On the estimation of locally stationary functional time series

This paper develops an asymptotic theory for estimating the time-varying characteristics of locally stationary functional time series. We introduce a kernel-based method to estimate the time-varying covariance operator and the time-varying mean function of a locally stationary functional time series. Subsequently, we derive the convergence rate of the kernel estimator of the covariance operator and associated eigenvalue and eigenfunctions. We also establish a central limit theorem for the kernel-based locally weighted sample mean. As applications of our results, we discuss the prediction of locally stationary functional time series and methods for testing the equality of time-varying mean functions in two functional samples.