Characterize adaptive distribution classes where two-point rates are attainable
Sourced from the work of Spencer Compton, Gregory Valiant
§ Problem Statement
Setup
Let be a nonempty class of probability distributions on such that every has finite mean , and is translation-invariant in the sense that for every and every , the translated law of (for ) also belongs to . For on , define squared Hellinger distance by
where is any common dominating measure (the value is independent of ). For , let denote the -fold product law, and define the local -sample Hellinger modulus for mean estimation at by
(Any fixed constant in in place of is equivalent up to absolute-constant rescaling of sample size.)
Given i.i.d. data with unknown , an estimator is any measurable map .
Unsolved Problem
Determine exactly those translation-invariant classes for which there exists a single sequence of estimators and constants such that
Equivalently, determine necessary and sufficient conditions on under which adaptive mean estimation over can match, uniformly over , the two-point-testing lower-bound scale given by the local Hellinger modulus, up to polylogarithmic factors.
§ Discussion
§ Significance & Implications
Compton & Valiant (2025) gives both positive and negative attainability results for different classes, indicating a nontrivial phase boundary. A full characterization would unify these examples and reveal the structural property that governs whether Le Cam two-point lower bounds are algorithmically achievable in adaptive mean estimation.
§ Known Partial Results
Compton et al. (2025): This paper gives a near-attainability result for mixtures of symmetric log-concave distributions with a common mean, and a non-attainability result even for symmetric unimodal distributions. These establish that attainability is class-dependent but do not provide a complete necessary-and-sufficient characterization; the problem appears open.
§ References
Attainability of Two-Point Testing Rates for Finite-Sample Location Estimation
Spencer Compton, Gregory Valiant (2025)
Annals of Statistics (to appear)
📍 Section 6 (Discussion), Question 1, p. 30: "Characterize adaptive distribution classes where two-point rates are attainable."
Source paper where this problem appears.