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I originally posted this as a question but I figured it out (I think). My solution is written out below. Proof verifications are welcome and appreciated :-)

For any non-negative integer $N$, \begin{align*} \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}e^{-x^2/2}\lvert x\rvert^{2N} dx &=(2\pi)^{n/2}2^N\left(N-1+\frac{n}{2}\right)\left(N-2+\frac{n}{2}\right)\cdots\left(\frac{n}{2}\right) \end{align*}

Note that \begin{align*} (2\pi)^{n/2}2^N\left(N-1+\frac{n}{2}\right)\left(N-2+\frac{n}{2}\right)\cdots\left(\frac{n}{2}\right) &=(2\pi)^{n/2}\left(2(N-1)+n\right)\left(2(N-2)+n\right)\cdots\left(n\right)\\ &=(2\pi)^{n/2}\frac{(2N+n-2)!!}{(n-2)!!} \end{align*}

A change to polar coordinates yields \begin{align*} \int_{\mathbb{R}^n}e^{-x^2/2}\lvert x\rvert^{2N} dx &= \int_{0}^r\int_{B_r}e^{-r^2/2}r^{2N} dS(r) \\ &=\int_{0}^re^{-r^2/2}r^{2N + n-1}\frac{2\pi^{n/2}}{\Gamma(n/2)} dr\\ &=\frac{2^{N+n/2+1}\pi^{n/2}}{\Gamma(n/2)} \frac{\Gamma\left(N+\frac{n}{2}\right)}{2} \end{align*} which is precisely the desired result.

Quoka
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  • For the lemma, do you mean if $k$ is odd/even? ($2k$ can’t be odd...) – Clayton Apr 16 '18 at 23:53
  • @Clayton I mean 2k. In the statement of the lemma I allow $k$ to be half-integer – Quoka Apr 17 '18 at 00:05
  • I think you can use the moment generating function of a multivariate normal to do this. Do you mean to write $\exp{x^2}=\exp{x^Tx}$ and $|x|^{2N} = ||x||^{2N}_2$? I don't understand the notation if $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$. – Ryan Warnick Apr 17 '18 at 03:31
  • Another way is to evaluate $I(a):=\int_{\mathbb R^n} e^{-a|x|^2/2}dx$, then compute $d^N I(1)/da^N$. – user254433 Apr 17 '18 at 06:44
  • In your solution, what do you mean by $S(r)$? – Alan Yan Apr 22 '18 at 15:41
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    $S(r)$ denotes the "surface" of the $r$-ball. I got the values $2\pi^{n/2}/\Gamma(n/2)$ from here: http://scipp.ucsc.edu/~haber/ph116A/volume_11.pdf – Quoka Apr 22 '18 at 17:00

1 Answers1

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One way to get the answer is to use the moment generating function of a Gaussian distribution.

Note that: \begin{equation} \begin{split} \int_\mathbb{R}^n \exp\{-\frac{x^Tx}{2}\}||x||^{2N}_2 & = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\int_\mathbb{R}^n \frac{1}{(2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}}\exp\{-\frac{x^Tx}{2}\}||x||^{2N}_2\\ & = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\int_\mathbb{R}^n \frac{1}{(2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}}\exp\{-\frac{x^Tx}{2}\}(x_1^2 + ... x_n^2)^N\\ & = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}E[(x_1^2 + ... x_n^2)^N]\\ \end{split} \end{equation}

By the multinomial theorem $(x_1^2+...+x_n^2)^N = \sum_{|\alpha| = N}\binom{n}{\alpha} \prod_{i=1}^n x_i^{\alpha_i}$.

Placing this expression in the previous expectation and swapping the expectation and finite sum gives us:

\begin{equation} \begin{split} (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}E[(x_1^2 + ... x_n^2)^N] &= (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}E[\sum_{|\alpha| = N}\binom{n}{\alpha}\prod_{i=1}^n x_i^{2\alpha_i}]\\ &= (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\sum_{|\alpha| = n}\binom{n}{\alpha}E[\prod_{i=1}^n x_i^{2\alpha_i}] \end{split} \end{equation}

Note that $E[\prod_{i=1}^n x_i^{\alpha_i}]$ is the $\alpha$ moment of $X$, and can be obtained by differentiating the moment generating function of a mean 0 covariance $I$ multivariate Gaussian. $M_X(t) = \exp\{\frac{1}{2}t^Tt\}$, thus $E[\prod_{i=1}^n x_i^{\alpha_i}] = \frac{\partial}{\partial^\alpha x}\exp\{\frac{1}{2}t^Tt\}|_{t=0}$.

