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In this work, we introduce a novel class of adaptive Monte Carlo methods, called adaptive independent sticky MCMC algorithms, for efficient sampling from a generic target probability density function (pdf). The new class of algorithms…
We discuss a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) procedure for the random sampling of some one-dimensional lattice paths with constraints, for various constraints. We show that an approach inspired by optimal transport allows us to bound…
Gibbs sampling is a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method often used in Bayesian learning. MCMC methods can be difficult to deploy on parallel and distributed systems due to their inherently sequential nature. We study asynchronous Gibbs…
This paper gives sharp rates of convergence for natural versions of the Metropolis algorithm for sampling from the uniform distribution on a convex polytope. The singular proposal distribution, based on a walk moving locally in one of a…
Manifold Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms have been introduced to sample more effectively from challenging target densities exhibiting multiple modes or strong correlations. Such algorithms exploit the local geometry of the parameter…
We propose a weighting scheme for the proposals within Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms and show how this can improve statistical efficiency at no extra computational cost. These methods are most powerful when combined with…
We introduce a new graph polynomial that encodes interesting properties of graphs, for example, the number of matchings and the number of perfect matchings. Most importantly, for bipartite graphs the polynomial encodes the number of…
We present an improved coupling technique for analyzing the mixing time of Markov chains. Using our technique, we simplify and extend previous results for sampling colorings and independent sets. Our approach uses properties of the…
Phylogenetic trees constitute an interesting class of objects for stochastic processes due to the non-standard nature of the space they inhabit. In particular, many statistical applications require the construction of Markov processes on…
We investigate the complexity of covariance matrix estimation for Gibbs distributions based on dependent samples from a Markov chain. We show that when $\pi$ satisfies a Poincar\'e inequality and the chain possesses a spectral gap, we can…
We study the computational complexity of estimating local observables for Gibbs distributions. A simple combinatorial example is the average size of an independent set in a graph. In a recent work, we established NP-hardness of…
Doubly intractable distributions arise in many settings, for example in Markov models for point processes and exponential random graph models for networks. Bayesian inference for these models is challenging because they involve intractable…
Markov chain sampling methods that automatically adapt to characteristics of the distribution being sampled can be constructed by exploiting the principle that one can sample from a distribution by sampling uniformly from the region under…
The independence number of a sparse random graph G(n,m) of average degree d=2m/n is well-known to be \alpha(G(n,m))~2n ln(d)/d with high probability. Moreover, a trivial greedy algorithm w.h.p. finds an independent set of size (1+o(1)) n…
The hard core model in statistical physics is a probability distribution on independent sets in a graph in which the weight of any independent set I is proportional to lambda^(|I|), where lambda > 0 is the vertex activity. We show that…
Slice sampling is a well-established Markov chain Monte Carlo method for (approximate) sampling of target distributions which are only known up to a normalizing constant. The method is based on choosing a new state on a slice, i.e., a…
Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods such as Gibbs sampling are finding widespread use in applied statistics and machine learning. These often lead to difficult computational problems, which are increasingly being solved on parallel and…
In this manuscript, inspired by a simpler reformulation of primary sample space Metropolis light transport, we derive a novel family of general Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms called charted Metropolis-Hastings, that introduces the…
We study mixing of the Metropolis algorithm for a distribution on the hypercube that corresponds to the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random graph with edge probability p. This Markov chain has cutoff at max{p,1-p} n log n with window size n, a result…
Exploratory analysis over network data is often limited by the ability to efficiently calculate graph statistics, which can provide a model-free understanding of the macroscopic properties of a network. We introduce a framework for…