English

Fokker-Planck Analysis and Invariant Laws for a Continuous-Time Stochastic Model of Adam-Type Dynamics

Analysis of PDEs 2026-04-02 v1

Abstract

We develop a continuous-time model for the long-term dynamics of adaptive stochastic optimization, focusing on bias-corrected Adam-type methods. Starting from a finite-sum setting, we identify a canonical scaling of learning rates, decay parameters, and gradient noise that yields a coupled, time-inhomogeneous stochastic differential equation for the parameters xtx_t, first-moment tracker ztz_t, and second-moment tracker yty_t. Bias correction persists via explicit time-dependent coefficients, and the dynamics becomes asymptotically time-homogeneous. We analyze the associated Fokker-Planck equation and, under mild regularity and dissipativity assumptions on ff, prove existence and uniqueness of invariant measures. Noise propagation is governed by A(x)=Diag(f(x))Hf(x)A(x)=\mathrm{Diag}(\nabla f(x))H_f(x). Hypoellipticity may fail on DA×Rm×(R+)m\mathcal D_A\times\mathbb R^m\times(\mathbb R_+)^m, where DA={xRm:j, ejA(x)=0}{x:detA(x)=0}=DA, \mathcal D_A=\{x\in\mathbb R^m:\exists j,\ e_j^\top A(x)=0\}\subset\{x:\det A(x)=0\}=\mathcal D_A^\dagger, and critical points of ff lie in DA\mathcal D_A. We show DARm\mathcal D_A^\dagger\neq\mathbb R^m and use this to prove exponential convergence of the Markov semigroup μ0Pt\mu_0P_t to a unique invariant measure, uniformly in μ0\mu_0. The proof uses a Harris-type argument, minorization on Lyapunov sublevel sets, control constructions, and hypoellipticity on (RmDA)×Rm×(R+)m(\mathbb R^m\setminus\mathcal D_A)\times\mathbb R^m\times(\mathbb R_+)^m. This provides a transparent continuous-time view of Adam-type dynamics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.00840,
  title  = {Fokker-Planck Analysis and Invariant Laws for a Continuous-Time Stochastic Model of Adam-Type Dynamics},
  author = {Kaj Nyström},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.00840},
  year   = {2026}
}