ variable δ(u) is defined by the duality relationship E[Fδ(u)] = E DF,u . (2.2) H h i Given a random vector F = (F ,...,F ) such that F D1,2, we denote Γ(F) the Malliavin 1 d i ∈ matrix of F, which is a random nonnegative definite matrix defined by Γ (F) = DF ,DF . i,j i j H h i If F D2,2 and detΓ(F) > 0 almost surely, then the law of F is absolutely continuous ∈ with respect to the Lebesgue measure on Rd (see, for instance, [13, Theorem 2.1.1]). This is our basic criterion for absolute continuity in this paper. 2.3 Carbery-Wright inequality Along the paper we will make use of the following inequality due to Carbery and Wright [4]: there is a universal constant c > 0 such that, for any polynomial Q : Rn R of degree → at most d and any α > 0 we have E[Q(X1,...,Xn)2]21dP( Q(X1,...,Xn) 6 α) 6 cdαd1, (2.3) | | where X ,...,X are independent random variables with law N(0,1). 1 n 2.4 Algebraic dependence Let F be a field and f = (f ,...,f ) F[x ,...,x ] be a set of k polynomials of degree at 1 k 1 n ∈ most d in n variables in the field F. These polynomials are said to be algebraically depen- dent if there exists a nonzero k-variate polynomial A(t ,...,t ) F[t ,...,t ] such that 1 k 1 k ∈ A(f ,...,f ) = 0. The polynomial A is then called an (f ,...,f )-annihilating polynomial. 1 k 1 k Denote by ∂f i Jf = ∂x (cid:18) j(cid:19)16i6k,16j6n the Jacobian matrix of the set of polynomials in f. A classical result (see, e.g., Ehrenborg and Rota [6] for a proof) says that f ,...,f are algebraically independent if and only if 1 k the Jacobian matrix Jf has rank k. Suppose that the polynomials f = (f ,...,f ) are algebraically dependent. Then the 1 k set of f-annihilating polynomials forms an ideal in the polynomial ring F[t ,...,t ]. In a 1 k recent work Kayal (see [7]) has established some properties of this ideal. In particular (see [7], Lemma 7) he has proved that if no proper subset of f is algebraically dependent, then the ideal of f-annihilating polynomials is generated by a single irreducible polynomial. On the other hand (see [7], Theorem 11) the degree of this generator is at most kqk−1. 5 3 Absolute continuity of the law of a system of multiple stochastic integrals The purpose of this section is to extend a result by Kusuoka [8] on the characterization of the absolute continuity of a vector whose components are finite sums of multiple stochastic integrals, using techniques of Malliavin calculus. Theorem 3.1 Fix q,d > 1, and let F = (F ,...,F ) be a random vector such that F 1 d i ∈ q for any i = 1,...,d. Let Γ := Γ(F) be the Malliavin matrix of F. Then the k=0Hk following assertions are equivalent: L (a) The law of F is not absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure on Rd. (b) There exists H R[X ,...,X ] 0 of degree at most D = dqd−1 such that, almost 1 d ∈ \{ } surely, H(F ,...,F ) = 0. 