Definition. A Gaussian process is random function $f : X \to \R$ such that for any $x_1,..,x_n$, the vector $f(x_1),..,f(x_n)$ is multivariate Gaussian.

Every GP is characterized by a mean $\mu(\.)$ and a kernel $k(\.,\.)$. We have $$ \htmlClass{fragment}{ f(\v{x}) \~ \f{N}(\v{\mu}_{\v{x}},\m{K}_{\v{x}\v{x}}) } $$ where $\v\mu_{\v{x}} = \mu(\v{x})$ and $\m{K}_{\v{x}\v{x}'} = k(\v{x},\v{x}')$.

Bayesian learning: $f \given \v{y}$.

Goal: minimize unknown function $\phi$ in as few evaluations as possible.

1. Build GP posterior $f \given \v{y}$ using data $(x_1,\phi(x_1)),..,(x_n,\phi(x_n))$.
2. Choose $$ \htmlClass{fragment}{ x_{n+1} = \argmax_{x\in\c{X}} \alpha_{f\given\v{y}}(x) } $$ to maximize the acquisition function $\alpha_{f\given\v{y}}$, for instance expected improvement $\alpha_{f\given\v{y}} = \E_{f\given\v{y}} \max(0, {\displaystyle\min_{i=1,..,n}} \phi(x_n) - f(x))$.

Automatic explore-exploit tradeoff.

$$ \htmlData{class=fragment fade-out,fragment-index=9}{ \footnotesize \mathclap{ k_\nu(x,x') = \sigma^2 \frac{2^{1-\nu}}{\Gamma(\nu)} \del{\sqrt{2\nu} \frac{\norm{x-x'}}{\kappa}}^\nu K_\nu \del{\sqrt{2\nu} \frac{\norm{x-x'}}{\kappa}} } } \htmlData{class=fragment d-print-none,fragment-index=9}{ \footnotesize \mathclap{ k_\infty(x,x') = \sigma^2 \exp\del{-\frac{\norm{x-x'}^2}{2\kappa^2}} } } $$ $\sigma^2$: variance $\kappa$: length scale $\nu$: smoothness
$\nu\to\infty$: recovers squared exponential kernel

$\nu = 1/2$

$\nu = 3/2$

$\nu = 5/2$

$\nu = \infty$

How should Matérn kernels generalize to this setting?

$$ k_\infty^{(d_g)}(x,x') = \sigma^2\exp\del{-\frac{d_g(x,x')^2}{2\kappa^2}} $$

Theorem. (Feragen et al.) Let $M$ be a complete Riemannian manifold without boundary. If $k_\infty^{(d_g)}$ is positive semi-definite for all $\kappa$, then $M$ is isometric to a Euclidean space.

Need a different candidate generalization

$$ \htmlData{class=fragment,fragment-index=0}{ \underset{\t{Matérn}}{\undergroup{\del{\frac{2\nu}{\kappa^2} - \Delta}^{\frac{\nu}{2}+\frac{d}{4}} f = \c{W}}} } \qquad \htmlData{class=fragment,fragment-index=1}{ \underset{\t{squared exponential}}{\undergroup{\vphantom{\del{\frac{2\nu}{\kappa^2} - \Delta}^{\frac{\nu}{2}+\frac{d}{4}}} e^{-\frac{\kappa^2}{4}\Delta} f = \c{W}}} } $$ $\Delta$: Laplacian $\c{W}$: (rescaled) white noise

Generalizes well to the Riemannian setting

$$ k_\nu(x,x') = \frac{\sigma^2}{C_\nu} \sum_{n=0}^\infty \del{\frac{2\nu}{\kappa^2} - \lambda_n}^{-\nu-\frac{d}{2}} f_n(x) f_n(x') $$

$\lambda_n, f_n$: Laplace–Beltrami eigenpairs

Analytic expressions for circle, sphere, ..

$k_{1/2}(\htmlStyle{color:rgb(255, 19, 0)!important}{\bullet},\.)$