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What is the analog of the central limit theorem or concentration theorem for resampling, say, an i.i.d. samples? Are there any references for this topic?

Here is a simple example. Suppose there are $n$ i.i.d. random variables $\{x_1,x_2,\cdots,x_n\}$ with mean $0$ and standard deviation $1$. We sample uniformly randomly with replacement from this set $n$ times and obtain random variables ${y_1,y_2,\cdots,y_n}$. What is the distribution of the mean $\displaystyle y=\frac1{\sqrt n}\sum_{i=1}^ny_i$ as $n\to\infty$?

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    $\begingroup$ Could you be more specific concerning what you suppose such a theorem might assert? "Resampling" covers an awful lot of ground! $\endgroup$
    – whuber
    Commented May 7, 2019 at 18:56
  • $\begingroup$ @whuber: You are right that I need to be more specific. I added an example. $\endgroup$
    – Hans
    Commented May 7, 2019 at 22:31
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    $\begingroup$ Don't cross-post. If you want a question to have more attention, you can add a bounty. If you want to have the question appear elsewhere, you can flag the question for migration. meta.stackexchange.com/questions/64068/… $\endgroup$
    – Sycorax
    Commented Oct 7, 2019 at 18:01
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    $\begingroup$ That's not how this site works. If you want to debate the merits of cross-posting, you can open a question of meta.SO. If you want avoid down-votes, use the site in accordance with the community norms. $\endgroup$
    – Sycorax
    Commented Oct 7, 2019 at 18:59
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    $\begingroup$ Click the word "flag" below the post, click "in need of moderator intervention," then write a note requesting migration. Only moderators can do migration. $\endgroup$
    – Sycorax
    Commented Oct 7, 2019 at 19:06

1 Answer 1

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This is no sooner cross-posted to Mathoverflow.net than is expertly answered by Iosif Pinelis, finally. I copy his answer below for interested people.


First, we need to fix the notation a bit. Let $X_1,X_2,\dots$ be iid zero-mean unit-variance random variables (r.v.'s). For each natural $n$, let the $n$-tuple $(J_1,\dots,J_n):=(J_{n,1},\dots,J_{n,n})$ of r.v.'s be independent of the $X_k$'s and have the multinomial distribution with parameters $n,1/n,\dots,1/n$. For each $k\in[n]:=\{1,\dots,n\}$, the value of $J_k=J_{n,k}$ is the number of times the value $X_k$ was selected into the "re-sample" from the "sample" $X_1,\dots,X_n$.
Let \begin{equation*} S_n:=\frac1{\sqrt n}\,\sum_{k=1}^n J_k X_k, \end{equation*} so that $S_n$ equals $\sqrt n$ times what you denoted by $y$. We have to find the limit distribution of $S_n$ (as $n\to\infty$). Let us show that this limit distribution is $N(0,2)$.

Indeed, note first here that the characteristic function (c.f.) $g_n$ of $S_n$ is given by the formula \begin{equation*} g_n(t):=Ee^{itS_n}=EE(e^{itS_n}|J_1,\dots,J_n)=E\prod_{k=1}^n f(J_kt/\sqrt n) \end{equation*} for real $t$, where $f$ is the c.f. of $X_1$. Next, the joint moment generating function (mgf) $M_n$ of $(J_1,\dots,J_n)$ is given by the formula \begin{equation*} M_n(t_1,\dots,t_n):=Ee^{t_1J_1+\cdots+t_nJ_n}=\Big(\frac1n\,\sum_{k=1}^n e^{t_k}\Big)^n \end{equation*} for real $t_1,\dots,t_n$. This follows because (i) the random vector $(J_1,\dots,J_n)$ is the sum of the $n$ iid random vectors $(I_{1,1},\dots,I_{1,n}),\dots,(I_{n,1},\dots,I_{n,n})$, where $I_{j,k}$ is the indicator that the value selected from the "sample" $X_1,\dots,X_n$ at the $j$th step was that of $X_k$ and (ii) the joint mgf of the random vector $(I_{1,1},\dots,I_{1,n})$ is $(t_1,\dots,t_n)\mapsto\frac1n\,\sum_{k=1}^n e^{t_k}$.