1 d (c) E[detΓ] = 0. Proof of (a) (c). Let us prove (c) (a). Set N = 2d(q 1) and let e ,k > 1 be an k ⇒ ¬ ⇒ ¬ − { } orthonormalbasisofH. SincedetΓ N ,thereexistsasequence Q ,n > 1 ofreal- ∈ k=0Hk { n } valuedpolynomialsofdegreeatmostN suchthattherandomvariablesQ (I (e ),...,I (e )) n 1 1 1 n L converge in L2(Ω) and almost surely to detΓ as n tends to infinity (see [11, Theorem 3.1, first step of the proof] for an explicit construction). Assume now that E[detΓ] > 0. Then for n > n , E[ Q (I (e ),...,I (e )) ] > 0. We deduce from the Carbery-Wright’s inequal- 0 n 1 1 1 n | | ity (2.3) the existence of a universal constant c > 0 such that, for any n > 1, P( Q (I (e ),...,I (e ) 6 λ) 6 cNλ1/N(E[Q (I (e ),...,I (e )2])−1/2N. n 1 1 1 n n 1 1 1 n | | Using the property E[Q (I (e ),...,I (e )2] > (E[ Q (I (e ),...,I (e ) ])2 n 1 1 1 n n 1 1 1 n | | we obtain P( Q (I (e ),...,I (e ) 6 λ) 6 cNλ1/N(E[ Q (I (e ),...,I (e )) ])−1/N, n 1 1 1 n n 1 1 1 n | | | | and letting n tend to infinity we get P(detΓ 6 λ) 6 cNλ1/N(E[detΓ])−1/N. (3.4) Letting λ 0, we get that P(detΓ = 0) = 0. As an immediate consequence of absolute → continuity criterion, (see, for instance, [13, Theorem 2.1.1]) we get the absolute continuity of the law of F, and assertion (a) does not hold. 6 It isworthwhile notingthat, inpassing, we have provedthatP(detΓ = 0)iszero orone. Proof of (b) (a). Assume the existence of H R[X , ,X ] 0 such that, almost 1 d ⇒ ∈ ··· \ { } surely, H(F ,...,F ) = 0. Since H 0, the zeros of H constitute a closed subset of Rd 1 d 6≡ with Lebesgue measure 0. As a result, the vector F cannot have a density with respect to the Lebesgue measure. Proof of (c) (b). Let e ,k > 1 be an orthonormal basis of H, and set G = I (e ) for k k 1 k ⇒ { } any k > 1. In order to illustrate the method of proof, we are going to deal first with the finite dimensional case, that is, when F = P (G ,...,G ), i = 1,...,d, and for each i, i i 1 n P R[X ,...,X ] is a polynomial of degree at most q. In that case, i 1 n ∈ n ∂P ∂P i k DF ,DF = (G ,...,G ) (G ,...,G ), i k H 1 n 1 n h i ∂x ∂x j j j=1 X and the Malliavin matrix Γ of F can be written as Γ = AAT, where ∂P i A = (G ,...,G ) . 1 n ∂x (cid:18) j (cid:19)16i6d,16j6n As a consequence, taking into account that the support of the law of (G ,...,G ) is Rn, 1 n if detΓ = 0 almost surely, then the Jacobian ∂Pi(y ,...,y ) has rank strictly less ∂xj 1 n d×n than d for all (y ,...,y ) Rn. Statement (b)(cid:16)is then a conse(cid:17)quence of Theorem 2 and 1 n ∈ Theorem 11 in [7]. Consider now the general case. Any symmetric element f H⊗p can be written as ∈ ∞ f = a e ... e . k1,...,kp k1 ⊗ ⊗ kp k1,.X..,kp=1 Setting p = # j : k = k , the multiple stochastic integral of e ... e can be written k { j } k1⊗ ⊗ kp in terms of Hermite polynomials as ∞ I (e ... e ) = H (G ), p k1 ⊗ ⊗ kp pk k k=1 Y where the above product is finite. Thus, ∞ ∞ I (f) = a H (G ), p k1,...,kp pk k k1,.X..,kp=1 Yk=1 where the series converges in L2. This implies that we can write I (f) = P(G ,G ,...) (3.5) p 1 2 7 where P : RN R is a function defined ν⊗N-almost everywhere, with ν the standard → normal distribution. In