We study rough high-dimensional landscapes in which an increasingly stronger preference for a given configuration emerges. Such energy landscapes arise in glass physics and inference. In particular we focus on random Gaussian functions, and on the spiked-tensor model and generalizations. We thoroughly analyze the stati…
New sampler tackles complex discrete energy landscapes efficiently.
problem Stagnation in gradient-based discrete samplers for non-convex settings.
method DREXEL sampler with Replica Exchange and Adjusted Metropolis.
result Proves samplers satisfy detailed balance and converge to target distribution.
Looped transformers outperform standard transformers in complex reasoning tasks due to a specific loss landscape geometry.
problem Understanding why looped transformers outperform standard transformers in complex reasoning tasks.
method Explained through loss landscape geometry, distinguishing between U-shaped and V-shaped valleys, and proposing SHIFT training strategy.
result Looped transformers' recursive architecture induces a River-V-Valley landscape, leading to better loss convergence and complex pattern learning.
The study examines when MAML's objective has a benign landscape.
problem Understanding when MAML's objective landscape is benign.
method Analyzing the landscape of MAML objective on LQR tasks.
result The benign landscape of the MAML objective depends on task similarities.
Experimental fractal landscape dynamics observed in emulsions.
problem Understanding anomalous motions in soft glassy materials.
method Quantitative analysis of oil droplet trajectories in dense emulsions.
result Experimental fractal geometry matches computational model of soft glassy dynamics.
Study analyzes landscape complexity of empirical loss functions with correlated data.
problem Understanding the complexity of loss landscapes in machine learning with structured data.
method Kac-Rice formula and random matrix theory applied to high-dimensional empirical loss functions.
result Characterizes the average number of critical points in loss functions with structured data.
Considering the creation of persistence landscape on a parametrized curve and structure of sampling, there exists a random process for which a finite mixture model of persistence landscape (FMMPL) can provide a better description for a given dataset. In this paper, a nonparametric approach for computing integrated mean…
We analyze the optimization landscape of α-loss in logistic models.
problem Optimization landscape of α-loss in logistic models.
method Tools from strictly-locally-quasi-convex functions and geometric techniques.
result Evolution of optimization landscape with respect to α.
We explore the energy landscape of a simple neural network. In particular, we expand upon previous work demonstrating that the empirical complexity of fitted neural networks is vastly less than a naive parameter count would suggest and that this implicit regularization is actually beneficial for generalization from fit…
Unified framework for sampling and approximating high-dimensional energy landscapes.
problem Sampling and approximating complex energy landscapes in physical systems with constraints and energy barriers.
method Formulates a minimax optimization problem that jointly adapts surrogate approximation and adaptive sampling.
result Demonstrates effectiveness in biomolecular systems with up to 30 collective variables.
Deep learning dynamics exhibit anomalous superdiffusion initially, aiding escape from local minima.
problem Understanding the dynamics of learning in deep neural networks.
method Novel analysis of SGD dynamics and loss landscape structure.
result SGD exhibits anomalous superdiffusion initially, transitioning to subdiffusion as learning progresses.
Method analyzes complexity of empirical risk landscapes for generalized linear models.
problem Understanding the complexity of empirical risk landscapes in generalized linear models.
method Kac-Rice method and replicated method from theoretical physics.
result Explicit variational formulas for the number of critical points of empirical risk landscapes.
This paper addresses the issue of feature importance landscapes in complex images and proposes a regularisation technique to improve network performance.
problem Feature importance landscapes in complex images are not as uniform as assumed, affecting network performance.
method Developed the PILCRO objective to regularize weight configurations, making importance landscapes smoother and more data-driven.
result P-regularised networks have a flat importance landscape, train faster, and perform better in accuracy and robustness.
Paper addresses quadratic feasibility problems and their sample complexity.
problem Recovering complex vectors from quadratic measurements.
method Analyzes conditions for identifiability and explores optimization landscape.
result Gradient algorithms can converge to globally optimal solutions with high probability.
Embedding principle explains loss landscape of deep neural networks.
problem Understanding the structure of loss landscapes in deep neural networks.
method Proposed an embedding principle that critical points of narrower DNNs can be embedded to critical points of wider DNNs.
result Wide DNNs are often attracted by highly-degenerate critical points embedded from narrower DNNs.
The paper solves open questions in computable PAC learning, providing a complete landscape.
problem Understanding the boundaries and capabilities of computable PAC learning.
method Analyzing and constructing decidable hypothesis classes with different sample complexities and Littlestone dimensions.
result A complete understanding of CPAC learnability, answering open questions and confirming conjectures.
