Dimension-free Relaxation Times of Informed MCMC Samplers on Discrete Spaces

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Chang, Hyunwoong, Zhou, Quan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Chang, Hyunwoong
Zhou, Quan
author_facet Chang, Hyunwoong
Zhou, Quan
contents Convergence analysis of Markov chain Monte Carlo methods in high-dimensional statistical applications is increasingly recognized. In this paper, we develop general mixing time bounds for Metropolis-Hastings algorithms on discrete spaces by building upon and refining some recent theoretical advancements in Bayesian model selection problems. We establish sufficient conditions for a class of informed Metropolis-Hastings algorithms to attain relaxation times that are independent of the problem dimension. These conditions are grounded in the high-dimensional statistical theory and allow for possibly multimodal posterior distributions. We obtain our results through two independent techniques: the multicommodity flow method and single-element drift condition analysis; we find that the latter yields a slightly tighter mixing time bound. Our results are readily applicable to a broad spectrum of statistical problems with discrete parameter spaces, as we demonstrate using both theoretical and numerical examples.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_03867
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Dimension-free Relaxation Times of Informed MCMC Samplers on Discrete Spaces
Chang, Hyunwoong
Zhou, Quan
Computation
Probability
Machine Learning
60J10, 60J20, 82M31, 62F15
Convergence analysis of Markov chain Monte Carlo methods in high-dimensional statistical applications is increasingly recognized. In this paper, we develop general mixing time bounds for Metropolis-Hastings algorithms on discrete spaces by building upon and refining some recent theoretical advancements in Bayesian model selection problems. We establish sufficient conditions for a class of informed Metropolis-Hastings algorithms to attain relaxation times that are independent of the problem dimension. These conditions are grounded in the high-dimensional statistical theory and allow for possibly multimodal posterior distributions. We obtain our results through two independent techniques: the multicommodity flow method and single-element drift condition analysis; we find that the latter yields a slightly tighter mixing time bound. Our results are readily applicable to a broad spectrum of statistical problems with discrete parameter spaces, as we demonstrate using both theoretical and numerical examples.
title Dimension-free Relaxation Times of Informed MCMC Samplers on Discrete Spaces
topic Computation
Probability
Machine Learning
60J10, 60J20, 82M31, 62F15
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.03867