Learning from Pairwise Marginal Independencies

Abstract: We consider graphs that represent pairwise marginal independencies amongst a set of variables (for instance, the zero entries of a covariance matrix for normal data). We characterize the directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) that faithfully explain a given set of independencies, and derive algorithms to efficiently enumerate such structures. Our results map out the space of faithful causal models for a given set of pairwise marginal independence relations. This allows us to show the extent to which causal inference is possible without using conditional independence tests.