Study uses topological signatures to quantify financial market complexity.
problem Capturing temporal organization beyond volatility measures.
method Null validated topological approach using L1 norm of persistence landscapes. result Persistence landscape norms reveal dynamical structure during market stress.
This work shows how to efficiently simulate parts of quantum landscapes using classical computers.
problem Identifying where quantum computers are advantageous and offloading computations.
method Developed a quantum-enhanced classical algorithm to simulate sub-regions of quantum landscapes.
result It is possible to generate a classical surrogate of a sub-region of a quantum landscape.
In this paper we investigate the properties of series of vacua in the string theory landscape. In particular, we study minima to the flux potential in type IIB compactifications on the mirror quintic. Using geometric transitions, we embed its one dimensional complex structure moduli space in that of another Calabi-Yau …
Study identifies new stable climate states in climate model.
problem Understanding multistability and transitions in climate models.
method Combination of quasipotential theory and manifold learning.
result Discovery of a third stable climate state not previously known.
In many statistical learning problems, the target functions to be optimized are highly non-convex in various model spaces and thus are difficult to analyze. In this paper, we compute \emph{Energy Landscape Maps} (ELMs) which characterize and visualize an energy function with a tree structure, in which each leaf node re…
The complex and computationally expensive nature of landscape evolution models pose significant challenges in the inference and optimisation of unknown parameters. Bayesian inference provides a methodology for estimation and uncertainty quantification of unknown model parameters. In our previous work, we developed para…
New function class characterizes loss landscape of deep neural networks without over-parametrization.
problem Complex loss landscape of deep neural networks without over-parametrization.
method Proposed a novel class of functions to characterize loss landscape without over-parametrization.
result Gradient-based optimizers possess theoretical guarantees of convergence under the new function class assumption.
New method simplifies optimization landscapes by transforming saddle points.
problem Saddle points hinder non-convex optimization in machine learning.
method Variable elimination algorithms, like VarPro, are compared to reveal geometric insights.
result Variable elimination reshapes critical point structure, creating local maxima from saddle points.
We analyze the landscape of empirical risk minimization for high-dimensional models, predicting phase transitions and critical point properties.
problem Understanding the complexity and structure of high-dimensional empirical risk landscapes.
method Using the Kac-Rice formula, we analyze the expected number of critical points and their spectral properties, providing detailed predictions.
result We derive complete topological phase diagrams for the phase retrieval problem, predicting BBP-type transitions and critical point stability.
Persistence landscapes map persistence diagrams into a function space, which may often be taken to be a Banach space or even a Hilbert space. In the latter case, it is a feature map and there is an associated kernel. The main advantage of this summary is that it allows one to apply tools from statistics and machine lea…
Gradient descent variants improve phase retrieval accuracy.
problem Phase retrieval problem in high-dimensional spaces.
method Gradient descent, stochastic gradient descent, Langevin algorithm, dynamical mean-field theory.
result Stochastic variants of gradient descent achieve better generalization in phase retrieval.
Reviews recent findings on neural network landscapes.
problem Non-convexity of loss functions causing bad landscapes.
method Rigorous geometric analysis and empirical exploration.
result Wide neural nets may have sub-optimal local minima.
Adaptor 'E' extends gradient-based optimizers to explore loss landscapes, improving generalization.
problem Finding lower and better-generalizing minima in deep learning.
method Proposes an adaptor 'E' to extend gradient-based optimizers, encouraging exploration along landscape valleys.
result Adapted optimizers increase test accuracy by an average of 2.5% in large-batch training tasks.
This paper studies the landscape of empirical risk of deep neural networks by theoretically analyzing its convergence behavior to the population risk as well as its stationary points and properties. For an l-layer linear neural network, we prove its empirical risk uniformly converges to its population risk at the rat…
Dimensionality reduction is ubiquitous in analysis of complex dynamics. The conventional dimensionality reduction techniques, however, focus on reproducing the underlying configuration space, rather than the dynamics itself. The constructed low-dimensional space does not provide complete and accurate description of the…
It is widely observed that deep learning models with learned parameters generalize well, even with much more model parameters than the number of training samples. We systematically investigate the underlying reasons why deep neural networks often generalize well, and reveal the difference between the minima (with the s…
Black holes offer insights into machine learning's loss landscapes.
problem Understanding the loss landscape in machine learning.
method Comparing machine learning loss landscapes to black hole entropy.
result Black holes provide an infinite family of potential landscapes with known minima.
