ArXiv

Hybrid Probabilistic Zonotopes for Identifiable and Refinable Predictive Uncertainty

Authors
Zhen Zhang, Amr Alanwar
Categories
cs.LG, stat.ML
arXiv
https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.05454v1
PDF
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.05454v1

Brief

Hybrid Probabilistic Zonotope (HProbZ), proposed by Zhen Zhang and Amr Alanwar (arXiv:2608.05454v1, 2026-08-05), decomposes predictive uncertainty into discrete (binary modal choice), bounded systematic drift (shared zonotope generator), and irreducible stochastic noise. It yields a closed-form likelihood by convolution, proves identifiability of generators up to permutation, differs from any finite Gaussian mixture, and enables analytic per-mode risk and distribution-free multimodal conformal sets.

Why it matters

HProbZ (Hybrid Probabilistic Zonotope) is an output head that decomposes predictive uncertainty into three generators — a binary (discrete mode) generator, a bounded systematic-drift generator, and an irreducible stochastic-noise generator — and admits a closed-form likelihood computed by convolution (Zhang & Alanwar, arXiv:2608.05454v1, 2026-08-05).

Key details

  • The bounded generator is shared across future prediction steps, algebraically coupling multi-step predictions so that observing one step refines the predictive distribution at every remaining step in a single forward pass.
  • The paper proves the three generators are identifiable from the likelihood up to permutation, shows HProbZ densities are representationally distinct from any finite Gaussian mixture, and provides analytic per-mode risk plus distribution-free multi-modal conformal sets; empirical benchmarks report improvements over same-encoder mixture baselines.
Source evidence

Abstract

Probabilistic prediction heads in neural networks typically output either a Gaussian mixture or a single conformal region. Neither separates the distinct sources of uncertainty often present in real prediction tasks: a discrete choice among modes, bounded systematic drift within the chosen mode, and irreducible stochastic noise. We introduce the Hybrid Probabilistic Zonotope (HProbZ), an output head that represents these three sources as binary, bounded, and stochastic generators of a zonotope, and admits a closed-form likelihood by convolution. Sharing the bounded generator across prediction steps couples future predictions algebraically, so observing one step refines the predictive distribution at every remaining step in a single forward pass. We establish that the three generators are identifiable from the likelihood up to permutation, and that an HProbZ density is representationally distinct from any finite Gaussian mixture. The same shared structure provides analytic per-mode risk and distribution-free multi-modal conformal sets at inference time. Empirical analysis on representative prediction benchmarks supports the effectiveness of the design relative to same-encoder mixture baselines, while offering structural properties that mixture or convex-conformal predictors do not jointly provide.