Calculus of Variations and Geometric Measure Theory

N. De Ponti - G. E. Sodini - L. Tamanini

The infimal convolution structure of the Hellinger–Kantorovich distance

created by deponti on 17 Mar 2025

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Preprint

Inserted: 17 mar 2025
Last Updated: 17 mar 2025

Year: 2025

Abstract:

We show that the Hellinger–Kantorovich distance can be expressed as the metric infimal convolution of the Hellinger and the Wasserstein distances, as conjectured by Liero, Mielke, and Savaré. To prove it, we study with the tools of Unbalanced Optimal Transport the so called Marginal Entropy-Transport problem that arises as a single minimization step in the definition of infimal convolution. Careful estimates and results when the number of minimization steps diverges are also provided, both in the specific case of the Hellinger–Kantorovich setting and in the general one of abstract distances.


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