English

Fast kernel methods: Sobolev, physics-informed, and additive models

Machine Learning 2025-09-04 v1 Machine Learning Statistics Theory Methodology Statistics Theory

Abstract

Kernel methods are powerful tools in statistical learning, but their cubic complexity in the sample size n limits their use on large-scale datasets. In this work, we introduce a scalable framework for kernel regression with O(n log n) complexity, fully leveraging GPU acceleration. The approach is based on a Fourier representation of kernels combined with non-uniform fast Fourier transforms (NUFFT), enabling exact, fast, and memory-efficient computations. We instantiate our framework in three settings: Sobolev kernel regression, physics-informed regression, and additive models. When known, the proposed estimators are shown to achieve minimax convergence rates, consistent with classical kernel theory. Empirical results demonstrate that our methods can process up to tens of billions of samples within minutes, providing both statistical accuracy and computational scalability. These contributions establish a flexible approach, paving the way for the routine application of kernel methods in large-scale learning tasks.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.02649,
  title  = {Fast kernel methods: Sobolev, physics-informed, and additive models},
  author = {Nathan Doumèche and Francis Bach and Gérard Biau and Claire Boyer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.02649},
  year   = {2025}
}