Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / iii / Paper 350 / 3

The Cameron-Martin space of a Gaussian measure $\mu =\mathcal{N}(0,\Sigma )$ isThe inverse is defined on the range of ${\Sigma }^{1/2}$. In this infinite-dimensional setting “positive definite” must mean $⟨\Sigma h,h⟩>0$ for every nonzero $h$, rather than a uniform lower bound: a trace-class operator cannot be uniformly positive on an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space.

By the spectral theorem for compact Hermitian operators, choose an orthonormal basis $(e_j)$ with $\Sigma e_j={\lambda }_j{e}_j$, ${\lambda }_j>0$, and ${\sum }_j{\lambda }_j<\infty$. (A strictly positive trace-class operator also forces the ambient Hilbert space to be separable.) In coordinates $h_j=⟨h,e_j⟩$,This is a Hilbert space with its indicated norm, even though its range need not be closed in the ambient norm.

The Cameron-Martin theorem for a Gaussian measure states that the translated law ${\mu }_h(B)=\mu (B-h)=\mathcal{N}(h,\Sigma )(B)$ is an equivalent probability measure to $\mu$ exactly when $h\in E$. For such $h$, its Radon-Nikodym derivative isThe series has mean-square convergence and converges almost surely under $\mu$, since its independent summands have total variance ${\sum }_j{h}_j^2/{\lambda }_j$. Its law is $\mathcal{N}(0,\Vert h{\Vert }_E^2)$, so the density has expected value one. It is sometimes formally written ${\ell }_h(x)=⟨h,x{⟩}_E$, but a typical infinite-dimensional Gaussian sample is not in $E$; the series interpretation is essential. If $h\notin E$, the two laws are mutually singular measures.

The notation $P_0=\mathcal{N}(0,I)$ denotes generalized Gaussian white noise over $H=L^2({\mathbb{R}}^2)$, not a Gaussian measure supported on $H$: the identity is not a trace-class operator there. For example, realize the observation on a suitable space of tempered distributions. Its Cameron-Martin space of a Gaussian measure is $H$. For deterministic $h\in H$, the stochastic pairing $W_m(h)$ has normal distribution $\mathcal{N}(0,\Vert h{\Vert }_H^2)$ under $P_0$ and is the isonormal Gaussian process indexed by $H$.

Interpret the stated maps between Sobolev spaces as bounded linear operators, as usual. In particular $K:H\to H^2({\mathbb{R}}^2)\subset H$ is bounded, so its adjoint operator $K^{\ast }$ is bounded on $H$. Hence $A=K^{\ast }K$ maps $H$ into $H$, which is the property needed here. The stronger smoothing follows by Sobolev duality: boundedness of $K:H^{-4}\to H^{-2}$ gives $K^{\ast }:H^2\to H^4$, and therefore $A:H\to H^4\subset H$. As $\Pi (H)=1$, the shift $Au$ belongs to the noise Cameron-Martin space of a Gaussian measure for $\Pi$-almost every $u$.

The white-noise likelihood for a square-integrable shift, obtained from the Cameron-Martin theorem for a Gaussian measure in its white-noise form, isHere $P_u$ is the law of $Au+\eta$. In an orthonormal basis $(e_j)$ of $H$, with white-noise coordinates $m_j$, the pairing under $P_0$ isFor fixed $u$ this has mean-square convergence and converges almost surely, since ${\sum }_j|⟨Au,e_j⟩{|}^2=\Vert Au{\Vert }_H^2$. The stipulated joint measurability allows the likelihood to be used under ${\nu }_0(du,dm)=\Pi (du)P_0(dm)$. One must not replace this expression by a finite $\Vert m-Au{\Vert }_H^2$, because white noise is not $H$-valued. On the unbounded domain ${\mathbb{R}}^2$, membership of white noise in a global unweighted negative Sobolev space must not be assumed either; the stochastic pairing avoids that issue.

Let $\nu (du,dm)=\Pi (du)P_u(dm)$ be the actual joint law. The shift formula gives $\nu \ll {\nu }_0$ with Radon-Nikodym derivative $L$. DefineFor each fixed admissible $u$, the moment-generating function of a normal distribution givesBy Tonelli theorem, $\int Z(m)P_0(dm)=1$, so $Z(m)<\infty$ for $P_0$-almost every $m$. The likelihood is finite and strictly positive for ${\nu }_0$-almost every $(u,m)$; Fubini's theorem then gives $Z(m)>0$ for $P_0$-almost every $m$. The marginal observation law is $Z(m)P_0(dm)$ and is an equivalent probability measure to $P_0$.

The Bayes formula for a dominated observation model therefore definesTo verify that it is the conditional distribution, for measurable sets $B$ of unknowns and $C$ of data,Thus the posterior distribution is well defined for almost every observation under the actual data law. This is the appropriate almost-everywhere assertion supplied by Bayes' theorem; the stated assumptions do not prescribe a canonical posterior at every exceptional generalized datum.

Choose the common dominating probability measure $\nu =(\mu +{\mu }^{\prime })/2$ and let $p=d\mu /d\nu$, $q=d{\mu }^{\prime }/d\nu$ be the Radon-Nikodym derivatives. The assumed second moments imply first-moment integrability by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. Since $Y$ is a separable Banach space, the measurable $f$ is a strongly measurable function, and both expected values exist as Bochner integrals.

The difference of these Bochner integrals satisfiesThe first inequality is the norm bound for a Bochner integral, and the second is the scalar Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. Since $(\sqrt{p}+\sqrt{q}{)}^2\le 2(p+q)$, the first factor is at mostWith the Hellinger distance convention of the original PDF, the second factor is $\sqrt{2}{d}_{\mathrm{Hell}}(\mu ,{\mu }^{\prime })$. Multiplication proves the Hellinger bound for differences of expectations:The proof uses only the two laws and their common dominating measure; no absolute continuity of measures assumption between $\mu$ and ${\mu }^{\prime }$ is needed.