# Efficient constrained sampling via the mirror-Langevin algorithm

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.16212 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.16212/

## Key facts

- Cited by 55 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 30 Oct 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 55)

- [Improved analysis for a proximal algorithm for sampling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.06386/) (2022)
- [Mirror Diffusion Models for Constrained and Watermarked Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.01236/) (2023)
- [KALE Flow: A Relaxed KL Gradient Flow for Probabilities with Disjoint Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.08929/) (2021)
- [The Mirror Langevin Algorithm Converges with Vanishing Bias](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.12077/) (2021)
- [Forward-backward Gaussian variational inference via JKO in the Bures-Wasserstein Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.05398/) (2023)
- [Averaging on the Bures-Wasserstein manifold: dimension-free convergence of gradient descent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.08502/) (2021)
- [Particle algorithms for maximum likelihood training of latent variable models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.12965/) (2022)
- [Convergence of the Riemannian Langevin Algorithm](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.10818/) (2022)
- [Resolving the Mixing Time of the Langevin Algorithm to its Stationary Distribution for Log-Concave Sampling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.08448/) (2022)
- [In-and-Out: Algorithmic Diffusion for Sampling Convex Bodies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.01425/) (2024)
- [Sampling with Mirrored Stein Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12506/) (2021)
- [Sampling with Mollified Interaction Energy Descent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.13400/) (2022)
- [Convergence of Stein Variational Gradient Descent under a Weaker Smoothness Condition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.00508/) (2022)
- [Private Convex Optimization in General Norms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.08347/) (2022)
- [Query lower bounds for log-concave sampling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02599/) (2023)
- [Fast sampling from constrained spaces using the Metropolis-adjusted Mirror Langevin algorithm](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.08823/) (2023)
- [Condition-number-independent convergence rate of Riemannian Hamiltonian Monte Carlo with numerical integrators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.07219/) (2022)
- [Algorithmic Aspects of the Log-Laplace Transform and a Non-Euclidean Proximal Sampler](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.06085/) (2023)
- [Constrained Sampling with Primal-Dual Langevin Monte Carlo](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.00568/) (2024)
- [Constrained Diffusers for Safe Planning and Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.12544/) (2025)
- [Bregman Proximal Langevin Monte Carlo via Bregman--Moreau Envelopes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.04387/) (2022)
- [Constrained Exploration via Reflected Replica Exchange Stochastic Gradient Langevin Dynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.07839/) (2024)
- [Non-Reversible Langevin Algorithms for Constrained Sampling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.11743/) (2025)
- [The entropic barrier is n-self-concordant](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10947/) (2021)
- [Constrained Langevin Algorithms with L-mixing External Random Variables](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.14192/) (2022)
- [Efficient Sampling on Riemannian Manifolds via Langevin MCMC](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.10357/) (2024)
- [Strictly Constrained Generative Modeling via Split Augmented Langevin Sampling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.18017/) (2025)
- [A Note on the Convergence of Mirrored Stein Variational Gradient Descent under (L0,L1)-Smoothness Condition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.09709/) (2022)
- [Mean-Square Analysis of Discretized Ito Diffusions for Heavy-tailed Sampling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.00570/) (2023)
- [Non-Log-Concave and Nonsmooth Sampling via Langevin Monte Carlo Algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.15988/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We propose a new discretization of the mirror-Langevin diffusion and give a crisp proof of its convergence. Our analysis uses relative convexity/smoothness and self-concordance, ideas which originated in convex optimization, together with a new result in optimal transport that generalizes the displacement convexity of the entropy. Unlike prior works, our result both (1) requires much weaker assumptions on the mirror map and the target distribution, and (2) has vanishing bias as the step size tends to zero. In particular, for the task of sampling from a log-concave distribution supported on a compact set, our theoretical results are significantly better than the existing guarantees.