LASER: A new method for locally adaptive nonparametric regression

[Submitted on 27 Dec 2024]

View a PDF of the paper titled LASER: A new method for locally adaptive nonparametric regression, by Sabyasachi Chatterjee and 2 other authors

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Abstract:In this article, we introduce textsf{LASER} (Locally Adaptive Smoothing Estimator for Regression), a computationally efficient locally adaptive nonparametric regression method that performs variable bandwidth local polynomial regression. We prove that it adapts (near-)optimally to the local Hölder exponent of the underlying regression function texttt{simultaneously} at all points in its domain. Furthermore, we show that there is a single ideal choice of a global tuning parameter under which the above mentioned local adaptivity holds. Despite the vast literature on nonparametric regression, instances of practicable methods with provable guarantees of such a strong notion of local adaptivity are rare. The proposed method achieves excellent performance across a broad range of numerical experiments in comparison to popular alternative locally adaptive methods.