These notes survey and explore an emerging method, which we call the low-degree method, for predicting and understanding statistical-versus-computational tradeoffs in high-dimensional inference problems. In short, the method posits that a certain quantity -- the second moment of the low-degree likelihood ratio -- gives…
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48 results for “low-degree likelihood ratio”
Sublinear algorithms detect cliques in graphs with high probability.
problem Detecting a planted clique in random graphs efficiently.
method Non-adaptive low-degree polynomial queries of adjacency matrix entries.
result Sublinear time detection is possible for a specific range of clique sizes.
Study disproves conjecture about low-degree polynomials in hypothesis testing.
problem Conjecture about limitations of polynomial-time algorithms in hypothesis testing.
method Used counterexamples to refute the conjecture and modified the conjecture to rule out the counterexample.
result Disproved conjecture about limitations of low-degree polynomials in hypothesis testing.
New algorithm achieves optimal clustering for sparse centers with high dimensions.
problem Statistical and computational limits of clustering sparse centers with high dimensions.
method Sparse clustering algorithm based on sparse PCA.
result Achieves minimax optimal misclustering rate under certain conditions.
Efficient tests achieve best error rates in high-dimensional hypothesis testing.
problem Achieving optimal error rates in computationally efficient hypothesis testing.
method Linear spectral statistics and low-degree likelihood ratio analysis.
result An efficient test achieves the best possible error rates among all computationally efficient tests.
The monotonicity of the Franz-Parisi potential is equivalent with Low-degree MMSE lower boundsmath.ST
New work shows FP potential monotonicity equals low-degree polynomial estimators limits.
problem Establishing a precise mathematical relationship between statistical physics and polynomial estimators limits.
method Analyzing Gaussian additive models (GAMs) to show FP potential monotonicity equals low-degree polynomial estimators limits.
result For a broad family of Gaussian additive models, the power of low-degree polynomials is equivalent to the monotonicity of the annealed FP potential.
Detects dense subhypergraphs in random hypergraphs using low-degree polynomials.
problem Detecting a planted dense subhypergraph in a random hypergraph model.
method Degree-n^o(1) polynomials of adjacency tensor entries.
result Thresholds for detection in different density regimes.
Neural networks approximate likelihood ratios for complex models.
problem Difficulty in computing likelihood ratios for modern models.
method Applying the likelihood ratio trick with neural network classifiers.
result Different neural network setups can approximate likelihood ratios with varying performance.
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.
Novel neural likelihood ratio estimation for negative data in particle physics.
problem Estimating likelihood ratios with negative probability densities and weights.
method Introducing a novel loss function and a new model architecture based on signed mixture models.
result Demonstrated improved estimation on a real-world example from particle physics.
Online Centralized Non-parametric Change-point Detection via Graph-based Likelihood-ratio Estimationstat.ML
Paper detects changes in graph-based data streams using likelihood-ratios.
problem Detecting changes in synchronized graph-based data streams.
method Kernel-based likelihood-ratio estimation over graph nodes.
result Effective detection and localization of change-points.
New findings show transfer learning is possible even when density ratios are unbounded.
problem Transfer learning under unbounded density ratios.
method Low-degree polynomial estimators, general transfer inequality over .
result Non-trivial transfer learning possible under mild assumptions, including log-concave measures.
New machine learning methods for inference from simulated data.
problem Modeling score and likelihood ratio functions from sampled data.
method InferoStatic Networks (ISN), Kernel Score Estimation (KSE), Kernel Likelihood Ratio Estimation (KLRE).
result Improved inference methods for complex models.
In this note, we study the relationship between the variational gap and the variance of the (log) likelihood ratio. We show that the gap can be upper bounded by some form of dispersion measure of the likelihood ratio, which suggests the bias of variational inference can be reduced by making the distribution of the like…
The paper proposes a method to construct confidence sets using likelihood ratios for sequential decision-making.
problem Constructing valid uncertainty estimates for unknown quantities in sequential decision-making.
method The method uses likelihood ratios to create any-time valid confidence sequences without specialized treatment for each application.
result The proposed confidence sets maintain the prescribed coverage in a model-agnostic manner and their size depends on the choice of estimator sequence.
