A Structural Separation Between Chernoff and Convex-Order Optimality in Robust Testing

Abstract

In classical robust hypothesis testing, least favorable distributions often simultaneously maximize all Chernoff $u$-affinities and minimize all $f$-divergences. This paper identifies the structural mechanism that causes this equivalence to fail in general: the cone generated by fractional power functions $\{x^u{\}}_{u\in (0,1)}$ is strictly smaller than the cone of convex functions, inducing a separation between fractional-moment dominance and convex-order dominance. An explicit minimal counterexample is constructed on a three-point probability space, with convex, compact uncertainty classes and uniformly bounded likelihood ratios, for which a single pair maximizes all Chernoff functionals uniformly yet fails to minimize a convex $f$-divergence. It is further proved that no such separation can occur on a two-point space. Sufficient conditions for equivalence -- including stochastic ordering of likelihood ratios -- are discussed, and an open characterization problem in the geometry of moment cones is highlighted.

arXiv commentThis paper builds on asymptotic minimax robustness theory developed in [arXiv:2602.08174] and [arXiv:2602.19803]