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24 changes: 22 additions & 2 deletions docs/papers/schur-likelihood/index.html
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Expand Up @@ -64,6 +64,25 @@ <h1>Schur Covariance Evaluation</h1><div class="subtitle">A
several-fold lower out-of-sample portfolio variance once the dimension
rivals the sample size.</p></div>

<blockquote>
<p><em>Note (added 2026, retained as a historical record).</em> The
held-out-likelihood-versus-Schur <em>selection</em> contrast of
Sections 4–5 does not survive scrutiny. In controlled follow-up
experiments the full likelihood’s poor showing there is an artifact of
judging by portfolio <em>variance</em> rather than by likelihood
(objective mismatch), not a failure of the likelihood as a criterion:
restricted to well-conditioned candidates and judged on its own terms it
is in fact the better selector, and—contrary to a suspicion we briefly
held—it does not select ill-conditioned estimates (the held-out
likelihood penalises them). Two further corrections: the
Schur–Ledoit–Wolf estimator of Section 6, as implemented, is cross-block
<em>entry</em> shrinkage (a Schäfer–Strimmer-style operation), not the
structured Schur damping it is named for; and that structured damping is
viable only with a regularised hedge. The durable contributions are the
closed-form reliability <span class="math inline">\gamma^\star</span>
(Section 3) and the estimator family. See the companion note <em>Two
Sides of Schur Damping</em> for the corrected and unified account.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="the-high-dimensional-failure-of-the-gaussian-likelihood">The
high-dimensional failure of the Gaussian likelihood</h2>
<p>A correlation matrix is the hard part of a covariance matrix:
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -504,8 +523,9 @@ <h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
Theory.”</span> <em>Physics Reports</em> 666: 1–109.
</div>
<div id="ref-cotton2024" class="csl-entry" role="listitem">
Cotton, Peter. 2024. <span>“Schur Complementary Portfolios.”</span>
<em>arXiv Preprint arXiv:2411.05807</em>.
Cotton, Peter. 2024. <span>“Schur Complementary Allocation: A
Unification of Hierarchical Risk Parity and Minimum Variance
Portfolios.”</span> <em>arXiv Preprint arXiv:2411.05807</em>.
</div>
<div id="ref-james1961" class="csl-entry" role="listitem">
James, W., and Charles Stein. 1961. <span>“Estimation with Quadratic
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291 changes: 184 additions & 107 deletions docs/papers/two-sides-of-schur-damping/index.html

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21 changes: 20 additions & 1 deletion papers/refs.bib
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Expand Up @@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ @techreport{antonov2024

@article{cotton2024,
author = {Cotton, Peter},
title = {Schur Complementary Portfolios},
title = {Schur Complementary Allocation: A Unification of Hierarchical Risk Parity and Minimum Variance Portfolios},
journal = {arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.05807},
year = {2024}
}
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -235,3 +235,22 @@ @misc{cotton2025psl
year = {2025},
note = {Note, \texttt{microprediction/precise}}
}

@article{schafer2005,
author = {Sch\"afer, Juliane and Strimmer, Korbinian},
title = {A Shrinkage Approach to Large-Scale Covariance Matrix Estimation and Implications for Functional Genomics},
journal = {Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology},
volume = {4},
number = {1},
pages = {Article 32},
year = {2005}
}

@misc{cotton2022,
author = {Cotton, Peter},
title = {Schur Complementary Portfolios: A Unification of Machine Learning and Optimization-Based Allocation},
year = {2022},
month = nov,
howpublished = {Geek Culture (Medium)},
note = {\url{https://medium.com/geekculture/schur-complementary-portfolios-fix-hierarchical-risk-parity-28b0efa1f35f}}
}
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13 changes: 13 additions & 0 deletions papers/schur_likelihood_paper.tex
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Expand Up @@ -35,6 +35,19 @@
lower out-of-sample portfolio variance once the dimension rivals the sample size.
\end{abstract}

\begin{quote}\small\emph{Note (added 2026, retained as a historical record).} The held-out-likelihood-versus-Schur
\emph{selection} contrast of Sections~4--5 does not survive scrutiny. In controlled follow-up
experiments the full likelihood's poor showing there is an artifact of judging by portfolio
\emph{variance} rather than by likelihood (objective mismatch), not a failure of the likelihood as a
criterion: restricted to well-conditioned candidates and judged on its own terms it is in fact the
better selector, and---contrary to a suspicion we briefly held---it does not select ill-conditioned
estimates (the held-out likelihood penalises them). Two further corrections: the Schur--Ledoit--Wolf
estimator of Section~6, as implemented, is cross-block \emph{entry} shrinkage (a Sch\"afer--Strimmer-style
operation), not the structured Schur damping it is named for; and that structured damping is viable only
with a regularised hedge. The durable contributions are the closed-form reliability $\gamma^\star$
(Section~3) and the estimator family. See the companion note \emph{Two Sides of Schur Damping} for the
corrected and unified account.\end{quote}

\section{The high-dimensional failure of the Gaussian likelihood}
A correlation matrix is the hard part of a covariance matrix: variances are a one-dimensional,
per-series problem, while the high-dimensional difficulty---the near-singular spectrum and the unstable
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