动态选核提升两样本检验效能,且保证统计有效性。
Kernel Selection is Model Selection: A Unified Complexity-Penalized Approach for MMD Two-Sample Tests
- 将选核问题转化为模型选择,用复杂度惩罚约束优化过程。
- 在连续核空间中直接优化,无需网格搜索,显著提升检验力。
- 适用于线性、多项式及深度核,适合追求高精度的统计检验场景。
最大均值差异(MMD)是非参数两样本检验的核心统计量,但其检验效能完全依赖于所选核函数。任何固定核都无法区分某些分布,因此核需动态优化。然而,数据驱动的优化违反了独立同分布假设,导致现有框架存在严格权衡。比率准则忽略这种依赖性,引发过拟合与方差坍缩;聚合方法虽避开依赖性,但仅限离散网格,无法扩展至如深度核等连续搜索空间。为此,本文将数据驱动核选择视为模型选择问题,提出复杂度惩罚MMD(CP-MMD),基于前人工作中的两样本统一浓度不等式推导出该准则。惩罚项通过核搜索空间的复杂度限制经验MMD,数学上吸收优化成本,使CP-MMD可在连续参数类(如标量带宽、多项式特征带宽、深度网络参数)上实现无网格直接最大化。通过形式化纳入优化复杂度,证明了CP-MMD在确保无条件第一类错误控制的前提下最大化真实检验力。由此,CP-MMD实现了线性、多项式和深度核下的无网格核选择,性能达到或超过当前最优水平。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
The Maximum Mean Discrepancy (MMD) is a cornerstone statistic for nonparametric two-sample testing, but its test power is dictated entirely by the chosen kernel. Because any fixed kernel inherently fails to distinguish certain distributions, the kernel must be dynamically optimized. However, data-driven optimization violates the foundational i.i.d. assumption, forcing a strict trade-off in existing frameworks. Ratio criteria ignore this dependence, inducing overfitting and variance collapse on rich kernel classes. Conversely, aggregation methods bypass the dependence using finite grids, but this strategy cannot scale to continuous search spaces like deep kernels. To break this dichotomy, we establish data-driven kernel selection as a model selection problem. We propose Complexity-Penalized MMD (CP-MMD), a criterion derived by applying the two-sample uniform concentration inequality of preceding works to the post-optimization MMD problem. The resulting penalty bounds the empirical MMD by the complexity of the kernel search space, mathematically absorbing the cost of optimization, so that CP-MMD enables direct, grid-free maximization over continuous parametric classes, including scalar bandwidths, polynomial feature bandwidths, and deep network parameters. By formally accounting for optimization complexity, we prove that CP-MMD maximizes true test power while ensuring unconditional Type-I validity. Consequently, CP-MMD enables grid-free kernel selection across linear, polynomial-feature, and deep regimes, matching or exceeding state-of-the-art test power.
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。