New method uses Gaussian ODE filtering to approximate likelihoods for fast ODE inverse problems.
problem Intractable forward models in likelihood-free inference, especially for ODEs.
method Gaussian ODE filtering to construct local Gaussian likelihood approximations.
result New solvers outperform standard likelihood-free approaches on benchmark systems.
Proposes LFGP for likelihood-free Gaussian process regression.
problem Inability to set likelihood functions in unknown probability models.
method Clusters and approximates likelihood using asymptotic normality.
result Reduces assumptions and computational costs for scalable problems.
Unified contrastive learning for likelihood-free inference.
problem Parameter inference in models with intractable likelihood.
method Unified contrastive learning scheme for both density ratio and direct posterior estimation.
result Unified approach clarifies method selection and comparison.
ALFI improves likelihood-free inference for black-box generators.
problem Limitations of likelihood-free inference on black-box generators.
method Adversarial Likelihood-Free Inference (ALFI) to estimate posterior distributions.
result ALFI achieves best parameter estimation accuracy with limited simulation.
Deep Gaussian Processes improve likelihood-free inference for complex distributions.
problem Limited flexibility of Bayesian Optimization with GPs for multimodal distributions.
method Proposes Deep Gaussian Processes (DGPs) as a surrogate model for likelihood-free inference.
result DGPs outperform GPs on multimodal distributions while maintaining comparable performance on unimodal cases.
This study benchmarks likelihood-free inference methods for models with heavy-tailed or discrete data.
problem Comparing likelihood-free inference methods for models with structural features like heavy-tails or discreteness.
method Four approaches: MLE, NBE, EOT, and AW-NBE are evaluated using simulations.
result The choice of evaluation tools is crucial for models with extremes and discrete data.
EnVAE uses energy score for likelihood-free VAEs, improving image reconstructions.
problem Likelihood misspecification in VAEs leads to blurry reconstructions and poor data fidelity.
method Deterministic decoder, energy score as reconstruction loss, fast variant for efficiency.
result EnVAE achieves superior reconstruction and generation quality compared to likelihood-based baselines.
Paper proposes energy objective for training normalizing flows without determinants.
problem Challenges in training normalizing flows due to Jacobian determinants.
method Introduces energy objective based on proper scoring rules, determinant-free.
result Energy objective supports novel model families and competitive performance.
In likelihood-free settings where likelihood evaluations are intractable, approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) addresses the formidable inference task to discover plausible parameters of simulation programs that explain the observations. However, they demand large quantities of simulation calls. Critically, hyperpara…
Engine for Likelihood-Free Inference (ELFI) is a Python software library for performing likelihood-free inference (LFI). ELFI provides a convenient syntax for arranging components in LFI, such as priors, simulators, summaries or distances, to a network called ELFI graph. The components can be implemented in a wide vari…
Likelihood-free inference is concerned with the estimation of the parameters of a non-differentiable stochastic simulator that best reproduce real observations. In the absence of a likelihood function, most of the existing inference methods optimize the simulator parameters through a handcrafted iterative procedure tha…
New method resolves nonidentifiability in mixture models.
problem Nonidentifiability in marginal models of mixture models.
method Introducing an effective temperature to generalize the marginal likelihood.
result Maximization of the generalized likelihood leads to unique results.
A new method improves likelihood-free Bayesian inference by transforming summary statistics and using efficient Variational Bayes.
problem Incorrectly assuming normally distributed summary statistics in likelihood-free Bayesian inference.
method Wasserstein Gaussianization transformation combined with robust BSL and efficient Variational Bayes.
result Highly efficient and reliable approximate Bayesian inference for likelihood-free problems.
Unified approach for sequence design combining likelihood-free inference and black-box optimization.
problem Designing biological sequences efficiently and accurately.
method Unified probabilistic framework integrating likelihood-free inference and black-box optimization.
result Previous optimization methods can be adapted and new algorithms proposed within this framework.
Direct neural ratio estimator for likelihood-free inference.
problem Efficient likelihood estimation for complex models.
method Amortized likelihood ratio estimation using neural networks.
result DNRE often outperforms previous ratio estimators.
