A generalized Bayesian approach to multiple changepoint analysis

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Yuhui, Thomas, Andrew M., Jauch, Michael
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Wang, Yuhui
Thomas, Andrew M.
Jauch, Michael
author_facet Wang, Yuhui
Thomas, Andrew M.
Jauch, Michael
contents We introduce a generalized Bayesian method for multiple changepoint analysis with a loss function inspired by multinomial logistic regression. The method does not require a specification of the data-generating process and avoids restrictive assumptions on the nature of changepoints. From the joint posterior distribution, we can make simultaneous inference on the locations of changepoints and the coefficients of a multinomial logistic regression model for distinguishing data across homogeneous segments. The multinomial logistic regression coefficients provide a familiar means of interpreting potentially complex changes. To select the number of changepoints, we leverage posterior summaries that measure whether the multinomial logistic classifier can distinguish data from either side of a potential changepoint. To simulate from the generalized posterior distribution, we present a Gibbs sampler based on Pólya-Gamma data augmentation. We assess the accuracy and flexibility of our method through simulation studies featuring different types of changes and demonstrate its interpretability through applications to financial network data and topological data derived from nanoparticle videos.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_25668
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A generalized Bayesian approach to multiple changepoint analysis
Wang, Yuhui
Thomas, Andrew M.
Jauch, Michael
Methodology
We introduce a generalized Bayesian method for multiple changepoint analysis with a loss function inspired by multinomial logistic regression. The method does not require a specification of the data-generating process and avoids restrictive assumptions on the nature of changepoints. From the joint posterior distribution, we can make simultaneous inference on the locations of changepoints and the coefficients of a multinomial logistic regression model for distinguishing data across homogeneous segments. The multinomial logistic regression coefficients provide a familiar means of interpreting potentially complex changes. To select the number of changepoints, we leverage posterior summaries that measure whether the multinomial logistic classifier can distinguish data from either side of a potential changepoint. To simulate from the generalized posterior distribution, we present a Gibbs sampler based on Pólya-Gamma data augmentation. We assess the accuracy and flexibility of our method through simulation studies featuring different types of changes and demonstrate its interpretability through applications to financial network data and topological data derived from nanoparticle videos.
title A generalized Bayesian approach to multiple changepoint analysis
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.25668