Exact MCMC for Intractable Proposals

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kakkad, Dwija, Vats, Dootika
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Kakkad, Dwija
Vats, Dootika
author_facet Kakkad, Dwija
Vats, Dootika
contents Accept-reject based Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are the workhorse algorithm for Bayesian inference. These algorithms, like Metropolis-Hastings, require choosing a proposal distribution which is typically informed by the desired target distribution. Surprisingly, proposal distributions with unknown normalizing constants are not uncommon, even though for such a choice of a proposal, the Metropolis-Hastings acceptance ratio cannot be evaluated exactly. Across the literature, authors resort to approximation methods that yield inexact MCMC or develop specialized algorithms to combat this problem. We show how Bernoulli factory MCMC algorithms, originally proposed for doubly intractable target distributions, can quite naturally be adapted to yield an exact MCMC sampling method. We present three diverse and relevant examples demonstrating the usefulness of the Bernoulli factory approach to this problem.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_10282
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exact MCMC for Intractable Proposals
Kakkad, Dwija
Vats, Dootika
Computation
Methodology
Accept-reject based Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are the workhorse algorithm for Bayesian inference. These algorithms, like Metropolis-Hastings, require choosing a proposal distribution which is typically informed by the desired target distribution. Surprisingly, proposal distributions with unknown normalizing constants are not uncommon, even though for such a choice of a proposal, the Metropolis-Hastings acceptance ratio cannot be evaluated exactly. Across the literature, authors resort to approximation methods that yield inexact MCMC or develop specialized algorithms to combat this problem. We show how Bernoulli factory MCMC algorithms, originally proposed for doubly intractable target distributions, can quite naturally be adapted to yield an exact MCMC sampling method. We present three diverse and relevant examples demonstrating the usefulness of the Bernoulli factory approach to this problem.
title Exact MCMC for Intractable Proposals
topic Computation
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.10282