Sharp small-deviation inequalities for sums of independent nonnegative random variables

Published
Source
arXiv
Paper number
737
Field
Research
arXiv ID
2607.23980

Key points

  • It combined the exact Dirichlet calibration theorem of Vlassis and Thomas with results from convex geometry, including Grünbaum's centroid theorem.
  • Treating 0<δ<1 and δ≥1 separately, it proved explicit lower bounds on small-deviation probabilities for sums of independent nonnegative random variables.
  • For δ≥1, the lower bound is optimal for every n and is at least 1/e, settling Feige's conjecture.
  • The result provides a sharp reference for analyzing the lower tails of sums of independent nonnegative random variables.
  • However, optimality for every n is established only for δ≥1, and the lower bound in the range 0<δ<1 has not been proved equally sharp.

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