We investigate the sets of joint probability distributions that maximize the average multi-information over a collection of margins. These functionals serve as proxies for maximizing the multi-information of a set of variables or the mutual information of two subsets of variables, at a lower computation and estimation complexity. We describe the maximizers and their relations to the maximizers of the multi-information and the mutual information., Thomas Merkh and Guido Montúfar., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Stochastic interdependence of a probability distribution on a product space is measured by its Kullback-Leibler distance from the exponential family of product distributions (called multi-information). Here we investigate low-dimensional exponential families that contain the maximizers of stochastic interdependence in their closure. Based on a detailed description of the structure of probability distributions with globally maximal multi-information we obtain our main result: The exponential family of pure pair-interactions contains all global maximizers of the multi-information in its closure.