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On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice




             On some computational methods for Bayesian
                          model choice

                                            Christian P. Robert

                               CREST-INSEE and Universit´ Paris Dauphine
                                                        e
                               http://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/~xian


                          MaxEnt 2009, Oxford, July 6, 2009
                      Joint works with M. Beaumont, N. Chopin,
                      J.-M. Cornuet, J.-M. Marin and D. Wraith
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice




Outline


      1    Evidence

      2    Importance sampling solutions

      3    Cross-model solutions

      4    Nested sampling

      5    ABC model choice
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Bayes tests



Formal construction of Bayes tests

      Definition (Test)
      Given an hypothesis H0 : θ ∈ Θ0 on the parameter θ ∈ Θ0 of a
      statistical model, a test is a statistical procedure that takes its
      values in {0, 1}.

      Theorem (Bayes test)
      The Bayes estimator associated with π and with the 0 − 1 loss is

                                         1    if π(θ ∈ Θ0 |x) > π(θ ∈ Θ0 |x),
                        δ π (x) =
                                         0    otherwise,
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Bayes tests



Formal construction of Bayes tests

      Definition (Test)
      Given an hypothesis H0 : θ ∈ Θ0 on the parameter θ ∈ Θ0 of a
      statistical model, a test is a statistical procedure that takes its
      values in {0, 1}.

      Theorem (Bayes test)
      The Bayes estimator associated with π and with the 0 − 1 loss is

                                         1    if π(θ ∈ Θ0 |x) > π(θ ∈ Θ0 |x),
                        δ π (x) =
                                         0    otherwise,
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Bayes factor



Bayes factor

      Definition (Bayes factors)
      For testing hypothesis H0 : θ ∈ Θ0 vs. Ha : θ ∈ Θ0 , under prior

                                      π(Θ0 )π0 (θ) + π(Θc )π1 (θ) ,
                                                        0

      central quantity

                                                               f (x|θ)π0 (θ)dθ
                       π(Θ0 |x)               π(Θ0 )      Θ0                         m0 (x)
             B01 (x) =                               =                           =
                       π(Θc |x)
                          0                   π(Θc )
                                                 0                                   m1 (x)
                                                               f (x|θ)π1 (θ)dθ
                                                          Θc
                                                           0


                                                                            [Jeffreys, 1939]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Model choice



Model choice and model comparison



      Choice between models
      Several models available for the same observation x

                                    Mi : x ∼ fi (x|θi ),   i∈I

      where the family I can be finite or infinite

      Identical setup: Replace hypotheses with models but keep
      marginal likelihoods and Bayes factors
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Model choice



Model choice and model comparison



      Choice between models
      Several models available for the same observation x

                                    Mi : x ∼ fi (x|θi ),   i∈I

      where the family I can be finite or infinite

      Identical setup: Replace hypotheses with models but keep
      marginal likelihoods and Bayes factors
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Model choice



Bayesian model choice
      Probabilise the entire model/parameter space
          allocate probabilities pi to all models Mi
          define priors πi (θi ) for each parameter space Θi
          compute

                                                        pi          fi (x|θi )πi (θi )dθi
                                                               Θi
                               π(Mi |x) =
                                                          pj         fj (x|θj )πj (θj )dθj
                                                    j           Θj


              take largest π(Mi |x) to determine “best” model,
              or use averaged predictive

                                        π(Mj |x)               fj (x |θj )πj (θj |x)dθj
                                    j                     Θj
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Model choice



Bayesian model choice
      Probabilise the entire model/parameter space
          allocate probabilities pi to all models Mi
          define priors πi (θi ) for each parameter space Θi
          compute

                                                        pi          fi (x|θi )πi (θi )dθi
                                                               Θi
                               π(Mi |x) =
                                                          pj         fj (x|θj )πj (θj )dθj
                                                    j           Θj


              take largest π(Mi |x) to determine “best” model,
              or use averaged predictive

                                        π(Mj |x)               fj (x |θj )πj (θj |x)dθj
                                    j                     Θj
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Model choice



Bayesian model choice
      Probabilise the entire model/parameter space
          allocate probabilities pi to all models Mi
          define priors πi (θi ) for each parameter space Θi
          compute

                                                        pi          fi (x|θi )πi (θi )dθi
                                                               Θi
                               π(Mi |x) =
                                                          pj         fj (x|θj )πj (θj )dθj
                                                    j           Θj


              take largest π(Mi |x) to determine “best” model,
              or use averaged predictive

                                        π(Mj |x)               fj (x |θj )πj (θj |x)dθj
                                    j                     Θj
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Model choice



Bayesian model choice
      Probabilise the entire model/parameter space
          allocate probabilities pi to all models Mi
          define priors πi (θi ) for each parameter space Θi
          compute

                                                        pi          fi (x|θi )πi (θi )dθi
                                                               Θi
                               π(Mi |x) =
                                                          pj         fj (x|θj )πj (θj )dθj
                                                    j           Θj


              take largest π(Mi |x) to determine “best” model,
              or use averaged predictive

                                        π(Mj |x)               fj (x |θj )πj (θj |x)dθj
                                    j                     Θj
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Evidence
     Evidence



Evidence



      All these problems end up with a similar quantity, the evidence

                                     Zk =            πk (θk )Lk (θk ) dθk ,
                                                Θk

      aka the marginal likelihood.
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions




Importance sampling revisited

      1    Evidence

      2    Importance sampling solutions
             Regular importance
             Harmonic means
             Chib’s solution

      3    Cross-model solutions

      4    Nested sampling

      5    ABC model choice
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Bayes factor approximation

      When approximating the Bayes factor

                                                      f0 (x|θ0 )π0 (θ0 )dθ0
                                                 Θ0
                                    B01 =
                                                      f1 (x|θ1 )π1 (θ1 )dθ1
                                                 Θ1

      use of importance functions                     0   and   1   and

                                       n−1
                                        0
                                                 n0         i       i
                                                 i=1 f0 (x|θ0 )π0 (θ0 )/
                                                                                  i
                                                                              0 (θ0 )
                           B01 =
                                       n−1
                                        1
                                                 n1         i       i
                                                 i=1 f1 (x|θ1 )π1 (θ1 )/
                                                                                  i
                                                                              1 (θ1 )
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Bridge sampling


      Special case:
      If
                                           π1 (θ1 |x) ∝ π1 (θ1 |x)
                                                        ˜
                                           π2 (θ2 |x) ∝ π2 (θ2 |x)
                                                        ˜
      live on the same space (Θ1 = Θ2 ), then
                                            n
                                       1         π1 (θi |x)
                                                 ˜
                           B12 ≈                              θi ∼ π2 (θ|x)
                                       n         π2 (θi |x)
                                                 ˜
                                           i=1

                           [Gelman & Meng, 1998; Chen, Shao & Ibrahim, 2000]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Bridge sampling variance



      The bridge sampling estimator does poorly if
                                                                            2
                              var(B12 )  1                π1 (θ) − π2 (θ)
                                  2     ≈ E
                                B12      n                     π2 (θ)

      is large, i.e. if π1 and π2 have little overlap...
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Bridge sampling variance



      The bridge sampling estimator does poorly if
                                                                            2
                              var(B12 )  1                π1 (θ) − π2 (θ)
                                  2     ≈ E
                                B12      n                     π2 (θ)

      is large, i.e. if π1 and π2 have little overlap...
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



(Further) bridge sampling

      In addition

                                       π2 (θ|x)α(θ)π1 (θ|x)dθ
                                       ˜
                  B12 =                                              ∀ α(·)
                                       π1 (θ|x)α(θ)π2 (θ|x)dθ
                                       ˜

                                        n1
                                  1
                                              π2 (θ1i |x)α(θ1i )
                                              ˜
                                  n1
                                        i=1
                           ≈             n2                        θji ∼ πj (θ|x)
                                  1
                                              π1 (θ2i |x)α(θ2i )
                                              ˜
                                  n2
                                        i=1
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



An infamous example
      When
                                                               1
                                              α(θ) =
                                                          π1 (θ)˜2 (θ)
                                                          ˜     π
      harmonic mean approximation to B12
                                         n1
                                   1
                                               1/˜1 (θ1i |x)
                                                 π
                                   n1
                                        i=1
                          B21 =          n2                              θji ∼ πj (θ|x)
                                   1
                                               1/˜2 (θ2i |x)
                                                 π
                                   n2
                                        i=1

                                               [Newton & Raftery, 1994]
      Infamous: Most often leads to an infinite variance!!!
                                             [Radford Neal’s blog, 2008]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



An infamous example
      When
                                                               1
                                              α(θ) =
                                                          π1 (θ)˜2 (θ)
                                                          ˜     π
      harmonic mean approximation to B12
                                         n1
                                   1
                                               1/˜1 (θ1i |x)
                                                 π
                                   n1
                                        i=1
                          B21 =          n2                              θji ∼ πj (θ|x)
                                   1
                                               1/˜2 (θ2i |x)
                                                 π
                                   n2
                                        i=1

                                               [Newton & Raftery, 1994]
      Infamous: Most often leads to an infinite variance!!!
                                             [Radford Neal’s blog, 2008]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



“The Worst Monte Carlo Method Ever”

      “The good news is that the Law of Large Numbers guarantees that
      this estimator is consistent ie, it will very likely be very close to the
      correct answer if you use a sufficiently large number of points from
      the posterior distribution.
      The bad news is that the number of points required for this
      estimator to get close to the right answer will often be greater
      than the number of atoms in the observable universe. The even
      worse news is that itws easy for people to not realize this, and to
      naively accept estimates that are nowhere close to the correct
      value of the marginal likelihood.”
                                       [Radford Neal’s blog, Aug. 23, 2008]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



“The Worst Monte Carlo Method Ever”

      “The good news is that the Law of Large Numbers guarantees that
      this estimator is consistent ie, it will very likely be very close to the
      correct answer if you use a sufficiently large number of points from
      the posterior distribution.
      The bad news is that the number of points required for this
      estimator to get close to the right answer will often be greater
      than the number of atoms in the observable universe. The even
      worse news is that itws easy for people to not realize this, and to
      naively accept estimates that are nowhere close to the correct
      value of the marginal likelihood.”
                                       [Radford Neal’s blog, Aug. 23, 2008]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Optimal bridge sampling

      The optimal choice of auxiliary function is
                                                       n1 + n2
                                    α =
                                              n1 π1 (θ|x) + n2 π2 (θ|x)

      leading to
                                             n1
                                       1                    π2 (θ1i |x)
                                                             ˜
                                       n1         n1 π1 (θ1i |x) + n2 π2 (θ1i |x)
                                            i=1
                           B12 ≈             n2
                                       1                    π1 (θ2i |x)
                                                             ˜
                                       n2         n1 π1 (θ2i |x) + n2 π2 (θ2i |x)
                                            i=1

                                                                                    Back later!
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Optimal bridge sampling (2)



      Reason:

       Var(B12 )    1                      π1 (θ)π2 (θ)[n1 π1 (θ) + n2 π2 (θ)]α(θ)2 dθ
           2     ≈                                                              2        −1
         B12       n1 n2                                  π1 (θ)π2 (θ)α(θ) dθ

      δ method
      Drag: Dependence on the unknown normalising constants solved
      iteratively
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Optimal bridge sampling (2)



      Reason:

       Var(B12 )    1                      π1 (θ)π2 (θ)[n1 π1 (θ) + n2 π2 (θ)]α(θ)2 dθ
           2     ≈                                                              2        −1
         B12       n1 n2                                  π1 (θ)π2 (θ)α(θ) dθ

      δ method
      Drag: Dependence on the unknown normalising constants solved
      iteratively
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Ratio importance sampling


      Another identity:
                                                    Eϕ [˜1 (θ)/ϕ(θ)]
                                                        π
                                         B12 =
                                                    Eϕ [˜2 (θ)/ϕ(θ)]
                                                        π
      for any density ϕ with sufficiently large support
                                                    [Torrie & Valleau, 1977]
      Use of a single sample θ1 , . . . , θn from ϕ

                                                      i=1 π1 (θi )/ϕ(θi )
                                                          ˜
                                       B12 =
                                                      i=1 π2 (θi )/ϕ(θi )
                                                          ˜
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Ratio importance sampling


      Another identity:
                                                    Eϕ [˜1 (θ)/ϕ(θ)]
                                                        π
                                         B12 =
                                                    Eϕ [˜2 (θ)/ϕ(θ)]
                                                        π
      for any density ϕ with sufficiently large support
                                                    [Torrie & Valleau, 1977]
      Use of a single sample θ1 , . . . , θn from ϕ

                                                      i=1 π1 (θi )/ϕ(θi )
                                                          ˜
                                       B12 =
                                                      i=1 π2 (θi )/ϕ(θi )
                                                          ˜
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Ratio importance sampling (2)

      Approximate variance:
                                                                               2
                          var(B12 )  1                    (π1 (θ) − π2 (θ))2
                              2     ≈ Eϕ
                            B12      n                          ϕ(θ)2

      Optimal choice:

                                                     | π1 (θ) − π2 (θ) |
                                  ϕ∗ (θ) =
                                                    | π1 (η) − π2 (η) | dη

