Classically, data interpolation with a parametrized model class is possible as long as the number of parameters is larger than the number of equations to be satisfied. A puzzling phenomenon in deep learning is that models are trained with many more parameters than what this classical theory would suggest. We propose a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon. We prove that for a broad class of data distributions and model classes, overparametrization is necessary if one wants to interpolate the data smoothly. Namely we show that smooth interpolation requires $d$ times more parameters than mere interpolation, where $d$ is the ambient data dimension. We prove this universal law of robustness for any smoothly parametrized function class with polynomial size weights, and any covariate distribution verifying isoperimetry. In the case of two-layers neural networks and Gaussian covariates, this law was conjectured in prior work by Bubeck, Li and Nagaraj. We also give an interpretation of our result as an improved generalization bound for model classes consisting of smooth functions.
Adaptive gradient methods have shown excellent performances for solving many machine learning problems. Although multiple adaptive gradient methods were recently studied, they mainly focus on either empirical or theoretical aspects and also only work for specific problems by using some specific adaptive learning rates. Thus, it is desired to design a universal framework for practical algorithms of adaptive gradients with theoretical guarantee to solve general problems. To fill this gap, we propose a faster and universal framework of adaptive gradients (i.e., SUPER-ADAM) by introducing a universal adaptive matrix that includes most existing adaptive gradient forms. Moreover, our framework can flexibly integrate the momentum and variance reduced techniques. In particular, our novel framework provides the convergence analysis support for adaptive gradient methods under the nonconvex setting. In theoretical analysis, we prove that our SUPER-ADAM algorithm can achieve the best known gradient (i.e., stochastic first-order oracle (SFO)) complexity of $\tilde{O}(\epsilon^{-3})$ for finding an $\epsilon$-stationary point of nonconvex optimization, which matches the lower bound for stochastic smooth nonconvex optimization. In numerical experiments, we employ various deep learning tasks to validate that our algorithm consistently outperforms the existing adaptive algorithms. Code is available at //github.com/LIJUNYI95/SuperAdam
Diffusion-Limited Aggregation (DLA) is a cluster-growth model that consists in a set of particles that are sequentially aggregated over a two-dimensional grid. In this paper, we introduce a biased version of the DLA model, in which particles are limited to move in a subset of possible directions. We denote by $k$-DLA the model where the particles move only in $k$ possible directions. We study the biased DLA model from the perspective of Computational Complexity, defining two decision problems The first problem is Prediction, whose input is a site of the grid $c$ and a sequence $S$ of walks, representing the trajectories of a set of particles. The question is whether a particle stops at site $c$ when sequence $S$ is realized. The second problem is Realization, where the input is a set of positions of the grid, $P$. The question is whether there exists a sequence $S$ that realizes $P$, i.e. all particles of $S$ exactly occupy the positions in $P$. Our aim is to classify the Prediciton and Realization problems for the different versions of DLA. We first show that Prediction is P-Complete for 2-DLA (thus for 3-DLA). Later, we show that Prediction can be solved much more efficiently for 1-DLA. In fact, we show that in that case the problem is NL-Complete. With respect to Realization, we show that restricted to 2-DLA the problem is in P, while in the 1-DLA case, the problem is in L.
Empirical likelihood enables a nonparametric, likelihood-driven style of inference without restrictive assumptions routinely made in parametric models. We develop a framework for applying empirical likelihood to the analysis of experimental designs, addressing issues that arise from blocking and multiple hypothesis testing. In addition to popular designs such as balanced incomplete block designs, our approach allows for highly unbalanced, incomplete block designs. Based on all these designs, we derive an asymptotic multivariate chi-square distribution for a set of empirical likelihood test statistics. Further, we propose two single-step multiple testing procedures: asymptotic Monte Carlo and nonparametric bootstrap. Both procedures asymptotically control the generalized family-wise error rate and efficiently construct simultaneous confidence intervals for comparisons of interest without explicitly considering the underlying covariance structure. A simulation study demonstrates that the performance of the procedures is robust to violations of standard assumptions of linear mixed models. Significantly, considering the asymptotic nature of empirical likelihood, the nonparametric bootstrap procedure performs well even for small sample sizes. We also present an application to experiments on a pesticide. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
We study the transfer learning process between two linear regression problems. An important and timely special case is when the regressors are overparameterized and perfectly interpolate their training data. We examine a parameter transfer mechanism whereby a subset of the parameters of the target task solution are constrained to the values learned for a related source task. We analytically characterize the generalization error of the target task in terms of the salient factors in the transfer learning architecture, i.e., the number of examples available, the number of (free) parameters in each of the tasks, the number of parameters transferred from the source to target task, and the correlation between the two tasks. Our non-asymptotic analysis shows that the generalization error of the target task follows a two-dimensional double descent trend (with respect to the number of free parameters in each of the tasks) that is controlled by the transfer learning factors. Our analysis points to specific cases where the transfer of parameters is beneficial as a substitute for extra overparameterization (i.e., additional free parameters in the target task). Specifically, we show that the usefulness of a transfer learning setting is fragile and depends on a delicate interplay among the set of transferred parameters, the relation between the tasks, and the true solution. We also demonstrate that overparameterized transfer learning is not necessarily more beneficial when the source task is closer or identical to the target task.
