A time-varying empirical spectral process indexed by classes of functions is defined for locally stationary time series. We derive weak convergence in a function space, and prove a maximal exponential inequality and a Glivenko--Cantelli-type convergence result. The results use conditions based on the metric entropy of the index class. In contrast to related earlier work, no Gaussian assumption is made. As applications, quasi-likelihood estimation, goodness-of-fit testing and inference under model misspecification are discussed. In an extended application, uniform rates of convergence are derived for local Whittle estimates of the parameter curves of locally stationary time series models.
The article contains an overview over locally stationary processes. At the beginning time varying autoregressive processes are discussed in detail - both as as a deep example and an important class of locally stationary processes. In the next section a general framework for time series with time varying finite dimensional parameters is discussed with special emphasis on nonlinear locally stationary processes. Then the paper focusses on linear processes where a more general theory is possible. First a general definition for linear processes is given and time varying spectral densities are discu…
We introduce the concept of local dyadic stationarity, to account for non-stationary time series, within the framework of Walsh-Fourier analysis. We define and study the time varying dyadic ARMA models (tvDARMA). It is proven that the general tvDARMA process can be approximated locally by either a tvDMA and a tvDAR process.
Locally stationary Hawkes processes have been introduced in order to generalise classical Hawkes processes away from stationarity by allowing for a time-varying second-order structure. This class of self-exciting point processes has recently attracted a lot of interest in applications in the life sciences (seismology, genomics, neuro-science,...), but also in the modelling of high-frequency financial data. In this contribution we provide a fully developed nonparametric estimation theory of both local mean density and local Bartlett spectra of a locally stationary Hawkes process. In particular …
In this paper we propose a nonparametric procedure for validating the assumption of stationarity in multivariate locally stationary time series models. We develop a bootstrap assisted test based on a Kolmogorov-Smirnov type statistic, which tracks the deviation of the time varying spectral density from its best stationary approximation. In contrast to all other nonparametric approaches, which have been proposed in the literature so far, the test statistic does not depend on any regularization parameters like smoothing bandwidths or a window length, which is usually required in a segmentation o…
This paper addresses the estimation of locally stationary long-range dependent processes, a methodology that allows the statistical analysis of time series data exhibiting both nonstationarity and strong dependency. A time-varying parametric formulation of these models is introduced and a Whittle likelihood technique is proposed for estimating the parameters involved. Large sample properties of these Whittle estimates such as consistency, normality and efficiency are established in this work. Furthermore, the finite sample behavior of the estimators is investigated through Monte Carlo experime…
The Portmanteau test provides the vanilla method for detecting serial correlations in classical univariate time series analysis. The method is extended to the case of observations from a locally stationary functional time series. Asymptotic critical values are obtained by a suitable block multiplier bootstrap procedure. The test is shown to asymptotically hold its level and to be consistent against general alternatives.
In this paper, we study nonparametric models allowing for locally stationary regressors and a regression function that changes smoothly over time. These models are a natural extension of time series models with time-varying coefficients. We introduce a kernel-based method to estimate the time-varying regression function and provide asymptotic theory for our estimates. Moreover, we show that the main conditions of the theory are satisfied for a large class of nonlinear autoregressive processes with a time-varying regression function. Finally, we examine structured models where the regression fu…
During the last two decades, locally stationary processes have been widely studied in the time series literature. In this paper we consider the locally-stationary vector-auto-regression model of order one, or LS-VAR(1), and estimate its parameters by weighted least squares. The LS-VAR(1) we consider allows for a smoothly time-varying non-diagonal VAR matrix, as well as for a smoothly time-varying non-zero mean. The weighting scheme is based on kernel smoothers. The time-varying mean and the time-varying VAR matrix are estimated jointly, and the definition of the local-linear weighting matrix i…
Forecasting the evolution of complex systems is one of the grand challenges of modern data science. The fundamental difficulty lies in understanding the structure of the observed stochastic process. In this paper, we show that every uniformly-positive-definite-in-covariance and sufficiently short-range dependent non-stationary and nonlinear time series can be well approximated globally by an auto-regressive process of slowly diverging order. When linear prediction with ${\cal L}^2$ loss is concerned, the latter result facilitates a unified globally-optimal short-term forecasting theory for a w…
We develop an estimator for the high-dimensional covariance matrix of a locally stationary process with a smoothly varying trend and use this statistic to derive consistent predictors in non-stationary time series. In contrast to the currently available methods for this problem the predictor developed here does not rely on fitting an autoregressive model and does not require a vanishing trend. The finite sample properties of the new methodology are illustrated by means of a simulation study and a financial indices study.
