Revisiting Madigan and Mosurski: Collapsibility via Minimal Separators
Authors
Paper Information
-
Journal:
Biometrika -
DOI:
10.1093/biomet/asag024 -
Published:
April 13, 2026 -
Added to Tracker:
Apr 15, 2026
Abstract
Abstract Collapsibility provides a principled approach to dimension reduction in contingency tables and graphical models. Madigan & Mosurski (1990) pioneered the study of minimal collapsible sets in decomposable models, but existing algorithms for general graphs remain computationally demanding. We show that a model is collapsible on to a target set precisely when that set contains at least one minimal separator between its nonadjacent vertices. This insight motivates the close minimal separator absorption algorithm, which constructs minimal collapsible sets using only local separator searches at very low costs. Simulations confirm substantial efficiency gains, making collapsibility analysis practical in high-dimensional settings.
Author Details
Yi Sun
AuthorJianhua Guo
AuthorPei Heng
AuthorShiyuan He
AuthorCitation Information
APA Format
Yi Sun
,
Jianhua Guo
,
Pei Heng
&
Shiyuan He
(2026)
.
Revisiting Madigan and Mosurski: Collapsibility via Minimal Separators.
Biometrika
, 10.1093/biomet/asag024.
BibTeX Format
@article{paper1111,
title = { Revisiting Madigan and Mosurski: Collapsibility via Minimal Separators },
author = {
Yi Sun
and Jianhua Guo
and Pei Heng
and Shiyuan He
},
journal = { Biometrika },
year = { 2026 },
doi = { 10.1093/biomet/asag024 },
url = { https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/asag024 }
}