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Related papers: Complexity Bounds for MCMC via Diffusion Limits

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In this paper we examine the implications of the statistical large sample theory for the computational complexity of Bayesian and quasi-Bayesian estimation carried out using Metropolis random walks. Our analysis is motivated by the…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2012-01-26 Alexandre Belloni , Victor Chernozhukov

For an arbitrary initial configuration of discrete loads over vertices of a distributed graph, we consider the problem of minimizing the {\em discrepancy} between the maximum and minimum loads among all vertices. For this problem, this…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2018-05-15 Takeharu Shiraga

The Robbins-Monro algorithm is a recursive, simulation-based stochastic procedure to approximate the zeros of a function that can be written as an expectation. It is known that under some technical assumptions, a Gaussian convergence can be…

Probability · Mathematics 2025-10-17 Lorick Huang , V Konakov

Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms are simple and extremely powerful techniques to sample from almost arbitrary distributions. The flaw in practice is that it can take a large and/or unknown amount of time to converge to the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2014-11-13 Xianghang Liu , Justin Domke

Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) is a state-of-the-art Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling algorithm for drawing samples from smooth probability densities over continuous spaces. We study the variant most widely used in practice, Metropolized…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-01-12 Yuansi Chen , Raaz Dwivedi , Martin J. Wainwright , Bin Yu

The behavior of a Lattice Monte Carlo algorithm (if it is designed correctly) must approach that of the continuum system that it is designed to simulate as the time step and the mesh step tend to zero. However, we show for an algorithm for…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2010-08-23 Mykyta V. Chubynsky , Gary W. Slater

Convergence rate analyses of random walk Metropolis-Hastings Markov chains on general state spaces have largely focused on establishing sufficient conditions for geometric ergodicity or on analysis of mixing times. Geometric ergodicity is a…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2023-07-24 Riddhiman Bhattacharya , Galin L. Jones

We discuss a non-reversible, lifted Markov-chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm for particle systems in which the direction of proposed displacements is changed deterministically. This algorithm sweeps through directions analogously to the…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2022-08-31 Liang Qin , Philipp Hoellmer , Werner Krauth

There has been substantial interest in developing Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms based on piecewise-deterministic Markov processes. However existing algorithms can only be used if the target distribution of interest is differentiable…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2021-11-12 Augustin Chevallier , Sam Power , Andi Q. Wang , Paul Fearnhead

This article extends weak convergence bounds of Markov transition kernels to convergence bounds on the variance of the Markov kernel applied to Lipschitz functions. In the reversible case, weak convergence rates of the transition kernels…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2026-04-29 Austin Brown

Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a flexible approach to approximate sampling from intractable probability distributions, with a rich theoretical foundation and comprising a wealth of exemplar algorithms. While the qualitative correctness…

Computation · Statistics 2025-11-27 Sam Power , Giorgos Vasdekis

This paper addresses the challenge of solving Constrained Markov Decision Processes (CMDPs) with $d > 1$ constraints when the transition dynamics are unknown, but samples can be drawn from a generative model. We propose a model-based…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-03-11 Max Buckley , Konstantinos Papathanasiou , Andreas Spanopoulos

We study the underdamped Langevin diffusion when the log of the target distribution is smooth and strongly concave. We present a MCMC algorithm based on its discretization and show that it achieves $\varepsilon$ error (in 2-Wasserstein…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2018-01-30 Xiang Cheng , Niladri S. Chatterji , Peter L. Bartlett , Michael I. Jordan

Designing efficient learning algorithms with complexity guarantees for Markov decision processes (MDPs) with large or continuous state and action spaces remains a fundamental challenge. We address this challenge for entropy-regularized MDPs…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-05 Matthieu Meunier , Christoph Reisinger , Yufei Zhang

Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms are often used for approximate inference inside learning, but their slow mixing can be difficult to diagnose and the approximations can seriously degrade learning. To alleviate these issues, we…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2015-02-25 Jacob Steinhardt , Percy Liang

The need to calibrate increasingly complex statistical models requires a persistent effort for further advances on available, computationally intensive Monte Carlo methods. We study here an advanced version of familiar Markov Chain Monte…

Methodology · Statistics 2015-03-20 Alexandros Beskos , Konstantinos Kalogeropoulos , Erik Pazos

Traditional MCMC algorithms are computationally intensive and do not scale well to large data. In particular, the Metropolis-Hastings (MH) algorithm requires passing over the entire dataset to evaluate the likelihood ratio in each…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2019-08-29 Tung-Yu Wu , Y. X. Rachel Wang , Wing H. Wong

Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms are indispensable when sampling from a complex, high-dimensional distribution by a conventional method is intractable. Even though MCMC is a powerful tool, it is also hard to control and tune in…

Graphics · Computer Science 2025-10-14 Sascha Holl , Gurprit Singh , Hans-Peter Seidel

In recent years, various interacting particle samplers have been developed to sample from complex target distributions, such as those found in Bayesian inverse problems. These samplers are motivated by the mean-field limit perspective and…

Computation · Statistics 2023-12-22 Björn Sprungk , Simon Weissmann , Jakob Zech

The Metropolis-Hastings algorithm is a cornerstone of Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods, underpinning a wide range of applications in computational physics, Bayesian inference, and machine learning. Quantum variants of Metropolis-Hastings…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-05-07 Miguel Carrasco-Arango , Rosa M. Badia , Artur Garcia-Saez