Limit theory for point processes in manifolds

TL;DR

This paper develops limit theorems for sums of functions over scaled i.i.d. points on manifolds, with applications to estimators of geometric and information-theoretic quantities.

Contribution

It introduces a general limit theory for point processes on manifolds, extending classical results to complex geometric and topological functionals.

Findings

Weak laws of large numbers established for sums on manifolds

Variance asymptotics and CLTs derived under weak dependence

Applications to estimators of dimension, volume, entropy, and clique counts

Abstract

Let $Y_i,i\geq1$, be i.i.d. random variables having values in an $m$-dimensional manifold $\mathcal {M}\subset \mathbb{R}^d$ and consider sums $\sum_{i=1}^n\xi(n^{1/m}Y_i,\{n^{1/m}Y_j\}_{j=1}^n)$, where $\xi$ is a real valued function defined on pairs $(y,\mathcal {Y})$, with $y\in \mathbb{R}^d$ and $\mathcal {Y}\subset \mathbb{R}^d$ locally finite. Subject to $\xi$ satisfying a weak spatial dependence and continuity condition, we show that such sums satisfy weak laws of large numbers, variance asymptotics and central limit theorems. We show that the limit behavior is controlled by the value of $\xi$ on homogeneous Poisson point processes on $m$-dimensional hyperplanes tangent to $\mathcal {M}$. We apply the general results to establish the limit theory of dimension and volume content estimators, R\'{e}nyi and Shannon entropy estimators and clique counts in the Vietoris-Rips complex on $\{Y_i\}_{i=1}^n$.