BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20251110T050327EST-2926ZerkH1@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20251110T100327Z DESCRIPTION:Title: An exploration-agnostic characterization of the ergodici ty of parallel tempering\n\nAbstract: \n\nNon-reversible parallel temperin g (NRPT) is an effective algorithm for sampling from target distributions with complex geometry\, such as those arising from posterior distributions of weakly identifiable and high-dimensional Bayesian models. In this talk I will establish the uniform geometric ergodicity of NRPT under an effici ent local exploration hypothesis\, which avoids the intricacies of dealing with kernel-specific properties. The rates that we obtain are bounded in terms of an easily-estimable divergence\, the global communication barrier (GCB)\, that was recently introduced in the literature. We obtain analogo us ergodicity results for classical reversible parallel tempering\, provid ing new evidence that NRPT dominates its reversible counterpart. I will al so present some general properties of the GCB and bound it in terms of the total variation distance and the inclusive/exclusive Kullback-Leibler div ergences. I will conclude the talk with simulations that validate the new theoretical analysis.\n\nThis is based on joint work with Nikola Surjanovi c\, Saifuddin Syed\, and Alexandre Bouchard-Côté.\n\nIt will take place at HEC Montréal (Côte-Sainte-Catherine building\, first floor\, yellow secto r\, room Tkaronto).\n\n \n\nIf you are unable to attend in person\, you ca n join the talk live via Zoom at the following address.\n\nhttps://hecmont real.zoom.us/j/84049406290?pwd=QXN0dEtJRUZnNUszSi9HVDNmcm83dz09\n\nMeeting ID: 840 4940 6290\n\nPasscode: cmsqhec\n DTSTART:20240126T203000Z DTEND:20240126T213000Z SUMMARY:Trevor Campbell (University of British Columbia) URL:/mathstat/channels/event/trevor-campbell-universit y-british-columbia-354640 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR