SE-UNet: Singular Equivariant Imaging for Real-World Constrained Generation
On the map: Diffusion models → Inverse problems and image restoration
Abstract (arXiv)
While diffusion models have revolutionized image synthesis, their application to real-world inverse problems is often hampered by the need for massive datasets and the difficulty of imposing strict physical constraints. In this work, we introduce SE-UNet (Singular Equivariant UNet), a framework designed to solve ill-posed imaging tasks without extensive pre-training. By treating generation as an optimization problem constrained by geometric equivariance (D4 group) and singular value gating, SE-UNet effectively standardizes the solution space. We demonstrate that these strong inductive biases allow for state-of-the-art zero-shot inpainting results (80% missing pixels) on CIFAR-10. Our method surpasses Deep Image Prior (DIP) baselines by over 4 dB in PSNR and exhibits a characteristic "singular snap" convergence -- rapidly locking into the signal manifold. SE-UNet thus offers a data-efficient pathway for constrained generation, aligning with the ReALM-GEN goal of bridging theoretical priors with practical deployment.
Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Inverse problems and image restoration, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 7 of its 9 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 2 Jul 2026.
Builds on
7 of 9 references.
References · 7
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 21,076
- 2015U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentationcited by 19,713
- 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,863
- 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 9,122
- 2023Adding Conditional Control to Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 5,503
- 2016Group Equivariant Convolutional Networkscited by 1,165
- 2017Deep Image Priorcited by 1,098
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- 2025Diffusion models for inverse problems