Unbiased estimation using a class of diffusion processes
File(s)2203.03013v2.pdf (3.06 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Ruzayqat, Hamza
Beskos, Alexandros
Crisan, Dan
Jasra, Ajay
Kantas, Nikolas
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We study the problem of unbiased estimation of expectations with respect to
(w.r.t.) $\pi$ a given, general probability measure on
$(\mathbb{R}^d,\mathcal{B}(\mathbb{R}^d))$ that is absolutely continuous with
respect to a standard Gaussian measure. We focus on simulation associated to a
particular class of diffusion processes, sometimes termed the
Schr\"odinger-F\"ollmer Sampler, which is a simulation technique that
approximates the law of a particular diffusion bridge process $\{X_t\}_{t\in
[0,1]}$ on $\mathbb{R}^d$, $d\in \mathbb{N}_0$. This latter process is
constructed such that, starting at $X_0=0$, one has $X_1\sim \pi$. Typically,
the drift of the diffusion is intractable and, even if it were not, exact
sampling of the associated diffusion is not possible. As a result,
\cite{sf_orig,jiao} consider a stochastic Euler-Maruyama scheme that allows the
development of biased estimators for expectations w.r.t.~$\pi$. We show that
for this methodology to achieve a mean square error of
$\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^2)$, for arbitrary $\epsilon>0$, the associated cost is
$\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-5})$. We then introduce an alternative approach that
provides unbiased estimates of expectations w.r.t.~$\pi$, that is, it does not
suffer from the time discretization bias or the bias related with the
approximation of the drift function. We prove that to achieve a mean square
error of $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^2)$, the associated cost is, with high
probability, $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-2}|\log(\epsilon)|^{2+\delta})$, for any
$\delta>0$. We implement our method on several examples including Bayesian
inverse problems.
(w.r.t.) $\pi$ a given, general probability measure on
$(\mathbb{R}^d,\mathcal{B}(\mathbb{R}^d))$ that is absolutely continuous with
respect to a standard Gaussian measure. We focus on simulation associated to a
particular class of diffusion processes, sometimes termed the
Schr\"odinger-F\"ollmer Sampler, which is a simulation technique that
approximates the law of a particular diffusion bridge process $\{X_t\}_{t\in
[0,1]}$ on $\mathbb{R}^d$, $d\in \mathbb{N}_0$. This latter process is
constructed such that, starting at $X_0=0$, one has $X_1\sim \pi$. Typically,
the drift of the diffusion is intractable and, even if it were not, exact
sampling of the associated diffusion is not possible. As a result,
\cite{sf_orig,jiao} consider a stochastic Euler-Maruyama scheme that allows the
development of biased estimators for expectations w.r.t.~$\pi$. We show that
for this methodology to achieve a mean square error of
$\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^2)$, for arbitrary $\epsilon>0$, the associated cost is
$\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-5})$. We then introduce an alternative approach that
provides unbiased estimates of expectations w.r.t.~$\pi$, that is, it does not
suffer from the time discretization bias or the bias related with the
approximation of the drift function. We prove that to achieve a mean square
error of $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^2)$, the associated cost is, with high
probability, $\mathcal{O}(\epsilon^{-2}|\log(\epsilon)|^{2+\delta})$, for any
$\delta>0$. We implement our method on several examples including Bayesian
inverse problems.
Date Issued
2023-01-01
Date Acceptance
2022-09-19
Citation
Journal of Computational Physics, 2023, 472
ISSN
0021-9991
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Computational Physics
Volume
472
Copyright Statement
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
http://arxiv.org/abs/2203.03013v2
Subjects
stat.CO
stat.CO
cs.NA
math.NA
math.PR
stat.ME
60J60, 62D05, 65C40
Notes
27 pages, 11 figures
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 111643
Date Publish Online
2022-09-24