                                                             [Chen, Shao & Ibrahim, 2000]
      Formaly better than bridge sampling
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Ratio importance sampling (2)

      Approximate variance:
                                                                               2
                          var(B12 )  1                    (π1 (θ) − π2 (θ))2
                              2     ≈ Eϕ
                            B12      n                          ϕ(θ)2

      Optimal choice:

                                                     | π1 (θ) − π2 (θ) |
                                  ϕ∗ (θ) =
                                                    | π1 (η) − π2 (η) | dη

                                                             [Chen, Shao & Ibrahim, 2000]
      Formaly better than bridge sampling
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Regular importance



Ratio importance sampling (2)

      Approximate variance:
                                                                               2
                          var(B12 )  1                    (π1 (θ) − π2 (θ))2
                              2     ≈ Eϕ
                            B12      n                          ϕ(θ)2

      Optimal choice:

                                                     | π1 (θ) − π2 (θ) |
                                  ϕ∗ (θ) =
                                                    | π1 (η) − π2 (η) | dη

                                                             [Chen, Shao & Ibrahim, 2000]
      Formaly better than bridge sampling
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Approximating Zk from a posterior sample


      Use of the [harmonic mean] identity

                    ϕ(θk )                               ϕ(θk )       πk (θk )Lk (θk )       1
      Eπk                        x =                                                   dθk =
                πk (θk )Lk (θk )                     πk (θk )Lk (θk )       Zk               Zk

      no matter what the proposal ϕ(·) is.
                          [Gelfand & Dey, 1994; Bartolucci et al., 2006]
      Direct exploitation of the MCMC output
                                                                                         RB-RJ
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Approximating Zk from a posterior sample


      Use of the [harmonic mean] identity

                    ϕ(θk )                               ϕ(θk )       πk (θk )Lk (θk )       1
      Eπk                        x =                                                   dθk =
                πk (θk )Lk (θk )                     πk (θk )Lk (θk )       Zk               Zk

      no matter what the proposal ϕ(·) is.
                          [Gelfand & Dey, 1994; Bartolucci et al., 2006]
      Direct exploitation of the MCMC output
                                                                                         RB-RJ
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Comparison with regular importance sampling


      Harmonic mean: Constraint opposed to usual importance sampling
      constraints: ϕ(θ) must have lighter (rather than fatter) tails than
      πk (θk )Lk (θk ) for the approximation
                                                          T               (t)
                                                  1                 ϕ(θk )
                                  Z1k = 1                           (t)         (t)
                                                  T             πk (θk )Lk (θk )
                                                          t=1

      to have a finite variance.
      E.g., use finite support kernels (like Epanechnikov’s kernel) for ϕ
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Comparison with regular importance sampling


      Harmonic mean: Constraint opposed to usual importance sampling
      constraints: ϕ(θ) must have lighter (rather than fatter) tails than
      πk (θk )Lk (θk ) for the approximation
                                                          T               (t)
                                                  1                 ϕ(θk )
                                  Z1k = 1                           (t)         (t)
                                                  T             πk (θk )Lk (θk )
                                                          t=1

      to have a finite variance.
      E.g., use finite support kernels (like Epanechnikov’s kernel) for ϕ
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Comparison with regular importance sampling (cont’d)



      Compare Z1k with a standard importance sampling approximation
                                                     T        (t)         (t)
                                            1             πk (θk )Lk (θk )
                                    Z2k   =                         (t)
                                            T                 ϕ(θk )
                                                   t=1

                         (t)
      where the θk ’s are generated from the density ϕ(·) (with fatter
      tails like t’s)
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Approximating Zk using a mixture representation



                                                                              Bridge sampling recall

      Design a specific mixture for simulation [importance sampling]
      purposes, with density

                                  ϕk (θk ) ∝ ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) ,

      where ϕ(·) is arbitrary (but normalised)
      Note: ω1 is not a probability weight
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Approximating Zk using a mixture representation



                                                                              Bridge sampling recall

      Design a specific mixture for simulation [importance sampling]
      purposes, with density

                                  ϕk (θk ) ∝ ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) ,

      where ϕ(·) is arbitrary (but normalised)
      Note: ω1 is not a probability weight
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Approximating Z using a mixture representation (cont’d)

      Corresponding MCMC (=Gibbs) sampler
      At iteration t
          1   Take δ (t) = 1 with probability

                         (t−1)            (t−1)                  (t−1)         (t−1)          (t−1)
              ω1 πk (θk           )Lk (θk         )       ω1 πk (θk      )Lk (θk       ) + ϕ(θk       )

              and δ (t) = 2 otherwise;
                                                (t)                   (t−1)
          2   If δ (t) = 1, generate θk ∼ MCMC(θk          , θk ) where
              MCMC(θk , θk ) denotes an arbitrary MCMC kernel associated
              with the posterior πk (θk |x) ∝ πk (θk )Lk (θk );
                                                (t)
          3   If δ (t) = 2, generate θk ∼ ϕ(θk ) independently
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Approximating Z using a mixture representation (cont’d)

      Corresponding MCMC (=Gibbs) sampler
      At iteration t
          1   Take δ (t) = 1 with probability

                         (t−1)            (t−1)                  (t−1)         (t−1)          (t−1)
              ω1 πk (θk           )Lk (θk         )       ω1 πk (θk      )Lk (θk       ) + ϕ(θk       )

              and δ (t) = 2 otherwise;
                                                (t)                   (t−1)
          2   If δ (t) = 1, generate θk ∼ MCMC(θk          , θk ) where
              MCMC(θk , θk ) denotes an arbitrary MCMC kernel associated
              with the posterior πk (θk |x) ∝ πk (θk )Lk (θk );
                                                (t)
          3   If δ (t) = 2, generate θk ∼ ϕ(θk ) independently
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Approximating Z using a mixture representation (cont’d)

      Corresponding MCMC (=Gibbs) sampler
      At iteration t
          1   Take δ (t) = 1 with probability

                         (t−1)            (t−1)                  (t−1)         (t−1)          (t−1)
              ω1 πk (θk           )Lk (θk         )       ω1 πk (θk      )Lk (θk       ) + ϕ(θk       )

              and δ (t) = 2 otherwise;
                                                (t)                   (t−1)
          2   If δ (t) = 1, generate θk ∼ MCMC(θk          , θk ) where
              MCMC(θk , θk ) denotes an arbitrary MCMC kernel associated
              with the posterior πk (θk |x) ∝ πk (θk )Lk (θk );
                                                (t)
          3   If δ (t) = 2, generate θk ∼ ϕ(θk ) independently
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Evidence approximation by mixtures
      Rao-Blackwellised estimate
                        T
           ˆ 1
           ξ=
                                        (t)
                             ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk )
                                                     (t)               (t)          (t)
                                                              ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) ,
                                                                                                 (t)
              T
                       t=1

      converges to ω1 Zk /{ω1 Zk + 1}
               3k
                           ˆ       ˆ        ˆ
      Deduce Zˆ from ω1 Z3k /{ω1 Z3k + 1} = ξ ie

                          T           (t)     (t)                       (t)          (t)          (t)
                          t=1 ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk )               ω1 π(θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk )
           ˆ
           Z3k =
                                  T      (t)                     (t)          (t)          (t)
                                  t=1 ϕ(θk )              ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk )

                                                                             [Bridge sampler redux]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Harmonic means



Evidence approximation by mixtures
      Rao-Blackwellised estimate
                        T
           ˆ 1
           ξ=
                                        (t)
                             ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk )
                                                     (t)               (t)          (t)
                                                              ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) ,
                                                                                                 (t)
              T
                       t=1

      converges to ω1 Zk /{ω1 Zk + 1}
               3k
                           ˆ       ˆ        ˆ
      Deduce Zˆ from ω1 Z3k /{ω1 Z3k + 1} = ξ ie

                          T           (t)     (t)                       (t)          (t)          (t)
                          t=1 ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk )               ω1 π(θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk )
           ˆ
           Z3k =
                                  T      (t)                     (t)          (t)          (t)
                                  t=1 ϕ(θk )              ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk )

                                                                             [Bridge sampler redux]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Chib’s representation


      Direct application of Bayes’ theorem: given x ∼ fk (x|θk ) and
      θk ∼ πk (θk ),
                                     fk (x|θk ) πk (θk )
                       Zk = mk (x) =
                                         πk (θk |x)
      Use of an approximation to the posterior
                                                                  ∗       ∗
                                                          fk (x|θk ) πk (θk )
                                  Zk = mk (x) =                               .
                                                               ˆ ∗
                                                              πk (θk |x)
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Chib’s representation


      Direct application of Bayes’ theorem: given x ∼ fk (x|θk ) and
      θk ∼ πk (θk ),
                                     fk (x|θk ) πk (θk )
                       Zk = mk (x) =
                                         πk (θk |x)
      Use of an approximation to the posterior
                                                                  ∗       ∗
                                                          fk (x|θk ) πk (θk )
                                  Zk = mk (x) =                               .
                                                               ˆ ∗
                                                              πk (θk |x)
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Case of latent variables



      For missing variable z as in mixture models, natural Rao-Blackwell
      estimate
                                       T
                            ∗       1          ∗      (t)
                       πk (θk |x) =       πk (θk |x, zk ) ,
                                    T
                                                          t=1
                         (t)
      where the zk ’s are Gibbs sampled latent variables
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Label switching impact


      A mixture model [special case of missing variable model] is
      invariant under permutations of the indices of the components.
      E.g., mixtures
                          0.3N (0, 1) + 0.7N (2.3, 1)
      and
                                       0.7N (2.3, 1) + 0.3N (0, 1)
      are exactly the same!
       c The component parameters θi are not identifiable
      marginally since they are exchangeable
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Label switching impact


      A mixture model [special case of missing variable model] is
      invariant under permutations of the indices of the components.
      E.g., mixtures
                          0.3N (0, 1) + 0.7N (2.3, 1)
      and
                                       0.7N (2.3, 1) + 0.3N (0, 1)
      are exactly the same!
       c The component parameters θi are not identifiable
      marginally since they are exchangeable
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Connected difficulties


          1   Number of modes of the likelihood of order O(k!):
               c Maximization and even [MCMC] exploration of the
              posterior surface harder
          2   Under exchangeable priors on (θ, p) [prior invariant under
              permutation of the indices], all posterior marginals are
              identical:
               c Posterior expectation of θ1 equal to posterior expectation
              of θ2
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Connected difficulties


          1   Number of modes of the likelihood of order O(k!):
               c Maximization and even [MCMC] exploration of the
              posterior surface harder
          2   Under exchangeable priors on (θ, p) [prior invariant under
              permutation of the indices], all posterior marginals are
              identical:
               c Posterior expectation of θ1 equal to posterior expectation
              of θ2
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



License


      Since Gibbs output does not produce exchangeability, the Gibbs
      sampler has not explored the whole parameter space: it lacks
      energy to switch simultaneously enough component allocations at
      once

                                                                             0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
                  −1 0 1 2 3
          µi




                                  0   100   200

                                                  n
                                                      300   400   500
                                                                        pi                     −1         0
                                                                                                                    µ
                                                                                                                     1

                                                                                                                     i
                                                                                                                               2       3




                                                                             0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
                0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5




                                                                        σi
           pi




                                  0   100   200       300   400   500                           0.2           0.3        0.4         0.5
                                                  n                                                                 pi
                0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0




                                                                             −1 0 1 2 3
          σi




                                                                        µi




                                  0   100   200       300   400   500                               0.4         0.6            0.8         1.0
                                                  n                                                                 σi
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Label switching paradox




      We should observe the exchangeability of the components [label
      switching] to conclude about convergence of the Gibbs sampler.
      If we observe it, then we do not know how to estimate the
      parameters.
      If we do not, then we are uncertain about the convergence!!!
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Label switching paradox




      We should observe the exchangeability of the components [label
      switching] to conclude about convergence of the Gibbs sampler.
      If we observe it, then we do not know how to estimate the
      parameters.
      If we do not, then we are uncertain about the convergence!!!
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Label switching paradox




      We should observe the exchangeability of the components [label
      switching] to conclude about convergence of the Gibbs sampler.
      If we observe it, then we do not know how to estimate the
      parameters.
      If we do not, then we are uncertain about the convergence!!!
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Compensation for label switching
                                         (t)
      For mixture models, zk usually fails to visit all configurations in a
      balanced way, despite the symmetry predicted by the theory
                                                              1
                       πk (θk |x) = πk (σ(θk )|x) =                      πk (σ(θk )|x)
                                                              k!
                                                                   σ∈S

      for all σ’s in Sk , set of all permutations of {1, . . . , k}.
      Consequences on numerical approximation, biased by an order k!
      Recover the theoretical symmetry by using
                                                          T
                              ∗              1                        ∗        (t)
                         πk (θk |x) =                          πk (σ(θk )|x, zk ) .
                                            T k!
                                                    σ∈Sk t=1

