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Given $X,\theta\in\mathbb{R}^d$, the density of a natural exponential family is defined as

$f(x|\theta)=h(x)e^{\theta\cdot x-\psi(\theta)}$

with the natural parameter space

$\Theta=\left\{\theta:\int e^{\theta x}h(x)\;dx<\infty\right\}$.

The textbook I am reading says that the family

$\pi(\theta|\mu,\lambda)= K(\mu,\lambda)e^{\theta \mu-\lambda\psi(\theta)},\quad\lambda>0,\frac{\mu}{\lambda}\in\Theta^\circ$

is a conjugate prior family ($\Theta^\circ$ denotes the interior of $\Theta$). Calculating this out is straightforward, however I cant figure out how to show that the given density is in fact a density, ie.

$\int \pi(\theta|\mu,\lambda)\;d\theta<\infty$

I have tried for a long time, and looked at the book but I cant even find a hint at what to do. I would appreciate any help.

EDIT: I understand that $1/K(\mu,\lambda)=\int e^{\theta\mu-\lambda\psi(\theta)}\;d\theta$

My problem is proving that this integral exists.

1 Answers1

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I found the answer. The statement in the book is wrong. The domain is not the interior of the natural parameter space but the interior of the convex hull of the sample space. See

https://statweb.stanford.edu/~cgates/PERSI/papers/conjprior.pdf

for more information.