MCMC chain running for very long.
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- Posts: 31
- Joined: August 14 2016
- Affiliation: IIT Bombay
MCMC chain running for very long.
Hi,
I am using the Nov 2016 version of CosmoMC. I am facing a weird problem I have not faced before. The problem is my MCMC chain is running for more than 1 month (usually, earlier, it got finished within 5-6 days). R-1 (quoted in the .converge_stat file in the chains folder) goes below 0.01 (takes more than 1 week to do that) but fails to reach the MPI_Limit_Converge_Err for at least one of the parameters (I am using the default convergence settings for batch2) and then starts increasing and goes as high as around 0.2 and starts decreasing again but very slowly and has not converged yet. (R-1 > 0.01 still). This has happened with various data set combinations but same parameter set.
This doesn't happen when I am using base LCDM model. Happens only when I am adding a parameter. So my guess would be that the cause is somehow linked to the parameter. Can it be due to the fact that there is no related covmat file available in the planck_covmats folder for the new parameter and a bad starting covmat (I am using base_TT_lowTEB_plik.covmat)? What can be a remedy?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Shouvik
I am using the Nov 2016 version of CosmoMC. I am facing a weird problem I have not faced before. The problem is my MCMC chain is running for more than 1 month (usually, earlier, it got finished within 5-6 days). R-1 (quoted in the .converge_stat file in the chains folder) goes below 0.01 (takes more than 1 week to do that) but fails to reach the MPI_Limit_Converge_Err for at least one of the parameters (I am using the default convergence settings for batch2) and then starts increasing and goes as high as around 0.2 and starts decreasing again but very slowly and has not converged yet. (R-1 > 0.01 still). This has happened with various data set combinations but same parameter set.
This doesn't happen when I am using base LCDM model. Happens only when I am adding a parameter. So my guess would be that the cause is somehow linked to the parameter. Can it be due to the fact that there is no related covmat file available in the planck_covmats folder for the new parameter and a bad starting covmat (I am using base_TT_lowTEB_plik.covmat)? What can be a remedy?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Shouvik
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- Posts: 1944
- Joined: September 23 2004
- Affiliation: University of Sussex
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Re: MCMC chain running for very long.
It could just have a weak secondary mode, which is very hard for MCMC to explore. If so you may be able to see it in your current posteriors.
Certainly no point running it for that long! If it's not converging it probably won't.
Certainly no point running it for that long! If it's not converging it probably won't.
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- Posts: 31
- Joined: August 14 2016
- Affiliation: IIT Bombay
MCMC chain running for very long.
By a secondary weak mode, do you mean a small secondary peak in the 1-D posterior?
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- Posts: 1944
- Joined: September 23 2004
- Affiliation: University of Sussex
- Contact:
Re: MCMC chain running for very long.
in the N-D posterior. Could also be wide low-amplitude tail, or something more complicated.