Discrete to continuum limits in Bayesian inverse problems

Abstract

We develop a posterior-level discrete-to-continuum theory for Bayesian inverse problems whose finite-dimensional priors arise from local finite-difference regularization and whose likelihoods are of a general convex GLM-type form. In contrast to continuum-first approaches, the continuum prior and posterior are not assumed at the outset but are constructed as limits of the finite-dimensional probability measures used in numerical computation. First, with the total information parameter $\tau$ and the regularization strength $\kappa$ fixed, we prove weak convergence on $L^2$ of the reconstructed discrete Gaussian priors and posterior measures to well-defined continuum laws. We then consider a coupled grid-refinement and small-noise limit in which $N\to\infty$ and $\tau_N,\kappa_N\to\infty$, while $\kappa_N/\tau_N$ remains fixed. Under explicit growth conditions relating $N$ and $\tau_N$, we prove that the reconstructed discrete MAP estimates converge to the unique minimizer $u_*$ of the limiting continuum cost functional, that the reconstructed posterior measures concentrate at $u_*$, and that their centered and rescaled fluctuations converge to $\mathcal N(\vec 0,Q^{-1})$, where $Q$ is the Hessian of the continuum cost functional at $u_*$. Finally, we show that the same deterministic limit and Gaussian fluctuation law are obtained by first constructing the continuum posterior and then taking its small-noise, high-regularization limit.