提出递归分解框架DiCoLa,解决存在隐变量时的因果结构学习效率问题。
A Recursive Decomposition Framework for Causal Structure Learning in the Presence of Latent Variables
- 通过递归分解将全局因果学习拆解为小任务,再系统整合结果。
- 在合成数据上显著提升计算效率,真实数据验证了实际效果。
- 适合高维且含隐变量的因果发现场景,对算法设计有普适参考价值。
基于约束的因果发现广泛用于学习因果结构,但其严重依赖条件独立性(CI)检验,在高维场景下计算成本高昂。尽管已有诸多分治框架被提出,但多数假设因果充分性(即无隐变量)。本文证明分治策略可理论推广至存在隐变量的情形。我们提出递归分解框架DiCoLa,实现含隐变量环境下的分治因果发现。该方法将全局学习任务递归分解为更小子问题,并通过严谨的重构步骤整合子问题解以恢复全局结构。理论证明了该框架的合理性与完备性。大量合成数据实验表明,该方法显著提升了多种因果发现算法的计算效率;真实数据实验进一步验证了其实际有效性。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Constraint-based causal discovery is widely used for learning causal structures, but heavy reliance on conditional independence (CI) testing makes it computationally expensive in high-dimensional settings. To mitigate this limitation, many divide-and-conquer frameworks have been proposed, but most assume causal sufficiency, i.e., no latent variables. In this paper, we show that divide-and-conquer strategies can be theoretically generalized beyond causal sufficiency to settings with latent variables. Specifically, we propose a recursive decomposition framework, termed DiCoLa, that enables divide-and-conquer causal discovery in the presence of latent variables. It recursively decomposes the global learning task into smaller subproblems and integrates their solutions through a principled reconstruction step to recover the global structure. We theoretically establish the soundness and completeness of the proposed framework. Extensive experiments on synthetic data demonstrate that our approach significantly improves computational efficiency across a range of causal discovery algorithms, while experiments on a real-world dataset further illustrate its practical effectiveness.
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。