arXiv:2502.07891stat.MLcs.LG2025-02被引 1

揭示隐变量因果结构的可观测支配关系,找出可区分的量子与经典分布差异。

The Observational Partial Order of Causal Structures with Latent Variables

  • 基于可观测分布定义因果结构的支配顺序,分析三变量和四变量情形。
  • 发现随可见变量增多,非平凡不等式约束类变得普遍,暗示量子-经典差距普遍存在。
  • 证明仅依赖条件独立的算法辨识能力弱于融合不等式约束的方法。

对于具有相同可见变量集的两个因果结构,若第一个结构能实现的可见变量分布集合包含第二个结构的所有可能分布,则称前者在可观测意义上支配后者。掌握这种支配关系对基于观测数据判断结构间优劣至关重要。本文研究含隐变量的因果结构等价类之间的可观测支配偏序关系。在三个可见变量情况下给出完整刻画,在四个可见变量情况下提供部分刻画。我们的方法还帮助识别哪些等价类的可实现分布受非平凡不等式约束(类似贝尔不等式与工具变量不等式)。结果表明,随着可见变量数量增加,满足非平凡不等式约束的等价类趋于普遍。这类结构是量子与经典可实现分布可能存在差异的根源,意味着量子-经典差距的潜力也趋于普遍。此外,我们发现仅依赖条件独立性的约束型因果发现算法,其对等价类的区分能力显著弱于同时利用嵌套马尔可夫约束和不等式约束的算法。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

For two causal structures with the same set of visible variables, one is said to observationally dominate the other if the set of distributions over the visible variables realizable by the first contains the set of distributions over the visible variables realizable by the second. Knowing such dominance relations is useful for adjudicating between these structures given observational data. We here consider the problem of determining the partial order of equivalence classes of causal structures with latent variables relative to observational dominance. We provide a complete characterization of the dominance order in the case of three visible variables, and a partial characterization in the case of four visible variables. Our techniques also help to identify which observational equivalence classes have a set of realizable distributions that is characterized by nontrivial inequality constraints, analogous to Bell inequalities and instrumental inequalities. We find evidence that as one increases the number of visible variables, the equivalence classes satisfying nontrivial inequality constraints become ubiquitous. (Because such classes are the ones for which there can be a difference in the distributions that are quantumly and classically realizable, this implies that the potential for quantum-classical gaps is also ubiquitous.) Furthermore, we find evidence that constraint-based causal discovery algorithms that rely solely on conditional independence constraints have a significantly weaker distinguishing power among observational equivalence classes than algorithms that go beyond these (i.e., algorithms that also leverage nested Markov constraints and inequality constraints).

因果推断隐变量量子优势不等式约束

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