A Stein deficit for the logarithmic Sobolev inequality

Abstract

We provide explicit lower bounds for the deficit in the Gaussian logarithmic Sobolev inequality in terms of differential operators that are naturally associated with the so-called Stein characterization of the Gaussian distribution. The techniques are based on a crucial use of the representation of the relative Fisher information, along the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroup, in terms of the Minimal Mean-Square Error from information theory.