FUND: Density Flow for Sampling Unnormalised Distributions
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Abstract (arXiv)
Efficient sampling from Boltzmann distributions is central to modelling complex physical systems. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods suffer from critical slowing down, high autocorrelation, and poor mode-mixing, limiting their scalability. Recent advances, like Boltzmann Generators, offer a promising alternative but remain constrained by costly MCMC-based training, inefficient sampling, and poor ergodicity. We introduce an algorithm for learning Boltzmann distributions that does not require any true samples for training. Our approach draws inspiration from flow matching but departs fundamentally from sample-trajectory matching to distribution-trajectory matching. The algorithm iteratively reshapes the target distribution, using model generated samples to guide learning and ensure comprehensive mode coverage. We validate our method on standard benchmarks, including a 2D Gaussian mixture, Many-Well distributions, and high-dimensional scalar φ4 theory. The proposed approach not only improves sampling performance and accuracy over traditional MCMC and flow-based baselines but also establishes a new method for sample-free learning of complex physical distributions.
Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 26 of its 53 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 Sep 2026.
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26 of 53 references.
References · 26
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 21,076
- 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 9,122
- 2022Flow Matching for Generative Modelingcited by 5,702
- 2019Generative Modeling by Estimating Gradients of the Data Distributioncited by 4,101
- 2016Density estimation using Real NVPcited by 2,042
- 2016Variational Inference: A Review for Statisticianscited by 1,472
- 2019Normalizing Flows for Probabilistic Modeling and Inferencecited by 1,323
- 2015Prioritized Experience Replaycited by 1,099
- 2018Experience Replay for Continual Learningcited by 1,095
- 2023Improving and generalizing flow-based generative models with minibatch optimal transportcited by 879
- 2016Conditional Image Generation with PixelCNN Decoderscited by 862
- 2022Equivariant Diffusion for Molecule Generation in 3Dcited by 677
14 more
- 2017Towards Principled Methods for Training Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 464
- 2022A Survey on Generative Diffusion Modelcited by 240
- 2019Flow-based generative models for Markov chain Monte Carlo in lattice field theorycited by 148
- 2022Flow Annealed Importance Sampling Bootstrapcited by 127
- 2024Iterated Denoising Energy Matching for Sampling from Boltzmann Densitiescited by 116
- 2018Yes, but Did It Work?: Evaluating Variational Inferencecited by 53
- 2023Learning Interpolations between Boltzmann Densitiescited by 43
- 2023Detecting and Mitigating Mode-Collapse for Flow-based Sampling of Lattice Field Theoriescited by 25
- 2023Diffusion Models as Stochastic Quantization in Lattice Field Theorycited by 24
- 2020Continual Learning: Tackling Catastrophic Forgetting in Deep Neural Networks with Replay Processescited by 17
- 2024AdvNF: Reducing Mode Collapse in Conditional Normalising Flows using Adversarial Learningcited by 6
- 2025Efficient and Unbiased Sampling from Boltzmann Distributions via Variance-Tuned Diffusion Modelscited by 6
- 2023Target Specific De Novo Design of Drug Candidate Molecules with Graph Transformer-based Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 5
- 2025SCORENF: Score-based Normalizing Flows for Sampling Unnormalized distributionscited by 2
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- 2025Energy-Weighted Flow Matching: Unlocking Continuous Normalizing Flows for Efficient and Scalable Boltzmann Sampling
- 2024Iterated Energy-based Flow Matching for Sampling from Boltzmann Densities
- 2026Leveraging generative models to assist Monte Carlo sampling
- 2026Diffusion-based Annealed Boltzmann Generators : benefits, pitfalls and hopes
- 2024Markovian Flow Matching: Accelerating MCMC with Continuous Normalizing Flows
- 2024Efficient and Unbiased Sampling of Boltzmann Distributions via Consistency Models
- 2025FALCON: Few-step Accurate Likelihoods for Continuous Flows
- 2023Accelerating Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling with diffusion models