We propose an extension of the computational fluid mechanics approach to the Monge-Kantorovich mass transfer problem, which was developed by Benamou-Brenier. Our extension allows optimal transfer of unnormalized and unequal masses. We obtain a one-parameter family of simple modifications of the normalized formulation. This leads us to a new Monge-Ampere type equation and a new Kantorovich duality formula. These can be solved efficiently by, for example, the Chambolle-Pock primal-dual algorithm and some newer methods. This solution to the extended mass transfer problem gives us a simple metric for computing the distance between two unnormalized densities. The L1 version of this metric was shown in a recent precursor of our work here to have desirable properties.
Joint work with Wilfrid Gangbo, Wuchen LI and Michael Puthawala
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