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For an interest parameter $\psi$ and nuisance parameter $\lambda$, the profile likelihood is $L_p(\psi )=L(\psi ,{\tilde{\lambda }}_{\psi })$, where ${\tilde{\lambda }}_{\psi }$ maximizes the likelihood at fixed $\psi$. Its maximum occurs at the joint maximum-likelihood estimate of $\psi$. It preserves the optimized likelihood ratios for different interest values and is unchanged by one-to-one reparametrization of the nuisance at each fixed $\psi$. It generally is neither a marginal sampling density nor a conditional likelihood, and eliminating nuisance parameters by maximization can introduce appreciable small-sample distortion. Differentiating the constrained score equation gives the curvature formulaat a joint stationary point. The corresponding expected-information expression is the efficient information for the interest parameter. Under the regular conditions of Wilks theorem, twice the profile log-likelihood drop has an asymptotic chi-squared distribution with the dimension of the interest parameter as its degrees of freedom.

For scalar nuisance, the Barndorff-Nielsen modified profile likelihood may be writtenwhere the sample-coordinate derivative holds $\hat{\psi }$ and the ancillary statistic fixed. For vector nuisance the last two quantities are determinants. An equivalent form is ${\ell }_m={\ell }_p+\frac{1}{2}\log |j_{\lambda \lambda }|-\log |{\ell }_{\lambda ;\hat{\lambda }}|$, since differentiating the constrained nuisance score gives ${\ell }_{\lambda ;\hat{\lambda }}=j_{\lambda \lambda }\partial {\tilde{\lambda }}_{\psi }/\partial \hat{\lambda }$. The semicolon denotes differentiation in sample coordinates, not another ordinary parameter derivative. This Jacobian determinant adjustment is essential to the definition.

In the present model setThe log-likelihood is $\ell =-n\log \lambda -\psi {\sum }_i{x}_i-A(\psi )/\lambda$. ConsequentlyThe profile score is $nB/A-{\sum }_i{x}_i$, and its derivative is $-n(C/A-(B/A{)}^2)$. The expression in parentheses is the variance of the fixed design values under positive weights proportional to $Y_i{e}^{-\psi x_i}$. Thus the profile log-likelihood is strictly concave for a nonconstant design. Its score changes from $n{\max }_i{x}_i-{\sum }_i{x}_i>0$ to $n{\min }_i{x}_i-{\sum }_i{x}_i<0$ as $\psi$ goes from $-\infty$ to $+\infty$, giving a unique finite fit. If all $x_i$ coincide, only the mean $\lambda e^{\psi x_i}$ is identifiable and inference on $\psi$ alone is not defined; that exceptional design must be excluded.

The specified ancillary coordinates give $Y_i=\hat{\lambda }\exp (\hat{\psi }{x}_i+a_i)$. At fixed $\hat{\psi },a$, therefore,Meanwhile the constrained observed information isSubstitution provesEquivalently the sample derivative of the nuisance score is ${\ell }_{\lambda ;\hat{\lambda }}=A/({\lambda }^2\hat{\lambda })$, which equals $n/({\tilde{\lambda }}_{\psi }\hat{\lambda })$ at the constrained fit and gives the same cancellation. Thus the modified profile likelihood for exponential regression is proportional to the ordinary profile likelihood. This conclusion uses the given ancillary; no proof of its ancillarity is required.