arXiv:2502.19183cs.LG2025-02被引 2

用连续时间马尔可夫链高效估算离散数据的信息量,性能优于传统嵌入方法。

INFO-SEDD: Continuous Time Markov Chains as Scalable Information Metrics Estimators

  • 基于连续时间马尔可夫链建模离散状态过程,直接处理离散数据
  • 在高维离散分布上准确估计熵与互信息,优于依赖嵌入的神经方法
  • 可复用预训练模型,适合需高效估算离散信息量的研究场景

信息论量在理解随机变量间的非线性关系中至关重要,广泛应用于各科学领域。然而,高维离散分布的信息量估计仍是难题。现有方法通常将离散数据嵌入连续空间,并使用为连续分布设计的神经估计算法,可能无法充分捕捉数据的离散本质。本文提出INFO-SEDD,一种基于连续时间马尔可夫链(CTMC)的新型离散数据信息量估计方法,可有效估计熵与互信息。该方法仅需训练单一参数化模型,具备显著的计算与内存优势,并能无缝集成预训练网络,实现生成模型的高效复用。我们构建了一个挑战性的合成基准进行评估,实验表明INFO-SEDD鲁棒性强,优于依赖嵌入的神经竞争方法。此外,在真实世界任务中,我们验证了其对伊辛模型熵的估计效果。整体表现超越现有方法,且在高维场景下具有可扩展性,为离散分布间互信息估计提供了强有力的新工具。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Information-theoretic quantities play a crucial role in understanding non-linear relationships between random variables and are widely used across scientific disciplines. However, estimating these quantities remains an open problem, particularly in the case of high-dimensional discrete distributions. Current approaches typically rely on embedding discrete data into a continuous space and applying neural estimators originally designed for continuous distributions, a process that may not fully capture the discrete nature of the underlying data. We consider Continuous-Time Markov Chains (CTMCs), stochastic processes on discrete state-spaces which have gained popularity due to their generative modeling applications. In this work, we introduce INFO-SEDD, a novel method for estimating information-theoretic quantities of discrete data, including mutual information and entropy. Our approach requires the training of a single parametric model, offering significant computational and memory advantages. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with pretrained networks, allowing for efficient reuse of pretrained generative models. To evaluate our approach, we construct a challenging synthetic benchmark. Our experiments demonstrate that INFO-SEDD is robust and outperforms neural competitors that rely on embedding techniques. Moreover, we validate our method on a real-world task: estimating the entropy of an Ising model. Overall, INFO-SEDD outperforms competing methods and shows scalability to high-dimensional scenarios, paving the way for new applications where estimating MI between discrete distribution is the focus. The promising results in this complex, high-dimensional scenario highlight INFO-SEDD as a powerful new estimator in the toolkit for information-theoretical analysis.

信息论马尔可夫链离散估计高维分析

Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。