Evolutionary Sequential Monte Carlo Samplers for Change-points Models

Abstract

Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods are widely used for non-linear filtering purposes. Nevertheless the SMC scope encompasses wider applications such as estimating static model parameters so much that it is becoming a serious alternative to Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) methods. Not only SMC algorithms draw posterior distributions of static or dynamic parameters but additionally provide an estimate of the marginal likelihood. The tempered and time (TNT) algorithm, developed in the paper, combines (off-line) tempered SMC inference with on-line SMC inference for drawing realizations from many sequential posterior distributions without experiencing a particle degeneracy problem. Furthermore, it introduces a new MCMC rejuvenation step that is generic, automated and well-suited for multi-modal distributions. As this update relies on the wide heuristic optimization literature, numerous extensions are already available. The algorithm is notably appropriate for estimating Change-point models. As an example, we compare Change-point GARCH models through their marginal likelihoods over time.