4,678 research outputs found
Optimal Bounds on Approximation of Submodular and XOS Functions by Juntas
We investigate the approximability of several classes of real-valued
functions by functions of a small number of variables ({\em juntas}). Our main
results are tight bounds on the number of variables required to approximate a
function within -error over
the uniform distribution: 1. If is submodular, then it is -close
to a function of variables.
This is an exponential improvement over previously known results. We note that
variables are necessary even for linear
functions. 2. If is fractionally subadditive (XOS) it is -close
to a function of variables. This result holds for all
functions with low total -influence and is a real-valued analogue of
Friedgut's theorem for boolean functions. We show that
variables are necessary even for XOS functions.
As applications of these results, we provide learning algorithms over the
uniform distribution. For XOS functions, we give a PAC learning algorithm that
runs in time . For submodular functions we give
an algorithm in the more demanding PMAC learning model (Balcan and Harvey,
2011) which requires a multiplicative factor approximation with
probability at least over the target distribution. Our uniform
distribution algorithm runs in time .
This is the first algorithm in the PMAC model that over the uniform
distribution can achieve a constant approximation factor arbitrarily close to 1
for all submodular functions. As follows from the lower bounds in (Feldman et
al., 2013) both of these algorithms are close to optimal. We also give
applications for proper learning, testing and agnostic learning with value
queries of these classes.Comment: Extended abstract appears in proceedings of FOCS 201
Latent tree models
Latent tree models are graphical models defined on trees, in which only a
subset of variables is observed. They were first discussed by Judea Pearl as
tree-decomposable distributions to generalise star-decomposable distributions
such as the latent class model. Latent tree models, or their submodels, are
widely used in: phylogenetic analysis, network tomography, computer vision,
causal modeling, and data clustering. They also contain other well-known
classes of models like hidden Markov models, Brownian motion tree model, the
Ising model on a tree, and many popular models used in phylogenetics. This
article offers a concise introduction to the theory of latent tree models. We
emphasise the role of tree metrics in the structural description of this model
class, in designing learning algorithms, and in understanding fundamental
limits of what and when can be learned
Confronting classical and Bayesian confidence limits to examples
Classical confidence limits are compared to Bayesian error bounds by studying
relevant examples. The performance of the two methods is investigated relative
to the properties coherence, precision, bias, universality, simplicity. A
proposal to define error limits in various cases is derived from the
comparison. It is based on the likelihood function only and follows in most
cases the general practice in high energy physics. Classical methods are
discarded because they violate the likelihood principle, they can produce
physically inconsistent results, suffer from a lack of precision and
generality. Also the extreme Bayesian approach with arbitrary choice of the
prior probability density or priors deduced from scaling laws is rejected.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure
Efficient Circuits for Quantum Walks
We present an efficient general method for realizing a quantum walk operator
corresponding to an arbitrary sparse classical random walk. Our approach is
based on Grover and Rudolph's method for preparing coherent versions of
efficiently integrable probability distributions. This method is intended for
use in quantum walk algorithms with polynomial speedups, whose complexity is
usually measured in terms of how many times we have to apply a step of a
quantum walk, compared to the number of necessary classical Markov chain steps.
We consider a finer notion of complexity including the number of elementary
gates it takes to implement each step of the quantum walk with some desired
accuracy. The difference in complexity for various implementation approaches is
that our method scales linearly in the sparsity parameter and
poly-logarithmically with the inverse of the desired precision. The best
previously known general methods either scale quadratically in the sparsity
parameter, or polynomially in the inverse precision. Our approach is especially
relevant for implementing quantum walks corresponding to classical random walks
like those used in the classical algorithms for approximating permanents and
sampling from binary contingency tables. In those algorithms, the sparsity
parameter grows with the problem size, while maintaining high precision is
required.Comment: Modified abstract, clarified conclusion, added application section in
appendix and updated reference
A closed-form approach to Bayesian inference in tree-structured graphical models
We consider the inference of the structure of an undirected graphical model
in an exact Bayesian framework. More specifically we aim at achieving the
inference with close-form posteriors, avoiding any sampling step. This task
would be intractable without any restriction on the considered graphs, so we
limit our exploration to mixtures of spanning trees. We consider the inference
of the structure of an undirected graphical model in a Bayesian framework. To
avoid convergence issues and highly demanding Monte Carlo sampling, we focus on
exact inference. More specifically we aim at achieving the inference with
close-form posteriors, avoiding any sampling step. To this aim, we restrict the
set of considered graphs to mixtures of spanning trees. We investigate under
which conditions on the priors - on both tree structures and parameters - exact
Bayesian inference can be achieved. Under these conditions, we derive a fast an
exact algorithm to compute the posterior probability for an edge to belong to
{the tree model} using an algebraic result called the Matrix-Tree theorem. We
show that the assumption we have made does not prevent our approach to perform
well on synthetic and flow cytometry data
- …