Related papers: Approximation algorithms for the normalizing const…
We consider the problem of estimating the partition function $Z(\beta)=\sum_x \exp(-\beta(H(x))$ of a Gibbs distribution with a Hamilton $H(\cdot)$, or more precisely the logarithm of the ratio $q=\ln Z(0)/Z(\beta)$. It has been recently…
We consider Gibbs distributions, which are families of probability distributions over a discrete space $\Omega$ with probability mass function of the form $\mu^\Omega_\beta(\omega) \propto e^{\beta H(\omega)}$ for $\beta$ in an interval…
A central problem in computational statistics is to convert a procedure for sampling combinatorial from an objects into a procedure for counting those objects, and vice versa. Weconsider sampling problems coming from *Gibbs distributions*,…
We consider the problem of estimating the partition function $Z(\beta)=\sum_x \exp(\beta(H(x))$ of a Gibbs distribution with the Hamiltonian $H:\Omega\rightarrow\{0\}\cup[1,n]$. As shown in [Harris & Kolmogorov 2024], the log-ratio $q=\ln…
Many randomized approximation algorithms operate by giving a procedure for simulating a random variable $X$ which has mean $\mu$ equal to the target answer, and a relative standard deviation bounded above by a known constant $c$. Examples…
We present a near-optimal reduction from approximately counting the cardinality of a discrete set to approximately sampling elements of the set. An important application of our work is to approximating the partition function $Z$ of a…
We study the complexity of estimating the partition function $\mathsf{Z}(\beta)=\sum_{x\in\chi} e^{-\beta H(x)}$ for a Gibbs distribution characterized by the Hamiltonian $H(x)$. We provide a simple and natural lower bound for quantum…
The computational equivalence between approximate counting and sampling is well established for polynomial-time algorithms. The most efficient general reduction from counting to sampling is achieved via simulated annealing, where the…
The partition function is an essential quantity in statistical mechanics, and its accurate computation is a key component of any statistical analysis of quantum system and phenomenon. However, for interacting many-body quantum systems, its…
Estimating quantum partition functions is a critical task in a variety of fields. However, the problem is classically intractable in general due to the exponential scaling of the Hamiltonian dimension $N$ in the number of particles. This…
Probabilistic graphical models are a key tool in machine learning applications. Computing the partition function, i.e., normalizing constant, is a fundamental task of statistical inference but it is generally computationally intractable,…
Given $iid$ observations from an unknown absolute continuous distribution defined on some domain $\Omega$, we propose a nonparametric method to learn a piecewise constant function to approximate the underlying probability density function.…
We present new algorithms for estimating and testing \emph{collision probability}, a fundamental measure of the spread of a discrete distribution that is widely used in many scientific fields. We describe an algorithm that satisfies…
Estimating the normalizing constant of an unnormalized probability distribution has important applications in computer science, statistical physics, machine learning, and statistics. In this work, we consider the problem of estimating the…
The output scores of a neural network classifier are converted to probabilities via normalizing over the scores of all competing categories. Computing this partition function, $Z$, is then linear in the number of categories, which is…
We study the approximation of expectations $\E(f(X))$ for Gaussian random elements $X$ with values in a separable Hilbert space $H$ and Lipschitz continuous functionals $f \colon H \to \R$. We consider restricted Monte Carlo algorithms,…
A canonical approach to approximating the partition function of a Gibbs distribution via sampling is simulated annealing. This method has led to efficient reductions from counting to sampling, including: $\bullet$ classic non-adaptive…
The Bethe approximation, discovered in statistical physics, gives an efficient algorithm called belief propagation (BP) for approximating a partition function. BP empirically gives an accurate approximation for many problems, e.g.,…
Normalisation in probability theory turns a subdistribution into a proper distribution. It is a partial operation, since it is undefined for the zero subdistribution. This partiality makes it hard to reason equationally about normalisation.…
In classical statistics and distribution testing, it is often assumed that elements can be sampled from some distribution $P$, and that when an element $x$ is sampled, the probability $P$ of sampling $x$ is also known. Recent work in…