other words, we can consider I (f) as a random variable defined p in the probability space (RN,ν⊗N). On the other hand, for any n > 1 and for almost all y ,y ,... in R, the function (y ,...,y ) P(y ,y ,...) is a polynomial of degree at n+1 n+2 1 n 1 2 7→ most p. By linearity, from the representation (3.5) we deduce the existence of mappings P ,...,P : RN R, defined ν⊗N almost everywhere, such that for all i = 1,...,d, 1 d → F = P (G ,G ,...), (3.6) i i 1 2 and such that for all n > 1 and almost all y ,y ,... in R, the mapping (y ,...,y ) n+1 n+2 1 n 7→ P (y ,y ,...) is a polynomial of degree at most q. With this notation, the Malliavin matrix i 1 2 Γ can be expressed as Γ = AAT, where ∂P i A = (G ,G ,...) . 1 2 ∂x (cid:18) j (cid:19)16i6d,j>1 Consider the truncated Malliavin matrix Γ = A AT, where n n n ∂P i A = (G ,G ,...) . n 1 2 ∂x (cid:18) j (cid:19)16i6d,16j6n From the Cauchy-Binet formula detΓ = det(A AT) = (detA )2, n n n J J={j1,...,Xjd}⊂{1,...,n} where for J = j ,...,j , 1 d { } ∂P i A = (G ,G ,...) , J 1 2 ∂x (cid:18) j (cid:19)16i6d,j∈J we deduce that detΓ is increasing and it converges to detΓ. Therefore, if detΓ = 0 almost n surely, then for each n > 1, detΓ = 0 almost surely. n Suppose that E[detΓ] = 0, which implies that detΓ = 0 almost surely. Then, for all n > 1, detΓ = 0 almost surely. We can assume that for any subset F ,...,F of the n { i1 ir} random variables F ,...,F we have 1 d { } E[detΓ(F ,...,F )] = 0, i1 ir 6 because otherwise we will work with a proper subset of this family. This implies that for n > n , and for any subset F ,...,F , 0 { i1 ir} E[detΓ (F ,...,F )] = 0, n i1 ir 6 where Γ denotes the truncated Malliavin matrix defined above. Then, applying the n Carbery-Wright inequality we can show that the probability P(detΓ (F ,...,F ) = 0) is n i1 ir zero of one, so we deduce detΓ (F ,...,F ) > 0 almost surely. n i1 ir 8 Fix n > n . We aregoing to apply the results by Kayal (see [7]) to the family of random 0 polynomials P(n)(y ,...,y ) = P (y ,...,y ,G ,G ,...), 1 6 i 6 d. i 1 n i 1 n n+1 n+2 We can consider these polynomials as elements of the ring of polynomials K[y ,...,y ], 1 n where K is the field generated by all multiple stochastic integrals. This field is well defined because by a result of Shigekawa [14] if F and G are finite sums of multiple stochastic integrals and G 0, then G is different from zero almost surely and F is well defined. The 6≡ G Jacobian of this set of polynomials (n) ∂P J(y ,...,y ) = i (y ,...,y ) 1 n 1 n ∂y j ! 16i6d,16j6n satisfies J(G ,...,G ) = A almost surely, and, therefore, it has determinant zero al- 1 n n (n) (n) most surely. Furthermore, for any proper subfamily of polynomials P ,...,P , the { i1 ir } corresponding Jacobian has nonzero determinant. As a consequence of the results by Kayal, there exists a nonzero irreducible polynomial H F[x ,...,x ] of degree at most n 1 d ∈ D := dqd−1, which satisfies the following properties: (i) The coefficients of H are random variables