Density Formula and Concentration Inequalities with Malliavin Calculus

Ivan Nourdin (Université Paris 6)
Frederi G Viens (Purdue University)

Abstract


We show how to use the Malliavin calculus to obtain a new exact formula for the density $\rho$ of the law of any random variable $Z$ which is measurable and differentiable with respect to a given isonormal Gaussian process. The main advantage of this formula is that it does not refer to the divergence operator $\delta$ (dual of the Malliavin derivative $D$). The formula is based on an auxilliary random variable $G:= < DZ,-DL^{-1}Z >_H$, where $L$ is the generator of the so-called Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroup. The use of $G$ was first discovered by Nourdin and Peccati (PTRF 145 75-118 2009 MR-2520122), in the context of rates of convergence in law. Here, thanks to $G$, density lower bounds can be obtained in some instances. Among several examples, we provide an application to the (centered) maximum of a general Gaussian process. We also explain how to derive concentration inequalities for $Z$ in our framework.

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Pages: 2287-2309

Publication Date: September 29, 2009

DOI: 10.1214/EJP.v14-707

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