Constrained Dikin–Langevin diffusion for polyhedra

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Authors: James Chok, Domenic Petzinna
Cited by: 1
References: 52

Abstract

Abstract We propose a reflection-free Langevin framework for sampling and optimization on compact polyhedra. The method is based on the inverse Hessian of the logarithmic barrier, which defines a Dikin–Langevin diffusion whose drift and noise adapt to the local interior-point geometry. We show that trajectories started in the interior remain feasible for all finite times almost surely, so the constrained domain is preserved without reflections or projections. For computation, we discretize the diffusion using the Euler–Maruyama scheme and apply a Metropolis–Hastings correction, yielding a sampler that targets the exact constrained distribution. We also propose an annealed interacting variant for non-convex optimization. Numerically, the Metropolis-adjusted method outperforms both the Dikin random walk and standard MALA on anisotropic box-constrained Gaussians, and the interacting optimizer escapes suboptimal basins more reliably than the non-interacting method.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Markov Chains and Monte Carlo Methods Stochastic Gradient Optimization Techniques Gaussian Processes and Bayesian Inference

Publication details

Journal / source
IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Volume
91
Issue
2
Pages
210–228
Publication date
1 April 2026
Language
EN