arXiv subjects

Xingchao Jian

Publications and source records attributed to Xingchao Jian.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Graph Distribution-valued Signals in Wasserstein Spaces: Theory and Applications

We introduce a framework for graph signal processing (GSP) in which signals are represented as graph distribution-valued signals (GDSs), i.e., probability measures in a Wasserstein space. This perspective addresses fundamental limitations of classical vector-based GSP, including the requirement for complete synchronous observations across vertices and the need for strict temporal correspondence in observed filter input--output pairs. Furthermore, by modeling the graph structure as a distribution conditioned on signal realizations, we provide a principled approach to signal-dependent graph structures, which are common in real-world applications, while explicitly encoding uncertainty in graph topology. Our framework inherently captures uncertainty and stochasticity while strictly generalizing traditional graph signals, which can be interpreted as Dirac delta measures. We develop a systematic correspondence between foundational GSP concepts and their GDS analogs, showing that classical formulations emerge as special cases of our framework. We establish theoretical continuity results for GDS transforms, providing stability guarantees for input perturbations and distribution approximations. We demonstrate the utility of this approach through example applications, including graph filter learning and anomaly detection, and validate its effectiveness through empirical studies.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2026

Graph Distribution-valued Signals: A Wasserstein Space Perspective

We introduce a novel framework for graph signal processing (GSP) that models signals as graph distribution-valued signals (GDSs), which are probability distributions in the Wasserstein space. This approach overcomes key limitations of classical vector-based GSP, including the assumption of synchronous observations over vertices, the inability to capture uncertainty, and the requirement for strict correspondence in graph filtering. By representing signals as distributions, GDSs naturally encode uncertainty and stochasticity, while strictly generalizing traditional graph signals. We establish a systematic dictionary mapping core GSP concepts to their GDS counterparts, demonstrating that classical definitions are recovered as special cases. The effectiveness of the framework is validated through graph filter learning for prediction tasks, supported by experimental results.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2026

Uncertainty Principle for Vertex-Time Graph Signal Processing

We present an uncertainty principle for graph signals in the vertex-time domain, unifying the classical time-frequency and graph uncertainty principles within a single framework. By defining vertex-time and spectral-frequency spreads, we quantify signal localization across these domains. Our framework identifies a class of signals that achieve maximum concentration in both the spatial and temporal domains. These signals serve as fundamental atoms for a new vertex-time dictionary, enhancing signal reconstruction under practical constraints, such as intermittent data commonly encountered in sensor and social networks. Furthermore, we introduce a novel graph topology inference method leveraging the uncertainty principle. Numerical experiments on synthetic and real datasets validate the effectiveness of our approach, demonstrating improved reconstruction accuracy, greater robustness to noise, and enhanced graph learning performance compared to existing methods.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2025

Conformal Prediction for Multi-Source Detection on a Network

Detecting the origin of information or infection spread in networks is a fundamental challenge with applications in misinformation tracking, epidemiology, and beyond. We study the multi-source detection problem: given snapshot observations of node infection status on a graph, estimate the set of source nodes that initiated the propagation. Existing methods either lack statistical guarantees or are limited to specific diffusion models and assumptions. We propose a novel conformal prediction framework that provides statistically valid recall guarantees for source set detection, independent of the underlying diffusion process or data distribution. Our approach introduces principled score functions to quantify the alignment between predicted probabilities and true sources, and leverages a calibration set to construct prediction sets with user-specified recall and coverage levels. The method is applicable to both single- and multi-source scenarios, supports general network diffusion dynamics, and is computationally efficient for large graphs. Empirical results demonstrate that our method achieves rigorous coverage with competitive accuracy, outperforming existing baselines in both reliability and scalability.The code is available online.

cs.SI↗

arXiv2025

A Generalized Graph Signal Processing Framework for Multiple Hypothesis Testing over Networks

We consider the multiple hypothesis testing (MHT) problem over the joint domain formed by a graph and a measure space. On each sample point of this joint domain, we assign a hypothesis test and a corresponding $p$-value. The goal is to make decisions for all hypotheses simultaneously, using all available $p$-values. In practice, this problem resembles the detection problem over a sensor network during a period of time. To solve this problem, we extend the traditional two-groups model such that the prior probability of the null hypothesis and the alternative distribution of $p$-values can be inhomogeneous over the joint domain. We model the inhomogeneity via a generalized graph signal. This more flexible statistical model yields a more powerful detection strategy by leveraging the information from the joint domain.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2025