Study detects signals in spiked Wigner models using log likelihood ratio.
problem Detecting signals in rank-one spiked Wigner models with non-Gaussian noise.
method Proved asymptotic normality of log likelihood ratio and computed error thresholds.
result Optimal signal-to-noise ratio threshold for reliable detection.
Optimal selective classification using likelihood ratios improves model reliability.
problem Enhancing predictive model reliability by allowing uncertain predictions.
method Neyman--Pearson lemma applied to likelihood ratios for optimal selection.
result Neyman--Pearson-informed methods outperform existing baselines under covariate shifts.
Paper explores limits of high-order clustering with planted structures.
problem Statistical and computational limits of high-order clustering with planted structures.
method Developed methods for detection and recovery of clusters, identified signal-to-noise ratio boundaries.
result Sharp boundaries of signal-to-noise ratio for statistical and computational feasibility.
New algorithms recover sparse tensor principal components efficiently.
problem Recovering sparse tensor principal components from noisy data.
method Family of algorithms interpolating between polynomial-time and exhaustive search, tailored for sparse and highly sparse regimes.
result Our algorithms recover sparse vectors for signal-to-noise ratios beyond previous limits, with time complexity .
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 of an underlying theory and measurement apparatus to hig…
Posterior inference with an intractable likelihood is becoming an increasingly common task in scientific domains which rely on sophisticated computer simulations. Typically, these forward models do not admit tractable densities forcing practitioners to make use of approximations. This work introduces a novel approach t…
Optimally tackles covariate shift in RKHS-based nonparametric regression.
problem Covariate shift in nonparametric regression over RKHS.
method Two families of covariate shift problems defined using likelihood ratios. Minimax rate-optimal estimators for KRR and reweighted KRR.
result KRR is minimax rate-optimal and strictly sub-optimal compared to naive estimator under covariate shift.
A new likelihood ratio metric for GANs training stability.
problem Training consistency and stability in GANs.
method Likelihood ratio approach for adversarial optimization.
result New metric for online convergence and stability assessment.
Bayesian optimization improves by focusing on outputs with the likelihood ratio method.
problem Improving Bayesian optimization by accurately estimating output importance.
method Importance-sampling theory and likelihood ratio for guiding search towards low objective function values.
result Likelihood-weighted acquisition functions outperform unweighted ones in various applications.
Log-Likelihood Ratio Minimizing Flows: Towards Robust and Quantifiable Neural Distribution Alignmentcs.LG
New method for robust distribution alignment using log-likelihood ratio and normalizing flows.
problem Distribution alignment challenges in deep learning.
method Log-likelihood ratio statistic and normalizing flows.
result Minimizing the proposed objective yields robust domain alignment.
Survey on using low-degree polynomials to assess statistical tasks complexity.
problem Understanding the complexity of statistical tasks using polynomial functions.
method Applying low-degree polynomials to measure the complexity of statistical tasks, including detection, recovery, and estimation.
result Low-degree polynomials provide a framework to predict and explain statistical-computational tradeoffs.
Low-degree method fails to predict robust subspace recovery problem.
problem Predicting computational tractability of robust subspace recovery problem.
method Low-degree polynomial framework, anti-concentration properties.
result Low-degree method fails to predict computational tractability of robust subspace recovery problem even up to high degree.
Extends likelihood ratio exponential families to analyze various optimization methods.
problem Analyzing optimization methods like rate-distortion and information bottleneck.
method Linking geometric mixture paths to exponential families and using hypothesis testing.
result Provides a common mathematical framework for understanding these methods.
DeepLR constructs confidence intervals for neural networks with asymmetric expansions.
problem Uncertainty estimation for neural network predictions.
method Likelihood-ratio-based approach for constructing asymmetric confidence intervals.
result DeepLR offers asymmetric intervals expanding in regions with limited data.
Various problems in Engineering and Statistics require the computation of the likelihood ratio function of two probability densities. In classical approaches the two densities are assumed known or to belong to some known parametric family. In a data-driven version we replace this requirement with the availability of da…
Study on detecting and recovering hidden dense cycles in random graphs.
problem Detecting and recovering hidden dense cycles in random graphs.
method Information-theoretic analysis of thresholds for detection and recovery.
result Characterization of information-theoretic thresholds for detection and recovery.
Unified view of KL-divergence and IPMs via DRE, with new DRM metrics.
problem Unified understanding of KL-divergence and IPMs.
method Unified representation via maximum likelihood density-ratio estimation (DRE).
result Unified form of IPMs and novel DRM metrics.
