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High-Dimensional Precision Matrix Quadratic Forms: Estimation Framework for $p > n$

Published: January 7, 2026 | arXiv ID: 2601.03815v1

By: Shizhe Hong, Weiming Li, Guangming Pan

Potential Business Impact:

Helps understand complex data when there's more info than examples.

Business Areas:
A/B Testing Data and Analytics

We propose a novel estimation framework for quadratic functionals of precision matrices in high-dimensional settings, particularly in regimes where the feature dimension $p$ exceeds the sample size $n$. Traditional moment-based estimators with bias correction remain consistent when $p<n$ (i.e., $p/n \to c <1$). However, they break down entirely once $p>n$, highlighting a fundamental distinction between the two regimes due to rank deficiency and high-dimensional complexity. Our approach resolves these issues by combining a spectral-moment representation with constrained optimization, resulting in consistent estimation under mild moment conditions. The proposed framework provides a unified approach for inference on a broad class of high-dimensional statistical measures. We illustrate its utility through two representative examples: the optimal Sharpe ratio in portfolio optimization and the multiple correlation coefficient in regression analysis. Simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed estimator effectively overcomes the fundamental $p>n$ barrier where conventional methods fail.

Country of Origin
🇨🇳 🇸🇬 Singapore, China

Page Count
27 pages

Category
Statistics:
Methodology