New method uses neural exponential families for likelihood-free inference.
problem Bayesian Likelihood-Free Inference with intractable likelihood.
method Score Matching neural conditional exponential families for approximate likelihood.
result State-of-the-art performance in posterior sampling for intractable likelihood models.
A new method reduces dimensionality for better likelihood-free parameter estimation.
problem Estimating parameters from data with no closed-form likelihood.
method Combines reconstruction map estimation with dimension-reduction techniques.
result The proposed method outperforms existing techniques in accuracy and efficiency.
Proposes ABC method for discrete data, improving likelihood-free inference.
problem Discrete data likelihood-free inference problems.
method Population-based MCMC ABC framework with a new Markov kernel inspired by Differential Evolution.
result High potential and superiority of the new Markov kernel demonstrated.
Improved likelihood-free inference for high-dimensional models.
problem Challenges in likelihood-free inference for high-dimensional parameter spaces.
method Bayesian optimization-based approach with misspecification-robust characterisation.
result Efficient inference in 100-dimensional space with real data application.
Bayesian neural networks improve likelihood-free inference efficiency.
problem Efficient parameter inference from simulation models with uncertainty.
method Bayesian neural networks for summary statistics, adaptive sampling.
result More robust and efficient posterior estimation.
New algorithms learn latent variable models without tuning, outperforming existing methods.
problem Learning latent variable models without manual tuning.
method Two particle-based algorithms using free energy minimization and coin betting.
result Learning algorithms are entirely tuning-free and competitive with existing methods.
Improved likelihood-free inference by localizing and refining low-dimensional approximations.
problem Poor performance of common likelihood-free methods in high-dimensional models.
method Localisation followed by refinement of low-dimensional summaries.
result Improved accuracy in marginal posteriors through localized and refined approximations.
I consider two problems in machine learning and statistics: the problem of estimating the joint probability density of a collection of random variables, known as density estimation, and the problem of inferring model parameters when their likelihood is intractable, known as likelihood-free inference. The contribution o…
Improves likelihood-free inference by using a new sampling approach to avoid biased data collection.
problem Efficient Bayesian inference without likelihood evaluation for real-world datasets.
method Introduces Neural Proposal (NP) to sample simulation inputs i.i.d. for unbiased posterior inference.
result Demonstrates improved performance, especially for multi-modal posteriors, through experiments.
Likelihood-free inference refers to inference when a likelihood function cannot be explicitly evaluated, which is often the case for models based on simulators. Most of the literature is based on sample-based `Approximate Bayesian Computation' methods, but recent work suggests that approaches based on deep neural condi…
Improved MMD estimator for likelihood-free inference.
problem Computational challenges in estimating MMD for likelihood-free inference.
method Optimally-weighted MMD estimator with improved sample complexity.
result Significantly improved sample complexity for accurate MMD estimation.
New method improves likelihood-free parameter estimation in complex models.
problem Estimating parameters in simulation-based models with unknown likelihood.
method Nested multi-time-scale stochastic approximation (NMTS) method.
result Eliminates bias and accelerates convergence in likelihood-free inference.
New method uses path signatures for efficient likelihood estimation in time-series data.
problem Intractable likelihood functions in complex dynamic models.
method Kernel classifier based on path signatures for sequential data.
result Path signatures yield highly performant classifiers, even with low sample numbers.
Automatically learns summary features from time series data for likelihood-free inference.
problem Necessity of hand-tailored summary features for time series data in likelihood-free inference.
method Data-driven approach to automatically learn summary features.
result Learning summary features from data can outperform hand-crafted values in likelihood-free inference.
Parametric statistical models that are implicitly defined in terms of a stochastic data generating process are used in a wide range of scientific disciplines because they enable accurate modeling. However, learning the parameters from observed data is generally very difficult because their likelihood function is typica…
Likelihood-free methods such as approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) have extended the reach of statistical inference to problems with computationally intractable likelihoods. Such approaches perform well for small-to-moderate dimensional problems, but suffer a curse of dimensionality in the number of model parameter…
Optimal algorithm selects biological models without prior info.
problem Determining the correct biological model without prior knowledge.
method Systems biology models and likelihood-free inference.
result Improved model selection performance over conventional methods.
