Pricing options is an important problem in financial engineering. In many scenarios of practical interest, financial option prices associated to an underlying asset reduces to computing an expectation w.r.t.~a diffusion process. In general, these expectations cannot be calculated analytically, and one way to approximat…
VCSMC improves efficiency in Bayesian phylogenetic inference.
problem Inefficient exploration of phylogenetic state space.
method Variational Combinatorial Sequential Monte Carlo (VCSMC) and nested CSMC.
result VCSMC and VNCSMC explore higher probability spaces efficiently.
AFT combines AIS, SMC, and NFs for better Monte Carlo estimates.
problem Estimating normalizing constants of complex probability distributions.
method Annealed Flow Transport (AFT) integrates AIS, SMC, and normalizing flows.
result AFT improves Monte Carlo estimates of normalizing constants and expectations.
New method uses diffusion models for Bayesian inverse problems.
problem Solving Bayesian inverse problems with linear-Gaussian models.
method Decoupled Diffusion Sequential Monte Carlo (DDSMC) method.
result Asymptotically exact solution demonstrated on various data types.
In this paper we propose a flexible and efficient framework for handling multi-armed bandits, combining sequential Monte Carlo algorithms with hierarchical Bayesian modeling techniques. The framework naturally encompasses restless bandits, contextual bandits, and other bandit variants under a single inferential model. …
We propose kernel sequential Monte Carlo (KSMC), a framework for sampling from static target densities. KSMC is a family of sequential Monte Carlo algorithms that are based on building emulator models of the current particle system in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space. We here focus on modelling nonlinear covariance s…
seMCD computes depth functions with statistical guarantees using sequential Monte Carlo.
problem Computing depth functions is computationally challenging, especially in high dimensions.
method Sequential Monte Carlo methodology with theoretical and empirical guarantees.
result The seMCD method provides accurate depth approximations with fewer samples than traditional methods.
Improved diffusion models using energy distillation and sequential Monte Carlo.
problem Training instability and inferior performance in energy parameterized diffusion models.
method Introduced a novel training regime for energy functions through distillation of pre-trained diffusion models, and cast the sampling procedure as a Feynman Kac model.
result Demonstrated improved performance and new sampling techniques.
We explore a general framework in Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling where sequential proposals are tried as a candidate for the next state of the Markov chain. This sequential-proposal framework can be applied to various existing MCMC methods, including Metropolis-Hastings algorithms using random proposals and m…
Enhances SMC² with Hessian info for more efficient posterior approximation.
problem Improving accuracy and efficiency in Bayesian inference.
method Integrates second-order information (Hessian) into SMC²'s proposal distribution.
result Second-order proposals lead to more accurate posterior approximations and better step-size selection.
Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods comprise one of the most successful approaches to approximate Bayesian filtering. However, SMC without good proposal distributions struggle in high dimensions. We propose nested sequential Monte Carlo (NSMC), a methodology that generalises the SMC framework by requiring only approxi…
The paper improves SMC algorithm for multi-modal distributions by proving variance bounds.
problem Problems with SMC on multi-modal distributions, especially in terms of mixing time.
method Proves variance bounds for SMC on multi-modal distributions using soft decomposition.
result Bounds on SMC variance depend on local rather than global mixing times.
ChEES-HMC improves SMC samplers' efficiency and speed.
problem Efficiently sampling from complex posterior distributions.
method Incorporating ChEES-HMC into SMC samplers.
result ChEES-HMC outperforms NUTS in speed and efficiency.
We build on auto-encoding sequential Monte Carlo (AESMC): a method for model and proposal learning based on maximizing the lower bound to the log marginal likelihood in a broad family of structured probabilistic models. Our approach relies on the efficiency of sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) for performing inference in st…
A new transformer model uses Monte Carlo methods for sequence prediction.
problem Predicting sequences from observations with uncertainty.
method Integrates Monte Carlo methods into a transformer architecture to model stochastic sequences.
result Proposes a generative model with predictive distributions.
