提出高效算法,可精准估算分布逼近误差并控制在Wasserstein距离内。
Efficient Distribution Learning with Error Bounds in Wasserstein Distance
- 基于最优传输与优化理论,构建可计算的误差边界框架。
- 仅需求解规模可控的混合整数线性规划,即可高置信度估计误差。
- 支持自动聚类找最优支撑点,适用于追求小模型与高精度场景。
Wasserstein距离已成为衡量概率分布间差异的关键指标,广泛应用于机器学习、控制理论、决策论和生物系统等领域。因此,从有限样本中学习未知分布,并在非渐近条件下获得易于计算的Wasserstein距离误差界,已成为多个领域的基础问题。本文提出一种新的算法与理论框架,通过有限样本对未知分布$$\mathbb{P}\u0024$进行近似,得到离散分布$$\widehat{\mathbb{P}}\u0024$,并能有效界定二者间的Wasserstein距离。该框架结合最优传输、非线性优化与浓度不等式。特别地,即使$$\mathbb{P}\u0024$未知,我们仍可通过求解一个规模仅依赖于$$\widehat{\mathbb{P}}\u0024$支撑集大小的可处理优化问题(混合整数线性规划),以高置信度实现误差上界估计。由此可设计智能聚类算法,最优选择$$\widehat{\mathbb{P}}\u0024$的支撑集以最小化误差。在多个基准测试中,本方法显著优于现有先进方法,通常生成支撑集更小且误差界更紧的近似分布。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
The Wasserstein distance has emerged as a key metric to quantify distances between probability distributions, with applications in various fields, including machine learning, control theory, decision theory, and biological systems. Consequently, learning an unknown distribution with non-asymptotic and easy-to-compute error bounds in Wasserstein distance has become a fundamental problem in many fields. In this paper, we devise a novel algorithmic and theoretical framework to approximate an unknown probability distribution $\mathbb{P}$ from a finite set of samples by an approximate discrete distribution $\widehat{\mathbb{P}}$ while bounding the Wasserstein distance between $\mathbb{P}$ and $\widehat{\mathbb{P}}$. Our framework leverages optimal transport, nonlinear optimization, and concentration inequalities. In particular, we show that, even if $\mathbb{P}$ is unknown, the Wasserstein distance between $\mathbb{P}$ and $\widehat{\mathbb{P}}$ can be efficiently bounded with high confidence by solving a tractable optimization problem (a mixed integer linear program) of a size that only depends on the size of the support of $\widehat{\mathbb{P}}$. This enables us to develop intelligent clustering algorithms to optimally find the support of $\widehat{\mathbb{P}}$ while minimizing the Wasserstein distance error. On a set of benchmarks, we demonstrate that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art comparable methods by generally returning approximating distributions with substantially smaller support and tighter error bounds.
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