The paper introduces structured variational families to improve scalability in black-box variational inference.
problem Scalability issues in black-box variational inference, especially for large datasets and hierarchical models.
method Developed structured variational families that achieve better iteration complexity of O(N) compared to full-rank families.
result Structured variational families can achieve better scaling with respect to dataset size N, improving iteration complexity from O(N^2) to O(N).
Study of portfolio management under relative performance concerns using mean field games.
problem Portfolio management problems under relative performance concerns.
method Forward utilities of CARA type, mean field games, best response and equilibrium strategies.
result Solve forward-utility finite player game and mean-field game under asset specialization.
New RL algorithms achieve optimal policies with polynomial sample complexity for mean-field problems.
problem Statistical efficiency of Mean-Field Reinforcement Learning with general function approximation.
method Introduce MF-MBED to characterize problem complexity, propose algorithms based on maximal likelihood estimation.
result Rich mean-field RL problems have low MF-MBED, leading to polynomial sample complexity.
The mean field methods, which entail approximating intractable probability distributions variationally with distributions from a tractable family, enjoy high efficiency, guaranteed convergence, and provide lower bounds on the true likelihood. But due to requirement for model-specific derivation of the optimization equa…
BBVI converges nearly dimensionally independent for log-concave targets.
problem Efficiently optimizing variational parameters in high-dimensional spaces.
method Proved convergence rate of BBVI with reparametrization gradient for log-concave targets.
result BBVI converges with nearly independent dimension dependence for log-concave targets.
This work shows linear convergence for two-layer neural networks in mean-field regime.
problem Optimizing two-layer neural networks in the mean-field regime.
method Mean-field analysis and continuous-time noisy gradient descent.
result Establishes linear convergence rate for two-layer neural networks.
Deep learning enhances solving complex mean field games in finance.
problem Solving large-scale mean field games with financial applications.
method Combining mean field games theory with deep learning techniques.
result Improved solutions for large-scale financial games.
Improves variational inference for sparse models using mixtures of exponential families.
problem Intractability of posterior distributions in Bayesian sparse models.
method Flexible mean field variational inference using mixtures of non-overlapping exponential families.
result Mixtures of exponential families with non-overlapping support form an exponential family, enabling analytical updates.
A framework solves parametric families of MFGs efficiently.
problem Efficiently solving MFG systems with varying initial distributions and terminal costs.
method Operator learning framework for parametric families of MFGs.
result Accurate approximation for cybersecurity and quadratic MFGs.
In intractable, undirected graphical models, an intuitive way of creating structured mean field approximations is to select an acyclic tractable subgraph. We show that the hardness of computing the objective function and gradient of the mean field objective qualitatively depends on a simple graph property. If the tract…
We develop a general variational inference method that preserves dependency among the latent variables. Our method uses copulas to augment the families of distributions used in mean-field and structured approximations. Copulas model the dependency that is not captured by the original variational distribution, and thus …
Geometric framework analyzes bias in variational inference for posterior functionals.
problem Analyzing the bias of posterior functionals under variational approximations.
method Developed a geometric framework to evaluate the bias of posterior functionals using the variational tangent space.
result The leading-order bias of a posterior functional is determined by its component orthogonal to the variational tangent space.
New method for variational inference without conjugacy constraints.
problem Efficient variational inference with flexible prior and approximation families.
method Wasserstein gradient flow for mean-field approximation.
result Improved convergence and efficiency of variational inference.
Mean Field Variational Bayes (MFVB) is a popular posterior approximation method due to its fast runtime on large-scale data sets. However, it is well known that a major failing of MFVB is its (sometimes severe) underestimates of the uncertainty of model variables and lack of information about model variable covariance.…
Study approximates operators on labelled conditional distributions for non-exchangeable systems.
problem Approximating operators on constrained probability measures for non-exchangeable systems.
method Combines cylindrical approximations and DeepONet-type neural architecture for finite-dimensional representations.
result Establishes a universal approximation theorem for continuous operators on Mλ. We analyze a family of portfolio management problems under relative performance criteria, for fund managers having CARA or CRRA utilities and trading in a common investment horizon in log-normal markets. We construct explicit constant equilibrium strategies for both the finite population games and the corresponding mea…
Proves equations for high-dimensional gradient-based methods from Gaussian data.
problem High-dimensional asymptotics of gradient-based learning algorithms.
method Closed-form equations derived from dynamical mean-field theory.
result Equations match those from discretized DMFT for gradient flow.