A new differentiable resampling method for Monte Carlo simulations.
problem Improving the efficiency and differentiability of resampling in Monte Carlo simulations.
method Proposes a diffusion model surrogate for resampling, proving consistency and outperforming existing methods.
result The proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art differentiable resampling methods on various benchmarks.
New algorithm reduces overfitting in neural networks.
problem Overfitting in neural networks.
method Integrates SMC with SGHMC for mini-batch sampling.
result SMCSGHMC outperforms SGD and deep ensembles.
We propose a new framework for how to use sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithms for inference in probabilistic graphical models (PGM). Via a sequential decomposition of the PGM we find a sequence of auxiliary distributions defined on a monotonically increasing sequence of probability spaces. By targeting these auxili…
New bounds for SMC show its advantage over MCMC in multimodal distributions.
problem Estimating expectations under multimodal distributions with slow global mixing.
method Proves finite sample complexities for SMC with local mixing times, addressing bias through sequential resampling.
result SMC provides fully polynomial time approximation for multimodal problems.
The paper proposes a new method to approximate Wasserstein-Fisher-Rao flows using Monte Carlo techniques.
problem Sampling from probability distributions and minimizing Kullback-Leibler divergence.
method Sequential Monte Carlo approximations of Wasserstein-Fisher-Rao gradient flows.
result The proposed method outperforms other Monte Carlo algorithms in certain conditions.
Paper proposes a new method for sampling from complex distributions.
problem Sampling from unnormalised density functions in complex distributions.
method Combines amortised and particle-based methods with reinforcement learning.
result Improves sampling from complex distributions compared to existing methods.
CHMC improves HMC efficiency for multimodal distributions.
problem Slow convergence of HMC in multimodal distributions.
method Integrates a counterdiabatic term to optimize Hamiltonian changes.
result CHMC achieves efficient sampling from challenging distributions.
New method uses hyperbolic space for faster phylogenetic tree inference.
problem Inefficient Euclidean-based phylogenetic inference in high dimensions.
method Developed novel hyperbolic extensions of sequential search algorithms and variational inference methods.
result Improved speed, scalability and performance in phylogenetic inference.
We introduce a new approach for amortizing inference in directed graphical models by learning heuristic approximations to stochastic inverses, designed specifically for use as proposal distributions in sequential Monte Carlo methods. We describe a procedure for constructing and learning a structured neural network whic…
We introduce interacting particle Markov chain Monte Carlo (iPMCMC), a PMCMC method based on an interacting pool of standard and conditional sequential Monte Carlo samplers. Like related methods, iPMCMC is a Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler on an extended space. We present empirical results that show significant improv…
Most of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithms in existing probabilistic programming systems suboptimally use only model priors as proposal distributions. In this work, we describe an approach for training a discriminative model, namely a neural network, in order to approximate the …
New method tunes SMC samplers efficiently without high costs.
problem Tuning SMC samplers with unadjusted kernels is challenging.
method Greedy Incremental Divergence Minimization (GIDM) for step size tuning.
result GIDM reduces KL divergence and tunes SMC samplers efficiently.
Many recent advances in large scale probabilistic inference rely on variational methods. The success of variational approaches depends on (i) formulating a flexible parametric family of distributions, and (ii) optimizing the parameters to find the member of this family that most closely approximates the exact posterior…
New method improves training-free guidance for diffusion models, achieving state-of-the-art results.
problem Accurate, training-free guidance for conditional generation in diffusion models.
method Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) framework with Multi-Level Monte Carlo (MLMC) variance reduction.
result Achieves state-of-the-art results on CIFAR-10 and ImageNet datasets with significant cost reduction.
Self-distillation improves constrained language generation by aligning models with target distributions.
problem Sparse and uninformative reward signals in constrained generation settings.
method Iteratively refining the base model through self-distillation, incorporating learned twist functions and proposals.
result Substantial gains in generation quality through improved model alignment with target distributions.
New method uses Fokker-Planck equation for sampling and inference.
problem Intractability of evaluating probability density in practical applications.
method Reformulates Fokker-Planck equation as a particle flow method, using velocity field.
result Turns intractable density evaluation into an advantage for variational inference, kernel mean embeddings, and sequential Monte Carlo.
