Exact Hybrid Covariance Thresholding for Joint Graphical Lasso

This paper considers the problem of estimating multiple related Gaussian graphical models from a $p$-dimensional dataset consisting of different classes. Our work is based upon the formulation of this problem as group graphical lasso. This paper proposes a novel hybrid covariance thresholding algorithm that can effectively identify zero entries in the precision matrices and split a large joint graphical lasso problem into small subproblems. Our hybrid covariance thresholding method is superior to existing uniform thresholding methods in that our method can split the precision matrix of each individual class using different partition schemes and thus split group graphical lasso into much smaller subproblems, each of which can be solved very fast. In addition, this paper establishes necessary and sufficient conditions for our hybrid covariance thresholding algorithm. The superior performance of our thresholding method is thoroughly analyzed and illustrated by a few experiments on simulated data and real gene expression data

TIGER: A Tuning-Insensitive Approach for Optimally Estimating Gaussian Graphical Models

We propose a new procedure for estimating high dimensional Gaussian graphical models. Our approach is asymptotically tuning-free and non-asymptotically tuning-insensitive: it requires very few efforts to choose the tuning parameter in finite sample settings. Computationally, our procedure is significantly faster than existing methods due to its tuning-insensitive property. Theoretically, the obtained estimator is simultaneously minimax optimal for precision matrix estimation under different norms. Empirically, we illustrate the advantages of our method using thorough simulated and real examples. The R package bigmatrix implementing the proposed methods is available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network: http://cran.r-project.org/

Sparse Recovery Problems in High Dimensions: Statistical Inference and Learning Theory

The statistical analysis of high dimensional data requires new techniques, extending results from nonparametric statistics, analysis, probability, approximation theory, and theoretical computer science. The main problem is how to unveil, (or to mimic performance of) sparse models for the data. Sparsity is generally meant in terms of the number of variables included, but may also be described in terms of smoothness, entropy, or geometric structures. A key objective is to adapt to unknown sparsity, yet keeping computational feasibility

Maximum a Posteriori Estimation in Graphical Models Using Local Linear Approximation

Sparse structure learning in high-dimensional Gaussian graphical models is an important problem in multivariate statistical signal processing; since the sparsity pattern naturally encodes the conditional independence relationship among variables. However, maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation is challenging under hierarchical prior models, and traditional numerical optimization routines or expectation--maximization algorithms are difficult to implement. To this end, our contribution is a novel local linear approximation scheme that circumvents this issue using a very simple computational algorithm. Most importantly, the condition under which our algorithm is guaranteed to converge to the MAP estimate is explicitly stated and is shown to cover a broad class of completely monotone priors, including the graphical horseshoe. Further, the resulting MAP estimate is shown to be sparse and consistent in the $\ell_2$-norm. Numerical results validate the speed, scalability, and statistical performance of the proposed method

High-Dimensional Gaussian Graphical Model Selection: Walk Summability and Local Separation Criterion

We consider the problem of high-dimensional Gaussian graphical model selection. We identify a set of graphs for which an efficient estimation algorithm exists, and this algorithm is based on thresholding of empirical conditional covariances. Under a set of transparent conditions, we establish structural consistency (or sparsistency) for the proposed algorithm, when the number of samples n=omega(J_{min}^{-2} log p), where p is the number of variables and J_{min} is the minimum (absolute) edge potential of the graphical model. The sufficient conditions for sparsistency are based on the notion of walk-summability of the model and the presence of sparse local vertex separators in the underlying graph. We also derive novel non-asymptotic necessary conditions on the number of samples required for sparsistency

Hybrid approximate message passing

Gaussian and quadratic approximations of message passing algorithms on graphs have attracted considerable recent attention due to their computational simplicity, analytic tractability, and wide applicability in optimization and statistical inference problems. This paper presents a systematic framework for incorporating such approximate message passing (AMP) methods in general graphical models. The key concept is a partition of dependencies of a general graphical model into strong and weak edges, with the weak edges representing interactions through aggregates of small, linearizable couplings of variables. AMP approximations based on the Central Limit Theorem can be readily applied to aggregates of many weak edges and integrated with standard message passing updates on the strong edges. The resulting algorithm, which we call hybrid generalized approximate message passing (HyGAMP), can yield significantly simpler implementations of sum-product and max-sum loopy belief propagation. By varying the partition of strong and weak edges, a performance--complexity trade-off can be achieved. Group sparsity and multinomial logistic regression problems are studied as examples of the proposed methodology.The work of S. Rangan was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grants 1116589, 1302336, and 1547332, and in part by the industrial affiliates of NYU WIRELESS. The work of A. K. Fletcher was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grants 1254204 and 1738286 and in part by the Office of Naval Research under Grant N00014-15-1-2677. The work of V. K. Goyal was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant 1422034. The work of E. Byrne and P. Schniter was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant CCF-1527162. (1116589 - National Science Foundation; 1302336 - National Science Foundation; 1547332 - National Science Foundation; 1254204 - National Science Foundation; 1738286 - National Science Foundation; 1422034 - National Science Foundation; CCF-1527162 - National Science Foundation; NYU WIRELESS; N00014-15-1-2677 - Office of Naval Research