Gaussian Annulus Theorem

For a d-dimensional spherical Gaussian with unit variance in each direction, for any β ≤ √d, $\(3e^{-cβ^{2}}\)$ all but at most of the probability mass lies within the annulus √d-β ≤ |x| ≤ √d+β, where c is a fixed positive constant.

Why does this happen?

Intention: Consider annuali of this thickness at increasing distance from centre.

  • The value of pdf decreases with increasing radii

  • The value of the annulus increases exponentially with increasing radii

Relation between two samples

  • Suppose we sample \({x_i,x_j}\) both from N(0,I)— what is the angle between them?

Angle between two samples

The previous analysis tells us for \( x.y ~ N(0,\) \({I_d}) \) \( {||x-y||^2 = 2d ± θ(√d)} \)

  • \( {||x||^2 + ||y||^2 - 2 {X^T}y} = {2d ± θ(√d)}\)

We also saw \( {||x||^2 , ||y||^2 = {d ± θ(√d)}}\)

  • \( X^Ty = O(√d)\)

  • \( cos(<(x,y)>) = \frac{O(√d)}{θ(√d)} = O(d^\frac{-1}{2})\)

  • x is almost orthogonal to y

Author(s): Abhinav Kumar, Talari Venkata Sunny, Mekala Rishitha Ravi