A Kiefer--Wolfowitz comparison theorem for Wicksell's problem

Abstract

We extend the isotonic analysis for Wicksell's problem to estimate a regression function, which is motivated by the problem of estimating dark matter distribution in astronomy. The main result is a version of the Kiefer--Wolfowitz theorem comparing the empirical distribution to its least concave majorant, but with a convergence rate $n^{-1}\log n$ faster than $n^{-2/3}\log n$. The main result is useful in obtaining asymptotic distributions for estimators, such as isotonic and smooth estimators.