Sparse and low-rank multivariate Hawkes processes
This work addresses network inference for applications like social networks, but it is incremental as it builds on existing Hawkes process models with new theoretical analysis.
The authors tackled the problem of inferring implicit network structures from high-frequency timestamps by minimizing a least-squares loss with sparse and low-rank penalizations, achieving significant improvements in numerical experiments through data-driven scaling.
We consider the problem of unveiling the implicit network structure of node interactions (such as user interactions in a social network), based only on high-frequency timestamps. Our inference is based on the minimization of the least-squares loss associated with a multivariate Hawkes model, penalized by $\ell_1$ and trace norm of the interaction tensor. We provide a first theoretical analysis for this problem, that includes sparsity and low-rank inducing penalizations. This result involves a new data-driven concentration inequality for matrix martingales in continuous time with observable variance, which is a result of independent interest and a broad range of possible applications since it extends to matrix martingales former results restricted to the scalar case. A consequence of our analysis is the construction of sharply tuned $\ell_1$ and trace-norm penalizations, that leads to a data-driven scaling of the variability of information available for each users. Numerical experiments illustrate the significant improvements achieved by the use of such data-driven penalizations.