Simple Graph Contrastive Learning via Fractional-order Neural Diffusion Networks

Graph Contrastive Learning (GCL) has recently made progress as an unsupervised graph representation learning paradigm. GCL approaches can be categorized into augmentation-based and augmentation-free methods. The former relies on complex data augmentations, while the latter depends on encoders that can generate distinct views of the same input. Both approaches may require negative samples for training. In this paper, we introduce a novel augmentation-free GCL framework based on graph neural diffusion models. Specifically, we utilize learnable encoders governed by Fractional Differential Equations (FDE). Each FDE is characterized by an order parameter of the differential operator. We demonstrate that varying these parameters allows us to produce learnable encoders that generate diverse views, capturing either local or global information, for contrastive learning. Our model does not require negative samples for training and is applicable to both homophilic and heterophilic datasets. We demonstrate its effectiveness across various datasets, achieving state-of-the-art performance.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2025

A Graph Signal Processing Perspective of Network Multiple Hypothesis Testing with False Discovery Rate Control

We consider a multiple hypothesis testing problem in a sensor network over the joint spatio-temporal domain. The sensor network is modeled as a graph, with each vertex representing a sensor and a signal over time associated with each vertex. We assume a hypothesis test and an associated $p$-value for every sample point in the joint spatio-temporal domain. Our goal is to determine which points have true alternative. By parameterizing the unknown $p$-value distribution under the alternative and the prior probabilities of hypotheses being null with a bandlimited generalized graph signal, we can obtain consistent estimates for them. Consequently, we also obtain an estimate of the local false discovery rates (lfdr). We prove that by using a step-up procedure on the estimated lfdr, we can achieve asymptotic false discovery rate control at a pre-determined level. Numerical experiments validate the effectiveness of our approach compared to existing methods.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

Generalized Graph Signal Reconstruction via the Uncertainty Principle

We introduce a novel uncertainty principle for generalized graph signals that extends classical time-frequency and graph uncertainty principles into a unified framework. By defining joint vertex-time and spectral-frequency spreads, we quantify signal localization across these domains, revealing a trade-off between them. This framework allows us to identify a class of signals with maximal energy concentration in both domains, forming the fundamental atoms for a new joint vertex-time dictionary. This dictionary enhances signal reconstruction under practical constraints, such as incomplete or intermittent data, commonly encountered in sensor and social networks. Numerical experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, showing improved reconstruction accuracy and noise robustness compared to existing methods.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

Spectral Convergence of Complexon Shift Operators

Topological Signal Processing (TSP) utilizes simplicial complexes to model structures with higher order than vertices and edges. In this paper, we study the transferability of TSP via a generalized higher-order version of graphon, known as complexon. We recall the notion of a complexon as the limit of a simplicial complex sequence [1]. Inspired by the graphon shift operator and message-passing neural network, we construct a marginal complexon and complexon shift operator (CSO) according to components of all possible dimensions from the complexon. We investigate the CSO's eigenvalues and eigenvectors and relate them to a new family of weighted adjacency matrices. We prove that when a simplicial complex signal sequence converges to a complexon signal, the eigenvalues, eigenspaces, and Fourier transform of the corresponding CSOs converge to that of the limit complexon signal. This conclusion is further verified by two numerical experiments. These results hint at learning transferability on large simplicial complexes or simplicial complex sequences, which generalize the graphon signal processing framework.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

A sampling construction of graphon 1-norm convergence

In the short note, we describe a sampling construction that yields a sequence of graphons converging to a prescribed limit graphon in 1-norm. This convergence is stronger than the convergence in the cut norm, usually used to study graphon sequences. The note also contains errata of the previous version of the note.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

Modeling Sparse Graph Sequences and Signals Using Generalized Graphons

Graphons are limit objects of sequences of graphs and are used to analyze the behavior of large graphs. Recently, graphon signal processing has been developed to study signal processing on large graphs. A major limitation of this approach is that any sparse sequence of graphs inevitably converges to the zero graphon, rendering the resulting signal processing theory trivial and inadequate for sparse graph sequences. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new signal processing framework that leverages the concept of generalized graphons and introduces the stretched cut distance as a measure to compare these graphons. Our framework focuses on the sampling of graph sequences from generalized graphons and explores the convergence properties of associated operators, spectra, and signals. Our signal processing framework provides a comprehensive approach to analyzing and processing signals on graph sequences, even if they are sparse. Finally, we discuss the practical implications of our theory for real-world large networks through numerical experiments.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2024

PosDiffNet: Positional Neural Diffusion for Point Cloud Registration in a Large Field of View with Perturbations

Point cloud registration is a crucial technique in 3D computer vision with a wide range of applications. However, this task can be challenging, particularly in large fields of view with dynamic objects, environmental noise, or other perturbations. To address this challenge, we propose a model called PosDiffNet. Our approach performs hierarchical registration based on window-level, patch-level, and point-level correspondence. We leverage a graph neural partial differential equation (PDE) based on Beltrami flow to obtain high-dimensional features and position embeddings for point clouds. We incorporate position embeddings into a Transformer module based on a neural ordinary differential equation (ODE) to efficiently represent patches within points. We employ the multi-level correspondence derived from the high feature similarity scores to facilitate alignment between point clouds. Subsequently, we use registration methods such as SVD-based algorithms to predict the transformation using corresponding point pairs. We evaluate PosDiffNet on several 3D point cloud datasets, verifying that it achieves state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance for point cloud registration in large fields of view with perturbations. The implementation code of experiments is available at https://github.com/AI-IT-AVs/PosDiffNet.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2023

