Related papers: Randomized Interior Point methods for Sampling and…

The connections between (convex) optimization and (logconcave) sampling have been considerably enriched in the past decade with many conceptual and mathematical analogies. For instance, the Langevin algorithm can be viewed as a sampling…

We introduce a Markov chain for sampling from the uniform distribution on a Riemannian manifold $\mathcal{M}$, which we call the $\textit{geodesic walk}$. We prove that the mixing time of this walk on any manifold with positive sectional…

We develop a short-step interior point method to optimize a linear function over a convex body assuming that one only knows a membership oracle for this body. The approach is based on Abernethy and Hazan's sketch of a universal interior…

We study the problem of drawing samples from a logconcave distribution truncated on a polytope, motivated by computational challenges in Bayesian statistical models with indicator variables, such as probit regression. Building on interior…

We study the mixing time of the Dikin walk in a polytope - a random walk based on the log-barrier from the interior point method literature. This walk, and a close variant, were studied by Narayanan (2016) and Kannan-Narayanan (2012).…

We consider the problem of sampling from a $d$-dimensional log-concave distribution $\pi(\theta) \propto \exp(-f(\theta))$ for $L$-Lipschitz $f$, constrained to a convex body with an efficiently computable self-concordant barrier function,…

We propose and analyze two new MCMC sampling algorithms, the Vaidya walk and the John walk, for generating samples from the uniform distribution over a polytope. Both random walks are sampling algorithms derived from interior point methods.…

We present an affine-invariant random walk for drawing uniform random samples from a convex body $\mathcal{K} \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ that uses maximum volume inscribed ellipsoids, known as John's ellipsoids, for the proposal distribution.…

We propose a model of random walks on weighted graphs where the weights are interval valued, and connect it to reversible imprecise Markov chains. While the theory of imprecise Markov chains is now well established, this is a first attempt…

Motivated by the Dikin walk, we develop aspects of an interior-point theory for sampling in high dimension. Specifically, we introduce a symmetric parameter and the notion of strong self-concordance. These properties imply that the…

Mixing of finite time-homogeneous Markov chains is well understood nowadays, with a rich set of techniques to estimate their mixing time. In this paper, we study the mixing time of random walks in dynamic random environments. To that end,…

We analyze Riemannian Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (RHMC) for sampling a polytope defined by $m$ inequalities in $\R^n$ endowed with the metric defined by the Hessian of a convex barrier function. The advantage of RHMC over Euclidean methods…

Running a random walk in a convex body $K\subseteq\mathbb{R}^n$ is a standard approach to sample approximately uniformly from the body. The requirement is that from a suitable initial distribution, the distribution of the walk comes close…

We propose a reflection-free Langevin framework for sampling and optimization on compact polyhedra. The method is based on the inverse Hessian of the logarithmic barrier, which defines a Dikin--Langevin diffusion whose drift and noise adapt…

We discuss a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) procedure for the random sampling of some one-dimensional lattice paths with constraints, for various constraints. We show that an approach inspired by optimal transport allows us to bound…

We study a family of distributed stochastic optimization algorithms where gradients are sampled by a token traversing a network of agents in random-walk fashion. Typically, these random-walks are chosen to be Markov chains that…

We study the rate of convergence to equilibrium of the self-repellent random walk and its local time process on the discrete circle $\mathbb{Z}_n$. While the self-repellent random walk alone is non-Markovian since the jump rates depend on…

A random walk is a basic stochastic process on graphs and a key primitive in the design of distributed algorithms. One of the most important features of random walks is that, under mild conditions, they converge to a stationary distribution…

Given a Lipschitz or smooth convex function $\, f:K \to \mathbb{R}$ for a bounded polytope $K \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$ defined by $m$ inequalities, we consider the problem of sampling from the log-concave distribution $\pi(\theta) \propto…

We consider random walks in which the walk originates in one set of nodes and then continues until it reaches one or more nodes in a target set. The time required for the walk to reach the target set is of interest in understanding the…