Bayesian neural networks learn efficiently at infinite width, matching polynomial-width performance.
problem Understanding the inductive bias of infinite-width neural networks.
method Analyzing the reduced entropy and using subsampling techniques.
result The Bayesian mean-field learner generalizes exactly on polynomially-bounded targets.
Mean field variational Bayes (MFVB) is a popular posterior approximation method due to its fast runtime on large-scale data sets. However, it is well known that a major failing of MFVB is that it underestimates the uncertainty of model variables (sometimes severely) and provides no information about model variable cova…
We propose a new variational family for Bayesian neural networks. We decompose the variational posterior into two components, where the radial component captures the strength of each neuron in terms of its magnitude; while the directional component captures the statistical dependencies among the weight parameters. The …
An autonomous variational inference algorithm for arbitrary graphical models requires the ability to optimize variational approximations over the space of model parameters as well as over the choice of tractable families used for the variational approximation. In this paper, we present a novel combination of graph part…
This paper studies gradient flows for sampling using various metrics and their affine invariance.
problem Sampling from probability distributions with unknown normalizations.
method Gradient flows in the space of probability measures, focusing on Kullback-Leibler divergence and affine invariance of metrics.
result Gradient flows of Kullback-Leibler divergence do not depend on the normalization constant, and affine invariance is achieved for certain metrics.
New method infers population dynamics from snapshots using path space optimization.
problem Recover dynamics of a population from its temporal marginals.
method Grid-free algorithm using Schrödinger bridges coupled via noisy gradient descent in mean-field limit.
result Global convergence to min-entropy estimator with end-to-end theoretical guarantees.
Improved Bayesian uncertainty quantification using variational bagging.
problem Inefficient and underestimating uncertainty in mean-field variational Bayes.
method Integrates bagging with variational Bayes for improved inference.
result Bagged variational posterior provides proper uncertainty quantification.
Paper adds Fisher Information to mean field optimization for faster convergence.
problem Mean field optimization in neural networks training.
method Developed energy-dissipation method and gradient flow on probability space.
result Marginal distributions converge exponentially to minimizer.
We present a general method for deriving collapsed variational inference algo- rithms for probabilistic models in the conjugate exponential family. Our method unifies many existing approaches to collapsed variational inference. Our collapsed variational inference leads to a new lower bound on the marginal likelihood. W…
Study explores optimal strategies in games with multiple players and mean-field interactions.
problem Optimal strategies in games with multiple players and mean-field interactions.
method Exploration of three different notions of optimality, including mean-field control solution, mean-field coarse correlated equilibria, and mean-field Nash equilibria.
result Approximation of cooperative and competitive equilibria in large N-player games by mean-field control and mean-field equilibria. Mean field variational Bayes (MFVB) is a popular posterior approximation method due to its fast runtime on large-scale data sets. However, it is well known that a major failing of MFVB is that it underestimates the uncertainty of model variables (sometimes severely) and provides no information about model variable cova…
New control methods improve dynamic measure transport paths.
problem Improving paths for dynamic measure transport.
method Connecting mean-field games to optimization problems for learning paths, advocating for smoothness of velocities.
result Our method recovers more efficient and smooth transport models compared to untilted paths.
New GM layers improve neural network performance.
problem Improving neural network performance.
method Employing Gaussian mixture models and Wasserstein gradient flows.
result GM layers achieve comparable performance to two-layer networks.
Unified q-learning for mean-field jump-diffusion models with unobservable population distribution.
problem Continuous-time q-learning in mean-field jump-diffusion models with unobservable population distribution.
method Proposed decoupled Iq-function for unified policy evaluation in MFG and MFC problems; unified q-learning algorithm based on test policies and averaged martingale orthogonality condition.
result Unified policy evaluation rule for MFG and MFC problems based on decoupled Iq-function.
Existence of strong randomized equilibria in mean-field games with common noise.
problem Existence of strong solutions in mean-field games of optimal stopping.
method Connection with Bank-El Karoui's representation problem and continuity assumptions.
result Existence of strong randomized mean-field equilibrium under certain conditions.
