This was part of New Directions in Algebraic Statistics 

Gaussian Voronoi Cells

Julia Lindberg, University of Texas at Austin

Wednesday, July 23, 2025



Slides
Abstract:

The expectation maximization (EM) algorithm is a popular method of density estimation for Gaussian mixture models. Fundamental to understanding the performance of this algorithm is to understand the set of points closest to a given Gaussian, where “closest" is defined in terms of the maximum likelihood function. We call this set of points a Gaussian Voronoi cell. In this talk, I will outline new results regarding the geometry and combinatorics of Gaussian Voronoi cells. This is joint work with Joe Kileel.