Central Limit Theorems for Semidiscrete Wasserstein Distances
We prove a Central Limit Theorem for the empirical optimal transport cost, ā(nm/n+m){šÆ_c(P_n,Q_m)-šÆ_c(P,Q)}, in the semi discrete case, i.e when the distribution P is supported in N points, but without assumptions on Q. We show that the asymptotic distribution is the supremun of a centered Gaussian process, which is Gaussian under some additional conditions on the probability Q and on the cost. Such results imply the central limit theorem for the p-Wassertein distance, for pā„ 1. This means that, for fixed N, the curse of dimensionality is avoided. To better understand the influence of such N, we provide bounds of E|š²_1(P,Q_m)-š²_1(P,Q)| depending on m and N. Finally, the semidiscrete framework provides a control on the second derivative of the dual formulation, which yields the first central limit theorem for the optimal transport potentials. The results are supported by simulations that help to visualize the given limits and bounds. We analyse also the cases where classical bootstrap works.
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