Constraints on LKJ prior

Hi, is it possible to put constraints on LKJ prior for the correlation matrix?

I have a model with multiple varying intercepts and slopes, and I want to assign them a multivariate prior. However, I would like to force some elements of the the correlation matrix to be positive, negative, or zero. Is there a way to do this while still using the LKJ prior for the correlation matrix and following the cholesky_factor_corr trick? Thank you.

Not really. Or more specifically, you could so something like that but then it wouldn’t be an LKJ distribution. See

Ben, thanks for this info! I’m hoping you could expand on what you wrote in the linked gist. For example, you write, “All this is easier if you can reorder the variables so that the fixed correlations are toward the left and the top of the correlation matrix.” Would you be able to put together a full working example using the 4 x 4 covariance matrix in the gist (and possibly a counter-example when you don’t reorder, what the difficulty is)?

Can you elaborate on when fixing values that no value of \Omega between [-1,1] will satisfy the equation? Do you mean the equation that you wrote in the gist?

I’ve encountered wanting to do something like this and it seems others are too. I could see this being a case study or going in the manual.

Wow. Thanks. The math there is a bit much for me to understand. But is it fair to say that it is better not to use the LKJ prior and the cholesky_factor_corr trick in this situation? I think I can construct the correlation matrix by block or by element and then sample it that way.

The first column (or row, since it is symmetric) of a correlation matrix is unrestricted under the LKJ transformation (as distinct from the LKJ probability distribution). Thus, so is its Cholesky factor. Here is an example with the Cholesky factor of a 3x3 correlation matrix:
L = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 \\ a & \sqrt{1 - a^2} & 0\\ b & c & \sqrt{1 - b^2 - c^2} \end{bmatrix}

So, if \boldsymbol{\Sigma} = \mathbf{L}\mathbf{L}^\top, then \Sigma_{ij} is the dot product of the i-th and j-th rows of \mathbf{L}. If you want to restrict either \Sigma_{21} or \Sigma_{31} to be zero, that is easy: Just impose a = 0 or b = 0 respectively. However, technically that restriction means it is not LKJ prior any more, so you should not do L ~ lkj_cor_cholesky(eta);. If you wanted to impose the restriction that \Sigma_{32} = ba + c\sqrt{1 - a^2} + 0\sqrt{1 - b^2 - c^2} = 0, that is a bit more complicated. If you already have a and b, then c = -\frac{ba}{\sqrt{1 - a^2}}, but then L_{33} = \sqrt{1 - b^2 - \frac{b^2a^2}{1 - a^2}} might not be real, depending on what b and a are.

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Do L_{22} and L_{33} have to be the positive square roots? Or can they be the negative ones? I think this might make a difference.

All of the diagonal elements are defined to be non-negative.

Ah yes. Of course they have to be positive because it is a Cholesky decomposition. Thanks.