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Flow map matching with stochastic interpolants: A mathematical framework for consistency models

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arxiv 2406.07507 v2 pith:CLNFID3B submitted 2024-06-11 cs.LG math.DS

Flow map matching with stochastic interpolants: A mathematical framework for consistency models

classification cs.LG math.DS
keywords flowmodelsconsistencyframeworkmatchingdistillationdynamicalgeneration
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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Generative models based on dynamical equations such as flows and diffusions offer exceptional sample quality, but require computationally expensive numerical integration during inference. The advent of consistency models has enabled efficient one-step or few-step generation, yet despite their practical success, a systematic understanding of their design has been hindered by the lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework. Here we introduce Flow Map Matching (FMM), a principled framework for learning the two-time flow map of an underlying dynamical generative model, thereby providing this missing mathematical foundation. Leveraging stochastic interpolants, we propose training objectives both for distillation from a pre-trained velocity field and for direct training of a flow map over an interpolant or a forward diffusion process. Theoretically, we show that FMM unifies and extends a broad class of existing approaches for fast sampling, including consistency models, consistency trajectory models, and progressive distillation. Experiments on CIFAR-10 and ImageNet-32 highlight that our approach can achieve sample quality comparable to flow matching while reducing generation time by a factor of 10-20.

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Cited by 33 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

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  13. Flow Map Learning via Nongradient Vector Flow

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  19. How to Guide Your Flow: Few-Step Alignment via Flow Map Reward Guidance

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  28. Mean Flows for One-step Generative Modeling

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  33. The Principles of Diffusion Models

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