                                                    [Berkhof, Mechelen, & Gelman, 2003]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Compensation for label switching
                                         (t)
      For mixture models, zk usually fails to visit all configurations in a
      balanced way, despite the symmetry predicted by the theory
                                                              1
                       πk (θk |x) = πk (σ(θk )|x) =                      πk (σ(θk )|x)
                                                              k!
                                                                   σ∈S

      for all σ’s in Sk , set of all permutations of {1, . . . , k}.
      Consequences on numerical approximation, biased by an order k!
      Recover the theoretical symmetry by using
                                                          T
                              ∗              1                        ∗        (t)
                         πk (θk |x) =                          πk (σ(θk )|x, zk ) .
                                            T k!
                                                    σ∈Sk t=1

                                                    [Berkhof, Mechelen, & Gelman, 2003]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Galaxy dataset

      n = 82 galaxies as a mixture of k normal distributions with both
      mean and variance unknown.
                                                          [Roeder, 1992]
                                                                         Average density
                                                         0.8
                                                         0.6
                                    Relative Frequency

                                                         0.4
                                                         0.2
                                                         0.0




                                                               −2   −1      0              1   2   3

                                                                                data
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Galaxy dataset (k)
                                              ∗
      Using only the original estimate, with θk as the MAP estimator,
                                       log(mk (x)) = −105.1396
                                           ˆ
      for k = 3 (based on 103 simulations), while introducing the
      permutations leads to
                                       log(mk (x)) = −103.3479
                                           ˆ
      Note that
                                  −105.1396 + log(3!) = −103.3479

        k                 2           3             4         5         6         7         8
        mk (x)         -115.68     -103.35       -102.66   -101.93   -102.88   -105.48   -108.44

      Estimations of the marginal likelihoods by the symmetrised Chib’s
      approximation (based on 105 Gibbs iterations and, for k > 5, 100
      permutations selected at random in Sk ).
                                [Lee, Marin, Mengersen & Robert, 2008]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Galaxy dataset (k)
                                              ∗
      Using only the original estimate, with θk as the MAP estimator,
                                       log(mk (x)) = −105.1396
                                           ˆ
      for k = 3 (based on 103 simulations), while introducing the
      permutations leads to
                                       log(mk (x)) = −103.3479
                                           ˆ
      Note that
                                  −105.1396 + log(3!) = −103.3479

        k                 2           3             4         5         6         7         8
        mk (x)         -115.68     -103.35       -102.66   -101.93   -102.88   -105.48   -108.44

      Estimations of the marginal likelihoods by the symmetrised Chib’s
      approximation (based on 105 Gibbs iterations and, for k > 5, 100
      permutations selected at random in Sk ).
                                [Lee, Marin, Mengersen & Robert, 2008]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Importance sampling solutions
     Chib’s solution



Galaxy dataset (k)
                                              ∗
      Using only the original estimate, with θk as the MAP estimator,
                                       log(mk (x)) = −105.1396
                                           ˆ
      for k = 3 (based on 103 simulations), while introducing the
      permutations leads to
                                       log(mk (x)) = −103.3479
                                           ˆ
      Note that
                                  −105.1396 + log(3!) = −103.3479

        k                 2           3             4         5         6         7         8
        mk (x)         -115.68     -103.35       -102.66   -101.93   -102.88   -105.48   -108.44

      Estimations of the marginal likelihoods by the symmetrised Chib’s
      approximation (based on 105 Gibbs iterations and, for k > 5, 100
      permutations selected at random in Sk ).
                                [Lee, Marin, Mengersen & Robert, 2008]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions




Cross-model solutions

      1    Evidence

      2    Importance sampling solutions

      3    Cross-model solutions
             Reversible jump
             Saturation schemes
             Implementation error

      4    Nested sampling

      5    ABC model choice
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Reversible jump


                                                                               irreversible jump

      Idea: Set up a proper measure–theoretic framework for designing
      moves between models Mk
                                                         [Green, 1995]
      Create a reversible kernel K on H = k {k} × Θk such that

                                  K(x, dy)π(x)dx =                K(y, dx)π(y)dy
                          A   B                           B   A

      for the invariant density π [x is of the form (k, θ(k) )]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Reversible jump


                                                                               irreversible jump

      Idea: Set up a proper measure–theoretic framework for designing
      moves between models Mk
                                                         [Green, 1995]
      Create a reversible kernel K on H = k {k} × Θk such that

                                  K(x, dy)π(x)dx =                K(y, dx)π(y)dy
                          A   B                           B   A

      for the invariant density π [x is of the form (k, θ(k) )]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Local moves
      For a move between two models, M1 and M2 , the Markov chain
      being in state θ1 ∈ M1 , denote by K1→2 (θ1 , dθ) and K2→1 (θ2 , dθ)
      the corresponding kernels, under the detailed balance condition

                          π(dθ1 ) K1→2 (θ1 , dθ) = π(dθ2 ) K2→1 (θ2 , dθ) ,

      and take, wlog, dim(M2 ) > dim(M1 ).
      Proposal expressed as

                                           θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )

      where v1→2 is a random variable of dimension
      dim(M2 ) − dim(M1 ), generated as

                                          v1→2 ∼ ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) .
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Local moves
      For a move between two models, M1 and M2 , the Markov chain
      being in state θ1 ∈ M1 , denote by K1→2 (θ1 , dθ) and K2→1 (θ2 , dθ)
      the corresponding kernels, under the detailed balance condition

                          π(dθ1 ) K1→2 (θ1 , dθ) = π(dθ2 ) K2→1 (θ2 , dθ) ,

      and take, wlog, dim(M2 ) > dim(M1 ).
      Proposal expressed as

                                           θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )

      where v1→2 is a random variable of dimension
      dim(M2 ) − dim(M1 ), generated as

                                          v1→2 ∼ ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) .
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Local moves (2)
      In this case, q1→2 (θ1 , dθ2 ) has density
                                                                          −1
                                                     ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
                               ϕ1→2 (v1→2 )                                    ,
                                                       ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )
      by the Jacobian rule.
                                                                                   Reverse importance link

      If probability 1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 ,
      acceptance probability reduces to
                                         π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1        ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
      α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1∧                                                           .
                                   π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 )   ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )
      If several models are considered simultaneously, with probability
         1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 , as in
                                         ∞
                                         XZ
                          K(x, B) =               ρm (x, y)qm (x, dy) + ω(x)IB (x)
                                         m=1
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Local moves (2)
      In this case, q1→2 (θ1 , dθ2 ) has density
                                                                          −1
                                                     ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
                               ϕ1→2 (v1→2 )                                    ,
                                                       ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )
      by the Jacobian rule.
                                                                                   Reverse importance link

      If probability 1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 ,
      acceptance probability reduces to
                                         π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1        ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
      α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1∧                                                           .
                                   π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 )   ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )
      If several models are considered simultaneously, with probability
         1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 , as in
                                         ∞
                                         XZ
                          K(x, B) =               ρm (x, y)qm (x, dy) + ω(x)IB (x)
                                         m=1
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Local moves (2)
      In this case, q1→2 (θ1 , dθ2 ) has density
                                                                          −1
                                                     ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
                               ϕ1→2 (v1→2 )                                    ,
                                                       ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )
      by the Jacobian rule.
                                                                                   Reverse importance link

      If probability 1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 ,
      acceptance probability reduces to
                                         π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1        ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
      α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1∧                                                           .
                                   π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 )   ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )
      If several models are considered simultaneously, with probability
         1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 , as in
                                         ∞
                                         XZ
                          K(x, B) =               ρm (x, y)qm (x, dy) + ω(x)IB (x)
                                         m=1
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Generic reversible jump acceptance probability


      Acceptance probability of θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) is
                                           π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1        ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
          α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧
                                     π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 )   ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )

      while acceptance probability of θ1 with (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 ) is
                                                              1→2
                                                                                     −1
                                   π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
        α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧
                                         π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1          ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )

                                           c Difficult calibration
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Generic reversible jump acceptance probability


      Acceptance probability of θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) is
                                           π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1        ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
          α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧
                                     π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 )   ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )

      while acceptance probability of θ1 with (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 ) is
                                                              1→2
                                                                                     −1
                                   π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
        α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧
                                         π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1          ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )

                                           c Difficult calibration
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Generic reversible jump acceptance probability


      Acceptance probability of θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) is
                                           π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1        ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
          α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧
                                     π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 )   ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )

      while acceptance probability of θ1 with (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 ) is
                                                              1→2
                                                                                     −1
                                   π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 )
        α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧
                                         π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1          ∂(θ1 , v1→2 )

                                           c Difficult calibration
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Green’s sampler

      Algorithm
      Iteration t (t ≥ 1): if x(t) = (m, θ(m) ),
          1   Select model Mn with probability πmn
          2   Generate umn ∼ ϕmn (u) and set
              (θ(n) , vnm ) = Ψm→n (θ(m) , umn )
          3   Take x(t+1) = (n, θ(n) ) with probability

                            π(n, θ(n) ) πnm ϕnm (vnm )    ∂Ψm→n (θ(m) , umn )
                   min                                                        ,1
                            π(m, θ(m) ) πmn ϕmn (umn )      ∂(θ(m) , umn )

              and take x(t+1) = x(t) otherwise.
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Interpretation


      The representation puts us back in a fixed dimension setting:
              M1 × V1→2 and M2 in one-to-one relation.
              reversibility imposes that θ1 is derived as

                                             (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 )
                                                             1→2

              appears like a regular Metropolis–Hastings move from the
              couple (θ1 , v1→2 ) to θ2 when stationary distributions are
              π(M1 , θ1 ) × ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) and π(M2 , θ2 ), and when proposal
              distribution is deterministic
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Reversible jump



Interpretation


      The representation puts us back in a fixed dimension setting:
              M1 × V1→2 and M2 in one-to-one relation.
              reversibility imposes that θ1 is derived as

                                             (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 )
                                                             1→2

              appears like a regular Metropolis–Hastings move from the
              couple (θ1 , v1→2 ) to θ2 when stationary distributions are
              π(M1 , θ1 ) × ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) and π(M2 , θ2 ), and when proposal
              distribution is deterministic
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Saturation schemes



Alternative
      Saturation of the parameter space H = k {k} × Θk by creating
           θ = (θ1 , . . . , θD )
           a model index M
           pseudo-priors πj (θj |M = k) for j = k
                                                  [Carlin & Chib, 1995]
      Validation by

                     P(M = k|x) =                 P (M = k|x, θ)π(θ|x)dθ = Zk

      where the (marginal) posterior is [not πk ]
                                       D
                      π(θ|x) =              P(θ, M = k|x)
                                      k=1
                                       D
                                  =         pk Zk πk (θk |x)         πj (θj |M = k) .
                                      k=1                      j=k
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Saturation schemes



Alternative
      Saturation of the parameter space H = k {k} × Θk by creating
           θ = (θ1 , . . . , θD )
           a model index M
           pseudo-priors πj (θj |M = k) for j = k
                                                  [Carlin & Chib, 1995]
      Validation by

                     P(M = k|x) =                 P (M = k|x, θ)π(θ|x)dθ = Zk

      where the (marginal) posterior is [not πk ]
                                       D
                      π(θ|x) =              P(θ, M = k|x)
                                      k=1
                                       D
                                  =         pk Zk πk (θk |x)         πj (θj |M = k) .
                                      k=1                      j=k
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Saturation schemes



MCMC implementation
                                                    (t)      (t)
      Run a Markov chain (M (t) , θ1 , . . . , θD ) with stationary
      distribution π(θ, M |x) by
          1   Pick M (t) = k with probability π(θ(t−1) , k|x)
                               (t−1)
          2   Generate θk                from the posterior πk (θk |x) [or MCMC step]
                              (t−1)
          3   Generate       θj          (j = k) from the pseudo-prior πj (θj |M = k)
      Approximate P(M = k|x) = Zk by
                                     T
                                                    (t)     (t)              (t)
                 pk (x) ∝ pk
                 ˇ                        fk (x|θk ) πk (θk )            πj (θj |M = k)
                                    t=1                            j=k
                                    D
                                                      (t)    (t)              (t)
                                         p f (x|θ ) π (θ )               πj (θj |M = )
                                    =1                              j=
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Saturation schemes



MCMC implementation
                                                    (t)      (t)
      Run a Markov chain (M (t) , θ1 , . . . , θD ) with stationary
      distribution π(θ, M |x) by
          1   Pick M (t) = k with probability π(θ(t−1) , k|x)
                               (t−1)
          2   Generate θk                from the posterior πk (θk |x) [or MCMC step]
                              (t−1)
          3   Generate       θj          (j = k) from the pseudo-prior πj (θj |M = k)
      Approximate P(M = k|x) = Zk by
                                     T
                                                    (t)     (t)              (t)
                 pk (x) ∝ pk
                 ˇ                        fk (x|θk ) πk (θk )            πj (θj |M = k)
                                    t=1                            j=k
                                    D
                                                      (t)    (t)              (t)
                                         p f (x|θ ) π (θ )               πj (θj |M = )
                                    =1                              j=
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Saturation schemes



