Research
On-device research index

arXiv research

A locally-built, LLM-digested index of recent arXiv papers in quant finance, geometry/topology, and statistical ML — keyword search served straight from SQLite on this machine.

168,742 papers · 148 categories

Trend · papers per month

22436586 · May 202619922001200920172026
48 results for alpha divergence

The paper evaluates biased methods for alpha-divergence minimization.

problem The impact of bias on solutions found for alpha-divergence minimization.
method Empirical evaluation of biased methods for alpha-divergence minimization, focusing on bias effects and dimensionality.
result Solutions are biased towards KL-divergence minimizers and require impractical computation in high dimensions to minimize alpha-divergence.

The paper presents methods to improve uncertainty calibration in Bayesian Neural Networks.

problem Uncalibrated Bayesian Neural Networks often lead to overconfidence.
method The paper uses alpha-divergences from Information Geometry for calibration.
result Calibration using alpha-divergences provides better uncertainty estimates and is more efficient.

We describe the underlying probabilistic interpretation of alpha and beta divergences. We first show that beta divergences are inherently tied to Tweedie distributions, a particular type of exponential family, known as exponential dispersion models. Starting from the variance function of a Tweedie model, we outline how…

2012-09-19abs ↗pdf ↗

We investigate the use of alternative divergences to Kullback-Leibler (KL) in variational inference(VI), based on the Variational Dropout \cite{kingma2015}. Stochastic gradient variational Bayes (SGVB) \cite{aevb} is a general framework for estimating the evidence lower bound (ELBO) in Variational Bayes. In this work, …

2017-11-12abs ↗pdf ↗

This paper introduces the variational Rényi bound (VR) that extends traditional variational inference to Rényi's alpha-divergences. This new family of variational methods unifies a number of existing approaches, and enables a smooth interpolation from the evidence lower-bound to the log (marginal) likelihood that is co…

2016-02-06abs ↗pdf ↗

New α\alpha-divergence loss function improves neural density ratio estimation.

problem Optimization challenges in existing DRE methods, especially overfitting and high sample requirements.
method Derived α\alpha-divergence loss function (α\alpha-Div) for neural density ratio estimation.
result The α\alpha-divergence loss function (α\alpha-Div) offers stable and effective optimization for DRE.

We propose a novel interpretation of the collapsed variational Bayes inference with a zero-order Taylor expansion approximation, called CVB0 inference, for latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA). We clarify the properties of the CVB0 inference by using the alpha-divergence. We show that the CVB0 inference is composed of two…

2012-06-27abs ↗pdf ↗

The paper develops divergences for Gaussian processes and RKHS settings.

problem Estimating divergences in infinite-dimensional spaces.
method Formulations of Alpha Log-Det divergences, continuity in norm, laws of large numbers, consistent estimation from finite samples.
result Infinite-dimensional divergences can be estimated from finite-dimensional versions with dimension-independent sample complexities.

To obtain uncertainty estimates with real-world Bayesian deep learning models, practical inference approximations are needed. Dropout variational inference (VI) for example has been used for machine vision and medical applications, but VI can severely underestimates model uncertainty. Alpha-divergences are alternative …

2017-03-08abs ↗pdf ↗

A method to compute divergences between decomposable models, useful in supervised learning.

problem Computing exact divergences between high-dimensional distributions is intractable.
method Proposes an approach to compute exact alpha-beta divergences between marginal and conditional distributions of decomposable models.
result Tractable computation of marginal and conditional alpha-beta divergences.

This paper introduces a variational approximation framework using direct optimization of what is known as the {\it scale invariant Alpha-Beta divergence} (sAB divergence). This new objective encompasses most variational objectives that use the Kullback-Leibler, the R{é}nyi or the gamma divergences. It also gives access…

2018-05-02abs ↗pdf ↗

Paper formalizes and analyzes a new bound for variational inference.

problem Lack of theoretical guarantees in variational algorithms.
method Introduces VR-IWAE bound, a generalization of IWAE.
result VR-IWAE bound leads to unbiased gradient estimators.

Black box variational inference (BBVI) with reparameterization gradients triggered the exploration of divergence measures other than the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence, such as alpha divergences. In this paper, we view BBVI with generalized divergences as a form of estimating the marginal likelihood via biased import…

2017-09-21abs ↗pdf ↗

AES uses α-divergence to select informative points for BO, improving optimization performance.

problem Optimizing complex functions with limited evaluations.
method AES uses α-divergence to select points based on dependency with global maximum.
result AES outperforms other information-based acquisition functions in various experiments.

We consider the nonlinear Kalman filtering problem using Kullback-Leibler (KL) and αα-divergence measures as optimization criteria. Unlike linear Kalman filters, nonlinear Kalman filters do not have closed form Gaussian posteriors because of a lack of conjugacy due to the nonlinearity in the likelihood. In this paper …

2017-05-01abs ↗pdf ↗

Optimized α\alpha-posteriors reduce KL divergence from true posterior in parametric misspecification.

problem Reduction of KL divergence from true posterior in parametric model misspecification.
method Derivation of Bernstein-von Mises theorem and optimization of α\alpha-posteriors.
result Optimized α\alpha-posteriors minimize KL divergence from true posterior, especially in severe misspecification.

Black-box alpha (BB-αα) is a new approximate inference method based on the minimization of αα-divergences. BB-αα scales to large datasets because it can be implemented using stochastic gradient descent. BB-αα can be applied to complex probabilistic models with little effort since it only requires as input the likel…

2015-11-10abs ↗pdf ↗

Improved Bayesian inference using power priors with historical data.

problem Improving Bayesian inference with historical data.
method Generalized power priors that adapt to the α\alpha parameter of Amari's α\alpha-divergence.
result Improved performance through appropriate choices of the α\alpha parameter.

