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This is the data processing inequality for f-divergences specialized to relative entropy. Passing two probability distributions through the same Markov kernel cannot increase their relative entropy. For a kernel $K$,

The pushforward measure of $\mu$ under $g$ isThe Lebesgue decomposition theorem says that for sigma-finite measures $P,Q$ there are unique measures $P_{\mathrm{ac}}$ and $P_{\mathrm{s}}$ such that

For a convex lower-semicontinuous function $f$ with $f(1)=0$, choose any measure $\lambda$ dominating probability measures $P,Q$, put $p=dP/d\lambda$ and $q=dQ/d\lambda$, and define the f-divergenceusing the lower-semicontinuous perspective value when $q=0$. This definition includes the singular part and is independent of $\lambda$.

To prove the data processing inequality for f-divergences, let $\mathcal{G}=\sigma (g)$ and use $\lambda =P+Q$. The densities of $g_{\ast }P$ and $g_{\ast }Q$, pulled back to $\mathcal{G}$, are ${\mathbb{E}}_{\lambda }(p\mid \mathcal{G})$ and ${\mathbb{E}}_{\lambda }(q\mid \mathcal{G})$. Since the perspectiveis jointly convex, conditional Jensen inequality givesIntegration proves

The chi-squared divergence iswhen $P\ll Q$, and is infinite otherwise.

Fix a probability measure $Q$. Let $J$ be uniform on $\{1,\dots ,M\}$ and, conditionally on $J=j$, draw $X$ from $P_j$. Compare this joint law with the reference law under which $J$ is uniform and independent of $X\sim Q$. Forthe target expectation is $M^{-1}{\sum }_j{P}_j(A_j)$, while its reference expectation isbecause the $A_j$ form a partition. Its reference variance is $M^{-1}(1-M^{-1})$. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality applied to the likelihood ratio givesThe last divergence separates over $J$:Taking the infimum over all probability measures $Q$ proves the required inequality.

The pushforward measure of $\mu$ under $g$ is $g_{\ast }\mu$, defined for $B\in \mathcal{B}$ byThe Lebesgue decomposition theorem says that if $\nu$ and $\mu$ are sigma-finite measures on the same measurable space, then uniquely

Let $f:[0,\infty )\to \mathbb{R}\cup +\infty$ be convex with $f(1)=0$. If $\lambda$ dominates the probability distributions $P,Q$, with densities $p,q$, their f-divergence isusing the lower-semicontinuous perspective convention where $q=0$. This definition is independent of the dominating measure.

The data processing inequality for f-divergences statesTo prove it, take $\lambda =P+Q$ and let $\mathcal{G}=g^{-1}(\mathcal{B})$. If $p=dP/d\lambda$ and $q=dQ/d\lambda$, then the pullbacks of the densities of $g_{\ast }P$ and $g_{\ast }Q$ with respect to $g_{\ast }\lambda$ are respectively ${\mathbb{E}}_{\lambda }[p\mid \mathcal{G}]$ and ${\mathbb{E}}_{\lambda }[q\mid \mathcal{G}]$. The perspective $F(a,b)=bf(a/b)$ of a convex function is jointly convex. Conditional Jensen inequality therefore givesIntegration proves the claim.

The Squared Hellinger distance isIf $P,Q$ have densities $p,q$ with respect to a sigma-finite measure $\mu$, this becomes

Fix any probability distribution $Q$ and set $p_j=P_j(A_j)$, $q_j=Q(A_j)$, and $t_j=H^2(P_j,Q)$. Applying the data processing inequality to the indicator function of $A_j$ gives the Bernoulli Hellinger boundThe hinted inequality impliesThe function $t\mapsto \sqrt{t(1-t/4)}$ is concave on $[0,2]$. Since the $A_j$ form a set partition, ${\sum }_j{q}_j=1$, and Jensen inequality givesTaking the infimum over $Q$ proves the stated inequality.