Spectral Regularization for Diffusion Models
On the map: Diffusion models → Diffusion foundations and sampling
Abstract (arXiv)
Diffusion models are typically trained using pointwise reconstruction objectives that are agnostic to the spectral and multi-scale structure of natural signals. We propose a loss-level spectral regularization framework that augments standard diffusion training with differentiable Fourier- and wavelet-domain losses, without modifying the diffusion process, model architecture, or sampling procedure. The proposed regularizers act as soft inductive biases that encourage appropriate frequency balance and coherent multi-scale structure in generated samples. Our approach is compatible with DDPM, DDIM, and EDM formulations and introduces negligible computational overhead. Experiments on image and audio generation demonstrate consistent improvements in sample quality, with the largest gains observed on higher-resolution, unconditional datasets where fine-scale structure is most challenging to model.
Key facts. Cited by 1 paper in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Diffusion foundations and sampling, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 23 of its 32 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 2 Mar 2026.
Builds on
23 of 32 references.
Closest ancestors · 12
Same direction, newest first
- 2025A Hybrid Wavelet-Fourier Method for Next-Generation Conditional Diffusion Models4 Apr
- 2025Shaping Inductive Bias in Diffusion Models through Frequency-Based Noise Control14 Feb
- 2025Spectral Analysis of Diffusion Models with Application to Schedule Design31 Jan
- 2024Time Series Diffusion in the Frequency Domain8 Feb
- 2023Patched Denoising Diffusion Models For High-Resolution Image Synthesis2 Aug
- 2022Wavelet Diffusion Models are fast and scalable Image Generators29 Nov
- 2022Wavelet Score-Based Generative Modeling9 Aug
- 2022Elucidating the Design Space of Diffusion-Based Generative Models1 Jun
- 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models20 Dec
- 2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesis11 May
- 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equations26 Nov
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models19 Jun
Other references · 11
- 2015Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamicscited by 7,005
- 2022Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understandingcited by 6,322
- 2020DiffWave: A Versatile Diffusion Model for Audio Synthesiscited by 1,339
- 2022A Physics-informed Diffusion Model for High-fidelity Flow Field Reconstructioncited by 150
- 2024Physics-Informed Diffusion Modelscited by 88
- 2023Wavelet-based Fourier Information Interaction with Frequency Diffusion Adjustment for Underwater Image Restorationcited by 86
- 2023Generative Diffusion Models on Graphs: Methods and Applicationscited by 79
- 2023WaveDM: Wavelet-Based Diffusion Models for Image Restorationcited by 46
- 2023Neural Wavelet-domain Diffusion for 3D Shape Generation, Inversion, and Manipulationcited by 27
- 2025PhysioWave: A Multi-Scale Wavelet-Transformer for Physiological Signal Representationcited by 12
- 2025Wavelet Fourier Diffuser: Frequency-Aware Diffusion Model for Reinforcement Learningcited by 3
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 1.
1 paper.
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2025A Fourier Space Perspective on Diffusion Models
- 2025Preserving Spectral Structure and Statistics in Diffusion Models
- 2024Boosting Diffusion Models with Moving Average Sampling in Frequency Domain
- 2026Revisiting Spectral Representations in Generative Diffusion Models
- 2026Spectral Progressive Diffusion for Efficient Image and Video Generation
- 2026An Analysis of Regularization and Fokker-Planck Residuals in Diffusion Models for Image Generation
- 2022Dimensionality-Varying Diffusion Process
- 2024Spectrum-Aware Parameter Efficient Fine-Tuning for Diffusion Models