arXiv:2604.07762cond-mat.stat-mechcs.LG2026-04

用正向扩散路径反推最优传输控制,无需预先知道目标分布。

Generative optimal transport via forward-backward HJB matching

  • 通过时间反演对偶性,将难解的后向问题转为易解的前向方程。
  • 仅需目标样本和前向扩散轨迹,即可计算出最优控制策略。
  • 适用于物理可解释的随机传输建模,尤其适合非平衡系统研究者。

从无序参考态演化到由样本表征的有序目标系综,是非平衡统计力学与随机控制中的自然问题。该系统的自然弛豫过程(由扩散驱动)是从有序目标趋向无序参考态。核心问题是:在结合空间惩罚与控制代价的路径成本下,如何构造最小功的逆向随机过程?计算此最优过程需要已知能采样目标系综的轨迹——而这正是待求解的目标。本文通过建立时间反演对偶性,发现主导后向动力学的值函数满足等价的前向哈密顿-雅可比-贝尔曼(HJB)方程,其解可直接从易模拟的前向弛豫轨迹中读取。借助Cole-Hopf变换及其对应的Feynman-Kac表示,该前向势能被计算为路径空间自由能对前向轨迹的平均值——即容易模拟的弛豫路径,无需后向模拟或对目标的额外知识。所提框架以路径空间自由能、风险敏感控制与空间代价几何,提供了一种物理可解释的随机传输描述。数值实验可视化了学习到的值函数与诱导的受控扩散,展示了空间代价场如何如同非均匀介质中的费马原理般塑造传输几何。结果统一了随机最优控制、Schrödinger桥理论与非平衡统计力学。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Controlling the evolution of a many-body stochastic system from a disordered reference state to a structured target ensemble, characterized empirically through samples, arises naturally in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and stochastic control. The natural relaxation of such a system - driven by diffusion - runs from the structured target toward the disordered reference. The natural question is then: what is the minimum-work stochastic process that reverses this relaxation, given a pathwise cost functional combining spatial penalties and control effort? Computing this optimal process requires knowledge of trajectories that already sample the target ensemble - precisely the object one is trying to construct. We resolve this by establishing a time-reversal duality: the value function governing the hard backward dynamics satisfies an equivalent forward-in-time HJB equation, whose solution can be read off directly from the tractable forward relaxation trajectories. Via the Cole-Hopf transformation and its associated Feynman-Kac representation, this forward potential is computed as a path-space free energy averaged over these forward trajectories - the same relaxation paths that are easy to simulate - without any backward simulation or knowledge of the target beyond samples. The resulting framework provides a physically interpretable description of stochastic transport in terms of path-space free energy, risk-sensitive control, and spatial cost geometry. We illustrate the theory with numerical examples that visualize the learned value function and the induced controlled diffusions, demonstrating how spatial cost fields shape transport geometry analogously to Fermat's Principle in inhomogeneous media. Our results establish a unifying connection between stochastic optimal control, Schrödinger bridge theory, and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.

最优传输随机控制扩散模型物理建模

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