We adapt the classical definition of locally stationary processes in discrete-time to the continuous-time setting and obtain equivalent representations in the time and frequency domain. From this, a unique time-varying spectral density is derived using the Wigner-Ville spectrum. As an example, we investigate time-varying Lévy-driven state space processes, including the class of time-varying Lévy-driven CARMA processes. First, the connection between these two classes of processes is examined. Considering a sequence of time-varying Lévy-driven state space processes, we then give sufficient condi…
In the common time series model $X_{i,n} = μ(i/n) + \varepsilon_{i,n}$ with non-stationary errors we consider the problem of detecting a significant deviation of the mean function $μ$ from a benchmark $g (μ)$ (such as the initial value $μ(0)$ or the average trend $\int_{0}^{1} μ(t) dt$). The problem is motivated by a more realistic modelling of change point analysis, where one is interested in identifying relevant deviations in a smoothly varying sequence of means $ (μ(i/n))_{i =1,\ldots ,n }$ and cannot assume that the sequence is piecewise constant. A test for this type of hypotheses is deve…
We consider the estimation of the transition matrix in the high-dimensional time-varying vector autoregression (TV-VAR) models. Our model builds on a general class of locally stationary VAR processes that evolve smoothly in time. We propose a hybridized kernel smoothing and $\ell^1$-regularized method to directly estimate the sequence of time-varying transition matrices. Under the sparsity assumption on the transition matrix, we establish the rate of convergence of the proposed estimator and show that the convergence rate depends on the smoothness of the locally stationary VAR processes only t…
Classical spectral methods are subject to two fundamental limitations: they only can account for covariance-related serial dependencies, and they require second-order stationarity. Much attention has been devoted lately to quantile-based spectral methods that go beyond covariance-based serial dependence features. At the same time, covariance-based methods relaxing stationarity into much weaker {\it local stationarity} conditions have been developed for a variety of time-series models. Here, we are combining those two approaches by proposing quantile-based spectral methods for locally stationar…
The literature on time series of functional data has focused on processes of which the probabilistic law is either constant over time or constant up to its second-order structure. Especially for long stretches of data it is desirable to be able to weaken this assumption. This paper introduces a framework that will enable meaningful statistical inference of functional data of which the dynamics change over time. We put forward the concept of local stationarity in the functional setting and establish a class of processes that have a functional time-varying spectral representation. Subsequently, …
A time-domain test for the assumption of second order stationarity of a functional time series is proposed. The test is based on combining individual cumulative sum tests which are designed to be sensitive to changes in the mean, variance and autocovariance operators, respectively. The combination of their dependent $p$-values relies on a joint dependent block multiplier bootstrap of the individual test statistics. Conditions under which the proposed combined testing procedure is asymptotically valid under stationarity are provided. A procedure is proposed to automatically choose the block len…
In a wide range of applications, the stochastic properties of the observed time series change over time. The changes often occur gradually rather than abruptly: the properties are (approximately) constant for some time and then slowly start to change. In many cases, it is of interest to locate the time point where the properties start to vary. In contrast to the analysis of abrupt changes, methods for detecting smooth or gradual change points are less developed and often require strong parametric assumptions. In this paper, we develop a fully nonparametric method to estimate a smooth change po…
The Model-free Prediction Principle has been successfully applied to general regression problems, as well as problems involving stationary and locally stationary time series. In this paper we demonstrate how Model-Free Prediction can be applied to handle random fields that are only locally stationary, i.e., they can be assumed to be stationary only across a limited part over their entire region of definition. We construct one-step-ahead point predictors and compare the performance of Model-free to Model-based prediction using models that incorporate a trend and/or heteroscedasticity. Both aspe…
Methods of estimation and forecasting for stationary models are well known in classical time series analysis. However, stationarity is an idealization which, in practice, can at best hold as an approximation, but for many time series may be an unrealistic assumption. We define a class of locally stationary processes which can lead to more accurate uncertainty quantification over making an invalid assumption of stationarity. This class of processes assumes the model parameters to be time-varying and parameterizes them in terms of a transformation of basis functions that ensures that the process…
The Model-free Prediction Principle of Politis (2015) has been successfully applied to general regression problems, as well as problems involving stationary time series. However, with long time series, e.g. annual temperature measurements spanning over 100 years or daily financial returns spanning several years, it may be unrealistic to assume stationarity throughout the span of the dataset. In the paper at hand, we show how Model-free Prediction can be applied to handle time series that are only locally stationary, i.e., they can be assumed to be as stationary only over short time-windows. Su…
