Multivariate exponential power distributions as mixtures of normal distributions with Bayesian applications

Abstract

It is shown that a multivariate exponential power distribution is a scale mixture of normal distributions, with respect to a probability distribution function, when its kurtosis parameter belongs to the interval (0,1]. The corresponding mixing probability distribution function is presented. This result is used to design a Bayesian hierarchical model and an algorithm to generate samples of the posterior distribution; these are applied to a problem of Quantitative Genetics.