DistilVPR: Cross-Modal Knowledge Distillation for Visual Place Recognition

The utilization of multi-modal sensor data in visual place recognition (VPR) has demonstrated enhanced performance compared to single-modal counterparts. Nonetheless, integrating additional sensors comes with elevated costs and may not be feasible for systems that demand lightweight operation, thereby impacting the practical deployment of VPR. To address this issue, we resort to knowledge distillation, which empowers single-modal students to learn from cross-modal teachers without introducing additional sensors during inference. Despite the notable advancements achieved by current distillation approaches, the exploration of feature relationships remains an under-explored area. In order to tackle the challenge of cross-modal distillation in VPR, we present DistilVPR, a novel distillation pipeline for VPR. We propose leveraging feature relationships from multiple agents, including self-agents and cross-agents for teacher and student neural networks. Furthermore, we integrate various manifolds, characterized by different space curvatures for exploring feature relationships. This approach enhances the diversity of feature relationships, including Euclidean, spherical, and hyperbolic relationship modules, thereby enhancing the overall representational capacity. The experiments demonstrate that our proposed pipeline achieves state-of-the-art performance compared to other distillation baselines. We also conduct necessary ablation studies to show design effectiveness. The code is released at: https://github.com/sijieaaa/DistilVPR

cs.CV↗

arXiv2023

Generalized signals on simplicial complexes

Topological signal processing (TSP) over simplicial complexes typically assumes observations associated with the simplicial complexes are real scalars. In this paper, we develop TSP theories for the case where observations belong to general abelian groups, including function spaces that are commonly used to represent time-varying signals. Our approach generalizes the Hodge decomposition and allows for signal processing tasks to be performed on these more complex observations. We propose a unified and flexible framework for TSP that expands its applicability to a wider range of signal processing applications. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach and provide a foundation for future research in this area.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2023

Generalized Graphon Process: Convergence of Graph Frequencies in Stretched Cut Distance

Graphons have traditionally served as limit objects for dense graph sequences, with the cut distance serving as the metric for convergence. However, sparse graph sequences converge to the trivial graphon under the conventional definition of cut distance, which make this framework inadequate for many practical applications. In this paper, we utilize the concepts of generalized graphons and stretched cut distance to describe the convergence of sparse graph sequences. Specifically, we consider a random graph process generated from a generalized graphon. This random graph process converges to the generalized graphon in stretched cut distance. We use this random graph process to model the growing sparse graph, and prove the convergence of the adjacency matrices' eigenvalues. We supplement our findings with experimental validation. Our results indicate the possibility of transfer learning between sparse graphs.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2023

Kernel Based Reconstruction for Generalized Graph Signal Processing

In generalized graph signal processing (GGSP), the signal associated with each vertex in a graph is an element from a Hilbert space. In this paper, we study GGSP signal reconstruction as a kernel ridge regression (KRR) problem. By devising an appropriate kernel, we show that this problem has a solution that can be evaluated in a distributed way. We interpret the problem and solution using both deterministic and Bayesian perspectives and link them to existing graph signal processing and GGSP frameworks. We then provide an online implementation via random Fourier features. Under the Bayesian framework, we investigate the statistical performance under the asymptotic sampling scheme. Finally, we validate our theory and methods on real-world datasets.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2023

Graph signal processing with categorical perspective

In this paper, we propose a framework for graph signal processing using category theory. The aim is to generalize a few recent works on probabilistic approaches to graph signal processing, which handle signal and graph uncertainties.

eess.SP↗

arXiv2023

On distributional graph signals

Graph signal processing (GSP) studies graph-structured data, where the central concept is the vector space of graph signals. To study a vector space, we have many useful tools up our sleeves. However, uncertainty is omnipresent in practice, and using a vector to model a real signal can be erroneous in some situations. In this paper, we want to use the Wasserstein space as a replacement for the vector space of graph signals, to account for signal stochasticity. The Wasserstein is strictly more general in which the classical graph signal space embeds isometrically. An element in the Wasserstein space is called a distributional graph signal. On the other hand, signal processing for a probability space of graphs has been proposed in the literature. In this work, we propose a unified framework that also encompasses existing theories regarding graph uncertainty. We develop signal processing tools to study the new notion of distributional graph signals. We also demonstrate how the theory can be applied by using real datasets.

eess.SP↗