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Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) is a powerful algorithm to sample latent variables from Bayesian models. The advent of probabilistic programming languages (PPLs) frees users from writing inference algorithms and lets users focus on modeling.…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-06-05 Jinlin Lai , Javier Burroni , Hui Guan , Daniel Sheldon

Delayed-acceptance is a technique for reducing computational effort for Bayesian models with expensive likelihoods. Using a delayed-acceptance kernel for Markov chain Monte Carlo can reduce the number of expensive likelihoods evaluations…

Computation · Statistics 2026-01-07 Joshua J Bon , Anthony Lee , Christopher Drovandi

We introduce Reflective Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (ReHMC), an HMC-based algorithm, to sample from a log-concave distribution restricted to a convex body. We prove that, starting from a warm start, the walk mixes to a log-concave target…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-03-30 Apostolos Chalkis , Vissarion Fisikopoulos , Marios Papachristou , Elias Tsigaridas

In Monte Carlo simulations, proposed configurations are accepted or rejected according to an acceptance ratio, which depends on an underlying probability distribution and an a priori sampling probability. By carefully selecting the…

Computational Physics · Physics 2023-02-09 Emanuel Casiano-Diaz , Kipton Barros , Ying Wai Li , Adrian Del Maestro

There is a tension between robustness and efficiency when designing Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling algorithms. Here we focus on robustness with respect to tuning parameters, showing that more sophisticated algorithms tend to be…

Computation · Statistics 2020-05-12 Samuel Livingstone , Giacomo Zanella

In Hamiltonian Monte Carlo sampling, the shape of the potential and the choice of the momentum distribution jointly give rise to the Hamiltonian dynamics of the sampler. An efficient sampler propagates quickly in all regions of the…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2026-01-28 Javier Silva Lafaurie , Lorne Whiteway , Elena Sellentin , Kutay Nazli , Andrew H. Jaffe , Alan F. Heavens , Arthur Loureiro

We present a trainable framework for efficiently generating gauge configurations, and discuss ongoing work in this direction. In particular, we consider the problem of sampling configurations from a 4D $SU(3)$ lattice gauge theory, and…

High Energy Physics - Lattice · Physics 2023-12-19 Sam Foreman , Xiao-Yong Jin , James C. Osborn

The past few years have seen considerable progress in algorithmic development for the generation of gauge fields including the effects of dynamical fermions. The Rational Hybrid Monte Carlo (RHMC) algorithm, where Hybrid Monte Carlo is…

High Energy Physics - Lattice · Physics 2008-11-26 M. A. Clark

By leveraging the natural geometry of a smooth probabilistic system, Hamiltonian Monte Carlo yields computationally efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo estimation. At least provided that the algorithm is sufficiently well-tuned. In this…

Methodology · Statistics 2016-01-05 Michael Betancourt

Leveraging the coherent exploration of Hamiltonian flow, Hamiltonian Monte Carlo produces computationally efficient Monte Carlo estimators, even with respect to complex and high-dimensional target distributions. When confronted with…

Methodology · Statistics 2015-02-06 M. J. Betancourt

Amongst Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms, Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) is often the algorithm of choice for complex, high-dimensional target distributions; however, its efficiency is notoriously sensitive to the choice of the…

Computation · Statistics 2022-12-07 Chris Sherlock , Szymon Urbas , Matthew Ludkin

A method for the introduction of second-order derivatives of the log likelihood into HMC algorithms is introduced, which does not require the Hessian to be evaluated at each leapfrog step but only at the start and end of trajectories.

Computation · Statistics 2017-02-28 Thomas House

This paper provides a convergence analysis for generalized Hamiltonian Monte Carlo samplers, a family of Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods based on leapfrog integration of Hamiltonian dynamics and kinetic Langevin diffusion, that encompasses…

Probability · Mathematics 2024-05-14 Evan Camrud , Alain Durmus , Pierre Monmarché , Gabriel Stoltz

Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) is widely used for sampling from high dimensional target distributions with densities known up to proportionality. While HMC exhibits favorable scaling properties in high dimensions, it struggles with strongly…

Computation · Statistics 2025-07-30 Joonha Park

The number of low-energy constants (LECs) in chiral effective field theory ($\chi$EFT) grows rapidly with increasing chiral order, necessitating the use of Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques for sampling their posterior probability density…

Nuclear Theory · Physics 2024-07-29 Isak Svensson , Andreas Ekström , Christian Forssén

With its systematic exploration of probability distributions, Hamiltonian Monte Carlo is a potent Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique; it is an approach, however, ultimately contingent on the choice of a suitable Hamiltonian function. By…

Methodology · Statistics 2011-12-20 Michael Betancourt , Leo C. Stein

We consider Metropolis Hastings MCMC in cases where the log of the ratio of target distributions is replaced by an estimator. The estimator is based on m samples from an independent online Monte Carlo simulation. Under some conditions on…

Computation · Statistics 2012-06-01 Geoff K. Nicholls , Colin Fox , Alexis Muir Watt

Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (or hybrid Monte Carlo) with partial momentum refreshment explores the state space more slowly than it otherwise would due to the momentum reversals which occur on proposal rejection. These cause trajectories to…

Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability · Physics 2012-05-10 Jascha Sohl-Dickstein

We calculate the efficiency of a rejection-free dynamic Monte Carlo method for $d$-dimensional off-lattice homogeneous particles interacting through a repulsive power-law potential $r^{-p}$. Theoretically we find the algorithmic efficiency…

Statistical Mechanics · Physics 2009-11-13 Marta L. Guerra , M. A. Novotny , Hiroshi Watanabe , Nobuyasu Ito

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…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2023-04-20 Khashayar Gatmiry , Jonathan Kelner , Santosh S. Vempala