Deep limits and cut-off phenomena for neural networks

We consider dynamical and geometrical aspects of deep learning. For many standard choices of layer maps we display semi-invariant metrics which quantify differences between data or decision functions. This allows us, when considering random layer maps and using non-commutative ergodic theorems, to deduce that certain limits exist when letting the number of layers tend to infinity. We also examine the random initialization of standard networks where we observe a surprising cut-off phenomenon in terms of the number of layers, the depth of the network. This could be a relevant parameter when choosing an appropriate number of layers for a given learning task, or for selecting a good initialization procedure. More generally, we hope that the notions and results in this paper can provide a framework, in particular a geometric one, for a part of the theoretical understanding of deep neural networks.