The extreme-point and convex-hull conjecture for laws of distinct values

Let (X1,X2,)(X_1,X_2,\ldots) be an infinite exchangeable sequence, and let KnK_n be the number of distinct values among its first nn terms. For m{1,2,,}m\in\{1,2,\ldots,\infty\}, let Kn,mK_{n,m} be the number of distinct values in nn independent samples from the uniform distribution on mm elements, let

vn,m=(P(Kn,m=k):1kn),\boldsymbol{v}_{n,m}=\bigl(\mathbb{P}(K_{n,m}=k):1\leq k\leq n\bigr),

and set vn,=(0,,0,1)\boldsymbol{v}_{n,\infty}=(0,\ldots,0,1). Define

Vn={vn,m:m=1,2,,}V_n=\{\boldsymbol{v}_{n,m}:m=1,2,\ldots,\infty\}

and let conv(Vn)\operatorname{conv}(V_n) denote its convex hull. Extreme-point and convex-hull conjecture. For n3n\geq 3, the set of extreme points of conv(Vn)\operatorname{conv}(V_n) is VnV_n, and the set of possible laws of KnK_n for an infinite exchangeable sequence (X1,X2,)(X_1,X_2,\ldots) is conv(Vn)\operatorname{conv}(V_n). This characterizes the possible distributions of the number of distinct values in a finite sample from an infinite exchangeable sequence; the supplied text presents it as the main open problem of the article, and gives no evidence of a resolution.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Theodore Zhu, “The distribution of the number of distinct values in a finite exchangeable sequence”, arXiv:2103.07518 (2021).

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