The Manifold Hypothesis under Unknown Gaussian Noise:Conditional Certificates and Consistent Dimension Estimation

Source abstract

We study what noisy data can establish about the Manifold Hypothesis under explicit identification and regularity conditions. A population residual certificate combines independent-view localization, Gaussian concentration, membership uncertainty, and population transfer. Existing rectifiability criteria then yield a covered-scale consequence. For a local smooth manifold with positive Hölder density, the actual-ball covariance limit identifies the spectral crossing with geometric dimension. We prove almost-sure eventual recovery under repeated observations. Reusing accurate localization averages improves the sufficient point-sample condition from $Nr^{d+4}\gg\log N$ to $Nr^d\gg\log N$, with replication $kr^2\gg\log N$. A two-mass certificate controls incorrect geometric-dimension emissions under declared class bounds. For single observations with unknown Gaussian noise, affine-support or known coordinate-bound restrictions provide noise intervals and consistent Gaussian correlation-dimension estimators. Ahlfors regularity identifies this exponent with Hausdorff dimension and with the geometric dimension of a homogeneous smooth class. Exact Cantor calculations delineate the limits of integer spectral counts and adjacent-radius slopes. We credit established local PCA, rectifiability, concentration, binomial inference, and deconvolution results before specifying our constructions. Reproducible experiments distinguish point estimation, finite-scale coverage, and certificate emission.