= Solution
The <pushforward measure> of $\mu$ under $g$ is
$$
(g_*\mu)(B)=\mu(g^{-1}(B)),
\qquad B\in\mathcal B.
$$
The <Lebesgue decomposition theorem> says that for sigma-finite measures $P,Q$ there are unique measures $P_{\rm ac}$ and $P_{\rm s}$ such that
$$
P=P_{\rm ac}+P_{\rm s},
\qquad
P_{\rm ac}\ll Q,
\qquad
P_{\rm s}\perp Q.
$$
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-divergence>
$$
D_f(P\Vert Q)=\int q f(p/q)\,d\lambda,
$$
using 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 $g_*P$ and $g_*Q$, pulled back to $\mathcal G$, are $\mathbb E_\lambda(p\mid\mathcal G)$ and $\mathbb E_\lambda(q\mid\mathcal G)$. Since the perspective
$$
\Phi(a,b)=bf(a/b)
$$
is jointly convex, conditional <Jensen inequality> gives
$$
\Phi\{\mathbb E(p\mid\mathcal G),\mathbb E(q\mid\mathcal G)\}
\leq\mathbb E\{\Phi(p,q)\mid\mathcal G\}.
$$
Integration proves
$$
D_f(g_*P\Vert g_*Q)\leq D_f(P\Vert Q).
$$
The <chi-squared divergence> is
$$
\chi^2(P,Q)
=\int\left(\frac{dP}{dQ}-1\right)^2dQ
$$
when $P\ll Q$, and is infinite otherwise.
Fix a probability measure $Q$. Let $J$ be uniform on $\{1,\ldots,M\}$ 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 $X\sim Q$. For
$$
H(J,X)=\mathbf1_{\{X\in A_J\}},
$$
the target expectation is $M^{-1}\sum_jP_j(A_j)$, while its reference expectation is
$$
\frac1M\sum_jQ(A_j)=\frac1M
$$
because the $A_j$ form a partition. Its reference variance is $M^{-1}(1-M^{-1})$. The <Cauchy-Schwarz inequality> applied to the likelihood ratio gives
$$
\frac1M\sum_jP_j(A_j)-\frac1M
\leq
\sqrt{\frac1M\left(1-\frac1M\right)}
\sqrt{\chi^2(P_{J,X},U_M\otimes Q)}.
$$
The last divergence separates over $J$:
$$
\chi^2(P_{J,X},U_M\otimes Q)
=\frac1M\sum_{j=1}^M\chi^2(P_j,Q).
$$
Taking the infimum over all probability measures $Q$ proves the required inequality.
Back to article page