Change-point estimators with true identification property

Abstract

The change-point problem is reformulated as a penalized likelihood estimation problem. A new non-convex penalty function is introduced to allow consistent estimation of the number of change points, and their locations and sizes. Penalized likelihood methods based on LASSO and SCAD penalties may not satisfy such a property. The asymptotic properties for the local solutions are established and numerical studies are conducted to highlight their performance. An application to copy number variation is discussed.