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.
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.
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…
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…
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 …
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 deriv…
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…
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…
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, …
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
In this note we show that the locally stationary wavelet process can be decomposed into a sum of signals, each of which following a moving average process with time-varying parameters. We then show that such moving average processes are equivalent to state space models with stochastic design components. Using a simple simulation step, we propose a heuristic method of estimating the above state space models and then we apply the methodology to foreign exchange rates data.
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…
This chapter presents some novel information theoretic results for the analysis of stationary time series in the frequency domain. In particular, the spectral distribution that corresponds to the most uncertain or unpredictable time series with some values of the autocovariance function fixed, is the generalized von Mises spectral distribution. It is thus a maximum entropy spectral distribution and the corresponding stationary time series is called the generalized von Mises time series. The generalized von Mises distribution is used in directional statistics for modelling planar directions tha…
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…
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…
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…
Due to the surge of data storage techniques, the need for the development of appropriate techniques to identify patterns and to extract knowledge from the resulting enormous data sets, which can be viewed as collections of dependent functional data, is of increasing interest in many scientific areas. We develop a similarity measure for spectral density operators of a collection of functional time series, which is based on the aggregation of Hilbert-Schmidt differences of the individual time-varying spectral density operators. Under fairly general conditions, the asymptotic properties of the co…
A model-free bootstrap procedure for a general class of stationary time series is introduced. The theoretical framework is established, showing asymptotic validity of bootstrap confidence intervals for many statistics of interest. In addition, asymptotic validity of one-step ahead bootstrap prediction intervals is also demonstrated. Finite-sample experiments are conducted to empirically confirm the performance of the new method, and to compare with popular methods such as the block bootstrap and the autoregressive (AR)-sieve bootstrap.
Our aim in this work is to give explicit formula of the linear processes solution of autoregressive time series AR(2) with hint of generating functions theory by using the Horadam numbers and polynomials.
We consider a time series $X=\{X_k, k\in\mathbb{Z}\}$ with memory parameter $d\in\mathbb{R}$. This time series is either stationary or can be made stationary after differencing a finite number of times. We study the "Local Whittle Wavelet Estimator" of the memory parameter $d$. This is a wavelet-based semiparametric pseudo-likelihood maximum method estimator. The estimator may depend on a given finite range of scales or on a range which becomes infinite with the sample size. We show that the estimator is consistent and rate optimal if $X$ is a linear process and is asymptotically normal if $X$…
We propose generalized portmanteau-type test statistics in the frequency domain to test independence between two stationary time series. The test statistics are formed analogous to the one in Chen and Deo (2004, Econometric Theory 20, 382-416), who extended the applicability of portmanteau goodness-of-fit test to the long memory case. Under the null hypothesis of independence, the asymptotic standard normal distributions of the proposed statistics are derived under fairly mild conditions. In particular, each time series is allowed to possess short memory, long memory or anti-persistence. A sim…
Various nonparametric approaches for Bayesian spectral density estimation of stationary time series have been suggested in the literature, mostly based on the Whittle likelihood approximation. A generalization of this approximation has been proposed in Kirch et al. who prove posterior consistency for spectral density estimation in combination with the Bernstein-Dirichlet process prior for Gaussian time series. In this paper, we will extend the posterior consistency result to non-Gaussian time series by employing a general consistency theorem of Shalizi for dependent data and misspecified model…
A measure of primal importance for capturing the serial dependence of a stationary time series at extreme levels is provided by the limiting cluster size distribution. New estimators based on a blocks declustering scheme are proposed and analyzed both theoretically and by means of a large-scale simulation study. A sliding blocks version of the estimators is shown to outperform a disjoint blocks version. In contrast to some competitors from the literature, the estimators only depend on one unknown parameter to be chosen by the statistician.
We study distributional properties of a quadratic form of a stationary functional time series under mild moment conditions. As an important application, we obtain consistency rates of estimators of spectral density operators and prove joint weak convergence to a vector of complex Gaussian random operators. Weak convergence is established based on an approximation of the form via transforms of Hilbert-valued martingale difference sequences. As a side-result, the distributional properties of the long-run covariance operator are established.
The extremal index $θ$, a number in the interval $[0,1]$, is known to be a measure of primal importance for analyzing the extremes of a stationary time series. New rank-based estimators for $θ$ are proposed which rely on the construction of approximate samples from the exponential distribution with parameter $θ$ that is then to be fitted via the method of moments. The new estimators are analyzed both theoretically as well as empirically through a large-scale simulation study. In specific scenarios, in particular for time series models with $θ\approx 1$, they are found to be superior to recent …
In this paper, we consider the estimation and inference of precision matrices of a rich class of locally stationary and nonlinear time series assuming that only one realization of the time series is observed. Using a Cholesky decomposition technique, we show that the precision matrices can be directly estimated via a series of least squares linear regressions with smoothly time-varying coefficients. The method of sieves is utilized for the estimation and is shown to be efficient and optimally adaptive in terms of estimation accuracy and computational complexity. We establish an asymptotic theo…
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…
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…
In this paper, we focus on isotropic and stationary sphere-cross-time random fields. We first introduce the class of spherical functional autoregressive-moving average processes (SPHARMA), which extend in a natural way the spherical functional autoregressions (SPHAR) recently studied in [8, 7]; more importantly, we then show that SPHAR and SPHARMA processes of sufficiently large order can be exploited to approximate every isotropic and stationary sphere-cross-time random field, thus generalizing to this infinite-dimensional framework some classical results on real-valued stationary processes. …
This paper proposes some novel one-sided omnibus tests for independence between two multivariate stationary time series. These new tests apply the Hilbert-Schmidt independence criterion (HSIC) to test the independence between the innovations of both time series. Under regular conditions, the limiting null distributions of our HSIC-based tests are established. Next, our HSIC-based tests are shown to be consistent. Moreover, a residual bootstrap method is used to obtain the critical values for our HSIC-based tests, and its validity is justified. Compared with the existing cross-correlation-based…
The approximation of a stationary time-series by finite order autoregressive (AR) and moving averages (MA) is a problem that occurs in many applications. In this paper we study asymptotic behavior of the spectral density of finite order approximations of wide sense stationary time series. It is shown that when the on the spectral density is non-vanishing in $[-π,π]$ and the covariance is summable, the spectral density of the approximating autoregressive sequence converges at the origin. Under additional mild conditions on the coefficients of the Wold decomposition it is also shown that the spe…
