A new method for optimizing hierarchical multi-objective problems.
problem Symmetry and neglect of objective hierarchy in existing multi-objective methods.
method Priority-Constrained Descent (PCD) framework exploiting hierarchical objective structures.
result Pareto dominance and better per-objective performance with secondary progress guarantees.
Blind Descent avoids gradient issues, using a different learning approach.
problem Gradient issues like exploding and vanishing gradients.
method Does not use gradients to guide learning; instead, it is a more fundamental learning process.
result Gradient descent is a specific case of Blind Descent.
Derives Mirror Descent from gradient flow on a Riemannian manifold.
problem No specific problem stated; focuses on derivation.
method Derives Mirror Descent from gradient flow on a Riemannian manifold with a natural discretization.
result Generalizes Mirror Descent to non-Hessian metrics.
Accelerates coordinate descent methods for machine learning problems.
problem Slowness of coordinate descent methods in machine learning.
method Extrapolation-based accelerated coordinate descent.
result Significant speed-up in practice compared to existing methods.
Stochastic gradient descent on manifolds improves low-rank approximation.
problem Efficiently approximate large matrices with lower rank.
method Stochastic gradient descent on a manifold.
result Algorithm outperforms Euclidean space methods on Netflix Prize data.
In this note, we observe the behavior of gradient flow and discrete and noisy gradient descent in some simple settings. It is commonly noted that addition of noise to gradient descent can affect the trajectory of gradient descent. Here, we run some computer experiments for gradient descent on some simple functions, and…
Most of the recent successful applications of neural networks have been based on training with gradient descent updates. However, for some small networks, other mirror descent updates learn provably more efficiently when the target is sparse. We present a general framework for casting a mirror descent update as a gradi…
New analysis shows GMD can converge linearly under PL-like conditions.
problem Establishing linear convergence for generalized mirror descent.
method PL-based analysis for time-dependent mirrors, Taylor-series approach for stochastic GMD.
result Linear convergence of stochastic GMD under PL-like conditions.
A new method improves stochastic gradient descent for faster and more efficient estimation.
problem Efficient and fast parametric estimation methods.
method Projected stochastic gradient descent corrected by Fisher scoring.
result The method is faster and more efficient than traditional methods.
Double descent phenomenon explained in simple terms.
problem Understanding the surprising drop in test error in overparameterized models.
method Informal explanation using linear algebra and probability, visual intuition with polynomial regression, mathematical analysis with ordinary linear regression.
result Three factors create double descent: data undersampling, model size, and parameter count. Ablating any one of these factors prevents double descent.
New adaptive step-size method for convex optimization without tuning.
problem Optimizing convex functions efficiently with stochastic gradients.
method Adapted Adaptive Gradient Descent Without Descent to stochastic setting.
result Stochastic gradient descent converges under various assumptions.
New insights into double descent phenomenon in neural networks.
problem Understanding the double descent behavior in deep learning models.
method Linear teacher-student setup and tools from statistical physics.
result Distinct features are learned at different scales, leading to epoch-wise double descent.
Gradient descent dynamics in nonconvex models explained with universality.
problem Understanding long-time behavior of nonconvex gradient descent.
method Developed a state evolution system for tracking gradient descent iterates.
result Gradient descent iterates are approximately independent of data and strongly incoherent with feature vectors.
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.
The paper connects tempering and entropic mirror descent for sampling.
problem Sampling from a target distribution with known unnormalized density.
method Establishes the connection between tempering SMC and entropic mirror descent, deriving convergence rates and geometric insights.
result Tempering SMC iterates correspond to entropic mirror descent on the reverse KL divergence, providing new optimization perspectives.
We consider the behavior of gradient flow and of discrete and noisy gradient descent. It is commonly noted that the addition of noise to the process of discrete gradient descent can affect the trajectory of gradient descent. In previous work, we observed such effects. There, we considered the case where the minima had …
Develops DP-SCD for stochastic coordinate descent, making it differentially private.
problem Privacy leak in auxiliary information during stochastic coordinate descent training.
method Develops DP-SCD, leveraging independent noise addition and decoupling/parallelizing coordinate updates.
result Demonstrates competitive performance against DP-SGD with less tuning.
