Louis Sharrock

Louis Sharrock, Jack Simons, Song Liu et al.

We introduce Sequential Neural Posterior Score Estimation (SNPSE), a score-based method for Bayesian inference in simulator-based models. Our method, inspired by the remarkable success of score-based methods in generative modelling, leverages conditional score-based diffusion models to generate samples from the posterior distribution of interest. The model is trained using an objective function which directly estimates the score of the posterior. We embed the model into a sequential training procedure, which guides simulations using the current approximation of the posterior at the observation of interest, thereby reducing the simulation cost. We also introduce several alternative sequential approaches, and discuss their relative merits. We then validate our method, as well as its amortised, non-sequential, variant on several numerical examples, demonstrating comparable or superior performance to existing state-of-the-art methods such as Sequential Neural Posterior Estimation (SNPE).

Louis Sharrock, Christopher Nemeth

In recent years, particle-based variational inference (ParVI) methods such as Stein variational gradient descent (SVGD) have grown in popularity as scalable methods for Bayesian inference. Unfortunately, the properties of such methods invariably depend on hyperparameters such as the learning rate, which must be carefully tuned by the practitioner in order to ensure convergence to the target measure at a suitable rate. In this paper, we introduce a suite of new particle-based methods for scalable Bayesian inference based on coin betting, which are entirely learning-rate free. We illustrate the performance of our approach on a range of numerical examples, including several high-dimensional models and datasets, demonstrating comparable performance to other ParVI algorithms with no need to tune a learning rate.

Louis Sharrock

Bayesian optimal experimental design (BOED) provides a powerful, decision-theoretic framework for selecting experiments so as to maximise the expected utility of the data to be collected. In practice, however, its applicability can be limited by the difficulty of optimising the chosen utility. The expected information gain (EIG), for example, is often high-dimensional and strongly non-convex. This challenge is particularly acute in the batch setting, where multiple experiments are to be designed simultaneously. In this paper, we introduce a new approach to batch EIG-based BOED via a probabilistic lifting of the original optimisation problem to the space of probability measures. In particular, we propose to optimise an entropic regularisation of the expected utility over the space of design measures. Under mild conditions, we show that this objective admits a unique minimiser, which can be explicitly characterised in the form of a Gibbs distribution. The resulting design law can be used directly as a randomised batch-design policy, or as a computational relaxation from which a deterministic batch is extracted. To obtain scalable approximations when the batch size is large, we then consider two tractable restrictions of the full batch distribution: a mean-field family, and an i.i.d. product family. For the i.i.d. objective, and formally for its mean-field extension, we derive the corresponding Wasserstein gradient flow, characterise its long-time behaviour, and obtain particle-based algorithms via space-time discretisations. We also introduce doubly stochastic variants that combine interacting particle updates with Monte Carlo estimators of the EIG gradient. Finally, we illustrate the performance of the proposed methods in several numerical experiments, demonstrating their ability to explore multimodal optimisation landscapes and obtain high-utility batches in challenging examples.

Alberto Cabezas, Louis Sharrock, Christopher Nemeth

Continuous normalizing flows (CNFs) learn the probability path between a reference distribution and a target distribution by modeling the vector field generating said path using neural networks. Recently, Lipman et al. (2022) introduced a simple and inexpensive method for training CNFs in generative modeling, termed flow matching (FM). In this paper, we repurpose this method for probabilistic inference by incorporating Markovian sampling methods in evaluating the FM objective, and using the learned CNF to improve Monte Carlo sampling. Specifically, we propose an adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm, which combines a local Markov transition kernel with a non-local, flow-informed transition kernel, defined using a CNF. This CNF is adapted on-the-fly using samples from the Markov chain, which are used to specify the probability path for the FM objective. Our method also includes an adaptive tempering mechanism that allows the discovery of multiple modes in the target distribution. Under mild assumptions, we establish convergence of our method to a local optimum of the FM objective. We then benchmark our approach on several synthetic and real-world examples, achieving similar performance to other state-of-the-art methods, but often at a significantly lower computational cost.

Daniel Dodd, Louis Sharrock, Christopher Nemeth

In recent years, interest in gradient-based optimization over Riemannian manifolds has surged. However, a significant challenge lies in the reliance on hyperparameters, especially the learning rate, which requires meticulous tuning by practitioners to ensure convergence at a suitable rate. In this work, we introduce innovative learning-rate-free algorithms for stochastic optimization over Riemannian manifolds, eliminating the need for hand-tuning and providing a more robust and user-friendly approach. We establish high probability convergence guarantees that are optimal, up to logarithmic factors, compared to the best-known optimally tuned rate in the deterministic setting. Our approach is validated through numerical experiments, demonstrating competitive performance against learning-rate-dependent algorithms.

Louis Sharrock, Lester Mackey, Christopher Nemeth

We introduce a suite of new particle-based algorithms for sampling in constrained domains which are entirely learning rate free. Our approach leverages coin betting ideas from convex optimisation, and the viewpoint of constrained sampling as a mirrored optimisation problem on the space of probability measures. Based on this viewpoint, we also introduce a unifying framework for several existing constrained sampling algorithms, including mirrored Langevin dynamics and mirrored Stein variational gradient descent. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithms on a range of numerical examples, including sampling from targets on the simplex, sampling with fairness constraints, and constrained sampling problems in post-selection inference. Our results indicate that our algorithms achieve competitive performance with existing constrained sampling methods, without the need to tune any hyperparameters.

Louis Sharrock, Daniel Dodd, Christopher Nemeth

We introduce two new particle-based algorithms for learning latent variable models via marginal maximum likelihood estimation, including one which is entirely tuning-free. Our methods are based on the perspective of marginal maximum likelihood estimation as an optimization problem: namely, as the minimization of a free energy functional. One way to solve this problem is via the discretization of a gradient flow associated with the free energy. We study one such approach, which resembles an extension of Stein variational gradient descent, establishing a descent lemma which guarantees that the free energy decreases at each iteration. This method, and any other obtained as the discretization of the gradient flow, necessarily depends on a learning rate which must be carefully tuned by the practitioner in order to ensure convergence at a suitable rate. With this in mind, we also propose another algorithm for optimizing the free energy which is entirely learning rate free, based on coin betting techniques from convex optimization. We validate the performance of our algorithms across several numerical experiments, including several high-dimensional settings. Our results are competitive with existing particle-based methods, without the need for any hyperparameter tuning.

Chiara Leadbeater, Louis Sharrock, Brian Coyle et al.

Generative modelling is an important unsupervised task in machine learning. In this work, we study a hybrid quantum-classical approach to this task, based on the use of a quantum circuit Born machine. In particular, we consider training a quantum circuit Born machine using $f$-divergences. We first discuss the adversarial framework for generative modelling, which enables the estimation of any $f$-divergence in the near term. Based on this capability, we introduce two heuristics which demonstrably improve the training of the Born machine. The first is based on $f$-divergence switching during training. The second introduces locality to the divergence, a strategy which has proved important in similar applications in terms of mitigating barren plateaus. Finally, we discuss the long-term implications of quantum devices for computing $f$-divergences, including algorithms which provide quadratic speedups to their estimation. In particular, we generalise existing algorithms for estimating the Kullback-Leibler divergence and the total variation distance to obtain a fault-tolerant quantum algorithm for estimating another $f$-divergence, namely, the Pearson divergence.