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Loop Calculus in Statistical Physics and Information Science

Statistical Mechanics 2009-11-11 v2 Disordered Systems and Neural Networks Information Theory math.IT

Abstract

Considering a discrete and finite statistical model of a general position we introduce an exact expression for the partition function in terms of a finite series. The leading term in the series is the Bethe-Peierls (Belief Propagation)-BP contribution, the rest are expressed as loop-contributions on the factor graph and calculated directly using the BP solution. The series unveils a small parameter that often makes the BP approximation so successful. Applications of the loop calculus in statistical physics and information science are discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0601487,
  title  = {Loop Calculus in Statistical Physics and Information Science},
  author = {Michael Chertkov and Vladimir Y. Chernyak},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0601487},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

4 pages, submitted to Phys.Rev.Lett. Changes: More general model, Simpler derivation