MCMC implementation
                                                    (t)      (t)
      Run a Markov chain (M (t) , θ1 , . . . , θD ) with stationary
      distribution π(θ, M |x) by
          1   Pick M (t) = k with probability π(θ(t−1) , k|x)
                               (t−1)
          2   Generate θk                from the posterior πk (θk |x) [or MCMC step]
                              (t−1)
          3   Generate       θj          (j = k) from the pseudo-prior πj (θj |M = k)
      Approximate P(M = k|x) = Zk by
                                     T
                                                    (t)     (t)              (t)
                 pk (x) ∝ pk
                 ˇ                        fk (x|θk ) πk (θk )            πj (θj |M = k)
                                    t=1                            j=k
                                    D
                                                      (t)    (t)              (t)
                                         p f (x|θ ) π (θ )               πj (θj |M = )
                                    =1                              j=
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Implementation error



Scott’s (2002) proposal


      Suggest estimating P(M = k|x) by
                                                                                  
                         T                                  D                     
                                  (t)                                       (t)
                Zk ∝ pk     f (x|θk )                              pj fj (x|θj )       ,
                            k                                                     
                                    t=1                      j=1

      based on D simultaneous and independent MCMC chains
                                           (t)
                                        (θk )t ,          1 ≤ k ≤ D,

      with stationary distributions πk (θk |x) [instead of above joint]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Implementation error



Scott’s (2002) proposal


      Suggest estimating P(M = k|x) by
                                                                                  
                         T                                  D                     
                                  (t)                                       (t)
                Zk ∝ pk     f (x|θk )                              pj fj (x|θj )       ,
                            k                                                     
                                    t=1                      j=1

      based on D simultaneous and independent MCMC chains
                                           (t)
                                        (θk )t ,          1 ≤ k ≤ D,

      with stationary distributions πk (θk |x) [instead of above joint]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Implementation error



Congdon’s (2006) extension


      Selecting flat [prohibited] pseudo-priors, uses instead
                                                                      
                  T                         D                         
                               (t)     (t)                 (t)     (t)
         Zk ∝ pk        fk (x|θk )πk (θk )       pj fj (x|θj )πj (θj ) ,
                                                                      
                            t=1                           j=1

                                   (t)
      where again the θk ’s are MCMC chains with stationary
      distributions πk (θk |x)
                                                                 to next section
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Implementation error



Examples

      Example (Model choice)
      Model M1 : x|θ ∼ U(0, θ) with prior θ ∼ Exp(1) is versus model
      M2 : x|θ ∼ Exp(θ) with prior θ ∼ Exp(1). Equal prior weights on
      both models: 1 = 2 = 0.5.




                                                          1.0
                                                          0.8
     Approximations of P(M = 1|x):

                                                          0.6
     Scott’s (2002) (blue), and
     Congdon’s (2006) (red)                               0.4

     [N = 106 simulations].
                                                          0.2
                                                          0.0




                                                                1   2       3   4   5

                                                                        y
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Implementation error



Examples

      Example (Model choice)
      Model M1 : x|θ ∼ U(0, θ) with prior θ ∼ Exp(1) is versus model
      M2 : x|θ ∼ Exp(θ) with prior θ ∼ Exp(1). Equal prior weights on
      both models: 1 = 2 = 0.5.




                                                          1.0
                                                          0.8
     Approximations of P(M = 1|x):

                                                          0.6
     Scott’s (2002) (blue), and
     Congdon’s (2006) (red)                               0.4

     [N = 106 simulations].
                                                          0.2
                                                          0.0




                                                                1   2       3   4   5

                                                                        y
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Implementation error



Examples (2)
      Example (Model choice (2))
      Normal model M1 : x ∼ N (θ, 1) with θ ∼ N (0, 1) vs. normal
      model M2 : x ∼ N (θ, 1) with θ ∼ N (5, 1)



     Comparison of both



                                                          1.0
     approximations with


                                                          0.8
     P(M = 1|x): Scott’s (2002)
     (green and mixed dashes) and
                                                          0.6
     Congdon’s (2006) (brown and
                                                          0.4




     long dashes) [N = 104
     simulations].
                                                          0.2
                                                          0.0




                                                                −1   0   1   2       3   4   5   6

                                                                                 y
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Cross-model solutions
     Implementation error



Examples (3)
      Example (Model choice (3))
      Model M1 : x ∼ N (0, 1/ω) with ω ∼ Exp(a) vs.
      M2 : exp(x) ∼ Exp(λ) with λ ∼ Exp(b).




                                                          1.0




                                                                                        1.0
                                                          0.8




                                                                                        0.8
     Comparison of Congdon’s (2006)

                                                          0.6




                                                                                        0.6
     (brown and dashed lines) with
                                                          0.4




                                                                                        0.4
                                                          0.2




                                                                                        0.2
     P(M = 1|x) when (a, b) is equal                      0.0




                                                                                        0.0
     to (.24, 8.9), (.56, .7), (4.1, .46)                       −10   −5   0

                                                                           y
                                                                               5   10         −10   −5   0

                                                                                                         y
                                                                                                             5   10




     and (.98, .081), resp. [N = 104
                                                          1.0




                                                                                        1.0
                                                          0.8




                                                                                        0.8
     simulations].
                                                          0.6




                                                                                        0.6
                                                          0.4




                                                                                        0.4
                                                          0.2




                                                                                        0.2
                                                          0.0




                                                                                        0.0

                                                                −10   −5   0   5   10         −10   −5   0   5   10

                                                                           y                             y
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling




Nested sampling
      1    Evidence

      2    Importance sampling solutions

      3    Cross-model solutions

      4    Nested sampling
             Purpose
             Implementation
             Error rates
             Constraints
             Importance variant
             A mixture comparison
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Purpose



Nested sampling: Goal


      Skilling’s (2007) technique using the one-dimensional
      representation:
                                                              1
                                     Z = Eπ [L(θ)] =              ϕ(x) dx
                                                          0

      with
                                        ϕ−1 (l) = P π (L(θ) > l).
      Note; ϕ(·) is intractable in most cases.
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Nested sampling: First approximation

      Approximate Z by a Riemann sum:
                                                N
                                        Z=           (xi−1 − xi )ϕ(xi )
                                               i=1

      where the xi ’s are either:
              deterministic:            xi = e−i/N
              or random:

                                x0 = 0,          xi+1 = ti xi ,   ti ∼ Be(N, 1)

              so that E[log xi ] = −i/N .
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Extraneous white noise
      Take
                                          1 −(1−δ)θ −δθ      1 −(1−δ)θ
          Z=          e−θ dθ =              e      e    = Eδ   e
                                          δ                  δ
                        N
             1
          ˆ
          Z=                  δ −1 e−(1−δ)θi (xi−1 − xi ) ,   θi ∼ E(δ) I(θi ≤ θi−1 )
             N
                        i=1

        N           deterministic       random
        50              4.64              10.5
                        4.65              10.5
        100             2.47               4.9 Comparison of variances and MSEs
                        2.48              5.02
        500             .549              1.01
                        .550              1.14
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Extraneous white noise
      Take
                                          1 −(1−δ)θ −δθ      1 −(1−δ)θ
          Z=          e−θ dθ =              e      e    = Eδ   e
                                          δ                  δ
                        N
             1
          ˆ
          Z=                  δ −1 e−(1−δ)θi (xi−1 − xi ) ,   θi ∼ E(δ) I(θi ≤ θi−1 )
             N
                        i=1

        N           deterministic       random
        50              4.64              10.5
                        4.65              10.5
        100             2.47               4.9 Comparison of variances and MSEs
                        2.48              5.02
        500             .549              1.01
                        .550              1.14
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Nested sampling: Alternative representation

      Another representation is
                                           N −1
                                    Z=            {ϕ(xi+1 ) − ϕ(xi )}xi
                                            i=0

      which is a special case of
                         N −1
                    Z=          {L(θ(i+1) ) − L(θ(i) )}π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )})
                          i=0

      where · · · L(θ(i+1) ) < L(θ(i) ) · · ·
                                          [Lebesgue version of Riemann’s sum]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Nested sampling: Alternative representation

      Another representation is
                                           N −1
                                    Z=            {ϕ(xi+1 ) − ϕ(xi )}xi
                                            i=0

      which is a special case of
                         N −1
                    Z=          {L(θ(i+1) ) − L(θ(i) )}π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )})
                          i=0

      where · · · L(θ(i+1) ) < L(θ(i) ) · · ·
                                          [Lebesgue version of Riemann’s sum]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Nested sampling: Second approximation
      Estimate (intractable) ϕ(xi ) by ϕi :

      Nested sampling
      Start with N values θ1 , . . . , θN sampled from π
      At iteration i,
          1    Take ϕi = L(θk ), where θk is the point with smallest
               likelihood in the pool of θi ’s
          2    Replace θk with a sample from the prior constrained to
               L(θ) > ϕi : the current N points are sampled from prior
               constrained to L(θ) > ϕi .

      Note that
                                                                                          1
              π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i+1) )})                   π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) ≈ 1 −
                                                                                          N
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Nested sampling: Second approximation
      Estimate (intractable) ϕ(xi ) by ϕi :

      Nested sampling
      Start with N values θ1 , . . . , θN sampled from π
      At iteration i,
          1    Take ϕi = L(θk ), where θk is the point with smallest
               likelihood in the pool of θi ’s
          2    Replace θk with a sample from the prior constrained to
               L(θ) > ϕi : the current N points are sampled from prior
               constrained to L(θ) > ϕi .

      Note that
                                                                                          1
              π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i+1) )})                   π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) ≈ 1 −
                                                                                          N
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Nested sampling: Second approximation
      Estimate (intractable) ϕ(xi ) by ϕi :

      Nested sampling
      Start with N values θ1 , . . . , θN sampled from π
      At iteration i,
          1    Take ϕi = L(θk ), where θk is the point with smallest
               likelihood in the pool of θi ’s
          2    Replace θk with a sample from the prior constrained to
               L(θ) > ϕi : the current N points are sampled from prior
               constrained to L(θ) > ϕi .

      Note that
                                                                                          1
              π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i+1) )})                   π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) ≈ 1 −
                                                                                          N
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Nested sampling: Second approximation
      Estimate (intractable) ϕ(xi ) by ϕi :

      Nested sampling
      Start with N values θ1 , . . . , θN sampled from π
      At iteration i,
          1    Take ϕi = L(θk ), where θk is the point with smallest
               likelihood in the pool of θi ’s
          2    Replace θk with a sample from the prior constrained to
               L(θ) > ϕi : the current N points are sampled from prior
               constrained to L(θ) > ϕi .

      Note that
                                                                                          1
              π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i+1) )})                   π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) ≈ 1 −
                                                                                          N
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Implementation



Nested sampling: Third approximation


      Iterate the above steps until a given stopping iteration j is
      reached: e.g.,
              observe very small changes in the approximation Z;
              reach the maximal value of L(θ) when the likelihood is
              bounded and its maximum is known;
              truncate the integral Z at level , i.e. replace
                                        1                        1
                                            ϕ(x) dx       with       ϕ(x) dx
                                    0
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Error rates



Approximation error


      Error = Z − Z
                        j                                 1
                   =         (xi−1 − xi )ϕi −                 ϕ(x) dx = −         ϕ(x) dx
                       i=1                            0                       0
                         j                                      1
                   +          (xi−1 − xi )ϕ(xi ) −                  ϕ(x) dx       (Quadrature Error)
                        i=1
                         j
                   +          (xi−1 − xi ) {ϕi − ϕ(xi )}                          (Stochastic Error)
                        i=1



                                                                     [Dominated by Monte Carlo]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Error rates



A CLT for the Stochastic Error


      The (dominating) stochastic error is OP (N −1/2 ):
                                                              D
                                      N 1/2 Z − Z → N (0, V )

      with
                         V =−                     sϕ (s)tϕ (t) log(s ∨ t) ds dt.
                                      s,t∈[ ,1]

                                                          [Proof based on Donsker’s theorem]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Error rates



What of log Z?

      If the interest lies within log Z, Slutsky’s transform of the CLT:
                                                          D
                            N −1/2 log Z − log Z → N 0, V /Z2


      Note: The number of simulated points equals the number of
      iterations j, and is a multiple of N : if one stops at first iteration j
      such that e−j/N < , then:

                                              j = N − log     .
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Error rates



What of log Z?

      If the interest lies within log Z, Slutsky’s transform of the CLT:
                                                          D
                            N −1/2 log Z − log Z → N 0, V /Z2


      Note: The number of simulated points equals the number of
      iterations j, and is a multiple of N : if one stops at first iteration j
      such that e−j/N < , then:

                                              j = N − log     .
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Error rates



What of log Z?

