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arXiv research

A locally-built, LLM-digested index of recent arXiv papers in quant finance, geometry/topology, and statistical ML — keyword search served straight from SQLite on this machine.

168,695 papers · 148 categories

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84168251335 · Jun 202019922001200920172026
48 results for population loss

We study differentially private (DP) algorithms for stochastic convex optimization (SCO). In this problem the goal is to approximately minimize the population loss given i.i.d. samples from a distribution over convex and Lipschitz loss functions. A long line of existing work on private convex optimization focuses on th…

2019-08-27abs ↗pdf ↗

Though machine learning algorithms excel at minimizing the average loss over a population, this might lead to large discrepancies between the losses across groups within the population. To capture this inequality, we introduce and study a notion we call maximum weighted loss discrepancy (MWLD), the maximum (weighted) d…

2019-06-08abs ↗pdf ↗

Polyak step size GD reaches final radius of convergence after log iterations.

problem Statistical and computational complexities of Polyak step size GD.
method Generalized smoothness and Lojasiewicz conditions, stability of gradients.
result Polyak step size GD reaches final statistical radius of convergence after logarithmic number of iterations.

Gradient descent learns over-param neural nets better than NTK.

problem Learning over-parametrized neural networks with ReLU activations.
method Gradient descent from random initialization on a Gaussian input distribution.
result Gradient descent achieves population loss o(1/d)o(1/d), while NTK achieves Ω(1/d)Ω(1/d).

Continuous-time SGD converges under certain conditions, useful for deep learning.

problem Minimizing population expected loss in learning problems.
method Continuous-time approximation of stochastic gradient descent.
result Establishes sufficient conditions for convergence, applicable to overparametrized neural networks.

New algorithms for differentially private optimization in convex and non-convex settings with near-optimal rates.

problem Differentially private optimization in convex and non-convex settings.
method Developed algorithms for convex and non-convex settings with near-optimal excess population risk.
result Achieved near-optimal rates in near-linear time for convex settings and nearly dimension independent rates for non-convex settings.

The paper analyzes the maximum margin algorithm's performance on noisy data.

problem Analyzing the performance of maximum margin algorithm on noisy data.
method Finite-sample analysis of maximum margin algorithm applied to noisy data.
result The maximum margin algorithm can achieve nearly optimal population risk with sufficient over-parameterization.

The classical asymptotic theory for parametric MM-estimators guarantees that, in the limit of infinite sample size, the excess risk has a chi-square type distribution, even in the misspecified case. We demonstrate how self-concordance of the loss allows to characterize the critical sample size sufficient to guarantee …

2018-10-16abs ↗pdf ↗

The study optimizes bounds for comparing training and population loss.

problem Optimizing bounds for comparing training and population loss.
method Derives generic information-theoretic and PAC-Bayesian generalization bounds using convex comparator functions.
result The tightest possible bound is obtained with the comparator being the convex conjugate of the CGF of the bounding distribution.

Paper improves privacy-preserving optimization rates for convex functions.

problem Differentially private stochastic convex optimization.
method Algorithmic improvements for convex and strongly convex functions under TNC and non-negative loss.
result Excess population risk bounds for DP-SCO are faster than previous results.

Study controlled contagion with state-dependent killing, proving a comparison principle.

problem Analyzing controlled McKean--Vlasov contagion with state-dependent killing.
method Proof of a comparison principle using Wasserstein smooth-gauge comparison and killing-jump absorption estimates.
result Established a comparison principle for the two-population killed-particle HJB.

We analyze double descent in finite-width neural networks using influence functions.

problem Understanding double descent in finite-width neural networks.
method Using influence functions to derive population loss bounds and investigate loss function effects.
result Derived bounds exhibit double descent behavior at the interpolation threshold.

Despite its popularity, it is widely recognized that the investigation of some theoretical aspects of clustering has been relatively sparse. One of the main reasons for this lack of theoretical results is surely the fact that, whereas for other statistical problems the theoretical population goal is clearly defined (as…

2014-08-06abs ↗pdf ↗

New bounds using samplewise evaluated CMI for deep neural networks.

problem Improving generalization bounds for deep neural networks.
method Introduced a new family of information-theoretic generalization bounds using samplewise evaluated conditional mutual information (CMI).
result The new bounds can be tighter than previous ones for deep neural networks.

One-pass SGD dynamics in overparameterized quadratic networks show slow escape from poor solutions.

problem Slow escape from poor generalization solutions in overparameterized neural networks.
method Analysis of one-pass SGD dynamics using ordinary differential equations for overlap matrices.
result Overparameterization only modestly accelerates escape from poor solutions.

Paper addresses DP-SCO on heavy-tailed data, providing methods and results.

problem Designing DP algorithms for SCO on heavy-tailed data.
method Sample-and-aggregate framework, gradient smoothing and trimming.
result Achieved DP guarantees for various loss functions with different excess population risks.

Framework explains deep learning generalization by comparing real and ideal worlds.

problem Understanding why deep models generalize well in practice.
method Integrates real-world empirical loss with ideal population loss to decompose test error.
result The gap between real and ideal worlds is small in deep learning, suggesting robust optimization leads to good generalization.