measurable with respect to the σ-field n σ G ,G ,... . n+1 n+2 { } (ii) The coefficient of the largest monomial in antilexicographic order occurring in H is n 1. (iii) For all y ,...,y R, 1 n ∈ (n) (n) H (P (y ,...,y ),...,P (y ,...,y )) = 0 n 1 1 n d 1 n almost surely. (iv) If A F[x ,...,x ] satisfies 1 d ∈ (n) (n) A(P (y ,...,y ),...,P (y ,...,y )) = 0 1 1 n d 1 n almost surely, then A is a multiple of H , almost surely. n If we apply property (iii) to n+1 and substitute y by G we obtain n+1 n+1 (n+1) (n+1) H (P (y ,...,y ,G ),...,P (y ,...,y ,G )) = 0. n+1 1 1 n n+1 d 1 n n+1 From property (iv) and taking into account that for any 1 6 i 6 d, (n+1) (n) P (y ,...,y ,G ) = P (y ,...,y ) i 1 n n+1 i 1 n 9 almost surely, we deduce that H is a multiple of H almost surely. Using the fact n+1 n that H is irreducible and normalized we deduce that H = H almost surely for n+1 n n+1 any n > n . These coefficients of these polynomials are random variables, but, in view 0 of condition (i), and using the 0 1 Kolmogorov law we obtain that the coefficients are − deterministic. Thus, there exists a polynomial H R[X ,...,X ] 0 of degree at most 1 d ∈ \{ } D = dqd−1 such that H(F ,...,F ) = 0 almost surely. 1 d The condition E[detΓ] > 0 can be translated into a condition on the kernels of the multiple integrals appearing in the expansion of each component of the random vector F. Consider the following simple particular cases. Example 1. Let (F,G) = I (f),I (g)), with q > 1. Let Γ be the Malliavin matrix of 1 q (F,G). Let us compute E[detΓ]. Applying the duality relationship (2.2) and the fact that (cid:0) δ(DG) = LG = qG, where L is the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck operator, we deduce − E[ DG 2] = E[Gδ(DG)] = qE[G2] = qq! g 2 , H H⊗q k k k k so that E[detΓ] = f 2E[ DG 2] E[ f,DG 2] = f 2E[ DG 2] q2E[I (f g)2] H H H H H q−1 1 k k k k − h i k k k k − ⊗ = qq! f 2 g 2 f g 2 . k kHk kH⊗q −k ⊗1 kH⊗(q−1) We deduce that E[det(cid:0)Γ] > 0 if and only if f 1 g(cid:1) H⊗(q−1) < f H g H⊗q. Notice that k ⊗ k k k k k when q = 1 the above formula for E[detΓ] reduces to E[detΓ] = detC, where C is the covariance matrix of (F,G). Example 2. Let (F,G) = I (f),I (g)), with q > 2. Let Γ be the Malliavin matrix of 2 q (F,G). Let us compute E[detΓ]. We have (cid:0) q 2 q 2 q 1 q DG 2 = q2 (r 1)! − I (g g) = rr! I (g g), H 2q−2r r 2q−2r r k k − r 1 ⊗ r ⊗ r=1 (cid:18) − (cid:19) r=1 (cid:18) (cid:19) X X so that DF,DG = 2q I (f g)+(q 1)I (f g) H q 1 q−2 2 h i ⊗ − ⊗ DF 2 = 4 f 2 +4I (f f) H (cid:0) H⊗2 2 1 (cid:1) k k k k ⊗ q 2 q DG 2 = qq! g 2 +(q 1)qq!I (g g)+ rr! I (g g). k kH k kH⊗q − 2 ⊗q−1 r 2q−2r ⊗r r=3 (cid:18) (cid:19) X We deduce E[detΓ] = E[ DF 2 DG 2] E[ DF,DG 2] H H H k k k k − h i = 4qq! f 2 g 2 +8(q 1)qq! f f,g g 4q2q! f g 2 H⊗2 H⊗q 1 q−1 H⊗2 1 H⊗q k k k k − h ⊗ ⊗ i − k ⊗ k 4q(q 1)q! f g 2 − − k ⊗2 kH⊗(q−2) e = 4qq! f 2 g 2 +8(q 1)qq! f g 2 4q2q! f g 2 H⊗2 H⊗q 1 H⊗q 1 H⊗q k k k k − k ⊗ k − k ⊗ k 4q(q 1)q! f g 2 . (3.7) − − k ⊗2 kH⊗(q−2) e 10