      If the interest lies within log Z, Slutsky’s transform of the CLT:
                                                          D
                            N −1/2 log Z − log Z → N 0, V /Z2


      Note: The number of simulated points equals the number of
      iterations j, and is a multiple of N : if one stops at first iteration j
      such that e−j/N < , then:

                                              j = N − log     .
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Constraints



Sampling from constr’d priors



      Exact simulation from the constrained prior is intractable in most
      cases

      Skilling (2007) proposes to use MCMC but this introduces a bias
      (stopping rule)
      If implementable, then slice sampler can be devised at the same
      cost [or less]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Constraints



Sampling from constr’d priors



      Exact simulation from the constrained prior is intractable in most
      cases

      Skilling (2007) proposes to use MCMC but this introduces a bias
      (stopping rule)
      If implementable, then slice sampler can be devised at the same
      cost [or less]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Constraints



Sampling from constr’d priors



      Exact simulation from the constrained prior is intractable in most
      cases

      Skilling (2007) proposes to use MCMC but this introduces a bias
      (stopping rule)
      If implementable, then slice sampler can be devised at the same
      cost [or less]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Constraints



Banana illustration
      Case of a banana target made of a twisted 2D normal:
      x2 = x2 + βx2 − 100β
                   1
                                  [Haario, Sacksman, Tamminen, 1999]




                                           β = .03, σ = (100, 1)
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Constraints



Banana illustration (2)
      Use of nested sampling with N = 1000, 50 MCMC steps with size
      0.1, compared with a population Monte Carlo (PMC) based on 10
      iterations with 5000 points per iteration and final sample of 50000
      points, using nine Student’s t components with 9 df
                [Wraith, Kilbinger, Benabed et al., 2009, Physica Rev. D]




                                            Evidence estimation
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Constraints



Banana illustration (2)
      Use of nested sampling with N = 1000, 50 MCMC steps with size
      0.1, compared with a population Monte Carlo (PMC) based on 10
      iterations with 5000 points per iteration and final sample of 50000
      points, using nine Student’s t components with 9 df
                [Wraith, Kilbinger, Benabed et al., 2009, Physica Rev. D]




                                              E[X1 ] estimation
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Constraints



Banana illustration (2)
      Use of nested sampling with N = 1000, 50 MCMC steps with size
      0.1, compared with a population Monte Carlo (PMC) based on 10
      iterations with 5000 points per iteration and final sample of 50000
      points, using nine Student’s t components with 9 df
                [Wraith, Kilbinger, Benabed et al., 2009, Physica Rev. D]




                                              E[X2 ] estimation
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Importance variant



A IS variant of nested sampling

                                                   ˜
      Consider instrumental prior π and likelihood L, weight function

                                                          π(θ)L(θ)
                                             w(θ) =
                                                          π(θ)L(θ)

      and weighted NS estimator
                                               j
                                     Z=            (xi−1 − xi )ϕi w(θi ).
                                             i=1

      Then choose (π, L) so that sampling from π constrained to
      L(θ) > l is easy; e.g. N (c, Id ) constrained to c − θ < r.
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     Importance variant



A IS variant of nested sampling

                                                   ˜
      Consider instrumental prior π and likelihood L, weight function

                                                          π(θ)L(θ)
                                             w(θ) =
                                                          π(θ)L(θ)

      and weighted NS estimator
                                               j
                                     Z=            (xi−1 − xi )ϕi w(θi ).
                                             i=1

      Then choose (π, L) so that sampling from π constrained to
      L(θ) > l is easy; e.g. N (c, Id ) constrained to c − θ < r.
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     A mixture comparison



Mixture pN (0, 1) + (1 − p)N (µ, σ) posterior


           Posterior on (µ, σ) for n
           observations with µ = 2
           and σ = 3/2, when p is
           known
           Use of a uniform prior
           both on (−2, 6) for µ
           and on (.001, 16) for
           log σ 2 .
           occurrences of posterior
           bursts for µ = xi
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     A mixture comparison



Experiment




   MCMC sample for n = 16                                 Nested sampling sequence
   observations from the mixture.                         with M = 1000 starting points.
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     A mixture comparison



Experiment




   MCMC sample for n = 50                                 Nested sampling sequence
   observations from the mixture.                         with M = 1000 starting points.
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     A mixture comparison



Comparison

          1   Nested sampling: M = 1000 points, with 10 random walk
              moves at each step, simulations from the constr’d prior and a
              stopping rule at 95% of the observed maximum likelihood
          2   T = 104 MCMC (=Gibbs) simulations producing
              non-parametric estimates ϕ
                                                   [Diebolt & Robert, 1990]
          3   Monte Carlo estimates Z1 , Z2 , Z3 using product of two
              Gaussian kernels
          4   numerical integration based on 850 × 950 grid [reference
              value, confirmed by Chib’s]
On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice
  Nested sampling
     A mixture comparison



Comparison (cont’d)
                                                               q

                                                          q
                                                          q    q
                                                          q    q




                                  1.15
                                                               q    q
                                                                    q
                                                          q
                                                          q
                                                          q    q    q
                                                          q

                                                          q
                                                          q


                                  1.10
                                                          q
                                                          q    q
                                                          q    q
                                                          q    q    q
                                                               q
                                                               q    q
                                                               q    q
                                                               q
                                                               q    q
                                                               q    q
                                                                    q
                                  1.05

                                                                    q
                                  1.00
                                  0.95




                                                                    q
                                                                    q
                                                          q
                                                          q    q
                                                               q    q
                                                          q
                                                          q         q
                                                          q
                                                          q
                                                          q
                                                          q
                                  0.90




                                                          q
                                  0.85




                                                          q


                                                          q
                                                          q
                                                          q
                                            V1
                                             q            V2   V3   V4
                                                          q




      Graph based on a sample of 10 observations for µ = 2 and
      σ = 3/2 (150 replicas).
MaxEnt 2009 talk
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MaxEnt 2009 talk

