This bijector is a mapping between R^{n} and the n-dimensional manifold of Cholesky-space correlation matrices embedded in R^{m^2}, where n is the (m - 1)th triangular number; i.e. n = 1 + 2 + ... + (m - 1).

tfb_correlation_cholesky(validate_args = FALSE, name = "correlation_cholesky")

Arguments

validate_args

Logical, default FALSE. Whether to validate input with asserts. If validate_args is FALSE, and the inputs are invalid, correct behavior is not guaranteed.

name

name prefixed to Ops created by this class.

Value

a bijector instance.

Details

Mathematical Details

The image of unconstrained reals under the CorrelationCholesky bijector is the set of correlation matrices which are positive definite. A correlation matrix can be characterized as a symmetric positive semidefinite matrix with 1s on the main diagonal. However, the correlation matrix is positive definite if no component can be expressed as a linear combination of the other components. For a lower triangular matrix L to be a valid Cholesky-factor of a positive definite correlation matrix, it is necessary and sufficient that each row of L have unit Euclidean norm. To see this, observe that if L_i is the ith row of the Cholesky factor corresponding to the correlation matrix R, then the ith diagonal entry of R satisfies:

1 = R_i,i = L_i . L_i = ||L_i||^2

where '.' is the dot product of vectors and ||...|| denotes the Euclidean norm. Furthermore, observe that R_i,j lies in the interval [-1, 1]. By the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality:

|R_i,j| = |L_i . L_j| <= ||L_i|| ||L_j|| = 1

This is a consequence of the fact that R is symmetric positive definite with 1s on the main diagonal. The LKJ distribution with input_output_cholesky=TRUE generates samples from (and computes log-densities on) the set of Cholesky factors of positive definite correlation matrices. The CorrelationCholesky bijector provides a bijective mapping from unconstrained reals to the support of the LKJ distribution.

References

See also