Entering the Era of Discrete Diffusion Models: A Benchmark for Schrödinger Bridges and Entropic Optimal Transport

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Carrasco, Xavier Aramayo, Ksenofontov, Grigoriy, Leonov, Aleksei, Koshelev, Iaroslav Sergeevich, Korotin, Alexander
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Carrasco, Xavier Aramayo
Ksenofontov, Grigoriy
Leonov, Aleksei
Koshelev, Iaroslav Sergeevich
Korotin, Alexander
author_facet Carrasco, Xavier Aramayo
Ksenofontov, Grigoriy
Leonov, Aleksei
Koshelev, Iaroslav Sergeevich
Korotin, Alexander
contents The Entropic Optimal Transport (EOT) problem and its dynamic counterpart, the Schrödinger bridge (SB) problem, play an important role in modern machine learning, linking generative modeling with optimal transport theory. While recent advances in discrete diffusion and flow models have sparked growing interest in applying SB methods to discrete domains, there remains no reliable way to assess how well these methods actually solve the underlying problem. We address this challenge by introducing a benchmark for SB on discrete spaces. Our construction yields pairs of probability distributions with analytically known SB solutions, enabling rigorous evaluation. As a byproduct of building this benchmark, we obtain two new SB algorithms, DLightSB and DLightSB-M, and additionally extend prior related work to construct the $α$-CSBM algorithm. We demonstrate the utility of our benchmark by evaluating both existing and new solvers in high-dimensional discrete settings. This work provides the first step toward proper evaluation of SB methods on discrete spaces, paving the way for more reproducible future studies. The code for the benchmark and all associated experiments is available at https://github.com/gregkseno/catsbench.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_23348
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Entering the Era of Discrete Diffusion Models: A Benchmark for Schrödinger Bridges and Entropic Optimal Transport
Carrasco, Xavier Aramayo
Ksenofontov, Grigoriy
Leonov, Aleksei
Koshelev, Iaroslav Sergeevich
Korotin, Alexander
Machine Learning
The Entropic Optimal Transport (EOT) problem and its dynamic counterpart, the Schrödinger bridge (SB) problem, play an important role in modern machine learning, linking generative modeling with optimal transport theory. While recent advances in discrete diffusion and flow models have sparked growing interest in applying SB methods to discrete domains, there remains no reliable way to assess how well these methods actually solve the underlying problem. We address this challenge by introducing a benchmark for SB on discrete spaces. Our construction yields pairs of probability distributions with analytically known SB solutions, enabling rigorous evaluation. As a byproduct of building this benchmark, we obtain two new SB algorithms, DLightSB and DLightSB-M, and additionally extend prior related work to construct the $α$-CSBM algorithm. We demonstrate the utility of our benchmark by evaluating both existing and new solvers in high-dimensional discrete settings. This work provides the first step toward proper evaluation of SB methods on discrete spaces, paving the way for more reproducible future studies. The code for the benchmark and all associated experiments is available at https://github.com/gregkseno/catsbench.
title Entering the Era of Discrete Diffusion Models: A Benchmark for Schrödinger Bridges and Entropic Optimal Transport
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23348