  • 1. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Christian P. Robert CREST-INSEE and Universit´ Paris Dauphine e http://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/~xian MaxEnt 2009, Oxford, July 6, 2009 Joint works with M. Beaumont, N. Chopin, J.-M. Cornuet, J.-M. Marin and D. Wraith
  • 2. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Outline 1 Evidence 2 Importance sampling solutions 3 Cross-model solutions 4 Nested sampling 5 ABC model choice
  • 3. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Bayes tests Formal construction of Bayes tests Definition (Test) Given an hypothesis H0 : θ ∈ Θ0 on the parameter θ ∈ Θ0 of a statistical model, a test is a statistical procedure that takes its values in {0, 1}. Theorem (Bayes test) The Bayes estimator associated with π and with the 0 − 1 loss is 1 if π(θ ∈ Θ0 |x) > π(θ ∈ Θ0 |x), δ π (x) = 0 otherwise,
  • 4. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Bayes tests Formal construction of Bayes tests Definition (Test) Given an hypothesis H0 : θ ∈ Θ0 on the parameter θ ∈ Θ0 of a statistical model, a test is a statistical procedure that takes its values in {0, 1}. Theorem (Bayes test) The Bayes estimator associated with π and with the 0 − 1 loss is 1 if π(θ ∈ Θ0 |x) > π(θ ∈ Θ0 |x), δ π (x) = 0 otherwise,
  • 5. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Bayes factor Bayes factor Definition (Bayes factors) For testing hypothesis H0 : θ ∈ Θ0 vs. Ha : θ ∈ Θ0 , under prior π(Θ0 )π0 (θ) + π(Θc )π1 (θ) , 0 central quantity f (x|θ)π0 (θ)dθ π(Θ0 |x) π(Θ0 ) Θ0 m0 (x) B01 (x) = = = π(Θc |x) 0 π(Θc ) 0 m1 (x) f (x|θ)π1 (θ)dθ Θc 0 [Jeffreys, 1939]
  • 6. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Model choice Model choice and model comparison Choice between models Several models available for the same observation x Mi : x ∼ fi (x|θi ), i∈I where the family I can be finite or infinite Identical setup: Replace hypotheses with models but keep marginal likelihoods and Bayes factors
  • 7. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Model choice Model choice and model comparison Choice between models Several models available for the same observation x Mi : x ∼ fi (x|θi ), i∈I where the family I can be finite or infinite Identical setup: Replace hypotheses with models but keep marginal likelihoods and Bayes factors
  • 8. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Model choice Bayesian model choice Probabilise the entire model/parameter space allocate probabilities pi to all models Mi define priors πi (θi ) for each parameter space Θi compute pi fi (x|θi )πi (θi )dθi Θi π(Mi |x) = pj fj (x|θj )πj (θj )dθj j Θj take largest π(Mi |x) to determine “best” model, or use averaged predictive π(Mj |x) fj (x |θj )πj (θj |x)dθj j Θj
  • 9. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Model choice Bayesian model choice Probabilise the entire model/parameter space allocate probabilities pi to all models Mi define priors πi (θi ) for each parameter space Θi compute pi fi (x|θi )πi (θi )dθi Θi π(Mi |x) = pj fj (x|θj )πj (θj )dθj j Θj take largest π(Mi |x) to determine “best” model, or use averaged predictive π(Mj |x) fj (x |θj )πj (θj |x)dθj j Θj
  • 10. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Model choice Bayesian model choice Probabilise the entire model/parameter space allocate probabilities pi to all models Mi define priors πi (θi ) for each parameter space Θi compute pi fi (x|θi )πi (θi )dθi Θi π(Mi |x) = pj fj (x|θj )πj (θj )dθj j Θj take largest π(Mi |x) to determine “best” model, or use averaged predictive π(Mj |x) fj (x |θj )πj (θj |x)dθj j Θj
  • 11. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Model choice Bayesian model choice Probabilise the entire model/parameter space allocate probabilities pi to all models Mi define priors πi (θi ) for each parameter space Θi compute pi fi (x|θi )πi (θi )dθi Θi π(Mi |x) = pj fj (x|θj )πj (θj )dθj j Θj take largest π(Mi |x) to determine “best” model, or use averaged predictive π(Mj |x) fj (x |θj )πj (θj |x)dθj j Θj
  • 12. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Evidence Evidence Evidence All these problems end up with a similar quantity, the evidence Zk = πk (θk )Lk (θk ) dθk , Θk aka the marginal likelihood.
  • 13. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Importance sampling revisited 1 Evidence 2 Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Harmonic means Chib’s solution 3 Cross-model solutions 4 Nested sampling 5 ABC model choice
  • 14. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Bayes factor approximation When approximating the Bayes factor f0 (x|θ0 )π0 (θ0 )dθ0 Θ0 B01 = f1 (x|θ1 )π1 (θ1 )dθ1 Θ1 use of importance functions 0 and 1 and n−1 0 n0 i i i=1 f0 (x|θ0 )π0 (θ0 )/ i 0 (θ0 ) B01 = n−1 1 n1 i i i=1 f1 (x|θ1 )π1 (θ1 )/ i 1 (θ1 )
  • 15. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Bridge sampling Special case: If π1 (θ1 |x) ∝ π1 (θ1 |x) ˜ π2 (θ2 |x) ∝ π2 (θ2 |x) ˜ live on the same space (Θ1 = Θ2 ), then n 1 π1 (θi |x) ˜ B12 ≈ θi ∼ π2 (θ|x) n π2 (θi |x) ˜ i=1 [Gelman & Meng, 1998; Chen, Shao & Ibrahim, 2000]
  • 16. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Bridge sampling variance The bridge sampling estimator does poorly if 2 var(B12 ) 1 π1 (θ) − π2 (θ) 2 ≈ E B12 n π2 (θ) is large, i.e. if π1 and π2 have little overlap...
  • 17. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Bridge sampling variance The bridge sampling estimator does poorly if 2 var(B12 ) 1 π1 (θ) − π2 (θ) 2 ≈ E B12 n π2 (θ) is large, i.e. if π1 and π2 have little overlap...
  • 18. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance (Further) bridge sampling In addition π2 (θ|x)α(θ)π1 (θ|x)dθ ˜ B12 = ∀ α(·) π1 (θ|x)α(θ)π2 (θ|x)dθ ˜ n1 1 π2 (θ1i |x)α(θ1i ) ˜ n1 i=1 ≈ n2 θji ∼ πj (θ|x) 1 π1 (θ2i |x)α(θ2i ) ˜ n2 i=1
  • 19. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance An infamous example When 1 α(θ) = π1 (θ)˜2 (θ) ˜ π harmonic mean approximation to B12 n1 1 1/˜1 (θ1i |x) π n1 i=1 B21 = n2 θji ∼ πj (θ|x) 1 1/˜2 (θ2i |x) π n2 i=1 [Newton & Raftery, 1994] Infamous: Most often leads to an infinite variance!!! [Radford Neal’s blog, 2008]
  • 20. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance An infamous example When 1 α(θ) = π1 (θ)˜2 (θ) ˜ π harmonic mean approximation to B12 n1 1 1/˜1 (θ1i |x) π n1 i=1 B21 = n2 θji ∼ πj (θ|x) 1 1/˜2 (θ2i |x) π n2 i=1 [Newton & Raftery, 1994] Infamous: Most often leads to an infinite variance!!! [Radford Neal’s blog, 2008]
  • 21. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance “The Worst Monte Carlo Method Ever” “The good news is that the Law of Large Numbers guarantees that this estimator is consistent ie, it will very likely be very close to the correct answer if you use a sufficiently large number of points from the posterior distribution. The bad news is that the number of points required for this estimator to get close to the right answer will often be greater than the number of atoms in the observable universe. The even worse news is that itws easy for people to not realize this, and to naively accept estimates that are nowhere close to the correct value of the marginal likelihood.” [Radford Neal’s blog, Aug. 23, 2008]
  • 22. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance “The Worst Monte Carlo Method Ever” “The good news is that the Law of Large Numbers guarantees that this estimator is consistent ie, it will very likely be very close to the correct answer if you use a sufficiently large number of points from the posterior distribution. The bad news is that the number of points required for this estimator to get close to the right answer will often be greater than the number of atoms in the observable universe. The even worse news is that itws easy for people to not realize this, and to naively accept estimates that are nowhere close to the correct value of the marginal likelihood.” [Radford Neal’s blog, Aug. 23, 2008]
  • 23. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Optimal bridge sampling The optimal choice of auxiliary function is n1 + n2 α = n1 π1 (θ|x) + n2 π2 (θ|x) leading to n1 1 π2 (θ1i |x) ˜ n1 n1 π1 (θ1i |x) + n2 π2 (θ1i |x) i=1 B12 ≈ n2 1 π1 (θ2i |x) ˜ n2 n1 π1 (θ2i |x) + n2 π2 (θ2i |x) i=1 Back later!
  • 24. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Optimal bridge sampling (2) Reason: Var(B12 ) 1 π1 (θ)π2 (θ)[n1 π1 (θ) + n2 π2 (θ)]α(θ)2 dθ 2 ≈ 2 −1 B12 n1 n2 π1 (θ)π2 (θ)α(θ) dθ δ method Drag: Dependence on the unknown normalising constants solved iteratively
  • 25. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Optimal bridge sampling (2) Reason: Var(B12 ) 1 π1 (θ)π2 (θ)[n1 π1 (θ) + n2 π2 (θ)]α(θ)2 dθ 2 ≈ 2 −1 B12 n1 n2 π1 (θ)π2 (θ)α(θ) dθ δ method Drag: Dependence on the unknown normalising constants solved iteratively
  • 26. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Ratio importance sampling Another identity: Eϕ [˜1 (θ)/ϕ(θ)] π B12 = Eϕ [˜2 (θ)/ϕ(θ)] π for any density ϕ with sufficiently large support [Torrie & Valleau, 1977] Use of a single sample θ1 , . . . , θn from ϕ i=1 π1 (θi )/ϕ(θi ) ˜ B12 = i=1 π2 (θi )/ϕ(θi ) ˜
  • 27. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Ratio importance sampling Another identity: Eϕ [˜1 (θ)/ϕ(θ)] π B12 = Eϕ [˜2 (θ)/ϕ(θ)] π for any density ϕ with sufficiently large support [Torrie & Valleau, 1977] Use of a single sample θ1 , . . . , θn from ϕ i=1 π1 (θi )/ϕ(θi ) ˜ B12 = i=1 π2 (θi )/ϕ(θi ) ˜
  • 28. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Ratio importance sampling (2) Approximate variance: 2 var(B12 ) 1 (π1 (θ) − π2 (θ))2 2 ≈ Eϕ B12 n ϕ(θ)2 Optimal choice: | π1 (θ) − π2 (θ) | ϕ∗ (θ) = | π1 (η) − π2 (η) | dη [Chen, Shao & Ibrahim, 2000] Formaly better than bridge sampling
  • 29. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Ratio importance sampling (2) Approximate variance: 2 var(B12 ) 1 (π1 (θ) − π2 (θ))2 2 ≈ Eϕ B12 n ϕ(θ)2 Optimal choice: | π1 (θ) − π2 (θ) | ϕ∗ (θ) = | π1 (η) − π2 (η) | dη [Chen, Shao & Ibrahim, 2000] Formaly better than bridge sampling
  • 30. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Regular importance Ratio importance sampling (2) Approximate variance: 2 var(B12 ) 1 (π1 (θ) − π2 (θ))2 2 ≈ Eϕ B12 n ϕ(θ)2 Optimal choice: | π1 (θ) − π2 (θ) | ϕ∗ (θ) = | π1 (η) − π2 (η) | dη [Chen, Shao & Ibrahim, 2000] Formaly better than bridge sampling
  • 31. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Approximating Zk from a posterior sample Use of the [harmonic mean] identity ϕ(θk ) ϕ(θk ) πk (θk )Lk (θk ) 1 Eπk x = dθk = πk (θk )Lk (θk ) πk (θk )Lk (θk ) Zk Zk no matter what the proposal ϕ(·) is. [Gelfand & Dey, 1994; Bartolucci et al., 2006] Direct exploitation of the MCMC output RB-RJ
  • 32. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Approximating Zk from a posterior sample Use of the [harmonic mean] identity ϕ(θk ) ϕ(θk ) πk (θk )Lk (θk ) 1 Eπk x = dθk = πk (θk )Lk (θk ) πk (θk )Lk (θk ) Zk Zk no matter what the proposal ϕ(·) is. [Gelfand & Dey, 1994; Bartolucci et al., 2006] Direct exploitation of the MCMC output RB-RJ
  • 33. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Comparison with regular importance sampling Harmonic mean: Constraint opposed to usual importance sampling constraints: ϕ(θ) must have lighter (rather than fatter) tails than πk (θk )Lk (θk ) for the approximation T (t) 1 ϕ(θk ) Z1k = 1 (t) (t) T πk (θk )Lk (θk ) t=1 to have a finite variance. E.g., use finite support kernels (like Epanechnikov’s kernel) for ϕ
  • 34. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Comparison with regular importance sampling Harmonic mean: Constraint opposed to usual importance sampling constraints: ϕ(θ) must have lighter (rather than fatter) tails than πk (θk )Lk (θk ) for the approximation T (t) 1 ϕ(θk ) Z1k = 1 (t) (t) T πk (θk )Lk (θk ) t=1 to have a finite variance. E.g., use finite support kernels (like Epanechnikov’s kernel) for ϕ
  • 35. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Comparison with regular importance sampling (cont’d) Compare Z1k with a standard importance sampling approximation T (t) (t) 1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) Z2k = (t) T ϕ(θk ) t=1 (t) where the θk ’s are generated from the density ϕ(·) (with fatter tails like t’s)
  • 36. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Approximating Zk using a mixture representation Bridge sampling recall Design a specific mixture for simulation [importance sampling] purposes, with density ϕk (θk ) ∝ ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) , where ϕ(·) is arbitrary (but normalised) Note: ω1 is not a probability weight
  • 37. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Approximating Zk using a mixture representation Bridge sampling recall Design a specific mixture for simulation [importance sampling] purposes, with density ϕk (θk ) ∝ ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) , where ϕ(·) is arbitrary (but normalised) Note: ω1 is not a probability weight
  • 38. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Approximating Z using a mixture representation (cont’d) Corresponding MCMC (=Gibbs) sampler At iteration t 1 Take δ (t) = 1 with probability (t−1) (t−1) (t−1) (t−1) (t−1) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) and δ (t) = 2 otherwise; (t) (t−1) 2 If δ (t) = 1, generate θk ∼ MCMC(θk , θk ) where MCMC(θk , θk ) denotes an arbitrary MCMC kernel associated with the posterior πk (θk |x) ∝ πk (θk )Lk (θk ); (t) 3 If δ (t) = 2, generate θk ∼ ϕ(θk ) independently
  • 39. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Approximating Z using a mixture representation (cont’d) Corresponding MCMC (=Gibbs) sampler At iteration t 1 Take δ (t) = 1 with probability (t−1) (t−1) (t−1) (t−1) (t−1) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) and δ (t) = 2 otherwise; (t) (t−1) 2 If δ (t) = 1, generate θk ∼ MCMC(θk , θk ) where MCMC(θk , θk ) denotes an arbitrary MCMC kernel associated with the posterior πk (θk |x) ∝ πk (θk )Lk (θk ); (t) 3 If δ (t) = 2, generate θk ∼ ϕ(θk ) independently
  • 40. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Approximating Z using a mixture representation (cont’d) Corresponding MCMC (=Gibbs) sampler At iteration t 1 Take δ (t) = 1 with probability (t−1) (t−1) (t−1) (t−1) (t−1) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) and δ (t) = 2 otherwise; (t) (t−1) 2 If δ (t) = 1, generate θk ∼ MCMC(θk , θk ) where MCMC(θk , θk ) denotes an arbitrary MCMC kernel associated with the posterior πk (θk |x) ∝ πk (θk )Lk (θk ); (t) 3 If δ (t) = 2, generate θk ∼ ϕ(θk ) independently
  • 41. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Evidence approximation by mixtures Rao-Blackwellised estimate T ˆ 1 ξ= (t) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) (t) (t) (t) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) , (t) T t=1 converges to ω1 Zk /{ω1 Zk + 1} 3k ˆ ˆ ˆ Deduce Zˆ from ω1 Z3k /{ω1 Z3k + 1} = ξ ie T (t) (t) (t) (t) (t) t=1 ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) ω1 π(θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) ˆ Z3k = T (t) (t) (t) (t) t=1 ϕ(θk ) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) [Bridge sampler redux]
  • 42. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Harmonic means Evidence approximation by mixtures Rao-Blackwellised estimate T ˆ 1 ξ= (t) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) (t) (t) (t) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) , (t) T t=1 converges to ω1 Zk /{ω1 Zk + 1} 3k ˆ ˆ ˆ Deduce Zˆ from ω1 Z3k /{ω1 Z3k + 1} = ξ ie T (t) (t) (t) (t) (t) t=1 ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) ω1 π(θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) ˆ Z3k = T (t) (t) (t) (t) t=1 ϕ(θk ) ω1 πk (θk )Lk (θk ) + ϕ(θk ) [Bridge sampler redux]
  • 43. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Chib’s representation Direct application of Bayes’ theorem: given x ∼ fk (x|θk ) and θk ∼ πk (θk ), fk (x|θk ) πk (θk ) Zk = mk (x) = πk (θk |x) Use of an approximation to the posterior ∗ ∗ fk (x|θk ) πk (θk ) Zk = mk (x) = . ˆ ∗ πk (θk |x)
