Efficient Training of Boltzmann Generators Using Off-Policy Log-Dispersion Regularization

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Schopmans, Henrik, von Klitzing, Christopher, Friederich, Pascal
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Schopmans, Henrik
von Klitzing, Christopher
Friederich, Pascal
author_facet Schopmans, Henrik
von Klitzing, Christopher
Friederich, Pascal
contents Sampling from unnormalized probability densities is a central challenge in computational science. Boltzmann generators are generative models that enable independent sampling from the Boltzmann distribution of physical systems at a given temperature. However, their practical success depends on data-efficient training, as both simulation data and target energy evaluations are costly. To this end, we propose off-policy log-dispersion regularization (LDR), a novel regularization framework that builds on a generalization of the log-variance objective. We apply LDR in the off-policy setting in combination with standard data-based training objectives, without requiring additional on-policy samples. LDR acts as a shape regularizer of the energy landscape by leveraging additional information in the form of target energy labels. The proposed regularization framework is broadly applicable, supporting unbiased or biased simulation datasets as well as purely variational training without access to target samples. Across all benchmarks, LDR improves both final performance and data efficiency, with sample efficiency gains of up to one order of magnitude.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_03729
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Efficient Training of Boltzmann Generators Using Off-Policy Log-Dispersion Regularization
Schopmans, Henrik
von Klitzing, Christopher
Friederich, Pascal
Machine Learning
Sampling from unnormalized probability densities is a central challenge in computational science. Boltzmann generators are generative models that enable independent sampling from the Boltzmann distribution of physical systems at a given temperature. However, their practical success depends on data-efficient training, as both simulation data and target energy evaluations are costly. To this end, we propose off-policy log-dispersion regularization (LDR), a novel regularization framework that builds on a generalization of the log-variance objective. We apply LDR in the off-policy setting in combination with standard data-based training objectives, without requiring additional on-policy samples. LDR acts as a shape regularizer of the energy landscape by leveraging additional information in the form of target energy labels. The proposed regularization framework is broadly applicable, supporting unbiased or biased simulation datasets as well as purely variational training without access to target samples. Across all benchmarks, LDR improves both final performance and data efficiency, with sample efficiency gains of up to one order of magnitude.
title Efficient Training of Boltzmann Generators Using Off-Policy Log-Dispersion Regularization
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.03729