gaussian process
Uncertainty Estimation on Graphs with Structure Informed Stochastic Partial Differential Equations
Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have achieved impressive results across diverse network modeling tasks, but accurately estimating uncertainty on graphs remains difficult--especially under distributional shifts. Unlike traditional uncertainty estimation, graph-based uncertainty must account for randomness arising from both the graph's structure and its label distribution, which adds complexity. In this paper, making an analogy between the evolution of a stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) driven by Matรฉrn Gaussian Process and message passing using GNN layers, we present a principled way to design a novel message passing scheme that incorporates spatial-temporal noises motivated by the Gaussian Process approach to SPDE. Our method simultaneously captures uncertainty across space and time and allows explicit control over the covariance kernel's smoothness, thereby enhancing uncertainty estimates on graphs with both low and high label informativeness. Our extensive experiments on Out-of-Distribution (OOD) detection on graph datasets with varying label informativeness demonstrate the soundness and superiority of our model to existing approaches.
Quantitative convergence of trained single layer neural networks to Gaussian processes
In this paper, we study the quantitative convergence of shallow neural networks trained via gradient descent to their associated Gaussian processes in the infinitewidth limit. While previous work has established qualitative convergence under broad settings, precise, finite-width estimates remain limited, particularly during training. We provide explicit upper bounds on the quadratic Wasserstein distance between the network output and its Gaussian approximation at any training time t 0, demonstrating polynomial decay with network width. Our results quantify how architectural parameters, such as width and input dimension, influence convergence, and how training dynamics affect the approximation error.
A Censored Transformed Model for Proportional Outcomes with Boundary Mass and an Application to Loss Given Default Modeling
Qiang, Yuan Christopher, Sigrist, Fabio
We introduce the zero-one censored transformed normal (ZOC-TN) model for proportional responses with potential probability mass at the boundaries 0 and 1. The model combines a censored Gaussian variable with a two-parameter affine-logit transformation on the interior (0,1). We characterize the transformation parameters, establish large-sample properties, and relate the affine-logit specification to broader classes of interior distributions. Theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model can capture a wider range of qualitative density shapes than several benchmark models while remaining parsimonious, computationally efficient, and numerically stable. Furthermore, the ZOC-TN model can be extended (i) to account for nonlinearities and interactions in a tree-boosting machine learning framework and (ii) to explicitly model residual spatio-temporal variability. We apply the ZOC-TN model to loss given default (LGD) modeling for a large dataset of U.S. residential mortgages and compare it to multiple benchmark models. We find that a tree-boosted ZOC-TN model with a spatio-temporal frailty Gaussian process delivers the strongest out-of-sample performance, indicating that mortgage losses are shaped by nonlinear covariate effects and by unaccounted-for space-time variation.
Turbocharging Gaussian Process Inference with Approximate Sketch-and-Project
Gaussian processes (GPs) play an essential role in biostatistics, scientific machine learning, and Bayesian optimization for their ability to provide probabilistic predictions and model uncertainty. However, GP inference struggles to scale to large datasets (which are common in modern applications), since it requires the solution of a linear system whose size scales quadratically with the number of samples in the dataset. We propose an approximate, distributed, accelerated sketch-and-project algorithm (ADASAP) for solving these linear systems, which improves scalability. We use the theory of determinantal point processes to show that the posterior mean induced by sketch-and-project rapidly converges to the true posterior mean. In particular, this yields the first efficient, condition number-free algorithm for estimating the posterior mean along the top spectral basis functions, showing that our approach is principled for GP inference. ADASAPoutperforms state-of-the-art solvers based on conjugate gradient and coordinate descent across several benchmark datasets and a large-scale Bayesian optimization task. Moreover, ADASAPscales to a dataset with > 3 108 samples, a feat which has not been accomplished in the literature.
