Change Point Detection and Mean-Field Dynamics of Variable Productivity Hawkes Processes

Abstract

Many self-exciting systems change because endogenous amplification, as opposed to exogenous forcing, varies. We study a Hawkes process with fixed background rate and kernel, but piecewise time-varying productivity. For exponential kernels we derive closed-form mean-field relaxation after a change and a deterministic surrogate for post-change Fisher information, revealing a boundary layer in which change time information localises and saturates, while post-change level information grows linearly beyond a short transient. These results motivate a Bayesian change point procedure that stabilizes inference on finite windows. We illustrate the method on invasive pneumococcal disease incidence in The Gambia, identifying a decline in productivity aligned with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine rollout.