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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.

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48 results for universal value function approximators

Develops hierarchical reinforcement learning value function approximators.

problem Estimating long-term returns in reinforcement learning with multiple goals.
method Introduces hierarchical universal value function approximators (H-UVFAs) using the options framework.
result Demonstrates generalization and improved performance of H-UVFAs over UVFAs.

Complex-valued neural networks can approximate any continuous function.

problem Generalizing the universal approximation theorem to complex-valued networks.
method Characterizing activation functions for complex networks to approximate any continuous function.
result Different activation functions are required for deep vs shallow complex networks to achieve universal approximation.

Complex-valued neural networks can approximate any continuous function with bounded widths and depths.

problem Approximating continuous functions with complex-valued neural networks of bounded widths and depths.
method Analyzing activation functions and proving universality for complex-valued networks.
result Deep narrow complex-valued networks are universal if and only if their activation function is neither holomorphic, nor antiholomorphic, nor R\mathbb{R}-affine.

Universal approximation for ODENet and ResNet with a single activation function.

problem Approximating complex dynamical systems with limited vector fields.
method Examined ODENet and ResNet with vector fields composed of a single activation function and affine mapping.
result ODENet and ResNet with restricted vector fields can uniformly approximate those with general vector fields.

MLPs can approximate any function in context, challenging the importance of in-context universality.

problem Understanding why transformers are more effective than classical models.
method Proved MLPs with trainable activation functions are universal in context.
result Transformer success is likely due to factors other than in-context universality.

Generalizes neural network approximation to infinite-dimensional manifolds and derivatives.

problem Approximating differentiable maps on infinite-dimensional manifolds.
method Proves a weighted Nachbin theorem to establish universal approximation for differentiable maps, including derivatives.
result Linear functions of the signature can approximate path space functionals including their derivatives.

Single-head attention approximates any function under various norms.

problem Universal approximation of functions using attention mechanisms.
method Interpreting attention as partitioning and summing linear transformations.
result Single-head attention can approximate any continuous function under LL_\infty-norm and Lebesgue integrable functions under LpL_p-norm.

Random feature models approximate functions in Banach spaces efficiently.

problem Approximating functions in Banach spaces efficiently.
method Randomly initialized feature maps and linear readout training.
result Universal approximation in Bochner spaces for Banach space-valued models.

Functional input neural networks approximate continuous functions on weighted spaces.

problem Approximating continuous functions on infinite-dimensional weighted spaces.
method Additive family mapping, non-linear activation, linear readouts, Stone-Weierstrass theorem.
result Global universal approximation of continuous functions on weighted spaces.

Deep residual networks can approximate any continuous function using control theory.

problem Universal approximation capabilities of deep residual neural networks.
method Relating residual networks to control systems and using Lie algebraic techniques.
result Deep residual networks with adequately deep layers can approximate any continuous function on a compact set.

Minimum width for ReLU networks on compact domain is exactly max{d_x, d_y, 2}

problem Characterizing the minimum width for ReLU networks to approximate functions on compact domains
method Analyzing the minimum width for LpL^p approximation of LpL^p functions from [0,1]d[0,1]^d to Rdy\mathbb R^{d_y} using ReLU-like activation functions
result The minimum width for LpL^p approximation on a compact domain is exactly max{d_x, d_y, 2} for ReLU-like activation functions

Paper introduces a new kernel model for PSD-valued functions with theoretical guarantees and applications.

problem Enforcing positive semi-definiteness (PSD) in function models with good performance and theoretical guarantees.
method Kernel sum-of-squares model for PSD-valued functions, extending previous models for non-negative scalar functions.
result The model constitutes a universal approximator of PSD functions and can represent any smooth and strongly convex function.

New conditions ensure deep neural networks can approximate any function on non-Euclidean spaces.

problem Understanding how to modify neural network architectures to approximate functions on non-Euclidean spaces.
method Developed conditions for feature and readout maps that preserve universal approximation capabilities.
result Modified architectures can deterministically approximate any classifier on non-Euclidean spaces.

Minimum width for ReLU networks to approximate L^p functions is max(d_x+1, d_y).

problem Characterizing the minimum width for ReLU networks to approximate L^p functions.
method Analyzing networks with ReLU activation functions and proving the minimum width required.
result The minimum width required for the universal approximation of L^p functions is exactly max(d_x+1, d_y).

Softmax attention approximates complex functions and subsumes many known universal approximators.

problem Universal approximation of continuous sequence-to-sequence functions.
method Interpolation-based analysis of attention's internal mechanism, showing its ability to approximate ReLU functions.
result Softmax attention is a universal approximator for continuous sequence-to-sequence functions.

Model approximates continuous functions in 1-Wasserstein space.

problem Approximating continuous functions in 1-Wasserstein space.
method Probabilistic Transformer (PT) model with three phases: feature map, deep neural network, and probabilistic extension of attention mechanism.
result Can approximate any continuous function from R^d to P1(R^D) uniformly on compact sets.