A new method extends Bayesian optimization to more models and utilities.
problem Extending Bayesian optimization to a broader class of models and utilities.
method Likelihood-free Bayesian Optimization (LFBO) which directly models the acquisition function without separate inference.
result LFBO outperforms state-of-the-art black-box optimization methods on real-world problems.
New method for conditional sampling using M-GANs, likely-free inference.
problem Conditional sampling of probability measures.
method Developed a novel computational approach called M-GANs based on block triangular transport.
result Accurate sampling of conditional measures in various applications.
Simplifies inference for simulators with or without tractable likelihoods.
problem Inference for models with intractable likelihoods.
method Amortized simulation-based frequentist inference.
result Valid confidence sets for parameter inference.
This paper proposes a novel profile likelihood method for estimating the covariance parameters in exploratory factor analysis of high-dimensional Gaussian datasets with fewer observations than number of variables. An implicitly restarted Lanczos algorithm and a limited-memory quasi-Newton method are implemented to deve…
Likelihood-free inference involves inferring parameter values given observed data and a simulator model. The simulator is computer code which takes parameters, performs stochastic calculations, and outputs simulated data. In this work, we view the simulator as a function whose inputs are (1) the parameters and (2) a ve…
We introduce a framework using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for likelihood--free inference (LFI) and Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) where we replace the black-box simulator model with an approximator network and generate a rich set of summary features in a data driven fashion. On benchmark data sets, …
This paper proposes a new method to approximate posterior distributions using generative neural networks trained via scoring rule minimization.
problem Bayesian Likelihood-Free Inference for models with intractable likelihood.
method Approximate posterior with generative neural networks trained via scoring rule minimization, avoiding the instability of adversarial training.
result Scoring Rule minimization leads to better performance and uncertainty quantification compared to adversarial training.
We extend recent work (Brehmer, et. al., 2018) that use neural networks as surrogate models for likelihood-free inference. As in the previous work, we exploit the fact that the joint likelihood ratio and joint score, conditioned on both observed and latent variables, can often be extracted from an implicit generative m…
New particle algorithms optimize latent variable models.
problem Optimizing latent variable models for maximum likelihood estimation.
method Identify gradient flows associated with free energy functional and discretize them to create particle-based algorithms.
result Novel particle algorithms scale to high-dimensional settings and perform well in experiments.
An explosion of high-throughput DNA sequencing in the past decade has led to a surge of interest in population-scale inference with whole-genome data. Recent work in population genetics has centered on designing inference methods for relatively simple model classes, and few scalable general-purpose inference techniques…
A new framework bridges classical and machine learning methods for reliable inference from complex models.
problem Intractable likelihood functions in complex systems make classical statistics ineffective for likelihood-free inference.
method Likelihood-Free Frequentist Inference (LF2I) framework that combines classical statistics and machine learning.
result Valid confidence sets with near finite-sample validity can be constructed for any parameter value.
In many fields of science, generalized likelihood ratio tests are established tools for statistical inference. At the same time, it has become increasingly common that a simulator (or generative model) is used to describe complex processes that tie parameters θ of an underlying theory and measurement apparatus to hig…
A new method for experimental design focuses on predicting downstream quantities of interest.
problem Designs that maximize parameter learning may not maximize downstream quantity prediction.
method Likelihood-free goal-oriented optimal experimental design (LF-GO-OED) using ABC density ratio estimation.
result LF-GO-OED maximizes the expected information gain for downstream quantities.
New method estimates HMM hidden states efficiently.
problem Inaccurate posterior predictive distribution in HMMs.
method Autoregressive-flow for estimating hidden states.
result Estimates comparable to SMC algorithm.
Reconstructing the position of an interaction for any dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC) with the best precision is key to directly detecting Dark Matter. Using the likelihood-free framework, a new algorithm to reconstruct the 2-D (x; y) position and the size of the charge signal (e) of an interaction is presente…
ACORE improves hypothesis testing and confidence sets in likelihood-free inference.
problem Constructing hypothesis tests and confidence sets in likelihood-free inference settings.
method Formulates classical LRT as a classification problem, uses machine learning to improve estimates.
result Demonstrates improved accuracy in hypothesis testing and confidence sets.