This derivative evaluated at $0$ is given by:

\begin{equation} \frac{\partial}{\partial^\alpha x}\exp\{\frac{1}{2}t^Tt\}|_{t=0} = \prod_{i=1}^n \prod_{j=1}^{\alpha_i}(2j-1) \end{equation}

Putting this expression in the previous expression gives us:

\begin{equation} \begin{split} (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\sum_{|\alpha| = N}\frac{N!}{\alpha_1!...\alpha_n!}\prod_{i=1}^n \prod_{j=1}^{\alpha_i}(2j-1) \end{split} \end{equation}

Using the fact thatthere is a closed form for the first k odd numbers, we have that the far right product is equal to $\frac{(2\alpha_i)!}{2^{\alpha_i}\alpha_i!}$, giving us:

\begin{equation} \begin{split} (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\sum_{|\alpha| = N}\frac{N!}{\alpha_1!...\alpha_n!}\prod_{i=1}^n \prod_{j=1}^{\alpha_i}(2j-1) & = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\sum_{|\alpha| = N}\frac{N!}{\alpha_1!...\alpha_n!}\prod_{i=1}^n \frac{(2\alpha_i)!}{2^{\alpha_i}\alpha_i!}\\ & = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\sum_{|\alpha| = N}\frac{N!\prod_{i=1}^n\binom{2\alpha_i}{\alpha_i}}{2^N}\\ & = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\frac{N!}{2^N}\sum_{|\alpha| = N}\prod_{i=1}^n\binom{2\alpha_i}{\alpha_i}\\ & = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\frac{N!}{2^N}\binom{2N}{N}\\ \end{split} \end{equation}

With the last equality following from equation 1 in this research article giving us that $\sum_{|\alpha| = N}\prod_{i=1}^n\binom{2\alpha_i}{\alpha_i} = \binom{2N}{N}$.

This isn't obviously equivalent to what you wrote down, but seems to be consistent with the coefficients of the first 4 noncentral moments provided here for $n = 1$.

EDIT: I think there may be a mistake in me referencing the research article. If you refer to Alan Yan's comment on this answer it seems to give the appropriate value. That doesn't explain why the coefficients are the coefficients of the non-central moments, but if I figure out what's going on I can make an edit to the answer.

Ryan Warnick
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  • I don't see how your final answer: $$ (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\frac{N!}{2^N}\binom{2N}{N} = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\frac{N!}{2^N}\frac{(2N)!}{N!N!} = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}\frac{(2N)!}{2^NN!} = (2\pi)^{\frac{n}{2}}(2N-1)!!$$ could match what I have in general since, other than the $(2\pi)^{n/2}$, your answer is independent of $n$ while mine depends on $n$. – Quoka Apr 17 '18 at 19:16
  • Did I use an incorrect norm? I asked in a comment if $|x| = ||x||_2$, because otherwise I'm not sure how the question make sense as written. I believe all my derivations are correct, and a quick parse through the non-central moments of a Gaussian in the case of $n=1$ gives me the correct coefficients aside from the $\sqrt{2\pi}$ term, which is an artifact of the density being unnormalized in the question. – Ryan Warnick Apr 17 '18 at 20:30
  • Also, you said bound in the question, so if what you need to show is that the integral is bounded above, you could just show that the equality I gave is less than what you wrote. This seems likely because you have the 2^N term. – Ryan Warnick Apr 17 '18 at 21:04
  • Yes, I am indeed using the 2-norm. Thanks :-) – Quoka Apr 17 '18 at 21:20
  • No problem, I think you can also get equalities for the $L_p$ norm for general $p\in \mathbb{Z}^+$ using similar derivations. – Ryan Warnick Apr 17 '18 at 22:12
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    I think that $\sum_{|\alpha| = N} \prod_{i = 1}^n \binom{2\alpha_i}{\alpha_i} = \binom{2N}{N}$ is incorrect. Observe that $\sum_{|\alpha| = N} \prod_{i = 1}^n \binom{2\alpha_i}{\alpha_i}$ is the coefficient of $X^N$ in the generating function $(1 - 4x)^{-n/2}$, which gives $\frac{2^{2N}}{N!} \left ( \frac{n}{2} \right ) \left ( \frac{n}{2} + 1\right ) ... \left ( \frac{n}{2} + N - 1 \right )$ which would give what the original problem statement asks for. – Alan Yan Apr 22 '18 at 16:55
  • I’ve been pretty busy, but you could be correct. I’ll vheck and edit/refer to your comment in the answer when I get some time – Ryan Warnick Apr 27 '18 at 02:52