Universal Inferencemath.ST
A universal method for hypothesis tests and confidence sets without regularity conditions.
problem Difficult inference in irregular statistical models.
method Modified likelihood ratio statistic (split LRT).
result Works for any parametric and some nonparametric models.
We study the computational cost of recovering a unit-norm sparse principal component planted in a random matrix, in either the Wigner or Wishart spiked model (observing either with drawn from the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble, or independent samples from $\mathcal{N}(0, I_n + …
In this work, a deep learning-based method for log-likelihood ratio (LLR) lossy compression and quantization is proposed, with emphasis on a single-input single-output uncorrelated fading communication setting. A deep autoencoder network is trained to compress, quantize and reconstruct the bit log-likelihood ratios cor…
Paper explores statistical and computational limits of estimating low-rank Gaussian mixtures.
problem Estimating low-rank matrix-variate observations with optimal statistical and computational limits.
method Low-rank Gaussian mixture model (LrMM) and minimax lower bounds.
result Minimax optimality of maximum likelihood estimator and spectral aggregation method.
Paper connects free-energy and low-degree hardness in high-dimensional statistics.
problem High-dimensional statistical inference problems are computationally hard.
method Defines a free-energy criterion and connects it to low-degree hardness.
result Establishes connection between free-energy and low-degree hardness for Gaussian models.
New findings on computational limits for estimating hidden structures.
problem Estimating hidden structures in noisy data.
method Use of low-degree polynomials as a restricted model of computation.
result Established low-degree hardness of recovery problems for easy detection problems.
This paper develops embeddings that preserve likelihood-based statistical inference.
problem Modern machine learning embeddings destroy the geometric structure required for likelihood-based inference.
method Developed a rigorous theory of likelihood-preserving embeddings and introduced the Likelihood-Ratio Distortion metric.
result Controlling the distortion is necessary and sufficient for preserving inference.
In deep neural network, the cross-entropy loss function is commonly used for classification. Minimizing cross-entropy is equivalent to maximizing likelihood under assumptions of uniform feature and class distributions. It belongs to generative training criteria which does not directly discriminate correct class from co…
Graph-based LRE estimates likelihood-ratios collaboratively for nodes.
problem Comparing unknown pdfs at graph nodes with graph structure.
method Graph-based Relative Unconstrained Least-squares Importance Fitting (GRULSIF).
result Collaborative estimation improves performance compared to independent methods.
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.
The paper proposes an efficient nested simulation design using likelihood ratio method.
problem Designing nested simulations with fixed outer scenarios and minimizing simulation effort.
method Proposes a bi-level optimization problem to decide inner replications and pooling strategies.
result Optimized design achieves $\cO(Γ^{-1})$ mean squared error of estimators.
Sequential hypothesis testing is a desirable decision making strategy in any time sensitive scenario. Compared with fixed sample-size testing, sequential testing is capable of achieving identical probability of error requirements using less samples in average. For a binary detection problem, it is well known that for k…
FF algorithm uses goodness as a likelihood-ratio test for scalar normalization.
problem Training each layer locally with scalar goodness.
method FF algorithm uses a likelihood-ratio test with squared goodness as the sufficient statistic.
result The FF algorithm generalizes to anisotropic and heavy-tailed populations.
wd1 improves reasoning in dLLMs by optimizing policies without policy ratios.
problem Improving reasoning in diffusion-based large language models through RL.
method wd1: ratio-free policy optimization using weighted log-likelihood.
result wd1 outperforms diffusion-based GRPO while requiring lower computational cost.
FF algorithm uses goodness as a measure of input quality, derived from likelihood-ratio tests.
problem Training each layer locally with a goodness measure.
method FF algorithm uses a likelihood-ratio test to define goodness, which is the sum of squared activations normalized between layers.
result The goodness measure is a sufficient statistic for a likelihood-ratio test, explaining the FF algorithm's performance.
A novel kernel-based test detects equality versus singularity of two probability measures.
problem Detecting equality versus singularity of two probability distributions.
method Combines kernel mean and kernel covariance embeddings to construct a likelihood ratio test statistic.
result The test statistic satisfies a '0/\infty' law, vanishing under the null and diverging under the alternative.