Optical scatterometry is a method to measure the size and shape of periodic micro- or nanostructures on surfaces. For this purpose the geometry parameters of the structures are obtained by reproducing experimental measurement results through numerical simulations. We compare the performance of Bayesian optimization to different local minimization algorithms for this numerical optimization problem. Bayesian optimization uses Gaussian-process regression to find promising parameter values. We examine how pre-computed simulation results can be used to train the Gaussian process and to accelerate the optimization.
Folding uncertainty in theoretical models into Bayesian parameter estimation is necessary in order to make reliable inferences. A general means of achieving this is by marginalizing over model uncertainty using a prior distribution constructed using
Gaussian process regression (GPR). As an example, we apply this technique to the measurement of chirp mass using (simulated) gravitational-wave signals from binary black holes that could be observed using advanced-era gravitational-wave detectors. Unless properly accounted for, uncertainty in the gravitational-wave templates could be the dominant source of error in studies of these systems. We explain our approach in detail and provide proofs of various features of the method, including the limiting behavior for high signal-to-noise, where systematic model uncertainties dominate over noise errors. We find that the marginalized likelihood constructed via GPR offers a significant improvement in parameter estimation over the standard, uncorrected likelihood both in our simple one-dimensional study, and theoretically in general. We also examine the dependence of the method on the size of training set used in the GPR; on the form of covariance function adopted for the GPR, and on changes to the detector noise power spectral density.
We present a new efficient transition pathway search method based on the least action principle and the Gaussian process regression method. Most pathway search methods developed so far rely on string representations, which approximate a transition pa
thway by a series of slowly varying replicas of a system. Since those methods require a large number of replica images, they are computationally expensive in general. Our approach employs the Gaussian process regression method, which takes the Bayesian inference on the shape of a given potential energy surface with a few observed data and Gaussian-shaped kernel functions. Based on the inferred potential, we find multiple low-action pathways by carrying out the action optimization based on the Action-CSA (Conformational space annealing). Here we demonstrate a drastic elevation of computing efficiency about five orders of magnitude for the system with the Muller-Brown potential. Further, for the sake of demonstrating its real-world capabilities, we apply our method to ab initio calculations on alanine dipeptide. The improved efficiency of GPAO makes it possible to identify multiple transition pathways of alanine dipeptide and calculate their transition probabilities with ab initio accuracy. We are confident that our GPAO method is a powerful approach to investigate the mechanisms of complex chemical reactions
Gravitational wave astrophysics relies heavily on the use of matched filtering both to detect signals in noisy data from detectors, and to perform parameter estimation on those signals. Matched filtering relies upon prior knowledge of the signals exp
ected to be produced by a range of astrophysical systems, such as binary black holes. These waveform signals can be computed using numerical relativity techniques, where the Einstein field equations are solved numerically, and the signal is extracted from the simulation. Numerical relativity simulations are, however, computationally expensive, leading to the need for a surrogate model which can predict waveform signals in regions of the physical parameter space which have not been probed directly by simulation. We present a method for producing such a surrogate using Gaussian process regression which is trained directly on waveforms generated by numerical relativity. This model returns not just a single interpolated value for the waveform at a new point, but a full posterior probability distribution on the predicted value. This model is therefore an ideal component in a Bayesian analysis framework, through which the uncertainty in the interpolation can be taken into account when performing parameter estimation of signals.
We present an approach to construct appropriate and efficient emulators for Hamiltonian flow maps. Intended future applications are long-term tracing of fast charged particles in accelerators and magnetic plasma confinement configurations. The method
is based on multi-output Gaussian process regression on scattered training data. To obtain long-term stability the symplectic property is enforced via the choice of the matrix-valued covariance function. Based on earlier work on spline interpolation we observe derivatives of the generating function of a canonical transformation. A product kernel produces an accurate implicit method, whereas a sum kernel results in a fast explicit method from this approach. Both correspond to a symplectic Euler method in terms of numerical integration. These methods are applied to the pendulum and the Henon-Heiles system and results compared to an symmetric regression with orthogonal polynomials. In the limit of small mapping times, the Hamiltonian function can be identified with a part of the generating function and thereby learned from observed time-series data of the systems evolution. Besides comparable performance of implicit kernel and spectral regression for symplectic maps, we demonstrate a substantial increase in performance for learning the Hamiltonian function compared to existing approaches.
Vibrational properties of molecular crystals are constantly used as structural fingerprints, in order to identify both the chemical nature and the structural arrangement of molecules. The simulation of these properties is typically very costly, espec
ially when dealing with response properties of materials to e.g. electric fields, which require a good description of the perturbed electronic density. In this work, we use Gaussian process regression (GPR) to predict the static polarizability and dielectric susceptibility of molecules and molecular crystals. We combine this framework with ab initio molecular dynamics to predict their anharmonic vibrational Raman spectra. We stress the importance of data representation, symmetry, and locality, by comparing the performance of different flavors of GPR. In particular, we show the advantages of using a recently developed symmetry-adapted version of GPR. As an examplary application, we choose Paracetamol as an isolated molecule and in different crystal forms. We obtain accurate vibrational Raman spectra in all cases with less than 1000 training points, and obtain improvements when using a GPR trained on the molecular monomer as a baseline for the crystal GPR models. Finally, we show that our methodology is transferable across polymorphic forms: we can train the model on data for one structure, and still be able to accurately predict the spectrum for a second polymorph. This procedure provides an independent route to access electronic structure properties when performing force-evaluations on empirical force-fields or machine-learned potential energy surfaces.