Discrete gradients for computational Bayesian inference

Abstract

In this paper, we exploit the gradient flow structure of continuous-time formulations of Bayesian inference in terms of their numerical time-stepping. We focus on two particular examples, namely, the continuous-time ensemble Kalman–Bucy filter and a particle discretisation of the Fokker–Planck equation associated to Brownian dynamics. Both formulations can lead to stiff differential equations which require special numerical methods for their efficient numerical implementation. We compare discrete gradient methods to alternative semi-implicit and other iterative implementations of the underlying Bayesian inference problems.