A new method for learning gradient flows from population dynamics.

problem Reconstructing population dynamics from limited data.
method Residual approach to enforce continuity equations, combining with data-fitting divergence.
result Demonstrated state-of-the-art performance across trajectory inference benchmarks.

New method resolves causal heterogeneity by defining a resolution profile.

problem Causal subgroup analyses often oversimplify heterogeneity into a small number of groups.
method Introduces a resolution profile as a functional of the causal feature law, using Bayesian-bootstrap inference.
result Shows that the resolution profile is a continuous path with discontinuities at knots, providing integer-valued subgroup numbers.

While optimizing convex objective (loss) functions has been a powerhouse for machine learning for at least two decades, non-convex loss functions have attracted fast growing interests recently, due to many desirable properties such as superior robustness and classification accuracy, compared with their convex counterpa…

2018-02-13abs ↗pdf ↗

New algorithms achieve optimal DP convex optimization with linear time and gradient computations.

problem Private stochastic convex optimization with optimal excess loss.
method Two new techniques: variable batch sizes and localization with stable optimization.
result Achieves optimal bound on excess loss with O(min{n,n2/d})O(\min\{n, n^2/d\}) gradient computations.

Study proves convergence of subgradients for optimal transport-based objectives.

problem Ensuring statistical consistency and optimization stability in transport-based models.
method Proves graphical convergence of subdifferentials to the subdifferential of the population objective.
result Standard subgradient methods consistently approach stationary points of the population-level problem.

This research shows loss weighting remains effective in last layer retraining despite model overparameterization.

problem Overcoming biases in machine learning models at scale.
method Theoretical and practical exploration of last layer retraining in an overparameterized setting.
result Loss weighting is still effective in last layer retraining, but weights must account for model overparameterization.

New method assesses individual training points' privacy risk without retraining.

problem Privacy vulnerability of individual training points in membership inference attacks.
method Derives a closed-form decomposition of individual black-box MIA vulnerability, extending to deep networks.
result Proposes a surrogate score operating on last-layer representations that requires only a single trained model.

Study quantifies firm risks from nature decline, showing significant equity losses.

problem Estimating the financial impact of nature deterioration on companies.
method Developed metrics (Country Degradation Index, Nature Risk Score) and assessed five environmental hazards.
result Global equities lose 26.8% in a nature decline scenario, with worst firms losing 75%.

Most high-dimensional estimation and prediction methods propose to minimize a cost function (empirical risk) that is written as a sum of losses associated to each data point. In this paper we focus on the case of non-convex losses, which is practically important but still poorly understood. Classical empirical process …

2016-07-22abs ↗pdf ↗

Stochastic Gradient Descent can overfit after just a few passes, contrary to initial expectations.

problem Understanding the out-of-sample performance of multi-pass SGD in stochastic convex optimization.
method Analysis of multi-pass SGD in the stochastic convex optimization model.
result Multi-pass SGD can lead to significant overfitting after just a few passes, contrary to initial expectations.

Exploration is a key problem in reinforcement learning, since agents can only learn from data they acquire in the environment. With that in mind, maintaining a population of agents is an attractive method, as it allows data be collected with a diverse set of behaviors. This behavioral diversity is often boosted via mul…

2020-02-03abs ↗pdf ↗

Study minimax rates for density estimation under Huber contamination and Besov IPM losses.

problem Minimax convergence rates of nonparametric density estimation under Huber contamination model with outliers.
method Re-scaled thresholding wavelet series estimator and GAN architectures.
result Achieves minimax optimal convergence rates under Besov IPM losses.

Paper analyzes agnostic learning of mixed linear regression without generative models.

problem Learning mixed linear regression without assuming stochastic generation.
method Expectation Maximization (EM) and Alternating Minimization (AM) algorithms.
result AM and EM algorithms converge to population loss minimizers under standard conditions.

We study the Stochastic Gradient Langevin Dynamics (SGLD) algorithm for non-convex optimization. The algorithm performs stochastic gradient descent, where in each step it injects appropriately scaled Gaussian noise to the update. We analyze the algorithm's hitting time to an arbitrary subset of the parameter space. Two…

2017-02-18abs ↗pdf ↗

Social learning can make financial markets inefficient, but individual learning can fix this.

problem Inefficiencies in financial markets due to social learning.
method Study of the Minority Game model with social and individual learning mechanisms.
result Individual learning can rescue a population from the inefficiencies caused by social learning.

New DP algorithm improves privacy and efficiency for convex optimization.

problem Efficient, DP algorithms for convex optimization with strong excess risk bounds.
method Output perturbation for a broad class of tilted loss functions.
result Near optimal DP excess risk and runtime bounds for convex optimization.

Study connects covariance cleaning theory to information theory for heavy-tailed distributions.

problem Optimizing covariance matrices for heavy-tailed distributions using information theory.
method Minimizing Frobenius norm and information loss between true and estimated covariance matrices.
result Asymptotic regime of large matrices minimizes information loss for Student's t distributions.