Maximizing Multi-Information

Stochastic interdependence of a probablility distribution on a product space is measured by its Kullback-Leibler distance from the exponential family of product distributions (called multi-information). Here we investigate low-dimensional exponential families that contain the maximizers of stochastic interdependence in their closure. Based on a detailed description of the structure of probablility distributions with globally maximal multi-information we obtain our main result: The exponential family of pure pair-interactions contains all global maximizers of the multi-information in its closure.