Projection Diagnostics for Directional Asymmetry and Tail-Ratio Departure in Multivariate Data

We study projection-based diagnostics for distinguishing directional asymmetry from tail-ratio departure in multivariate data. The procedure reduces the problem to one-dimensional projections and computes two quantile-based summaries: a directional skewness measure evaluated over several quantile levels, and an interquantile tail-ratio evaluated relative to a chosen benchmark. The two summaries lead to a four-regime classification: symmetric benchmark-tail, symmetric tail-departed, skewed benchmark-tail, and skewed tail-departed. The quantile formulation avoids relying on third and fourth moments, which can be unstable in heavy-tailed settings. We establish population properties under central symmetry and ellipticity, uniform finite-sample bounds over the searched directions, and consistency of the threshold classifier under separated regimes. A sparse rank-one calculation is also used to show why coordinate directions can complement random directions in high dimensions. The resulting diagnostic is meant to guide subsequent modelling choices, for example whether a symmetric, skewed, tail-departed, or combined multivariate model is appropriate.