On the unconventional Hug integrator

Abstract Hug is a recently proposed iterative mapping used to design efficient updates in Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Hug generates proposals that remain very close to hypersurfaces (level sets) of constant probabilty density. We analyse a generalization of Hug from hypersurfaces to manifolds of arbitrary dimensions, not necessarily arising in a sampling context. The analysis is based on interpreting, in a nonstandard way, Hug as a consistent discretization of a system of differential equations with a rather complicated structure. The proof of convergence of this discretization includes a number of unusual features we explore fully and a supraconvergence property is established. We uncover and discuss an unexpected property of the solutions of the underlying dynamical system that manifest itself by the existence of Hug trajectories that fail to cover the manifold of interest.