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Machine-learning-assisted Monte Carlo fails at sampling computationally hard problems

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks 2023-03-15 v3

Abstract

Several strategies have been recently proposed in order to improve Monte Carlo sampling efficiency using machine learning tools. Here, we challenge these methods by considering a class of problems that are known to be exponentially hard to sample using conventional local Monte Carlo at low enough temperatures. In particular, we study the antiferromagnetic Potts model on a random graph, which reduces to the coloring of random graphs at zero temperature. We test several machine-learning-assisted Monte Carlo approaches, and we find that they all fail. Our work thus provides good benchmarks for future proposals for smart sampling algorithms.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2210.11145,
  title  = {Machine-learning-assisted Monte Carlo fails at sampling computationally hard problems},
  author = {Simone Ciarella and Jeanne Trinquier and Martin Weigt and Francesco Zamponi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.11145},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T04:04:22.837Z