Making Tensor Factorizations Robust to Non-Gaussian Noise∗

Tensors are multi-way arrays, and the CANDECOMP/PARAFAC (CP) tensor factorization has found application in many different domains. The CP model is typically fit using a least squares objective function, which is a maximum likelihood estimate under the assumption of i.i.d. Gaussian noise. We demonstrate that this loss function can actually be highly sensitive to non-Gaussian noise. Therefore, we propose a loss function based on the 1-norm because it can accommodate both Gaussian and grossly non-Gaussian perturbations. We also present an alternating majorization-minimization algorithm for fitting a CP model using our proposed loss function.