Decomposition for Bayesian Networks: Local and Parallel Inference.

Abstract

Probabilistic inference in high-dimensional Bayesian networks is difficult because exact manipulation of the joint distribution scales exponentially with network size. We propose a decomposition framework based on directed convex subgraphs and introduce a minimal d-decomposition tree. Together, they provide a principled alternative to classical junction-tree constructions. The proposed framework represents the joint distribution by lower-dimensional sub-models that can be learned and stored separately. This decomposition reduces computational cost and naturally enables parallel computation. Based on a minimal d-decomposition tree, we further develop two parallel algorithms for parameter estimation and probabilistic inference. Experiments show that the proposed method substantially improves computational efficiency over junction-tree methods while maintaining inference accuracy, especially for low-dimensional queries.