 Solution

Represent the subset model by a set $M$ of $k$ column indices and let $X_M$ contain those columns. Its ordinary least squares estimator sets the omitted coefficients to zero and hasFor $k=0$, use $P_M=0$. Full column rank of $X$ implies full column rank for each $X_M$. The matrix $P_M$ is an orthogonal projection matrix of rank $k$.

Put $\mu =X\theta$ and $b_M=(I-P_M)\mu$. Projection orthogonality gives the bias-variance decomposition of mean squared errorwhile the expected residual sum of squares isThese equations distinguish the mean-vector prediction risk in this problem from the additional noise in predicting a new response vector.

First take $p<n$. Let $P_X$ project onto the full column space of $X$. Since the full model contains $\mu$, the residual estimate of Gaussian noise varianceis unbiased: its numerator has expectation $(n-p){\sigma }^2$. Consequently an unbiased Gaussian projection risk estimate isIndeed its expectation is $\Vert b_M{\Vert }^2+(n-k){\sigma }^2+(2k-n){\sigma }^2=R(M)$ for every $\theta$, even when the subset model omits true effects. Independence of the two terms is not needed for this expectation calculation. The full-model variance estimate is important: the subset residual variance generally includes omitted-variable bias.

For a finite candidate collection, choose a model minimizing $\hat{R}(M)$, breaking ties in favour of a smaller model. The term $-n{\hat{\sigma }}^2$ is common to all models, so this amounts to minimizingthe Mallows Cp form. The fit improvement competes with an increasing dimension penalty. Unbiasedness holds for each fixed model; the estimate at the data-selected model need not remain unbiased, because selection favours downward fluctuations. The method is a heuristic model selection rule, rather than an assertion that it finds the true model with certainty.

The printed $p\le n$ includes a genuine qualification. If $p=n$, there are no full-model residual degrees of freedom. Except in the balanced case $2k=n$, no integrable data-only unbiased estimator can satisfy the requested identity for all means and unknown variances. Here is a proof of the unknown-variance risk estimation in a saturated Gaussian model obstruction. Since $X$ is invertible, $\mu$ ranges over all ${\mathbb{R}}^n$. Suppose $T(Y)$ had the required expectation at every $\mu$ and variance $s>0$. For $v>0$, let $U\sim N_n(\mu ,vI)$ and let $Y\mid U\sim N_n(U,sI)$. Marginally $Y\sim N_n(\mu ,(s+v)I)$. Applying the assumed identity conditionally giveswhereas applying it to the marginal distribution gives $\Vert b_M{\Vert }^2+k(s+v)$. Their difference is $(n-2k)v$, which must vanish. Integrability under the marginal Gaussian justifies conditioning. If $2k=n$, the obstruction disappears and the residual sum of squares alone has expectation $\Vert b_M{\Vert }^2+k{\sigma }^2$. ThusThe general construction therefore requires $p<n$, or an independently available unbiased variance estimate.