EconBase
← All papers

Optimal Estimation for General Gaussian Processes

Tetsuya Takabatake, Jun Yu, Chen Zhang

arXiv 5 Sep 2025 · Mathematics — Statistics Theory

arXiv:2509.04987 · PDF · DOI · OpenAlex · Extracted main text

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel exact maximum likelihood (ML) estimation method for general Gaussian processes, where all parameters are estimated jointly. The exact ML estimator (MLE) is consistent and asymptotically normally distributed. We prove the local asymptotic normality (LAN) property of the sequence of statistical experiments for general Gaussian processes in the sense of Le Cam, thereby enabling optimal estimation and facilitating statistical inference. The results rely solely on the asymptotic behavior of the spectral density near zero, allowing them to be widely applied. The established optimality not only addresses the gap left by Adenstedt(1974), who proposed an efficient but infeasible estimator for the long-run mean $\mu$, but also enables us to evaluate the finite-sample performance of the existing method -- the commonly used plug-in MLE, in which the sample mean is substituted into the likelihood. Our simulation results show that the plug-in MLE performs nearly as well as the exact MLE, alleviating concerns that inefficient estimation of $\mu$ would compromise the efficiency of the remaining parameter estimates.

Citation extraction

78
references
176
in-text mentions
78
distinct cited
1
self-citations
10,233
main-text words

appendix boundary found by appendix_command · 35% of the source is main text. Read the extracted text to check this.

Most heavily cited references

The works this paper leans on most, across its whole bibliography — not restricted to papers in our corpus. Ranked by composite intensity, which combines how often a work is mentioned, how many sections mention it, and how much of that falls in the main text rather than the appendix.

ReferenceIntensityMentionsSectionsMain text
1Fukasawa, M. and T. Takabatake (2019) Asymptotically efficient estimators for self-similar stationary Gaussian noises under high frequency observations0.9285380%
2Wang, X., W. Xiao, J. Yu, and C. Zhang (2024) Maximum likelihood estimation of fractional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process with discretely sampled data0.9098475%
3Cohen, S., F. Gamboa, C. Lacaux, and J.-M. Loubes (2013) LAN property for some fractional type Brownian motion0.9098375%
4Dahlhaus, R (1989) Efficient parameter estimation for self-similar processes0.89911473%
5Dahlhaus, R (2006) Correction: Efficient parameter estimation for self-similar processes0.87452100%
6Adenstedt, R. K (1974) On large-sample estimation for the mean of a stationary random sequence0.86011664%
7Shi, S., J. Yu, and C. Zhang (2024) On the spectral density of fractional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes0.8434375%
8Cheung, Y.-W. and F. X. Diebold (1994) On maximum likelihood estimation of the differencing parameter of fractionally-integrated noise with unknown mean0.81142100%
9Lieberman, O., R. Rosemarin, and J. Rousseau (2012) Asymptotic theory for maximum likelihood estimation of the memory parameter in stationary Gaussian processes0.74417441%
10Gatheral, J., T. Jaisson, and M. Rosenbaum (2018) Volatility is rough0.7374275%

Showing the top 10 of 78 scored citations.