  • 44. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Chib’s representation Direct application of Bayes’ theorem: given x ∼ fk (x|θk ) and θk ∼ πk (θk ), fk (x|θk ) πk (θk ) Zk = mk (x) = πk (θk |x) Use of an approximation to the posterior ∗ ∗ fk (x|θk ) πk (θk ) Zk = mk (x) = . ˆ ∗ πk (θk |x)
  • 45. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Case of latent variables For missing variable z as in mixture models, natural Rao-Blackwell estimate T ∗ 1 ∗ (t) πk (θk |x) = πk (θk |x, zk ) , T t=1 (t) where the zk ’s are Gibbs sampled latent variables
  • 46. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Label switching impact A mixture model [special case of missing variable model] is invariant under permutations of the indices of the components. E.g., mixtures 0.3N (0, 1) + 0.7N (2.3, 1) and 0.7N (2.3, 1) + 0.3N (0, 1) are exactly the same! c The component parameters θi are not identifiable marginally since they are exchangeable
  • 47. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Label switching impact A mixture model [special case of missing variable model] is invariant under permutations of the indices of the components. E.g., mixtures 0.3N (0, 1) + 0.7N (2.3, 1) and 0.7N (2.3, 1) + 0.3N (0, 1) are exactly the same! c The component parameters θi are not identifiable marginally since they are exchangeable
  • 48. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Connected difficulties 1 Number of modes of the likelihood of order O(k!): c Maximization and even [MCMC] exploration of the posterior surface harder 2 Under exchangeable priors on (θ, p) [prior invariant under permutation of the indices], all posterior marginals are identical: c Posterior expectation of θ1 equal to posterior expectation of θ2
  • 49. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Connected difficulties 1 Number of modes of the likelihood of order O(k!): c Maximization and even [MCMC] exploration of the posterior surface harder 2 Under exchangeable priors on (θ, p) [prior invariant under permutation of the indices], all posterior marginals are identical: c Posterior expectation of θ1 equal to posterior expectation of θ2
  • 50. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution License Since Gibbs output does not produce exchangeability, the Gibbs sampler has not explored the whole parameter space: it lacks energy to switch simultaneously enough component allocations at once 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 −1 0 1 2 3 µi 0 100 200 n 300 400 500 pi −1 0 µ 1 i 2 3 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 σi pi 0 100 200 300 400 500 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 n pi 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 −1 0 1 2 3 σi µi 0 100 200 300 400 500 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 n σi
  • 51. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Label switching paradox We should observe the exchangeability of the components [label switching] to conclude about convergence of the Gibbs sampler. If we observe it, then we do not know how to estimate the parameters. If we do not, then we are uncertain about the convergence!!!
  • 52. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Label switching paradox We should observe the exchangeability of the components [label switching] to conclude about convergence of the Gibbs sampler. If we observe it, then we do not know how to estimate the parameters. If we do not, then we are uncertain about the convergence!!!
  • 53. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Label switching paradox We should observe the exchangeability of the components [label switching] to conclude about convergence of the Gibbs sampler. If we observe it, then we do not know how to estimate the parameters. If we do not, then we are uncertain about the convergence!!!
  • 54. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Compensation for label switching (t) For mixture models, zk usually fails to visit all configurations in a balanced way, despite the symmetry predicted by the theory 1 πk (θk |x) = πk (σ(θk )|x) = πk (σ(θk )|x) k! σ∈S for all σ’s in Sk , set of all permutations of {1, . . . , k}. Consequences on numerical approximation, biased by an order k! Recover the theoretical symmetry by using T ∗ 1 ∗ (t) πk (θk |x) = πk (σ(θk )|x, zk ) . T k! σ∈Sk t=1 [Berkhof, Mechelen, & Gelman, 2003]
  • 55. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Compensation for label switching (t) For mixture models, zk usually fails to visit all configurations in a balanced way, despite the symmetry predicted by the theory 1 πk (θk |x) = πk (σ(θk )|x) = πk (σ(θk )|x) k! σ∈S for all σ’s in Sk , set of all permutations of {1, . . . , k}. Consequences on numerical approximation, biased by an order k! Recover the theoretical symmetry by using T ∗ 1 ∗ (t) πk (θk |x) = πk (σ(θk )|x, zk ) . T k! σ∈Sk t=1 [Berkhof, Mechelen, & Gelman, 2003]
  • 56. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Galaxy dataset n = 82 galaxies as a mixture of k normal distributions with both mean and variance unknown. [Roeder, 1992] Average density 0.8 0.6 Relative Frequency 0.4 0.2 0.0 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 data
  • 57. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Galaxy dataset (k) ∗ Using only the original estimate, with θk as the MAP estimator, log(mk (x)) = −105.1396 ˆ for k = 3 (based on 103 simulations), while introducing the permutations leads to log(mk (x)) = −103.3479 ˆ Note that −105.1396 + log(3!) = −103.3479 k 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 mk (x) -115.68 -103.35 -102.66 -101.93 -102.88 -105.48 -108.44 Estimations of the marginal likelihoods by the symmetrised Chib’s approximation (based on 105 Gibbs iterations and, for k > 5, 100 permutations selected at random in Sk ). [Lee, Marin, Mengersen & Robert, 2008]
  • 58. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Galaxy dataset (k) ∗ Using only the original estimate, with θk as the MAP estimator, log(mk (x)) = −105.1396 ˆ for k = 3 (based on 103 simulations), while introducing the permutations leads to log(mk (x)) = −103.3479 ˆ Note that −105.1396 + log(3!) = −103.3479 k 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 mk (x) -115.68 -103.35 -102.66 -101.93 -102.88 -105.48 -108.44 Estimations of the marginal likelihoods by the symmetrised Chib’s approximation (based on 105 Gibbs iterations and, for k > 5, 100 permutations selected at random in Sk ). [Lee, Marin, Mengersen & Robert, 2008]
  • 59. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Importance sampling solutions Chib’s solution Galaxy dataset (k) ∗ Using only the original estimate, with θk as the MAP estimator, log(mk (x)) = −105.1396 ˆ for k = 3 (based on 103 simulations), while introducing the permutations leads to log(mk (x)) = −103.3479 ˆ Note that −105.1396 + log(3!) = −103.3479 k 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 mk (x) -115.68 -103.35 -102.66 -101.93 -102.88 -105.48 -108.44 Estimations of the marginal likelihoods by the symmetrised Chib’s approximation (based on 105 Gibbs iterations and, for k > 5, 100 permutations selected at random in Sk ). [Lee, Marin, Mengersen & Robert, 2008]
  • 60. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Cross-model solutions 1 Evidence 2 Importance sampling solutions 3 Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Saturation schemes Implementation error 4 Nested sampling 5 ABC model choice
  • 61. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Reversible jump irreversible jump Idea: Set up a proper measure–theoretic framework for designing moves between models Mk [Green, 1995] Create a reversible kernel K on H = k {k} × Θk such that K(x, dy)π(x)dx = K(y, dx)π(y)dy A B B A for the invariant density π [x is of the form (k, θ(k) )]
  • 62. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Reversible jump irreversible jump Idea: Set up a proper measure–theoretic framework for designing moves between models Mk [Green, 1995] Create a reversible kernel K on H = k {k} × Θk such that K(x, dy)π(x)dx = K(y, dx)π(y)dy A B B A for the invariant density π [x is of the form (k, θ(k) )]
  • 63. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Local moves For a move between two models, M1 and M2 , the Markov chain being in state θ1 ∈ M1 , denote by K1→2 (θ1 , dθ) and K2→1 (θ2 , dθ) the corresponding kernels, under the detailed balance condition π(dθ1 ) K1→2 (θ1 , dθ) = π(dθ2 ) K2→1 (θ2 , dθ) , and take, wlog, dim(M2 ) > dim(M1 ). Proposal expressed as θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) where v1→2 is a random variable of dimension dim(M2 ) − dim(M1 ), generated as v1→2 ∼ ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) .
  • 64. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Local moves For a move between two models, M1 and M2 , the Markov chain being in state θ1 ∈ M1 , denote by K1→2 (θ1 , dθ) and K2→1 (θ2 , dθ) the corresponding kernels, under the detailed balance condition π(dθ1 ) K1→2 (θ1 , dθ) = π(dθ2 ) K2→1 (θ2 , dθ) , and take, wlog, dim(M2 ) > dim(M1 ). Proposal expressed as θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) where v1→2 is a random variable of dimension dim(M2 ) − dim(M1 ), generated as v1→2 ∼ ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) .
  • 65. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Local moves (2) In this case, q1→2 (θ1 , dθ2 ) has density −1 ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) , ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) by the Jacobian rule. Reverse importance link If probability 1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 , acceptance probability reduces to π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1 ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1∧ . π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) If several models are considered simultaneously, with probability 1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 , as in ∞ XZ K(x, B) = ρm (x, y)qm (x, dy) + ω(x)IB (x) m=1
  • 66. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Local moves (2) In this case, q1→2 (θ1 , dθ2 ) has density −1 ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) , ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) by the Jacobian rule. Reverse importance link If probability 1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 , acceptance probability reduces to π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1 ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1∧ . π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) If several models are considered simultaneously, with probability 1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 , as in ∞ XZ K(x, B) = ρm (x, y)qm (x, dy) + ω(x)IB (x) m=1
  • 67. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Local moves (2) In this case, q1→2 (θ1 , dθ2 ) has density −1 ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) , ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) by the Jacobian rule. Reverse importance link If probability 1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 , acceptance probability reduces to π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1 ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1∧ . π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) If several models are considered simultaneously, with probability 1→2 of choosing move to M2 while in M1 , as in ∞ XZ K(x, B) = ρm (x, y)qm (x, dy) + ω(x)IB (x) m=1
  • 68. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Generic reversible jump acceptance probability Acceptance probability of θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) is π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1 ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧ π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) while acceptance probability of θ1 with (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 ) is 1→2 −1 π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧ π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1 ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) c Difficult calibration
  • 69. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Generic reversible jump acceptance probability Acceptance probability of θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) is π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1 ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧ π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) while acceptance probability of θ1 with (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 ) is 1→2 −1 π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧ π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1 ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) c Difficult calibration
  • 70. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Generic reversible jump acceptance probability Acceptance probability of θ2 = Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) is π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1 ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧ π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) while acceptance probability of θ1 with (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 ) is 1→2 −1 π(M1 , θ1 ) 1→2 ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) ∂Ψ1→2 (θ1 , v1→2 ) α(θ1 , v1→2 ) = 1 ∧ π(M2 , θ2 ) 2→1 ∂(θ1 , v1→2 ) c Difficult calibration
  • 71. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Green’s sampler Algorithm Iteration t (t ≥ 1): if x(t) = (m, θ(m) ), 1 Select model Mn with probability πmn 2 Generate umn ∼ ϕmn (u) and set (θ(n) , vnm ) = Ψm→n (θ(m) , umn ) 3 Take x(t+1) = (n, θ(n) ) with probability π(n, θ(n) ) πnm ϕnm (vnm ) ∂Ψm→n (θ(m) , umn ) min ,1 π(m, θ(m) ) πmn ϕmn (umn ) ∂(θ(m) , umn ) and take x(t+1) = x(t) otherwise.
  • 72. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Interpretation The representation puts us back in a fixed dimension setting: M1 × V1→2 and M2 in one-to-one relation. reversibility imposes that θ1 is derived as (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 ) 1→2 appears like a regular Metropolis–Hastings move from the couple (θ1 , v1→2 ) to θ2 when stationary distributions are π(M1 , θ1 ) × ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) and π(M2 , θ2 ), and when proposal distribution is deterministic
  • 73. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Reversible jump Interpretation The representation puts us back in a fixed dimension setting: M1 × V1→2 and M2 in one-to-one relation. reversibility imposes that θ1 is derived as (θ1 , v1→2 ) = Ψ−1 (θ2 ) 1→2 appears like a regular Metropolis–Hastings move from the couple (θ1 , v1→2 ) to θ2 when stationary distributions are π(M1 , θ1 ) × ϕ1→2 (v1→2 ) and π(M2 , θ2 ), and when proposal distribution is deterministic
  • 74. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Saturation schemes Alternative Saturation of the parameter space H = k {k} × Θk by creating θ = (θ1 , . . . , θD ) a model index M pseudo-priors πj (θj |M = k) for j = k [Carlin & Chib, 1995] Validation by P(M = k|x) = P (M = k|x, θ)π(θ|x)dθ = Zk where the (marginal) posterior is [not πk ] D π(θ|x) = P(θ, M = k|x) k=1 D = pk Zk πk (θk |x) πj (θj |M = k) . k=1 j=k
  • 75. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Saturation schemes Alternative Saturation of the parameter space H = k {k} × Θk by creating θ = (θ1 , . . . , θD ) a model index M pseudo-priors πj (θj |M = k) for j = k [Carlin & Chib, 1995] Validation by P(M = k|x) = P (M = k|x, θ)π(θ|x)dθ = Zk where the (marginal) posterior is [not πk ] D π(θ|x) = P(θ, M = k|x) k=1 D = pk Zk πk (θk |x) πj (θj |M = k) . k=1 j=k
