Transition Flow Matching
On the map: Diffusion models → Flow matching, time series and science
Abstract (arXiv)
Mainstream flow matching methods typically focus on learning the local velocity field, which inherently requires multiple integration steps during generation. In contrast, Mean Velocity Flow models establish a relationship between the local velocity field and the global mean velocity, enabling the latter to be learned through a mathematically grounded formulation and allowing generation to be transferred to arbitrary future time points. In this work, we propose a new paradigm that directly learns the transition flow. As a global quantity, the transition flow naturally supports generation in a single step or at arbitrary time points. Furthermore, we demonstrate the connection between our approach and Mean Velocity Flow, establishing a unified theoretical perspective. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of our method and support our theoretical claims.
Key facts. Cited by 1 paper in the map (data through 13 Oct 2026). Placed in Flow matching, time series and science, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 40 of its 50 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 16 Mar 2026.
Builds on
40 of 50 references.
Closest ancestors · 15
Same direction, newest first
- 2025SoFlow: Solution Flow Models for One-Step Generative Modeling17 Dec
- 2025Learning Straight Flows: Variational Flow Matching for Efficient Generation15 Nov
- 2025AlphaFlow: Understanding and Improving MeanFlow Models23 Oct
- 2025CMT: Mid-Training for Efficient Learning of Consistency, Mean Flow, and Flow Map Models29 Sep
- 2025Hierarchical Rectified Flow Matching with Mini-Batch Couplings17 Jul
- 2025Align Your Flow: Scaling Continuous-Time Flow Map Distillation17 Jun
- 2025Towards Hierarchical Rectified Flow24 Feb
- 2025Variational Rectified Flow Matching13 Feb
- 2024Flow Matching Guide and Code9 Dec
- 2024Rectified Diffusion: Straightness Is Not Your Need in Rectified Flow9 Oct
- 2024Improving the Training of Rectified Flows30 May
- 2023Equivariant flow matching26 Jun
3 more
Other references · 25
- 2020An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scalecited by 30,043
- 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 9,028
- 2024Scaling Rectified Flow Transformers for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,130
- 2022Elucidating the Design Space of Diffusion-Based Generative Modelscited by 3,023
- 2023Consistency Modelscited by 1,797
- 2022Building Normalizing Flows with Stochastic Interpolantscited by 979
- 2023Stochastic Interpolants: A Unifying Framework for Flows and Diffusionscited by 917
- 2024SiT: Exploring Flow and Diffusion-based Generative Models with Scalable Interpolant Transformerscited by 715
- 2025Mean Flows for One-step Generative Modelingcited by 541
- 2023Consistency Trajectory Models: Learning Probability Flow ODE Trajectory of Diffusioncited by 454
- 2023Improved Techniques for Training Consistency Modelscited by 433
- 2024One Step Diffusion via Shortcut Modelscited by 382
13 more
- 2024Simplifying, Stabilizing and Scaling Continuous-Time Consistency Modelscited by 277
- 2024Consistency Models Made Easycited by 143
- 2025Inductive Moment Matchingcited by 110
- 2025Improved Mean Flows: On the Challenges of Fastforward Generative Modelscited by 106
- 2023One-Step Diffusion Distillation via Deep Equilibrium Modelscited by 61
- 2026One-step Latent-free Image Generation with Pixel Mean Flowscited by 50
- 2024Diffusion Self-Distillation for Zero-Shot Customized Image Generationcited by 46
- 2025Transition Models: Rethinking the Generative Learning Objectivecited by 33
- 2026Transition Matching Distillation for Fast Video Generationcited by 28
- 2025VCT: Training Consistency Models with Variational Noise Couplingcited by 15
- 2025CAD-VAE: Leveraging Correlation-Aware Latents for Comprehensive Fair Disentanglementcited by 10
- 2025Beyond Editing Pairs: Fine-Grained Instructional Image Editing via Multi-Scale Learnable Regionscited by 6
- 2025Stochastic Interpolants via Conditional Dependent Couplingcited by 6
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 1.
1 paper.
- 2026Drift Flow Matchingcited by 1
- 2026Drift Flow Matching17 May 2026
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- 2025Shortcutting Pre-trained Flow Matching Diffusion Models is Almost Free Lunch
- 2025Graph Flow Matching: Enhancing Image Generation with Neighbor-Aware Flow Fields
- 2026Path-independent Flow Matching for Multi-parameter Generative Dynamics