Elman-type RNNs converge to globally optimal solutions in the mean-field regime.
problem Optimizing feature learning in wide RNNs.
method Analysis of gradient descent dynamics and mean-field limits.
result Fixed points of infinite-width dynamics are globally optimal.
We analyze training dynamics in Gaussian mixture models using a comparison theorem.
problem Analyzing training algorithms with Gaussian mixture data.
method Applying a Gaussian comparison theorem to a specific family of training algorithms.
result Validated dynamic mean-field expressions and provided iterative refinement schemes.
Study on mean field games with singular controls and their applications.
problem Optimal productivity expansion in dynamic oligopolies.
method Existence and uniqueness of mean field equilibria through nonlinear equations, Abelian limit for discounted and ergodic games.
result Valid connection between discounted and ergodic games, approximation of Nash equilibria.
One of the core problems in variational inference is a choice of approximate posterior distribution. It is crucial to trade-off between efficient inference with simple families as mean-field models and accuracy of inference. We propose a variant of a greedy approximation of the posterior distribution with tractable bas…
Study shows uniform-time chaos propagation in mean field Langevin dynamics.
problem Understanding the convergence of marginal distributions in mean field dynamics.
method Assumed functional convexity of energy, used Lp-convergence and Wasserstein metrics. result Uniform-in-time propagation of chaos proved in both L2-Wasserstein and relative entropy. The mean field algorithm is a widely used approximate inference algorithm for graphical models whose exact inference is intractable. In each iteration of mean field, the approximate marginals for each variable are updated by getting information from the neighbors. This process can be equivalently converted into a feedf…
New SDEs use G-Brownian motion, extending mean-field models.
problem Extending mean-field models to new types of stochastic processes.
method Introduced G-SDEs with coefficients dependent on current state and solution as random variable. result Validated new SDE framework for complex stochastic systems.
New neural networks learn mappings between probability measures and functions.
problem Learning mappings between Wasserstein space of probability measures and function spaces.
method Two types of neural networks: bin density and cylindrical approximation, are proposed and supported by universal approximation theorems.
result Accuracy and efficiency of mean-field neural networks in generalization error with various test distributions.
Derives a family of hyperparameter scaling strategies for neural networks.
problem Optimizing hyperparameters for wide and deep neural networks.
method Introduces a one-parameter family of hyperparameter scaling strategies.
result Reveals proper scaling of depth with width for large-scale models.
Study equilibrium consumption habits in a large population using mean field games.
problem Equilibrium consumption under external habit formation in a large population.
method Formulated and solved mean field games for linear and multiplicative habit formation preferences, constructed approximate Nash equilibria for large n-player games.
result Characterized mean field equilibrium strategies and derived financial implications.
Model connects financial contagion models to mean field analysis.
problem Systemic risk in financial networks.
method Combines Eisenberg-Noe and mean field models.
result Mean field limit derived from finite bank system.
Paper studies convergence of Mean-Field GDA dynamics for MNE of continuous games.
problem Finding mixed Nash equilibria in continuous games.
method Two-scale Mean-Field Gradient Descent Ascent dynamics.
result Two-scale Mean-Field GDA converges exponentially to MNE without convexity assumptions.
Study multiple-population games using McKean-Vlasov equations.
problem Mean field games and control problems with multiple populations.
method Coupled forward-backward SDEs and Pontryagin's principle.
result Existence of mean field equilibria under various cooperation scenarios.
Actor-critic finds Nash in mean-field games with linear-quadratic costs.
problem Finding Nash equilibrium in mean-field Markov games with linear dynamics and quadratic costs.
method Mean-field actor-critic algorithm with linear function approximation.
result Algorithm converges linearly to Nash equilibrium.
ASVI automates variational inference for complex models.
problem Efficient variational inference for complex probabilistic models.
method Automatic structured variational inference (ASVI) using convex updates.
result ASVI outperforms other methods on a wide range of problems.
Transformers approximate mean-field dynamics of indistinguishable particles.
problem Approximating the dynamics of indistinguishable particles in complex systems.
method Using transformers to model the mean-field dynamics of interacting particle systems.
result Theoretical bounds on the distance between true and transformer-obtained mean-field dynamics.