Information geometry applies concepts in differential geometry to probability and statistics and is especially useful for parameter estimation in exponential families where parameters are known to lie on a Riemannian manifold. Connections between the geometric properties of the induced manifold and statistical properti…
Paper uses Mirror Descent for efficient risk budgeting portfolios.
problem Computing optimal risk budgeting weights for various risk measures.
method Employed Mirror Descent algorithms in deterministic and stochastic settings.
result Established convergence and quantitative rate for averaged Mirror Descent algorithm.
Any gradient descent optimization requires to choose a learning rate. With deeper and deeper models, tuning that learning rate can easily become tedious and does not necessarily lead to an ideal convergence. We propose a variation of the gradient descent algorithm in the which the learning rate is not fixed. Instead, w…
In this paper we elaborate a general homotopy-theoretic framework in which to study problems of descent and completion and of their duals, codescent and cocompletion. Our approach to homotopic (co)descent and to derived (co)completion can be viewed as ∞ \infty ∞ -category-theoretic, as our framework is constructed in the …
This paper explains why double descent sometimes occurs weakly or not at all from an optimization perspective.
problem Understanding the role of optimization in the phenomenon of double descent.
method Investigates model-wise double descent from an optimization perspective, proposing a unified explanation for its occurrence.
result Model-wise double descent is observed if and only if the optimizer can find a sufficiently low-loss minimum.
Study shows double and triple descent in unsupervised autoencoders, improving performance in various tasks.
problem Exploring the phenomenon of double descent in unsupervised learning.
method Analytical demonstration and extensive experiments on synthetic and real datasets.
result Over-parameterized unsupervised autoencoders exhibit double and triple descent, enhancing performance in downstream tasks.
Gradient descent can take exponentially long to escape saddle points in 2D.
problem Worst-case inefficiency of gradient descent in non-convex optimization.
method Analysis of gradient descent's performance on 2D functions.
result Gradient descent can take exponentially long to escape saddle points.
Gravilon improves gradient descent for neural networks.
problem Improving efficiency and accuracy of gradient descent methods.
method Uses geometric modification of gradient step lengths.
result Promising experimental results on MNIST classification.
Natural gradient descent avoids the magic of model parametrization, leading to different optimization outcomes.
problem Understanding the impact of model parametrization on optimization and generalization in deep learning.
method Characterization of natural gradient flow in deep linear networks and nonlinear neural networks.
result Natural gradient descent fails to generalize in some cases, while gradient descent with the right architecture performs well.
LES optimizes designs by sampling descent sequences, achieving strong sample efficiency.
problem Optimizing large, complex design spaces is infeasible and unnecessary.
method LES uses Bayesian optimization to target solutions reachable by iterative optimizers.
result LES achieves strong sample efficiency compared to existing methods.
SGD reduces test error by decorrelating updates.
problem Improving generalization error in machine learning models.
method Derive a formula for generalization gap change due to SGD updates, compare to GD, and show decorrelation effect.
result SGD implicitly regularizes generalization error by decorrelating updates.
Gradient descent at edge of stability stabilizes implicitly, following projected gradient descent.
problem Gradient descent's stability and sharpness behavior at the edge of instability.
method Cubic Taylor expansion analysis of gradient descent dynamics.
result Gradient descent at edge of stability implicitly follows projected gradient descent.
Cyclic coordinate descent identifies models in finite time and converges linearly.
problem Model identification in composite nonsmooth optimization problems.
method Cyclic coordinate descent for a wide class of functions.
result Explicit local linear convergence rates for coordinate descent.
This paper explains double descent in linear neural networks, identifying new factors.
problem Understanding double descent in linear neural networks.
method Gradient flow derivation and necessary conditions for double descent.
result Singular values of input-output covariance matrix are important for double descent in two-layer models.
Double descent risk in L2-regularized models explained and mitigated.
problem Risk of overparameterized models in machine learning.
method Analysis of L2-regularized models, two-layer neural networks, and CNNs.
result Double descent risk in L2-regularized models can be explained and mitigated by adjusting regularization strengths.
Gradient descent achieves exact linear convergence rate for symmetric matrix completion.
problem Low-rank symmetric matrix completion using gradient descent.
method Local analysis of gradient descent for symmetric matrices without additional assumptions.
result Closed-form expression of exact linear convergence rate matches practice.