Hence, for any distinct $k$ and $l$ in $[n]$ \begin{equation*} EJ_k^2=EJ_1^2=\frac{d^2}{dt^2}M_n(t,0,\dots,0)\Big|_{t=0}=2-1/n=2+O(1/n), \end{equation*} \begin{equation*} EJ_k^4=EJ_1^4=\frac{d^4}{dt^4}M_n(t,0,\dots,0)\Big|_{t=0}=15+O(1/n), \end{equation*} \begin{equation*} EJ_k^2 J_l^2=EJ_1^2 J_2^2=\frac{\partial^4}{\partial t^2\partial u^2}M_n(t,u,0,\dots,0)\Big|_{t=0,u=0}=4+O(1/n). \end{equation*} So, for \begin{equation*} W:=J_1^2+\cdots+J_n^2 \end{equation*} we have \begin{equation*} EW=nEJ_1^2=2n+O(1), \end{equation*} \begin{equation*} EW^2=nEJ_1^4+n(n-1)EJ_1^2 J_2^2=4n^2+O(n), \end{equation*} and hence \begin{equation*} \text{Var}\,W=O(n). \end{equation*} So, for any real $\epsilon>0$, \begin{equation*} P(|W-2n|>\epsilon n)=O(1/n)\to0, \end{equation*} so that $$\frac Wn\to2$$ in probability. Also, for the event \begin{equation} A_n:=\{\max_{k\in[n]}J_k\le n^{1/3}\} \end{equation} (on which all the $J_k$'s are small enough) and its complement $A_n^c$ we have \begin{equation*} P(A_n^c)\le nP(J_1>n^{1/3})\le n\,EJ_1^4/n^{4/3}=O(1/n^{1/3})\to0 \end{equation*} and hence $P(A_n)\to1$ and $1_{A_n}\to1$ in probability. Moreover, \begin{equation*} f(s)=Ee^{isX_1}=1+is\,EX_1+(is)^2EX_1^2/(2+o(1))=1-s^2/(2+o(1))=e^{-s^2/(2+o(1))} \end{equation*} as $\mathbb R\ni s\to0$. So, for each real $t$
\begin{equation*} 1_{A_n}\prod_{k=1}^n f(J_kt/\sqrt n)=1_{A_n}\exp\Big(-\frac{t^2W}{(2+o(1))n}\Big)\to e^{-t^2} \end{equation*} in probability. On the other hand, $|f(s)|=|Ee^{isX_1}|\le E|e^{isX_1}|=E1=1$ for all real $s$. Hence, \begin{equation*} \Big|1_{A_n^c}\prod_{k=1}^n f(J_kt/\sqrt n)\Big|\le1_{A_n^c}\to0 \end{equation*} in probability for each real $t$. So, by dominated convergence, \begin{equation*} g_n(t)=E\prod_{k=1}^n f(J_kt/\sqrt n) =E1_{A_n}\prod_{k=1}^n f(J_kt/\sqrt n)+E1_{A_n^c}\prod_{k=1}^n f(J_kt/\sqrt n) \to e^{-t^2} \end{equation*} for each real $t$.

Thus, the distribution of $S_n$ converges to $N(0,2)$, as claimed.


That the asymptotic variance of $S_n$ is $2$ (rather than $1$, as might have been expected) stems from the fact that $EJ_k^2=2-1/n\to2$. To have another look at this phenomenon, we can let $\vec J:=(J_1,\dots,J_n)$ and write \begin{equation} \text{Var}\,S_n=E\,\text{Var}(S_n|\vec J)+\text{Var}\,E(S_n|\vec J) =E\frac1n\sum_1^n J_k^2+Var\,0=E J_1^2=2-1/n\to2. \end{equation}

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