In neuroscience, the distribution of a decision time is modelled by means of a one-dimensional Fokker--Planck equation with time-dependent boundaries and space-time-dependent drift. Efficient approximation of the solution to this equation is required, e.g., for model evaluation and parameter fitting. However, the prescribed boundary conditions lead to a strong singularity and thus to slow convergence of numerical approximations. In this article we demonstrate that the solution can be related to the solution of a parabolic PDE on a rectangular space-time domain with homogeneous initial and boundary conditions by transformation and subtraction of a known function. We verify that the solution of the new PDE is indeed more regular than the solution of the original PDE and proceed to discretize the new PDE using a space-time minimal residual method. We also demonstrate that the solution depends analytically on the parameters determining the boundaries as well as the drift. This justifies the use of a sparse tensor product interpolation method to approximate the PDE solution for various parameter ranges. The predicted convergence rates of the minimal residual method and that of the interpolation method are supported by numerical simulations.
In Das and Politis(2020), a model-free bootstrap(MFB) paradigm was proposed for generating prediction intervals of univariate, (locally) stationary time series. Theoretical guarantees for this algorithm was resolved in Wang and Politis(2019) under stationarity and weak dependence condition. Following this line of work, here we extend MFB for predictive inference under a multivariate time series setup. We describe two algorithms, the first one works for a particular class of time series under any fixed dimension d; the second one works for a more generalized class of time series under low-dimensional setting. We justify our procedure through theoretical validity and simulation performance.
In this paper, we consider the time-inhomogeneous nonlinear time series regression for a general class of locally stationary time series. On one hand, we propose sieve nonparametric estimators for the time-varying regression functions which can achieve the min-max optimal rate. On the other hand, we develop a unified simultaneous inferential theory which can be used to conduct both structural and exact form testings on the functions. Our proposed statistics are powerful even under locally weak alternatives. We also propose a multiplier bootstrapping procedure for practical implementation. Our methodology and theory do not require any structural assumptions on the regression functions and we also allow the functions to be supported in an unbounded domain. We also establish sieve approximation theory for 2-D functions in unbounded domain and a Gaussian approximation result for affine and quadratic forms for high dimensional locally stationary time series, which can be of independent interest. Numerical simulations and a real financial data analysis are provided to support our results.
We study the problem of learning in the stochastic shortest path (SSP) setting, where an agent seeks to minimize the expected cost accumulated before reaching a goal state. We design a novel model-based algorithm EB-SSP that carefully skews the empirical transitions and perturbs the empirical costs with an exploration bonus to guarantee both optimism and convergence of the associated value iteration scheme. We prove that EB-SSP achieves the minimax regret rate $\widetilde{O}(B_{\star} \sqrt{S A K})$, where $K$ is the number of episodes, $S$ is the number of states, $A$ is the number of actions and $B_{\star}$ bounds the expected cumulative cost of the optimal policy from any state, thus closing the gap with the lower bound. Interestingly, EB-SSP obtains this result while being parameter-free, i.e., it does not require any prior knowledge of $B_{\star}$, nor of $T_{\star}$ which bounds the expected time-to-goal of the optimal policy from any state. Furthermore, we illustrate various cases (e.g., positive costs, or general costs when an order-accurate estimate of $T_{\star}$ is available) where the regret only contains a logarithmic dependence on $T_{\star}$, thus yielding the first horizon-free regret bound beyond the finite-horizon MDP setting.
Adversarial training is among the most effective techniques to improve the robustness of models against adversarial perturbations. However, the full effect of this approach on models is not well understood. For example, while adversarial training can reduce the adversarial risk (prediction error against an adversary), it sometimes increase standard risk (generalization error when there is no adversary). Even more, such behavior is impacted by various elements of the learning problem, including the size and quality of training data, specific forms of adversarial perturbations in the input, model overparameterization, and adversary's power, among others. In this paper, we focus on \emph{distribution perturbing} adversary framework wherein the adversary can change the test distribution within a neighborhood of the training data distribution. The neighborhood is defined via Wasserstein distance between distributions and the radius of the neighborhood is a measure of adversary's manipulative power. We study the tradeoff between standard risk and adversarial risk and derive the Pareto-optimal tradeoff, achievable over specific classes of models, in the infinite data limit with features dimension kept fixed. We consider three learning settings: 1) Regression with the class of linear models; 2) Binary classification under the Gaussian mixtures data model, with the class of linear classifiers; 3) Regression with the class of random features model (which can be equivalently represented as two-layer neural network with random first-layer weights). We show that a tradeoff between standard and adversarial risk is manifested in all three settings. We further characterize the Pareto-optimal tradeoff curves and discuss how a variety of factors, such as features correlation, adversary's power or the width of two-layer neural network would affect this tradeoff.
We present a generalization of the Cauchy/Lorentzian, Geman-McClure, Welsch/Leclerc, generalized Charbonnier, Charbonnier/pseudo-Huber/L1-L2, and L2 loss functions. By introducing robustness as a continous parameter, our loss function allows algorithms built around robust loss minimization to be generalized, which improves performance on basic vision tasks such as registration and clustering. Interpreting our loss as the negative log of a univariate density yields a general probability distribution that includes normal and Cauchy distributions as special cases. This probabilistic interpretation enables the training of neural networks in which the robustness of the loss automatically adapts itself during training, which improves performance on learning-based tasks such as generative image synthesis and unsupervised monocular depth estimation, without requiring any manual parameter tuning.