EGAB algorithms improve online portfolio selection.

problem Online portfolio selection problem.
method Generalized exponentiated gradient (EG) updates with Alpha-Beta divergence regularization.
result EGAB algorithms enhance portfolio performance, especially with transaction costs.

Alpha2 discovers logical formulaic alphas using deep reinforcement learning.

problem Discovering interpretable formulaic alphas for better trading strategies.
method Formulating alpha discovery as program construction, using deep reinforcement learning to navigate the search space.
result Empirical experiments show Alpha2 identifies diverse, logical, and effective alphas improving trading strategy performance.

The problem of estimating an unknown discrete distribution from its samples is a fundamental tenet of statistical learning. Over the past decade, it attracted significant research effort and has been solved for a variety of divergence measures. Surprisingly, an equally important problem, estimating an unknown Markov ch…

2018-10-28abs ↗pdf ↗

We give an explicit algorithm and source code for extracting expected returns for stocks from expected returns for alphas. Our algorithm altogether bypasses combining alphas with weights into "alpha combos". Simply put, we have developed a new method for trading alphas which does not involve combining them. This yields…

2017-08-09abs ↗pdf ↗

Paper proposes a new framework to mine synergistic formulaic alphas for better stock trend forecasting.

problem Mining alphas separately ignores their combined performance, leading to suboptimal models.
method Proposes a reinforcement learning-based framework that optimizes the mining of synergistic formulaic alpha sets.
result Demonstrates higher returns in stock trend forecasting compared to previous approaches.

Alpha-R1 uses LLMs to reason about economic factors and news for better alpha screening.

problem Challenges in data-driven investment strategies due to signal decay and regime shifts.
method Reinforcement learning trained on 8B parameters to evaluate alpha relevance under changing market conditions.
result Empirically outperforms benchmark strategies and shows improved robustness to alpha decay.

We propose a framework for constructing factor models for alpha streams. Our motivation is threefold. 1) When the number of alphas is large, the sample covariance matrix is singular. 2) Its out-of-sample stability is challenging. 3) Optimization of investment allocation into alpha streams can be tractable for a factor …

2014-06-13abs ↗pdf ↗

We compute the analytic expression of the probability distributions F{FTSE100,+} and F{FTSE100,-} of the normalized positive and negative FTSE100 (UK) index daily returns r(t). Furthermore, we define the alpha re-scaled FTSE100 daily index positive returns r(t)^alpha and negative returns (-r(t))^alpha that we call, aft…

2010-04-07abs ↗pdf ↗

In terms of the stock exchange returns, we compute the analytic expression of the probability distributions F{DAX,+} and F{DAX,-} of the normalized positive and negative DAX (Germany) index daily returns r(t). Furthermore, we define the alpha re-scaled DAX daily index positive returns r(t)^alpha and negative returns (-…

2010-04-07abs ↗pdf ↗

It is well known that combining multiple hedge fund alpha streams yields diversification benefits to the resultant portfolio. Additionally, crossing trades between different alpha streams reduces transaction costs. As the number of alpha streams increases, the relative turnover of the portfolio decreases as more trades…

2014-04-03abs ↗pdf ↗

RiskMiner discovers formulaic alphas using MCTS for better performance.

problem Mining formulaic alphas without considering structural information and alpha correlations.
method Formulates alpha mining as an MDP and solves it with a risk-seeking MCTS.
result Our method outperforms state-of-the-art benchmarks and achieves the most profitable results.

Internal crossing of trades between multiple alpha streams results in portfolio turnover reduction. Turnover reduction can be modeled using the correlation structure of the alpha streams. As more and more alphas are added, generally turnover reduces. In this note we use a factor model approach to address the question o…

2014-05-31abs ↗pdf ↗

Enhances genetic programming for stock alpha discovery with warm start and structural constraints.

problem Overwhelming search space and computational burden in traditional genetic programming for alpha factor discovery.
method Proposes a new GP framework with warm start and structural constraints to enhance search performance and interpretability.
result Superior out-of-sample prediction results and higher portfolio returns compared to benchmarks.

We give an explicit algorithm and source code for combining alpha streams via bounded regression. In practical applications typically there is insufficient history to compute a sample covariance matrix (SCM) for a large number of alphas. To compute alpha allocation weights, one then resorts to (weighted) regression ove…

2015-01-22abs ↗pdf ↗

Unified convergence analysis of alpha-SVRG under strong convexity.

problem Analyzing the convergence of alpha-SVRG in strongly convex environments.
method Unified convergence rate expression for alpha-SVRG under fixed learning rate, demonstrating faster convergence than SGD and SVRG.
result alpha-SVRG has a faster convergence rate compared to SGD and SVRG under suitable choice of alpha.

AlphaEval evaluates alpha mining models efficiently and comprehensively.

problem Lack of systematic evaluation for alpha mining models.
method Unified, parallelizable evaluation framework assessing predictive power, stability, robustness, financial logic, and diversity.
result AlphaEval achieves evaluation consistency comparable to comprehensive backtesting, providing more comprehensive insights and higher efficiency.

New methods for tuning alpha in Gibbs posteriors improve speed and accuracy.

problem Inconsistency in Bayesian inference and lack of fast tuning methods for alpha.
method Proposed two data-driven methods: sample-splitting and bootstrapping. Formulated alpha-posteriors for three models.
result Sample-splitting outperforms SafeBayes in speed and accuracy, especially in complex models.

An explicit expression is obtained for the sectional curvature in the plane spanned by two stationary flows, cos(k, x) and cos(l, x). It is shown that for certain values of the wave vectors k and l the curvature becomes positive for alpha > alpha_0, where 0 < alpha_0 < 1 is of the order 1/k. This suggests that the flow…

2000-07-09abs ↗pdf ↗