With known covariance parameters, best linear unbiased prediction minimizes prediction-error variance over linear predictors that are unbiased over both observation errors and random effects, for every fixed-effect value. In a Gaussian linear mixed model, the random-effect predictor is , where generalized least squares estimates the fixed effects. Plugging in covariance estimates gives an empirical predictor; its uncertainty must also account for estimating those covariance parameters. It differs from a best linear unbiased estimator of an unknown fixed coefficient.
Alvarez describes a progression from measured coordinates to momenta and angles, then conservation-constrained fits testing alternative track identities. Computer programs made the repeated tests practical; an insufficiently constrained event could retain several hypotheses.[ref]
A mathematical formulation explains what such a fit can establish. Let collect measured momenta and angles, with positive-definite covariance matrix . For a chosen reaction hypothesis, adjust them to by minimizing a generalized least squares objective,
The constraints express four-momentum conservation and any independently known daughter masses. For each proposed identity, calculate energy from the energy–momentum relation, . A missing neutral particle adds unknowns; a measured decay vertex can add geometric constraints. Compatibility depends on the measurement errors and the independent constraints, not just the smallest raw among unrelated fits.
A simple independent check uses a single momentum conservation constraint. Suppose two measured one-dimensional momenta are and , each with independent standard deviation , and a stipulated parent at rest requires their sum to vanish. Minimizing the two equal-weight squared changes gives fitted values and , with . A fit repairs a mismatch according to a hypothesis; it does not prove that hypothesis. This one-component illustration is not a complete reaction fit.
Assume the known covariance matrix is positive definite. The Gaussian likelihood, up to constants, is
Its gradient is . The negative Hessian matrix is positive definite because has full column rank. Thus the unique maximum-likelihood estimator is the generalized least squares estimator
It is unbiased, and multiplication of its linear coefficient matrix by gives
In fact . Equivalently, a whitening transformation premultiplies and by , after which ordinary least squares applies. There is no extra factor when is the complete known covariance; such a factor appears if only a shape matrix is known and .
The restricted maximum likelihood procedure estimates covariance parameters from error contrasts that remove the unknown fixed effects. Let have rank and choose an full-rank matrix with . Then has a likelihood involving the variance parameters but not . Maximizing that likelihood is restricted maximum likelihood. An equivalent restricted likelihood from orthogonal error contrasts, up to terms independent of , is
where
After estimating , use generalized least squares for and the conditional modes from part (b). In an independent-error normal linear model, this covariance procedure reduces to estimating by instead of .
The two models being compared have different fixed-effect spaces, so their error contrasts, dimensions, and restricted likelihoods differ. Their REML values are not likelihoods of the same transformed data and must not be used directly for this fixed-effect likelihood-ratio test. Refit both with ordinary maximum likelihood, integrating out the random effects but retaining the original response vector, and maximize each model's marginal likelihood.
The null hypothesis is , leaving the random slope variance free; the alternative permits a nonzero population stirring effect. The supplied test has , one extra fixed coefficient, and approximate p-value . Retain the fixed stirring-rate effect at 5%. A mean-zero random slope cannot substitute for an estimated nonzero population slope. The asymptotic calibration assumes regular nuisance covariance parameters and should be interpreted cautiously with only three furnaces; simulation can provide a better finite-sample calibration.
Let have columns , and let have one column per incubator, with entry in the column for observation 's incubator and zeros elsewhere. Integrating the Gaussian random effects gives
Consequently its marginal log-likelihood is
The likelihood-ratio test of against uses
For each covariance, the optimizing coefficients are the generalized least squares estimator . Both fits should use the same marginal likelihood convention, for example fitting the alternative with update(fly.model, REML=FALSE) and the null as a Gaussian linear model. The displayed alternative REML criterion alone cannot supply .
The variance component is constrained to be nonnegative, and zero lies on the boundary. Thus the interior-parameter hypothesis of Wilks theorem fails; the usual approximation is inappropriate. A limit sometimes applies to a single variance component under additional asymptotic conditions, but four incubators do not give a persuasive large-number-of-groups approximation.
Use a parametric bootstrap under the null: estimate there; simulate independent Gaussian errors with that fitted variance at exactly the observed times and grouping labels; refit both models by maximum likelihood for each simulated sample; and calculate . The upper-tail proportion, conventionally , estimates the p-value. Boundary fits with estimated must remain in the simulation distribution. A restricted-likelihood ratio and a correspondingly calibrated bootstrap are another option when the fixed-effect design is identical, but one must not mix ordinary and restricted likelihoods in a single statistic.
Let have rows and let be the spatial covariance matrix with . Conditional on chosen covariance parameters, the best linear unbiased estimator of the drift coefficients is the generalized least squares estimator
The printed procedure first estimates the linear drift from depth ~ y, constructs a binned residual empirical semivariogram, fits a Gaussian semivariogram to it, and then uses the fitted covariance in generalized least squares trend estimation and universal kriging. The missing fit could be supplied as
gauss.model2 <- fit.variogram(smvg2, vgm(0.5, "Gau", 1, 0))
where those arguments are initial values, not the reported final estimates. Such semivariogram fitting typically minimizes a weighted sum of squared discrepancies between binned empirical values and model values; it is not automatically a joint Gaussian likelihood maximization. One can iterate: form residuals using the current drift, refit the covariance model, recompute the generalized least squares drift, and repeat until changes are small. The displayed commands themselves show a single sequence, not evidence that such iteration occurred.
A likelihood-based alternative estimates the two blocks coherently from
Substitute to obtain a profile log-likelihood, maximize over and with a positive-definite matrix , and recover the drift coefficients from the optimizing covariance. Restricted maximum likelihood adds the design determinant term and uses in place of in the normalizing term, up to a fixed-design constant. It can reduce bias from estimating the drift before the covariance. A zero fitted nugget is a legitimate boundary estimate, not proof that measurement error is absent. Estimate drift using covariance-weighted regression, and spatial dependence from drift-adjusted variation, with the two stages or likelihood explicitly distinguished.
The log likelihood, up to constants, is
Differentiation gives the generalized least squares estimator
and maximizing over the scale gives
The divisor is appropriate for maximum likelihood rather than unbiased estimation.
Universal kriging Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-18
Universal kriging allows an unknown regression drift:
The design matrix has full column rank, its entries and are known, and the regression coefficients are unknown. For example, rows and target row allow a linear spatial trend. Requiring to have zero bias for every gives . With known positive-definite matrix observation covariance matrix , the minimizing weights solve
where is a vector of Lagrange multipliers. Equivalently, the generalized least squares estimate and prediction are
The first term is the estimated trend alone; the second predicts the correlated regression residuals. With , the error variance is
The last, nonnegative term accounts for estimating the specified drift coefficients. Merely inserting a fitted drift into simple kriging and keeping its known-mean error variance would omit this term. For a Gaussian random field, the same expressions arise by integrating over drift coefficients in a diffuse prior distribution limit; this is an additional inferential interpretation, not an assumption required by the linear optimization.[ref]