DAIS improves AIS by resampling, avoiding gradient issues.
problem Low effective sample size in DAIS.
method DAIS with resampling step to improve efficiency.
result Resampling step avoids gradient variance issues.
New SMC samplers improve stochastic optimisation efficiency.
problem Optimizing functions with intractable gradients in machine learning and statistics.
method Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) samplers for stochastic optimisation.
result Significant computational gains achieved with SMC approximations.
Bayesian inference for models that have an intractable partition function is known as a doubly intractable problem, where standard Monte Carlo methods are not applicable. The past decade has seen the development of auxiliary variable Monte Carlo techniques (Møller et al., 2006; Murray et al., 2006) for tackling this pr…
dSMC improves parallel processing of state-space models.
problem Processing multiple observations efficiently in state-space models.
method A parallel-in-time particle smoother that reduces complexity to log(T).
result dSMC achieves O(log(T)) time complexity on parallel architectures.
New SMC algorithm reduces memory usage for online clustering.
problem Uncertainty in online clustering with complex distributions.
method Decomposes clustering into independent subproblems using SMC.
result Accurately and efficiently solves clustering problems.
A new variational method for SSMs improves inference efficiency.
problem Hard variational inference for state space models.
method Proposes variational marginal particle filter (VMPF) based on Rao-Blackwellization.
result VMPF provides tighter variational bounds and sometimes benefits from unbiased reparameterization.
New method optimizes decision-making in uncertain environments.
problem Optimal decision-making under partial observability.
method Nested sequential Monte Carlo algorithm for continuous POMDPs.
result Demonstrated effectiveness on continuous POMDP benchmarks.
Paper improves VAEs using Monte Carlo methods.
problem Improving the Evidence Lower Bound (ELBO) for VAEs.
method Uses Monte Carlo techniques to improve ELBO, specifically Sequential Importance Sampling (SIS) with carefully chosen kernels.
result Demonstrates improved performance on various applications.
Novel approach to Bayesian experimental design for non-exchangeable data.
problem Optimal experimental design for non-exchangeable data.
method Inside-Out SMC2 algorithm embedded in particle Markov chain Monte Carlo framework. result Efficacy demonstrated on a set of dynamical systems.
Parallelizes active learning for Bayesian inference using Nested Sampler.
problem Expensive likelihood evaluations in complex experiments.
method Uses Nested Sampler to generate nearly-optimal batches of candidates in parallel.
result Comparable accuracy to sequential conditioning with efficient parallelization.
CRAFT improves on existing methods for sampling complex distributions.
problem Sampling from complex probability distributions.
method Combines SMC with variational inference using normalizing flows.
result Improves on Annealed Flow Transport Monte Carlo and MCMC-based Stochastic Normalizing Flows.
We introduce a new method to price American-style options on underlying investments governed by stochastic volatility (SV) models. The method does not require the volatility process to be observed. Instead, it exploits the fact that the optimal decision functions in the corresponding dynamic programming problem can be …
Improves RL planning by proposing sub-goals hierarchically.
problem Sequential planning assumption in RL.
method Divide-and-Conquer Monte Carlo Tree Search (DC-MCTS).
result Improves navigation and control tasks.
New SMC sampler improves diffusion model sampling efficiency.
problem Sampling generative diffusion models efficiently.
method Constructs correlated observation paths and designs a sampler.
result Improved statistical efficiency, especially under outlier conditions.
Develops diffusion samplers for target distributions with efficient score and density estimates.
problem Estimating scores and densities for time-varying distributions.
method Sequential Monte Carlo with diffusion paths and control variates.
result Effective samplers for time-varying distributions with theoretical guarantees and practical applications.
New SMC method for pBNNs improves scalability and predictive performance.
problem Training pBNNs with high-dimensional stochastic parameters.
method Gradient-based proposals within SMC samplers.
result New method outperforms state-of-the-art in predictive performance and training time.
One of the key challenges in identifying nonlinear and possibly non-Gaussian state space models (SSMs) is the intractability of estimating the system state. Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods, such as the particle filter (introduced more than two decades ago), provide numerical solutions to the nonlinear state estima…