Universal approximation for stochastic processes using Brownian motion.

problem Approximating stochastic processes with linear functionals.
method Establishing LpL^p-type universal approximation theorems for rough path spaces.
result Linear functionals on the signature of time-extended Brownian motion can approximate any pp-integrable stochastic process.

Framework for universal graph function approximators outperforms existing methods.

problem Graph classification and separation of graph classes.
method Inspired by persistent homology, dependency parsing, and multivalued functions, the framework constructs universal approximators on graph isomorphism classes.
result Achieves state-of-the-art performance on four graph datasets.

A new KAN variant uses sinusoidal activations to approximate functions.

problem Approximating multivariable functions using neural networks.
method Replacing inner and outer functions in Kolmogorov-Arnold representation with weighted sinusoidal functions.
result The new KAN variant outperforms fixed-frequency Fourier transform and achieves comparable performance to MLPs.

Novel approach to financial derivatives pricing using rough path theory.

problem No-arbitrage conditions in financial markets necessitating precise integration methods.
method Developed a polynomial-based approximation class for rough path functionals, extending to non-geometric rough paths.
result Motivated a hypothesis for payoff functionals in financial markets, facilitating analysis.

The paper shows neural networks can approximate functions over non-compact domains with non-polynomial activation.

problem Approximating functions over non-compact domains using neural networks.
method Using single-hidden-layer feedforward neural networks with non-polynomial activation functions over non-compact subsets of Euclidean spaces.
result Neural networks can approximate functions in weighted CkC^k-spaces and weighted Sobolev spaces over unbounded domains.

CF-INNs can approximate any invertible function, resolving a long-standing problem.

problem Whether CF-INNs can approximate any invertible function.
method Demonstrated CF-INNs are universal approximators for invertible functions by showing a convenient criterion.
result CF-INNs are universal approximators for invertible functions.

The ability of a reinforcement learning (RL) agent to learn about many reward functions at the same time has many potential benefits, such as the decomposition of complex tasks into simpler ones, the exchange of information between tasks, and the reuse of skills. We focus on one aspect in particular, namely the ability…

2018-12-18abs ↗pdf ↗

TVS-FNNs can approximate any continuous function on expanded input spaces.

problem Processing a broader range of inputs like sequences and matrices.
method Proving a universal approximation theorem for TVS-FNNs.
result TVS-FNNs can approximate any continuous function on expanded input spaces.

Transformers enable in-context learning with guarantees for a wide range of tasks.

problem How to enable in-context learning with transformers for various tasks.
method Developed a universal approximation theory integrating Barron's function approximation with transformer capabilities.
result Transformers can approximate any target function with vanishingly small risk using a few in-context examples.

Neural networks can approximate functions uniformly across various measures.

problem Universal approximation of functions across different probability measures.
method Proving neural networks are dense in Orlicz spaces, extending classical theorems.
result Neural networks uniformly approximate functions for weakly compact families of measures.

Deep Sets approximates functions on sets with high-dimensional latent space.

problem Modeling functions of sets (permutation-invariant functions).
method Deep Sets, a method known to be a universal approximator for continuous set functions.
result Deep Sets' universal approximation property is only guaranteed with a sufficiently high-dimensional latent space.

FFN addresses spectral bias in neural value approximation, improving reinforcement learning performance.

problem Spectral bias in neural value approximation, leading to slow convergence and poor performance.
method Proposes Fourier feature networks (FFN) to overcome spectral bias by using a composite neural tangent kernel.
result FFN achieves state-of-the-art performance on challenging continuous control domains with faster convergence and better stability.

Transformers can approximate any sequence-to-sequence function, surprising given their complexity.

problem Understanding the expressive power of Transformer models for sequence-to-sequence functions.
method Established that Transformers are universal approximators of continuous permutation equivariant sequence-to-sequence functions with compact support, and extended this to arbitrary functions using positional encodings.
result Transformers are universal approximators of arbitrary continuous sequence-to-sequence functions on a compact domain.

Paper proves GDL models can approximate any continuous function on non-Euclidean data.

problem Processing non-Euclidean data with universal feedforward models.
method Introduces geometric deep learning framework for differentiable manifold geometries.
result GDL models can uniformly approximate any continuous function on compact sets.

New RBF networks can approximate any continuous function.

problem Approximating any continuous function on a compact subset.
method Replacing smoothing factors with shifts in RBF networks and proving approximation under certain conditions.
result RBF networks can approximate any continuous function on any compact subset.

The universal approximation property of various machine learning models is currently only understood on a case-by-case basis, limiting the rapid development of new theoretically justified neural network architectures and blurring our understanding of our current models' potential. This paper works towards overcoming th…

2019-10-08abs ↗pdf ↗

The paper proves signatures of non-geometric rough paths can approximate functionals uniformly.

problem Approximating functionals of non-geometric rough paths.
method Extending rough paths with time and quadratic variation terms, proving uniform approximation.
result Linear functionals of extended signatures uniformly approximate continuous functionals.

Echo state networks with random weights can approximate any continuous system.

problem Approximating continuous dynamical systems using echo state networks.
method Randomly generated internal weights and a sampling procedure for activation functions.
result Echo state networks with random weights can approximate any continuous casual time-invariant operators with high probability.