On the Best Constants in the Khintchine Inequality

Johannes Wissel and Jseph Turian

Mentor: Arteom Zvavitch

Department of Theoretical Mathematics,

Supervisor: Gideon Schechtman

 Weizmann Institute of Science

 

Abstract:

We show a self-contained new proof for the best  constant in the Khintchine Inequality for p > 3 using only elementary calculus.

Introduction

Consider the Khintchine Inequality:

 where  and, , for all i such that  and  are independent random variables that each assume the values  with probabilities .

The actual inequality (in which  and  are not necessarily the best) was proved by Khintchine. But we are looking for the best constants  and  that satisfy the inequality for all natural numbers n. For all p, a solution and proof was given in [1]. Here we present another proof, for p > 3, which uses only elementary calculus.

Proof

Because of the homogeneity of the inequality, we may assume that . Therefore, we can write the inequality in the following way:

 Using the definition of mathematical expectation, we arrive to the following formula:

 And finally:

 As changing the signs of the  does not change the sum, we may assume that every  is non-negative. For n=1, we obtain . If  and  for some k, without loss of generality let k=n. Then note that:

 and that the inequality is therefore

 Thus, the equality for n reduces to the inequality for n-1.

We would like to show that to find the best value of , it suffices to find the upper bound of

 for all valid ns.

We now define the following function f:

 with .

 

 It follows from Theorem 1 that f is only maximal when the non-zero s are equal.
Proof of Theorem 1:
We prove Theorem 1 by contradiction. Let us suppose that f is maximal for some , such that, without loss of generality, .

We define following function:

 with  as a constant dependent upon the  sequence, :

 and with

 and . Note that , and , for all . Because  and  are not zero-functions.

If we can show that  increases at , then we have a contradiction because f increases with  and is therefore not maximal for  as assumed.

 

Proof of Lemma 1:

 and therefore  and .

Note that  for any .

Define the following constant: . Thus, c > 0.

Note that

 and

 Also note that

 

 From this point forward, k (and ) shall be understood as  (and ) and l (and ) as  (and ).

 

Replacing  and  with explicit values, we obtain the following equation:

 

Note that , there is an  such that . The inverse is also true. Therefore, the equation can be condensed:

 Now we compare every non-negative  with its corresponding .

 Note that when the summation constraint is , the sum is greater than or equal to the sum when the summation constraint is , that is

 

Let us prove that each summand is greater than 0, which will prove that . For each summand, define the constants:  and . Note that . Then:

 

Therefore, it is enough to prove that for all x > y > 0

 Note that  and . Thus, if we can prove that  is less than 0, we will prove that  is greater than 0 for valid values of x and y.

 

Case 1: y-1=0 The question that arises is if  is differentiable, or, more specifically, if  is differentiable at y = 1.
for y-1 > 0
for y-1 < 0
By the definition of the derivative,

 (if the limit exists).

To prove that the limit exists, we take the limit from both sides.

So thus  and .

Otherwise, when ,

Case 2: y-1>0

 

Case 3: y-1<0

 

Therefore,  is greater than 0 for x > y > 0. Note that this inequality does not hold for 
Thus,  and Lemma 1 has been proven.

Thus, Theorem 1 has been proven.

Q.E.D.

Conclusion

Thus, using elementary calculus, the best  constant for the Khintchine Inequality has been derived for p > 3.

Suggestions for Future Research

It could be possible to create a proof for 2 < p < 3 using a similar methodology to that of this project. If we can show that  implies , then we could also get the contradiction with which we proved Theorem 1.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our mentor, Arteom Zvavitch, for all his support and inspiration throughout this project.
We would also like to the coordinators and staff of the 29th Annual Bessie F. Lawrence Summer Science Institute and the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science for giving us the opportunity to "transport the sun."

References

[1] HAAGERUP U. (1981). The best constants in the Khintchine inequality, Studia Mathematica 70, pp. 232-283. 
Last updated: Wed Aug 13 11:29:52 EST 1997

 

Comments to: Joseph Turian / < jude@ai.mit.edu >
Back to my research home page User count