Tensor Covariance Estimation via Kronecker-Structured Sparse Inverse Cholesky

[2608.14887] Tensor Covariance Estimation via Kronecker-Structured Sparse Inverse Cholesky Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Search arXiv Press Enter to search · Advanced search Statistics > Methodology arXiv:2608.14887 (stat) [Submitted on 14 Aug 2026] Title: Tensor Covariance Estimation via Kronecker-Structured Sparse Inverse Cholesky Authors: Wentao Zhan , Matthias Katzfuss View a PDF of the paper titled Tensor Covariance Estimation via Kronecker-Structured Sparse Inverse Cholesky, by Wentao Zhan and 1 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: High-dimensional multi-way (tensor) data pose significant challenges for covariance estimation due to the curse of dimensionality. We introduce a unified framework for scalable estimation of tensor covariances based on a Kronecker-structured sparse inverse Cholesky (KSIC) projection. Our approach is grounded in the geometry of information projection, defining the estimator as the moment-matching projection of a target distribution onto a manifold characterized by sparse, Kronecker-factored inverse Cholesky factors. By leveraging physical or data-driven nearest-neighbor sparsity, KSIC provides a geometry-aware representation that is both statistically interpretable and computationally efficient. Our framework integrates two estimation regimes: a nonparametric estimator that projects the empirical covariance directly onto the manifold, utilizing the KSIC structure to implicitly regularize rank-deficient data; and a parametric estimator that fits generative covariance models (e.g., Matérn) by maximizing the likelihood of their KSIC projections, formulated as a nested double forward Kullback-Leibler minimization. Theoretically, we establish the conditions for the existence of the KSIC projection and finite-sample concentration rates for the nonparametric regime, proving that the KSIC estimator gainfully exploits cross-mode information and is robust to data scarcity. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed KSIC estimators achieve state-of-the-art accuracy and scalability, particularly in settings with high dimensionality and limited sample sizes. We apply KSIC to spatiotemporal temperature anomalies and functional MRI data, demonstrating its broad applicability across diverse multi-way data domains. Comments: 62 pages, including 31 pages of main content; 13 figures Subjects: Methodology (stat.ME) Cite as: arXiv:2608.14887 [stat.ME] (or arXiv:2608.14887v1 [stat.ME] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.14887 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Wentao Zhan [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 14 Aug 2026 20:50:25 UTC (10,265 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Tensor Covariance Estimation via Kronecker-Structured Sparse Inverse Cholesky, by Wentao Zhan and 1 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: stat.ME < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-08 Change to browse by: stat References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... 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