Adversarial training makes logistic regression weight loss landscapes sharper.
problem Understanding why adversarial training sharpens the weight loss landscape in logistic regression.
method Theoretical analysis of linear logistic regression model with L2 norm constraints, and experiments on ResNet18.
result Adversarial training sharpens the weight loss landscape in linear logistic regression models.
AWP improves robustness by flattening weight loss landscape.
problem Improving robustness of deep neural networks against adversarial examples.
method Explicitly regularizes the flatness of weight loss landscape through adversarial weight perturbation.
result AWP forms a double-perturbation mechanism in adversarial training, leading to flatter weight loss landscape.
We analyze numerically the training dynamics of deep neural networks (DNN) by using methods developed in statistical physics of glassy systems. The two main issues we address are (1) the complexity of the loss landscape and of the dynamics within it, and (2) to what extent DNNs share similarities with glassy systems. O…
Efficiently infers graph edges from genetic similarity data in landscape genetics.
problem Inferring unknown graph edges from genetic similarity data in a heterogeneous landscape.
method Developed an efficient first-order optimization method to solve the inverse landscape genetics problem.
result Our method provides fast and reliable convergence, significantly outperforming existing heuristics.
Smoothed fitness landscape improves protein optimization.
problem Infeasibility of combinatorially large protein sequence space.
method Formulate protein fitness as a graph signal, smooth using Tikunov regularization, and optimize with Gibbs sampling.
result 2.5 fold fitness improvement over training set.
Researchers improve visualization of neural network loss landscapes.
problem Understanding neural network generalization performance.
method Novel 'jump and retrain' procedure, non-linear dimensionality reduction (PHATE), computational homology.
result Improved visualization and quantification of neural network generalization performance.
Deeper models have a more favorable optimization landscape, making them more robust to noise.
problem Characterizing the effect of depth on the optimization landscape of linear regression models.
method Robust and over-parameterized setting, simple sub-gradient method.
result A simple sub-gradient method converges to a balanced solution that is close to the ground truth and enjoys a flat local landscape.
Choosing the best-performing optimizer(s) out of a portfolio of optimization algorithms is usually a difficult and complex task. It gets even worse, if the underlying functions are unknown, i.e., so-called Black-Box problems, and function evaluations are considered to be expensive. In the case of continuous single-obje…
Combining insights from machine learning and quantum Monte Carlo, the stochastic reconfiguration method with neural network Ansatz states is a promising new direction for high-precision ground state estimation of quantum many-body problems. Even though this method works well in practice, little is known about the learn…
Machine learning techniques are being increasingly used as flexible non-linear fitting and prediction tools in the physical sciences. Fitting functions that exhibit multiple solutions as local minima can be analysed in terms of the corresponding machine learning landscape. Methods to explore and visualise molecular pot…
Paper explores SNN for learning spectral geometric info from data.
problem Challenges in applying traditional eigensolvers to big data.
method Introduces Spectral Neural Networks (SNN) as an alternative.
result Investigates tradeoffs and optimization landscape of SNN.
In this paper we first analyzed the inductive bias underlying the data scattered across complex free energy landscapes (FEL), and exploited it to train deep neural networks which yield reduced and clustered representation for the FEL. Our parametric method, called Information Distilling of Metastability (IDM), is end-t…
Study reveals sharp characterisation of local minima in neural network loss landscapes.
problem Characterizing local minima in high-dimensional two-layer ReLU neural networks.
method Exact low-dimensional representation of local minima using summary statistics and link with one-pass SGD dynamics.
result Local minima in overparameterized neural networks form discrete families with varying stability and reachability.
We reveal connections between RBMs and Bosons, explaining symmetry breaking in their energy landscapes.
problem Understanding the relationships among different deep generative models and their learning mechanisms.
method Introducing a reciprocal space formulation to RBMs, revealing connections to diffusion processes and Bosons.
result Symmetry breaking in RBM energy landscapes is characterized by singular values and weight matrix eigenvectors.
SGD vs quasi-Newton optimization in neural networks: different landscapes, different generalizability.
problem Understanding neural network optimization and generalizability.
method Comparison of stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and quasi-Newton optimization methods using computational tools.
result SGD solutions are separated by lower barriers than quasi-Newton solutions, but quasi-Newton solutions are deeper and more isolated.