Asymptotics for the minimum covariance determinant estimator (Q1314461)

The minimum covariance determinant (MCD) estimators of multivariate location and scale parameters are shown to be consistent. Moreover, the MCD estimator of multivariate location is proved to be asymptotically normal. The proofs are given by showing a separating ellipsoid property for the MCD subset of observations. An analogous property is given for the MCD subset computed from the population distribution.