Consider the empirical autocovariance matrix at a given non-zero time lag based on observations from a multivariate complex Gaussian stationary time series. The spectral analysis of these autocovariance matrices can be useful in certain statistical problems, such as those related to testing for white noise. We study the behavior of their spectral measures in the asymptotic regime where the time series dimension and the observation window length both grow to infinity, and at the same rate. Following a general framework in the field of the spectral analysis of large random non-Hermitian matrices…
Accurate forecasting of the U.K. gross value added (GVA) is fundamental for measuring the growth of the U.K. economy. A common nonstationarity in GVA data, such as the ABML series, is its increase in variance over time due to inflation. Transformed or inflation-adjusted series can still be challenging for classical stationarity-assuming forecasters. We adopt a different approach that works directly with the GVA series by advancing recent forecasting methods for locally stationary time series. Our approach results in more accurate and reliable forecasts, and continues to work well even when the…
Distributed acoustic sensing technology is increasingly being used to support production and well management within the oil and gas sector, for example to improve flow monitoring and production profiling. This sensing technology is capable of recording substantial data volumes at multiple depths within an oil well, giving unprecedented insights into production behaviour. However the technology is also prone to recording periods of anomalous behaviour, where the same physical features are concurrently observed at multiple depths. Such features are called `stripes' and are undesirable, detriment…
In a wide range of applications, the stochastic properties of the observed time series change over time. The changes often occur gradually rather than abruptly: the prop- erties are (approximately) constant for some time and then slowly start to change. In such situations, it is frequently of interest to locate the time point where the properties start to vary. In contrast to the analysis of abrupt changes, methods for detecting smooth or gradual change points are less developed and often require strong paramet- ric assumptions. In this paper, we develop a fully nonparametric method to estimat…
Argo floats measure seawater temperature and salinity in the upper 2,000 m of the global ocean. Statistical analysis of the resulting spatio-temporal dataset is challenging due to its nonstationary structure and large size. We propose mapping these data using locally stationary Gaussian process regression where covariance parameter estimation and spatio-temporal prediction are carried out in a moving-window fashion. This yields computationally tractable nonstationary anomaly fields without the need to explicitly model the nonstationary covariance structure. We also investigate Student-$t$ dist…
In this paper we consider multivariate Hawkes processes with baseline hazard and kernel functions that depend on time. This defines a class of locally stationary processes. We discuss estimation of the time-dependent baseline hazard and kernel functions based on a localized criterion. Theory on stationary Hawkes processes is extended to develop asymptotic theory for the estimator in the locally stationary model.
How does soil pollution affect a plant's circadian clock? Are there any differences between how the clock reacts when exposed to different concentrations of elements of the periodic table? If so, can we characterise these differences? We approach these questions by analysing and modelling circadian plant data, where the levels of expression of a luciferase reporter gene were measured at regular intervals over a number of days after exposure to different concentrations of lithium. A key aspect of circadian data analysis is to determine whether a time series (derived from experimental data) is `…
We provide a framework for empirical process theory of locally stationary processes using the functional dependence measure. Our results extend known results for stationary Markov chains and mixing sequences by another common possibility to measure dependence and allow for additional time dependence. Our main result is a functional central limit theorem for locally stationary processes. Moreover, maximal inequalities for expectations of sums are developed. We show the applicability of our theory in some examples, for instance we provide uniform convergence rates for nonparametric regression wi…
We propose an adaptive bandwidth selector via cross validation for local M-estimators in locally stationary processes. We prove asymptotic optimality of the procedure under mild conditions on the underlying parameter curves. The results are applicable to a wide range of locally stationary processes such linear and nonlinear processes. A simulation study shows that the method works fairly well also in misspecified situations.
In this paper some general theory is presented for locally stationary processes based on the stationary approximation and the stationary derivative. Laws of large numbers, central limit theorems as well as deterministic and stochastic bias expansions are proved for processes obeying an expansion in terms of the stationary approximation and derivative. In addition it is shown that this applies to some general nonlinear non-stationary Markov-models. In addition the results are applied to derive the asymptotic properties of maximum likelihood estimates of parameter curves in such models.