New algorithm reduces optimization complexity in adaptive mirror descent.
problem Optimizing complex, non-smooth, non-convex functions efficiently.
method SVRAMD: Variance Reduced Adaptive Mirror Descent.
result Variance reduction accelerates convergence in adaptive mirror descent.
Mirror descent algorithm recovers low-rank matrices in matrix sensing.
problem Matrix sensing with low-rank matrices under certain conditions.
method Discrete-time mirror descent applied to empirical risk with Bregman divergence analysis.
result Mirror descent converges to a matrix minimizing a specific nuclear norm-related quantity.
Gradient descent biases towards stable rank networks for nearly-orthogonal data.
problem Understanding implicit bias in non-smooth neural networks trained by gradient descent.
method Analysis of two-layer ReLU and leaky ReLU networks trained by gradient descent on nearly-orthogonal data.
result Gradient descent biases towards networks with stable rank and uniform margin for nearly-orthogonal data.
We study the problem of training deep neural networks with Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation function using gradient descent and stochastic gradient descent. In particular, we study the binary classification problem and show that for a broad family of loss functions, with proper random weight initialization, both…
Gradient descent with logistic loss can make two-layer networks interpolate binary classification data.
problem Training two-layer networks for binary classification.
method Gradient descent with logistic loss applied to two-layer networks.
result Gradient descent can drive training loss to zero under certain conditions.
Gradient descent benefits from tangent kernel advantages under specific conditions.
problem Comparing gradient descent with tangent kernel methods in learning.
method Analysis of gradient descent and tangent kernel methods under different conditions.
result Gradient descent can achieve small error only if tangent kernel methods have a non-trivial advantage, but this advantage can be very small.
Develops parameter-free online mirror descent for optimal dynamic regret.
problem Optimal online linear optimization in unbounded domains.
method Modified online mirror descent framework for parameter-free algorithms.
result First unconstrained online linear optimization achieving optimal dynamic regret.
SGD and stochastic gradient descent converge at optimal rates for certain non-convex functions.
problem Optimal convergence rates for non-convex functions under gradient noise.
method Geometric interpretation of the PL-condition to analyze convergence rates.
result Convergence rates of SGD and stochastic gradient descent match those of strongly convex quadratics.
Gradient descent with large momentum finds flatter minima.
problem Understanding the effects of momentum in gradient descent.
method Empirical and theoretical analysis of gradient descent with large momentum.
result Large momentum leads to flatter minima than gradient descent.
Gradient descent implicitly regularizes neural networks by penalizing large loss gradients.
problem How to optimize deep neural networks without explicit regularization.
method Backward error analysis to calculate implicit gradient regularization and demonstrate its effectiveness empirically.
result Implicit gradient regularization biases gradient descent toward flat minima, improving model robustness and test errors.
This paper extends Mirror Descent to Riemannian manifolds for optimization.
problem Optimization on Riemannian manifolds.
method Developed a Riemannian Mirror Descent (RMD) framework and a stochastic variant.
result Established non-asymptotic convergence guarantees for RMD and stochastic RMD.
Continuous-time mirror descent solves sparse phase retrieval efficiently.
problem Recovering sparse signals from magnitude-only measurements.
method Continuous-time mirror descent applied to unconstrained empirical risk minimization problem.
result Mirror descent recovers k k k -sparse vectors with minimum non-zero entry order of ∥ x ⋆ ∥ 2 / k \| \mathbf{x}^\star \|_2/\sqrt{k} ∥ x ⋆ ∥ 2 / k from k 2 k^2 k 2 Gaussian measurements. Mirror descent linked to information ratio via Bayesian regret bounds.
problem Understanding stability in mirror descent and its relation to information ratio.
method Developed a connection between mirror descent and information ratio using Bayesian regret bounds.
result Mirror descent with suitable estimators and distributions achieves bounds similar to information-directed sampling.
Gradient descent methods for deep ReLU networks achieve optimal generalization rates.
problem Generalization of gradient descent methods for deep neural networks
method Establishing minimax-optimal rates for GD and SGD with deep ReLU networks
result Gradient descent methods for deep ReLU networks achieve optimal generalization rates
Gradient descent fails to learn simple neural networks efficiently.
problem Learning one-layer neural networks efficiently using gradient descent.
method Gradient descent and statistical query algorithms.
result Superpolynomial lower bounds for learning one-layer neural networks.