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Related papers: Stochastic Variational Optimization

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We present an optimizer which uses Bayesian optimization to tune the system parameters of distributed stochastic gradient descent (SGD). Given a specific context, our goal is to quickly find efficient configurations which appropriately…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2016-12-04 Valentin Dalibard , Michael Schaarschmidt , Eiko Yoneki

Optimization lies at the heart of machine learning and signal processing. Contemporary approaches based on the stochastic gradient method are non-adaptive in the sense that their implementation employs prescribed parameter values that need…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-01-22 Frank E. Curtis , Katya Scheinberg

The stochastic gradient descent (SGD) method is a widely used approach for solving stochastic optimization problems, but its convergence is typically slow. Existing variance reduction techniques, such as SAGA, improve convergence by…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-11-21 Fabio Nobile , Matteo Raviola , Nathan Schaeffer

High-dimensional Bayesian optimization (BO) tasks such as molecular design often require 10,000 function evaluations before obtaining meaningful results. While methods like sparse variational Gaussian processes (SVGPs) reduce computational…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-11 Natalie Maus , Kyurae Kim , Geoff Pleiss , David Eriksson , John P. Cunningham , Jacob R. Gardner

Bayesian inference offers benefits over maximum likelihood, but it also comes with computational costs. Computing the posterior is typically intractable, as is marginalizing that posterior to form the posterior predictive distribution. In…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-07-18 Alexander A. Alemi , Ben Poole

Variational inequalities are a formalism that includes games, minimization, saddle point, and equilibrium problems as special cases. Methods for variational inequalities are therefore universal approaches for many applied tasks, including…

In this paper, we propose a stochastic method for solving equality constrained optimization problems that utilizes predictive variance reduction. Specifically, we develop a method based on the sequential quadratic programming paradigm that…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-03-28 Albert S. Berahas , Jiahao Shi , Zihong Yi , Baoyu Zhou

We consider the problem of learning a Gaussian variational approximation to the posterior distribution for a high-dimensional parameter, where we impose sparsity in the precision matrix to reflect appropriate conditional independence…

Computation · Statistics 2019-04-23 Linda S. L. Tan , David J. Nott

Variational methods are employed in situations where exact Bayesian inference becomes intractable due to the difficulty in performing certain integrals. Typically, variational methods postulate a tractable posterior and formulate a lower…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2019-06-12 Nikolaos Gianniotis , Christoph Schnörr , Christian Molkenthin , Sanjay Singh Bora

Recently, we and several other authors have written about the possibilities of using stochastic approximation techniques for fitting variational approximations to intractable Bayesian posterior distributions. Naive implementations of…

Computation · Statistics 2014-01-14 Tim Salimans , David A. Knowles

We analyze convergence rates of stochastic optimization procedures for non-smooth convex optimization problems. By combining randomized smoothing techniques with accelerated gradient methods, we obtain convergence rates of stochastic…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2012-04-10 John C. Duchi , Peter L. Bartlett , Martin J. Wainwright

This PhD thesis presents a distributional view of optimization in place of a worst-case perspective. We motivate this view with an investigation of the failure point of classical optimization. Subsequently we consider the optimization of a…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-07-23 Felix Benning

We observe that gradients computed via the reparameterization trick are in direct correspondence with solutions of the transport equation in the formalism of optimal transport. We use this perspective to compute (approximate) pathwise…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2018-07-06 Martin Jankowiak , Fritz Obermeyer

A new global stochastic search, guided mainly through derivative-free directional information computable from the sample statistical moments of the design variables within a Monte Carlo setup, is proposed. The search is aided by imparting…

Methodology · Statistics 2014-03-10 Saikat Sarkar , Debasish Roy , Ram Mohan Vasu

We propose randomized subspace gradient methods for high-dimensional constrained optimization. While there have been similarly purposed studies on unconstrained optimization problems, there have been few on constrained optimization problems…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-07-10 Ryota Nozawa , Pierre-Louis Poirion , Akiko Takeda

In this paper we analyze a zeroth-order proximal stochastic gradient method suitable for the minimization of weakly convex stochastic optimization problems. We consider nonsmooth and nonlinear stochastic composite problems, for which…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-04-21 Spyridon Pougkakiotis , Dionysios S. Kalogerias

This paper focuses on Bayesian Optimization in combinatorial spaces. In many applications in the natural science. Broad applications include the study of molecules, proteins, DNA, device structures and quantum circuit designs, a on…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-11-13 Tony C. Wu , Daniel Flam-Shepherd , Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Variational data assimilation technique applied to identification of optimal approximations of derivatives near boundary is discussed in frames of one-dimensional wave equation. Simplicity of the equation and of its numerical scheme allows…

Mathematical Physics · Physics 2015-05-13 Eugene Kazantsev

Differentiable simulation is a promising toolkit for fast gradient-based policy optimization and system identification. However, existing approaches to differentiable simulation have largely tackled scenarios where obtaining smooth…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2022-07-04 Rika Antonova , Jingyun Yang , Krishna Murthy Jatavallabhula , Jeannette Bohg

Optimization of expensive computer models with the help of Gaussian process emulators in now commonplace. However, when several (competing) objectives are considered, choosing an appropriate sampling strategy remains an open question. We…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2013-10-03 Victor Picheny