This collection explores the fascinating intersection of mathematics and statistics, a field dedicated to making sense of data, uncertainty, and patterns in the world around us. From refining the algorithms that power modern technology to modeling complex biological systems, these studies provide the rigorous tools needed to turn raw numbers into reliable knowledge.

Here at Gist.Science, we process every new preprint in this category as it appears on arXiv. Our team transforms these dense academic papers into both plain-language overviews for general readers and detailed technical summaries for specialists, ensuring the latest breakthroughs are accessible to everyone. Below are the latest papers in this dynamic field, curated to help you stay ahead of the curve.

📊 statistics

Entropy-Wasserstein regularization, defective local concentration and a cutoff criterion beyond non-negative curvature

This paper establishes that a relaxed variant of Ollivier's coarse Ricci curvature, characterized by a defective Wasserstein bound, implies local concentration and entropy-transport regularization effects, which are then applied to derive cutoff criteria for Markov processes in negatively curved settings such as Langevin dynamics and Proximal Samplers.

Francesco Pedrotti2026-07-21
📊 statistics

Projective Maximum Entropy: Universality and Acceptance-Region Calibration

This paper introduces a projective maximum-entropy framework on the space of nonnegative measures that unifies various generalized entropy formulations, characterizes the resulting optimizer as a qq-exponential density, and provides a principled method to uniquely determine its deformation parameter based on a prescribed Mahalanobis acceptance region, thereby enabling the construction of bounded-support reference distributions without additional constraints.

Hideitsu Hino2026-07-21
📊 statistics

The Value of Depth in Message Passing on Sparse Graphs: A Kesten-Stigum Dichotomy

This paper establishes a Kesten-Stigum dichotomy for node classification on sparse graphs, proving that the value of depth in message passing is determined by the ratio κ=γ2Δ\kappa=\gamma^2\Delta: below the threshold (κ<1\kappa<1), additional layers yield diminishing returns, while above it (κ>1\kappa>1), depth geometrically reduces error toward a branching-process floor, with optimal finite depths identified via belief propagation simulations.

Aseem Raj Baranwal2026-07-21
🤖 machine learning

Honest Physical-Support Inference after Latent Dictionary Learning: Collision Singularities and Minimax Resolution

This paper proposes a framework for honest physical-support inference after latent dictionary learning that accounts for dictionary uncertainty and collision singularities by profiling test representations over robust training-moment regions, thereby achieving minimax-optimal resolution rates and providing resolution-adaptive confidence statements that distinguish between group and fine-support ambiguity.

Guan-Ju Peng2026-07-21
📊 statistics

Tight Sample Bounds for Renyi and Min-Entropy Estimation

This paper establishes tight sample complexity bounds for estimating min-entropy and Rényi entropy, proving that min-entropy requires Θ(klogk)\Theta(k \log k) samples—correcting a previous characterization—and that Rényi entropy of order α\alpha requires Θ(αk11/α)\Theta(\alpha k^{1-1/\alpha}) samples, utilizing novel estimators and lower-bound constructions to resolve the dependence on both alphabet size and order.

Arman Adibi, Piotr Krysta2026-07-21