In this study, we develop an asymptotic theory of nonparametric regression for a locally stationary functional time series. First, we introduce the notion of a locally stationary functional time series (LSFTS) that takes values in a semi-metric space. Then, we propose a nonparametric model for LSFTS with a regression function that changes smoothly over time. We establish the uniform convergence rates of a class of kernel estimators, the Nadaraya-Watson (NW) estimator of the regression function, and a central limit theorem of the NW estimator.
In this contribution we introduce weakly locally stationary time series through the local approximation of the non-stationary covariance structure by a stationary one. This allows us to define autoregression coefficients in a non-stationary context, which, in the particular case of a locally stationary Time Varying Autoregressive (TVAR) process, coincide with the generating coefficients. We provide and study an estimator of the time varying autoregression coefficients in a general setting. The proposed estimator of these coefficients enjoys an optimal minimax convergence rate under limited smo…
Two adaptive bandwidth selection methods for nonparametric estimators in locally stationary processes are proposed. We investigate a cross validation approach and a method based on contrast minimization and derive asymptotic properties of both methods. The results are applicable for different statistics under a broad setting of locally stationarity including nonlinear processes. At the same time we deepen the general framework for local stationarity based on stationary approximations. For example a general Bernstein inequality is derived for such processes. A simulation study performed on the …
There exists a wide literature on modelling strongly dependent time series using a longmemory parameter d, including more recent work on semiparametric wavelet estimation. As a generalization of these latter approaches, in this work we allow the long-memory parameter d to be varying over time. We embed our approach into the framework of locally stationary processes. We show weak consistency and a central limit theorem for our log-regression wavelet estimator of the time-dependent d in a Gaussian context. Both simulations and a real data example complete our work on providing a fairly general a…
This paper aims at providing statistical guarantees for a kernel based estimation of time varying parameters driving the dynamic of local stationary processes. We extend the results of Dahlhaus et al. (2018) considering the local stationary version of the infinite memory processes of Doukhan and Wintenberger (2008). The estimators are computed as localized M-estimators of any contrast satisfying appropriate contraction conditions. We prove the uniform consistency and pointwise asymptotic normality of such kernel based estimators. We apply our result to usual contrasts such as least-square, lea…
We establish asymptotic properties of $M$-estimators, defined in terms of a contrast function and observations from a continuous-time locally stationary process. Using the stationary approximation of the sequence, $θ$-weak dependence, and hereditary properties, we give sufficient conditions on the contrast function that ensure consistency and asymptotic normality of the $M$-estimator. As an example, we obtain consistency and asymptotic normality of a localized least squares estimator for observations from a sequence of time-varying Lévy-driven Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. Furthermore, for a s…
We introduce a general theory on stationary approximations for locally stationary continuous-time processes. Based on the stationary approximation, we use $θ$-weak dependence to establish laws of large numbers and central limit type results under different observation schemes. Hereditary properties for a large class of finite and infinite memory transformations show the flexibility of the developed theory. Sufficient conditions for the existence of stationary approximations for time-varying Lévy-driven state space models are derived and compared to existing results. We conclude with comprehens…
In this study, we develop an asymptotic theory of nonparametric regression for locally stationary random fields (LSRFs) $\{{\bf X}_{{\bf s}, A_{n}}: {\bf s} \in R_{n} \}$ in $\mathbb{R}^{p}$ observed at irregularly spaced locations in $R_{n} =[0,A_{n}]^{d} \subset \mathbb{R}^{d}$. We first derive the uniform convergence rate of general kernel estimators, followed by the asymptotic normality of an estimator for the mean function of the model. Moreover, we consider additive models to avoid the curse of dimensionality arising from the dependence of the convergence rate of estimators on the number…
Nonparametric regression models with locally stationary covariates have received increasing interest in recent years. As a nice relief of "curse of dimensionality" induced by large dimension of covariates, additive regression model is commonly used. However, in locally stationary context, to catch the dynamic nature of regression function, we adopt a flexible varying-coefficient additive model where the regression function has the form $α_{0}\left(u\right)+\sum_{k=1}^{p}α_{k}\left(u\right)β_{k}\left(x_{k}\right).$ For this model, we propose a three-step spline estimation method for each univar…
We develop a timescale synthesis-based probabilistic approach for the modeling of locally stationary signals. Inspired by our previous work, the model involves zero-mean, complex Gaussian wavelet coefficients, whose distribution varies as a function of time by time dependent translations on the scale axis. In a maximum a posteriori approach, we propose an estimator for the model parameters, namely the time-varying scale translation and an underlying power spectrum. The proposed approach is illustrated on a denoising example. It is also shown that the model can handle locally stationary signals…
