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Estimation accuracy of covariance matrices when their eigenvalues are almost duplicated

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2018

Kantaro Shimomura
Affiliation:
Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Takayama, Ikoma, Nara 630-0192, Japan
Kazushi Ikeda*
Affiliation:
Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Takayama, Ikoma, Nara 630-0192, Japan
*
Corresponding author: Kazushi Ikeda Email: kazushi@is.naist.jp

Abstract

The covariance matrix of signals is one of the most essential information in multivariate analysis and other signal processing techniques. The estimation accuracy of a covariance matrix is degraded when some eigenvalues of the matrix are almost duplicated. Although the degradation is theoretically analyzed in the asymptotic case of infinite variables and observations, the degradation in finite cases are still open. This paper tackles the problem using the Bayesian approach, where the learning coefficient represents the generalization error. The learning coefficient is derived in a special case, i.e., the covariance matrix is spiked (all eigenvalues take the same value except one) and a shrinkage estimation method is employed. Our theoretical analysis shows a non-monotonic property that the learning coefficient increases as the difference of eigenvalues increases until a critical point and then decreases from the point and converged to the distinct case. The result is validated by numerical experiments.

Information

Type
Original Paper
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors, 2018
Figure 0

Fig. 1. Risk of estimation vs. the maximum eigenvalue (γ = 1/4).

Figure 1

Fig. 2. The relation between the eigenvalues of the sample covariance matrix and those of the estimated eigenvalues. N = 220.

Figure 2

Fig. 3. Learning coefficients versus c, the normalized eigenvalue ratio. Experiments (solid) and theory (dashed).