Related papers: Geometric integrators and the Hamiltonian Monte Ca…
We study efficiency of higher order integrator schemes for the hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithm. Numerical tests are performed for Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD) with two flavors of Wilson fermions. We compare 2nd, 4th and 6th order…
We examine the application of the Variational Monte Carlo (VMC) method to a cluster model for halo nuclei. Particular attention is paid to the error estimate in the presence of correlations in the underlying random walk. We analyse the…
We study analytically the computational cost of the Generalised Hybrid Monte Carlo (GHMC) algorithm for free field theory. We calculate the autocorrelation functions of operators quadratic in the fields, and optimise the GHMC momentum…
Hamiltonian Monte Carlo is a widely used algorithm for sampling from posterior distributions of complex Bayesian models. It can efficiently explore high-dimensional parameter spaces guided by simulated Hamiltonian flows. However, the…
The goal of this article is to introduce the Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) method -- a Hamiltonian dynamics-inspired algorithm for sampling from a Gibbs density $\pi(x) \propto e^{-f(x)}$. We focus on the "idealized" case, where one can…
We here investigate the efficient implementation of the energy-conserving methods named Hamiltonian Boundary Value Methods (HBVMs) recently introduced for the numerical solution of Hamiltonian problems. In this note, we describe an…
Sampling from hierarchical Bayesian models is often difficult for MCMC methods, because of the strong correlations between the model parameters and the hyperparameters. Recent Riemannian manifold Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (RMHMC) methods have…
We unify slice sampling and Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) sampling, demonstrating their connection via the Hamiltonian-Jacobi equation from Hamiltonian mechanics. This insight enables extension of HMC and slice sampling to a broader family…
Monte Carlo algorithms are a foundational pillar of modern computational science, yet their effective application hinges on a deep understanding of their performance trade offs. This paper presents a critical analysis of the evolution of…
This article considers Hamiltonian mechanical systems with potential functions admitting jump discontinuities. The focus is on accurate and efficient numerical approximations of their solutions, which will be defined via the laws of…
We propose an improved Path Integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) algorithm called Harmonic PIMC (H-PIMC) and its generalization, Mixed PIMC (M-PIMC). PIMC is a powerful tool for studying quantum condensed phases. However, it often suffers from a low…
Hamiltonian Monte Carlo is a powerful algorithm for sampling from difficult-to-normalize posterior distributions. However, when the geometry of the posterior is unfavorable, it may take many expensive evaluations of the target distribution…
Monte Carlo (MC) methods for numerical integration seem to be embarassingly parallel on first sight. When adaptive schemes are applied in order to enhance convergence however, the seemingly most natural way of replicating the whole job on…
Traditional gradient-based sampling methods, like standard Hamiltonian Monte Carlo, require that the desired target distribution is continuous and differentiable. This limits the types of models one can define, although the presented models…
The Markov chain Monte Carlo method is a versatile tool in statistical physics to evaluate multi-dimensional integrals numerically. For the method to work effectively, we must consider the following key issues: the choice of ensemble, the…
We investigate the performance of the hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm, the standard algorithm used for lattice QCD simulations involving fermions, in updating non-trivial global topological structures. We find that the hybrid Monte Carlo…
Recently, the Hamilton Monte Carlo (HMC) has become widespread as one of the more reliable approaches to efficient sample generation processes. However, HMC is difficult to sample in a multimodal posterior distribution because the HMC chain…
Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods have revolutionised mathematical computation and enabled statistical inference within many previously intractable models. In this context, Hamiltonian dynamics have been proposed as an efficient way of…
Multimodality of the likelihood in Gaussian mixtures is a well-known problem. The choice of the initial parameter vector for the numerical optimizer may affect whether the optimizer finds the global maximum, or gets trapped in a local…
There is substantial empirical evidence about the success of dynamic implementations of Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC), such as the No U-Turn Sampler (NUTS), in many challenging inference problems but theoretical results about their behavior…