Beyond Distribution Estimation: Simplex Anchored Structural Inference Towards Universal Semi-Supervised Learning

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Hou, Yaxin, Ma, Jun, Li, Hanyang, Han, Bo, Yu, Jie, Jia, Yuheng
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Hou, Yaxin
Ma, Jun
Li, Hanyang
Han, Bo
Yu, Jie
Jia, Yuheng
author_facet Hou, Yaxin
Ma, Jun
Li, Hanyang
Han, Bo
Yu, Jie
Jia, Yuheng
contents Semi-supervised learning faces significant challenges in realistic scenarios where labeled data is scarce and unlabeled data follows unknown, arbitrary distributions. We formalize this critical yet under-explored paradigm as Universal Semi-supervised Learning (UniSSL). Existing methods typically leverage unlabeled data via pseudo-labeling. However, they often rely on the idealized assumption of a uniform unlabeled data distribution or require sufficient labeled data to estimate it. In the UniSSL setting, such dependencies lead to numerous erroneous pseudo-labels, thereby triggering representation confusion. Fortunately, we observe that inter-sample relations captured by representations are more reliable than pseudo-labels. Leveraging this insight, we shift our focus to representation-level structural inference to bypass distribution estimation. Accordingly, we propose Simplex Anchored Graph-state Equipartition (SAGE), which captures high-order inter-sample dependencies to establish structural consensus for guiding representation learning. Meanwhile, to mitigate representation confusion, we employ vectors that satisfy a simplex equiangular tight frame to serve as a coordinate frame for guiding inter-class representation separation. Finally, we introduce a weighting strategy based on distribution-agnostic metrics to prioritize reliable pseudo-labels and an auxiliary branch to isolate potentially erroneous pseudo-labels. Evaluations on five standard benchmarks show that SAGE consistently outperforms state-of-the-art methods, with an average accuracy gain of $\textbf{8.52%}$.
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record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Beyond Distribution Estimation: Simplex Anchored Structural Inference Towards Universal Semi-Supervised Learning
Hou, Yaxin
Ma, Jun
Li, Hanyang
Han, Bo
Yu, Jie
Jia, Yuheng
Machine Learning
Semi-supervised learning faces significant challenges in realistic scenarios where labeled data is scarce and unlabeled data follows unknown, arbitrary distributions. We formalize this critical yet under-explored paradigm as Universal Semi-supervised Learning (UniSSL). Existing methods typically leverage unlabeled data via pseudo-labeling. However, they often rely on the idealized assumption of a uniform unlabeled data distribution or require sufficient labeled data to estimate it. In the UniSSL setting, such dependencies lead to numerous erroneous pseudo-labels, thereby triggering representation confusion. Fortunately, we observe that inter-sample relations captured by representations are more reliable than pseudo-labels. Leveraging this insight, we shift our focus to representation-level structural inference to bypass distribution estimation. Accordingly, we propose Simplex Anchored Graph-state Equipartition (SAGE), which captures high-order inter-sample dependencies to establish structural consensus for guiding representation learning. Meanwhile, to mitigate representation confusion, we employ vectors that satisfy a simplex equiangular tight frame to serve as a coordinate frame for guiding inter-class representation separation. Finally, we introduce a weighting strategy based on distribution-agnostic metrics to prioritize reliable pseudo-labels and an auxiliary branch to isolate potentially erroneous pseudo-labels. Evaluations on five standard benchmarks show that SAGE consistently outperforms state-of-the-art methods, with an average accuracy gain of $\textbf{8.52%}$.
title Beyond Distribution Estimation: Simplex Anchored Structural Inference Towards Universal Semi-Supervised Learning
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.07557