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Exact sampling from conditional Boolean models with applications to maximum likelihood inference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2016

M. N. M. van Lieshout*
Affiliation:
CWI
E. W. van Zwet*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
*
Postal address: CWI, PO Box 94079, 1090 GB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email address: [email protected]
∗∗ Postal address: University of California, Department of Statistics, 367 Evans Hall # 3860, Berkeley, CA 94720-3860, USA.

Abstract

We are interested in estimating the intensity parameter of a Boolean model of discs (the bombing model) from a single realization. To do so, we derive the conditional distribution of the points (germs) of the underlying Poisson process. We demonstrate how to apply coupling from the past to generate samples from this distribution, and use the samples thus obtained to approximate the maximum likelihood estimator of the intensity. We discuss and compare two methods: one based on a Monte Carlo approximation of the likelihood function, the other a stochastic version of the EM algorithm.

Type
Stochastic Geometry and Statistical Applications
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 2001 

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