Recurrent Memory for Online Interdomain Gaussian Processes
We propose a novel online Gaussian process (GP) model that is capable of capturing long-term memory in sequential data in an online learning setting. Our model, Online HiPPO Sparse Variational Gaussian Process (OHSVGP), leverages the HiPPO (High-order Polynomial Projection Operators) framework, which is popularized in the RNN domain due to its long-range memory modeling capabilities. We interpret the HiPPO time-varying orthogonal projections as inducing variables with timedependent orthogonal polynomial basis functions, which allows the SVGP inducing variables to memorize the process history. We show that the HiPPO framework fits naturally into the interdomain GP framework and demonstrate that the kernel matrices can also be updated online in a recurrence form based on the ODE evolution of HiPPO. We evaluate OHSVGP with online prediction for 1D time series, continual learning in discriminative GP model for data with multidimensional inputs, and deep generative modeling with sparse Gaussian process variational autoencoder, showing that it outperforms existing online GP methods in terms of predictive performance, long-term memory preservation, and computational efficiency.
Infinite Neural Operators: Gaussian processes on functions
A variety of infinitely wide neural architectures (e.g., dense NNs, CNNs, and transformers) induce Gaussian process (GP) priors over their outputs. These relationships provide both an accurate characterization of the prior predictive distribution and enable the use of GP machinery to improve the uncertainty quantification of deep neural networks. In this work, we extend this connection to neural operators (NOs), a class of models designed to learn mappings between function spaces. Specifically, we show conditions for when arbitrary-depth NOs with Gaussiandistributed convolution kernels converge to function-valued GPs. Based on this result, we show how to compute the covariance functions of these NO-GPs for two NO parametrizations, including the popular Fourier neural operator (FNO). With this, we compute the posteriors of these GPs in regression scenarios, including PDE solution operators. This work is an important step towards uncovering the inductive biases of current FNO architectures and opens a path to incorporate novel inductive biases for use in kernel-based operator learning methods.
Sparse Gaussian Processes: Structured Approximations and Power-EPRevisited
Inducing-point-based sparse variational Gaussian processes have become the standard workhorse for scaling up GP models. Recent advances show that these methods can be improved by introducing a diagonal scaling matrix to the conditional posterior density given the inducing points. This paper first considers an extension that employs a block-diagonal structure for the scaling matrix, provably tightening the variational lower bound. We then revisit the unifying framework of sparse GPs based on Power Expectation Propagation (PEP) and show that it can leverage and benefit from the new structured approximate posteriors. Through extensive regression experiments, we show that the proposed block-diagonal approximation consistently performs similarly to or better than existing diagonal approximations while maintaining comparable computational costs. Furthermore, the new PEP framework with structured posteriors provides competitive performance across various power hyperparameter settings, offering practitioners flexible alternatives to standard variational approaches.
ROOT: Rethinking Offline Optimization as Distributional Translation via Probabilistic Bridge
This paper studies the black-box optimization task which aims to find the maxima of a black-box function using a static set of its observed input-output pairs. This is often achieved via learning and optimizing a surrogate function with that offline data. Alternatively, it can also be framed as an inverse modeling task that maps a desired performance to potential input candidates that achieve it. Both approaches are constrained by the limited amount of offline data. To mitigate this limitation, we introduce a new perspective that casts offline optimization as a distributional translation task.
AK-MCS-C2 : Active Kriging Monte Carlo Simulation method with conformal certification for failure probability estimation
Jaber, Edgar, Chabridon, Vincent, Mougeot, Mathilde
We introduce a novel active-learning framework for failure probability estimation in structural reliability analysis that integrates Active Kriging Monte Carlo simulation with conformal prediction. The proposed approach employs an adaptive cross-conformal strategy specifically designed for small-sample settings and kriging surrogate models using the J+GP conformal estimator. Unlike standard AK-MCS methods, the proposed framework provides distribution-free guarantees on prediction errors, leading to more reliable classification of samples near the limit-state surface. This improved uncertainty quantification enhances both the accuracy and robustness of failure probability estimates, especially for rare-event regimes where such efficiency is crucial. Reproducible numerical results illustrate the effectiveness of the method and also compare it to classical approaches on well-established benchmarks.