Project
AA3-16
Likelihood Geometry of Max-Linear Bayesian Networks
Project Heads
Carlos Enrique Améndola Cerón
Project Members
Kamillo Hugh Ferry
Project Duration
01.04.2023 – 31.03.2026
Located at
TU Berlin
Description
Max-linear Bayesian networks have emerged from the need to model cause and effect relations between large observed values of several variables. The structural equations that govern these relations via the model parameters can be reinterpreted in the language of tropical geometry. We will exploit this geometric connection to gain new insights on the possible combinatorial structures on the support of the random variables.
A lightning introduction
Above connection between our models and tropical geometry manifests itself in a tropical polytope that we can associate to the model parameters. The immediate goal is then to study the combinatorics of these tropical polytopes. While the combinatoric structure is rich, the setup of this question itself might even be explained in 5 minutes!
Goals
The immediate question that arises from the connection between max-linear Bayesian networks and polytropes is to see if all possible combinatorial types arise from a max-linear Bayesian network or which actually do appear.
Above question is interesting in its own right, but it also serves as an intermediate step to the next goal. It is known that whether certain inequalities between the model parameters hold or not can lead to radically different conditional independence (CI) behavior on the same network. Thus, we aim to determine whether the combinatorics of the tropical polytope of a max-linear Bayesian network can reveal CI statements between subsets of variables, and viceversa.
Since max-linear Bayesian networks are a type of graphical model, one can also derive CI statements from the underlying graph structure. For other types of graphical models, like Gaussian networks, there exist separation but also algebraic criteria for conditional independence. Thus, we aim to find similar criteria in the max-linear Bayesian case.
Project Webpages
- Directed separation in graphs is a small applet that demonstrates separation statements in directed graphs, which correspond to conditional independence in Bayesian networks.
Selected Publications
- Carlos Améndola and Kamillo Ferry. Tropical combinatorics of max-linear Bayesian networks. 2024. arxiv:2411.10394.
Selected Pictures
Max-Linear Bayesian Networks
These are graphical models with recursive structural equations in the max-times semiring. One example is given right above.
Separation statements in Bayesian networks
yield conditional independence statements. This means we can reason about the conditional independence of variables in our model by turning to reachability in the underlying graph. In above case, we can conclude that 1 is independent from 3 given 4 and 5, which means that knowing 1 and then finding out about 4 and 5 does not give any information about 3, at least in a max-linear Bayesian network.
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