  • 76. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Saturation schemes MCMC implementation (t) (t) Run a Markov chain (M (t) , θ1 , . . . , θD ) with stationary distribution π(θ, M |x) by 1 Pick M (t) = k with probability π(θ(t−1) , k|x) (t−1) 2 Generate θk from the posterior πk (θk |x) [or MCMC step] (t−1) 3 Generate θj (j = k) from the pseudo-prior πj (θj |M = k) Approximate P(M = k|x) = Zk by T (t) (t) (t) pk (x) ∝ pk ˇ fk (x|θk ) πk (θk ) πj (θj |M = k) t=1 j=k D (t) (t) (t) p f (x|θ ) π (θ ) πj (θj |M = ) =1 j=
  • 77. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Saturation schemes MCMC implementation (t) (t) Run a Markov chain (M (t) , θ1 , . . . , θD ) with stationary distribution π(θ, M |x) by 1 Pick M (t) = k with probability π(θ(t−1) , k|x) (t−1) 2 Generate θk from the posterior πk (θk |x) [or MCMC step] (t−1) 3 Generate θj (j = k) from the pseudo-prior πj (θj |M = k) Approximate P(M = k|x) = Zk by T (t) (t) (t) pk (x) ∝ pk ˇ fk (x|θk ) πk (θk ) πj (θj |M = k) t=1 j=k D (t) (t) (t) p f (x|θ ) π (θ ) πj (θj |M = ) =1 j=
  • 78. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Saturation schemes MCMC implementation (t) (t) Run a Markov chain (M (t) , θ1 , . . . , θD ) with stationary distribution π(θ, M |x) by 1 Pick M (t) = k with probability π(θ(t−1) , k|x) (t−1) 2 Generate θk from the posterior πk (θk |x) [or MCMC step] (t−1) 3 Generate θj (j = k) from the pseudo-prior πj (θj |M = k) Approximate P(M = k|x) = Zk by T (t) (t) (t) pk (x) ∝ pk ˇ fk (x|θk ) πk (θk ) πj (θj |M = k) t=1 j=k D (t) (t) (t) p f (x|θ ) π (θ ) πj (θj |M = ) =1 j=
  • 79. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Implementation error Scott’s (2002) proposal Suggest estimating P(M = k|x) by   T  D  (t) (t) Zk ∝ pk f (x|θk ) pj fj (x|θj ) ,  k  t=1 j=1 based on D simultaneous and independent MCMC chains (t) (θk )t , 1 ≤ k ≤ D, with stationary distributions πk (θk |x) [instead of above joint]
  • 80. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Implementation error Scott’s (2002) proposal Suggest estimating P(M = k|x) by   T  D  (t) (t) Zk ∝ pk f (x|θk ) pj fj (x|θj ) ,  k  t=1 j=1 based on D simultaneous and independent MCMC chains (t) (θk )t , 1 ≤ k ≤ D, with stationary distributions πk (θk |x) [instead of above joint]
  • 81. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Implementation error Congdon’s (2006) extension Selecting flat [prohibited] pseudo-priors, uses instead   T  D  (t) (t) (t) (t) Zk ∝ pk fk (x|θk )πk (θk ) pj fj (x|θj )πj (θj ) ,   t=1 j=1 (t) where again the θk ’s are MCMC chains with stationary distributions πk (θk |x) to next section
  • 82. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Implementation error Examples Example (Model choice) Model M1 : x|θ ∼ U(0, θ) with prior θ ∼ Exp(1) is versus model M2 : x|θ ∼ Exp(θ) with prior θ ∼ Exp(1). Equal prior weights on both models: 1 = 2 = 0.5. 1.0 0.8 Approximations of P(M = 1|x): 0.6 Scott’s (2002) (blue), and Congdon’s (2006) (red) 0.4 [N = 106 simulations]. 0.2 0.0 1 2 3 4 5 y
  • 83. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Implementation error Examples Example (Model choice) Model M1 : x|θ ∼ U(0, θ) with prior θ ∼ Exp(1) is versus model M2 : x|θ ∼ Exp(θ) with prior θ ∼ Exp(1). Equal prior weights on both models: 1 = 2 = 0.5. 1.0 0.8 Approximations of P(M = 1|x): 0.6 Scott’s (2002) (blue), and Congdon’s (2006) (red) 0.4 [N = 106 simulations]. 0.2 0.0 1 2 3 4 5 y
  • 84. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Implementation error Examples (2) Example (Model choice (2)) Normal model M1 : x ∼ N (θ, 1) with θ ∼ N (0, 1) vs. normal model M2 : x ∼ N (θ, 1) with θ ∼ N (5, 1) Comparison of both 1.0 approximations with 0.8 P(M = 1|x): Scott’s (2002) (green and mixed dashes) and 0.6 Congdon’s (2006) (brown and 0.4 long dashes) [N = 104 simulations]. 0.2 0.0 −1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 y
  • 85. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Cross-model solutions Implementation error Examples (3) Example (Model choice (3)) Model M1 : x ∼ N (0, 1/ω) with ω ∼ Exp(a) vs. M2 : exp(x) ∼ Exp(λ) with λ ∼ Exp(b). 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.8 Comparison of Congdon’s (2006) 0.6 0.6 (brown and dashed lines) with 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2 P(M = 1|x) when (a, b) is equal 0.0 0.0 to (.24, 8.9), (.56, .7), (4.1, .46) −10 −5 0 y 5 10 −10 −5 0 y 5 10 and (.98, .081), resp. [N = 104 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.8 simulations]. 0.6 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 −10 −5 0 5 10 −10 −5 0 5 10 y y
  • 86. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Nested sampling 1 Evidence 2 Importance sampling solutions 3 Cross-model solutions 4 Nested sampling Purpose Implementation Error rates Constraints Importance variant A mixture comparison
  • 87. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Purpose Nested sampling: Goal Skilling’s (2007) technique using the one-dimensional representation: 1 Z = Eπ [L(θ)] = ϕ(x) dx 0 with ϕ−1 (l) = P π (L(θ) > l). Note; ϕ(·) is intractable in most cases.
  • 88. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Nested sampling: First approximation Approximate Z by a Riemann sum: N Z= (xi−1 − xi )ϕ(xi ) i=1 where the xi ’s are either: deterministic: xi = e−i/N or random: x0 = 0, xi+1 = ti xi , ti ∼ Be(N, 1) so that E[log xi ] = −i/N .
  • 89. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Extraneous white noise Take 1 −(1−δ)θ −δθ 1 −(1−δ)θ Z= e−θ dθ = e e = Eδ e δ δ N 1 ˆ Z= δ −1 e−(1−δ)θi (xi−1 − xi ) , θi ∼ E(δ) I(θi ≤ θi−1 ) N i=1 N deterministic random 50 4.64 10.5 4.65 10.5 100 2.47 4.9 Comparison of variances and MSEs 2.48 5.02 500 .549 1.01 .550 1.14
  • 90. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Extraneous white noise Take 1 −(1−δ)θ −δθ 1 −(1−δ)θ Z= e−θ dθ = e e = Eδ e δ δ N 1 ˆ Z= δ −1 e−(1−δ)θi (xi−1 − xi ) , θi ∼ E(δ) I(θi ≤ θi−1 ) N i=1 N deterministic random 50 4.64 10.5 4.65 10.5 100 2.47 4.9 Comparison of variances and MSEs 2.48 5.02 500 .549 1.01 .550 1.14
  • 91. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Nested sampling: Alternative representation Another representation is N −1 Z= {ϕ(xi+1 ) − ϕ(xi )}xi i=0 which is a special case of N −1 Z= {L(θ(i+1) ) − L(θ(i) )}π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) i=0 where · · · L(θ(i+1) ) < L(θ(i) ) · · · [Lebesgue version of Riemann’s sum]
  • 92. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Nested sampling: Alternative representation Another representation is N −1 Z= {ϕ(xi+1 ) − ϕ(xi )}xi i=0 which is a special case of N −1 Z= {L(θ(i+1) ) − L(θ(i) )}π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) i=0 where · · · L(θ(i+1) ) < L(θ(i) ) · · · [Lebesgue version of Riemann’s sum]
  • 93. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Nested sampling: Second approximation Estimate (intractable) ϕ(xi ) by ϕi : Nested sampling Start with N values θ1 , . . . , θN sampled from π At iteration i, 1 Take ϕi = L(θk ), where θk is the point with smallest likelihood in the pool of θi ’s 2 Replace θk with a sample from the prior constrained to L(θ) > ϕi : the current N points are sampled from prior constrained to L(θ) > ϕi . Note that 1 π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i+1) )}) π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) ≈ 1 − N
  • 94. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Nested sampling: Second approximation Estimate (intractable) ϕ(xi ) by ϕi : Nested sampling Start with N values θ1 , . . . , θN sampled from π At iteration i, 1 Take ϕi = L(θk ), where θk is the point with smallest likelihood in the pool of θi ’s 2 Replace θk with a sample from the prior constrained to L(θ) > ϕi : the current N points are sampled from prior constrained to L(θ) > ϕi . Note that 1 π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i+1) )}) π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) ≈ 1 − N
  • 95. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Nested sampling: Second approximation Estimate (intractable) ϕ(xi ) by ϕi : Nested sampling Start with N values θ1 , . . . , θN sampled from π At iteration i, 1 Take ϕi = L(θk ), where θk is the point with smallest likelihood in the pool of θi ’s 2 Replace θk with a sample from the prior constrained to L(θ) > ϕi : the current N points are sampled from prior constrained to L(θ) > ϕi . Note that 1 π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i+1) )}) π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) ≈ 1 − N
  • 96. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Nested sampling: Second approximation Estimate (intractable) ϕ(xi ) by ϕi : Nested sampling Start with N values θ1 , . . . , θN sampled from π At iteration i, 1 Take ϕi = L(θk ), where θk is the point with smallest likelihood in the pool of θi ’s 2 Replace θk with a sample from the prior constrained to L(θ) > ϕi : the current N points are sampled from prior constrained to L(θ) > ϕi . Note that 1 π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i+1) )}) π({θ; L(θ) > L(θ(i) )}) ≈ 1 − N
  • 97. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Implementation Nested sampling: Third approximation Iterate the above steps until a given stopping iteration j is reached: e.g., observe very small changes in the approximation Z; reach the maximal value of L(θ) when the likelihood is bounded and its maximum is known; truncate the integral Z at level , i.e. replace 1 1 ϕ(x) dx with ϕ(x) dx 0
  • 98. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Error rates Approximation error Error = Z − Z j 1 = (xi−1 − xi )ϕi − ϕ(x) dx = − ϕ(x) dx i=1 0 0 j 1 + (xi−1 − xi )ϕ(xi ) − ϕ(x) dx (Quadrature Error) i=1 j + (xi−1 − xi ) {ϕi − ϕ(xi )} (Stochastic Error) i=1 [Dominated by Monte Carlo]
  • 99. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Error rates A CLT for the Stochastic Error The (dominating) stochastic error is OP (N −1/2 ): D N 1/2 Z − Z → N (0, V ) with V =− sϕ (s)tϕ (t) log(s ∨ t) ds dt. s,t∈[ ,1] [Proof based on Donsker’s theorem]
  • 100. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Error rates What of log Z? If the interest lies within log Z, Slutsky’s transform of the CLT: D N −1/2 log Z − log Z → N 0, V /Z2 Note: The number of simulated points equals the number of iterations j, and is a multiple of N : if one stops at first iteration j such that e−j/N < , then: j = N − log .
  • 101. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Error rates What of log Z? If the interest lies within log Z, Slutsky’s transform of the CLT: D N −1/2 log Z − log Z → N 0, V /Z2 Note: The number of simulated points equals the number of iterations j, and is a multiple of N : if one stops at first iteration j such that e−j/N < , then: j = N − log .
  • 102. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Error rates What of log Z? If the interest lies within log Z, Slutsky’s transform of the CLT: D N −1/2 log Z − log Z → N 0, V /Z2 Note: The number of simulated points equals the number of iterations j, and is a multiple of N : if one stops at first iteration j such that e−j/N < , then: j = N − log .
  • 103. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Constraints Sampling from constr’d priors Exact simulation from the constrained prior is intractable in most cases Skilling (2007) proposes to use MCMC but this introduces a bias (stopping rule) If implementable, then slice sampler can be devised at the same cost [or less]
  • 104. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Constraints Sampling from constr’d priors Exact simulation from the constrained prior is intractable in most cases Skilling (2007) proposes to use MCMC but this introduces a bias (stopping rule) If implementable, then slice sampler can be devised at the same cost [or less]
  • 105. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Constraints Sampling from constr’d priors Exact simulation from the constrained prior is intractable in most cases Skilling (2007) proposes to use MCMC but this introduces a bias (stopping rule) If implementable, then slice sampler can be devised at the same cost [or less]
  • 106. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Constraints Banana illustration Case of a banana target made of a twisted 2D normal: x2 = x2 + βx2 − 100β 1 [Haario, Sacksman, Tamminen, 1999] β = .03, σ = (100, 1)
  • 107. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Constraints Banana illustration (2) Use of nested sampling with N = 1000, 50 MCMC steps with size 0.1, compared with a population Monte Carlo (PMC) based on 10 iterations with 5000 points per iteration and final sample of 50000 points, using nine Student’s t components with 9 df [Wraith, Kilbinger, Benabed et al., 2009, Physica Rev. D] Evidence estimation
  • 108. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Constraints Banana illustration (2) Use of nested sampling with N = 1000, 50 MCMC steps with size 0.1, compared with a population Monte Carlo (PMC) based on 10 iterations with 5000 points per iteration and final sample of 50000 points, using nine Student’s t components with 9 df [Wraith, Kilbinger, Benabed et al., 2009, Physica Rev. D] E[X1 ] estimation
  • 109. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Constraints Banana illustration (2) Use of nested sampling with N = 1000, 50 MCMC steps with size 0.1, compared with a population Monte Carlo (PMC) based on 10 iterations with 5000 points per iteration and final sample of 50000 points, using nine Student’s t components with 9 df [Wraith, Kilbinger, Benabed et al., 2009, Physica Rev. D] E[X2 ] estimation
  • 110. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Importance variant A IS variant of nested sampling ˜ Consider instrumental prior π and likelihood L, weight function π(θ)L(θ) w(θ) = π(θ)L(θ) and weighted NS estimator j Z= (xi−1 − xi )ϕi w(θi ). i=1 Then choose (π, L) so that sampling from π constrained to L(θ) > l is easy; e.g. N (c, Id ) constrained to c − θ < r.
  • 111. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling Importance variant A IS variant of nested sampling ˜ Consider instrumental prior π and likelihood L, weight function π(θ)L(θ) w(θ) = π(θ)L(θ) and weighted NS estimator j Z= (xi−1 − xi )ϕi w(θi ). i=1 Then choose (π, L) so that sampling from π constrained to L(θ) > l is easy; e.g. N (c, Id ) constrained to c − θ < r.
  • 112. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling A mixture comparison Mixture pN (0, 1) + (1 − p)N (µ, σ) posterior Posterior on (µ, σ) for n observations with µ = 2 and σ = 3/2, when p is known Use of a uniform prior both on (−2, 6) for µ and on (.001, 16) for log σ 2 . occurrences of posterior bursts for µ = xi
  • 113. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling A mixture comparison Experiment MCMC sample for n = 16 Nested sampling sequence observations from the mixture. with M = 1000 starting points.
  • 114. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling A mixture comparison Experiment MCMC sample for n = 50 Nested sampling sequence observations from the mixture. with M = 1000 starting points.
  • 115. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling A mixture comparison Comparison 1 Nested sampling: M = 1000 points, with 10 random walk moves at each step, simulations from the constr’d prior and a stopping rule at 95% of the observed maximum likelihood 2 T = 104 MCMC (=Gibbs) simulations producing non-parametric estimates ϕ [Diebolt & Robert, 1990] 3 Monte Carlo estimates Z1 , Z2 , Z3 using product of two Gaussian kernels 4 numerical integration based on 850 × 950 grid [reference value, confirmed by Chib’s]
  • 116. On some computational methods for Bayesian model choice Nested sampling A mixture comparison Comparison (cont’d) q q q q q q 1.15 q q q q q q q q q q q 1.10 q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q q 1.05 q 1.00 0.95 q q q q q q q q q q q q q q 0.90 q 0.85 q q q q V1 q V2 V3 V4 q Graph based on a sample of 10 observations for µ = 2 and σ = 3/2 (150 replicas).