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In this work, we propose an optimization algorithm which we call norm-adapted gradient descent. This algorithm is similar to other gradient-based optimization algorithms like Adam or Adagrad in that it adapts the learning rate of stochastic…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-10-14 David Sprunger

Natural gradient descent is a principled method for adapting the parameters of a statistical model on-line using an underlying Riemannian parameter space to redefine the direction of steepest descent. The algorithm is examined via methods…

Disordered Systems and Neural Networks · Physics 2009-10-31 Magnus Rattray , David Saad

We propose a new algorithm for efficiently solving the damped Fisher matrix in large-scale scenarios where the number of parameters significantly exceeds the number of available samples. This problem is fundamental for natural gradient…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-10-27 Yixiao Chen , Hao Xie , Han Wang

Fine-tuning and naturalness, the sensitivity of low-energy observables to small changes in the fundamental parameters of a theory, are cornerstones of physics beyond the Standard Model. We propose a new measure of fine-tuning based on…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2026-05-04 James Halverson , Thomas R. Harvey , Michael Nee

The natural gradient field is a vector field that lives on a model equipped with a distinguished Riemannian metric, e.g. the Fisher-Rao metric, and represents the direction of steepest ascent of an objective function on the model with…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-07-01 Jesse van Oostrum , Johannes Müller , Nihat Ay

Information geometry applies concepts in differential geometry to probability and statistics and is especially useful for parameter estimation in exponential families where parameters are known to lie on a Riemannian manifold. Connections…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2014-05-01 Garvesh Raskutti , Sayan Mukherjee

We propose an efficient method for approximating natural gradient descent in neural networks which we call Kronecker-Factored Approximate Curvature (K-FAC). K-FAC is based on an efficiently invertible approximation of a neural network's…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-06-09 James Martens , Roger Grosse

Approximate Newton methods are a standard optimization tool which aim to maintain the benefits of Newton's method, such as a fast rate of convergence, whilst alleviating its drawbacks, such as computationally expensive calculation or…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2015-08-07 Thomas Furmston , Guy Lever

Natural Gradient Descent (NGD) helps to accelerate the convergence of gradient descent dynamics, but it requires approximations in large-scale deep neural networks because of its high computational cost. Empirical studies have confirmed…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2022-01-12 Ryo Karakida , Kazuki Osawa

Second-order optimizers hold intriguing potential for deep learning, but suffer from increased cost and sensitivity to the non-convexity of the loss surface as compared to gradient-based approaches. We introduce a coordinate descent method…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-06-19 Ravi G. Patel , Nathaniel A. Trask , Mamikon A. Gulian , Eric C. Cyr

In probabilistic modeling, parameter estimation is commonly formulated as a minimization problem on a parameter manifold. Optimization in such spaces requires geometry-aware methods that respect the underlying information structure. While…

Computation · Statistics 2025-11-17 Derun Zhou , Keisuke Yano , Mahito Sugiyama

Second-order methods for neural network optimization have several advantages over methods based on first-order gradient descent, including better scaling to large mini-batch sizes and fewer updates needed for convergence. But they are…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-12-21 Huishuai Zhang , Caiming Xiong , James Bradbury , Richard Socher

Second-order methods are emerging as promising alternatives to standard first-order optimizers such as gradient descent and ADAM for training neural networks. Though the advantages of including curvature information in computing…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-10-15 Conor Rowan

Accelerating the convergence of second-order optimization, particularly Newton-type methods, remains a pivotal challenge in algorithmic research. In this paper, we extend previous work on the \textbf{Quadratic Gradient (QG)} and rigorously…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-04-01 John Chiang

In the context of deep learning, many optimization methods use gradient covariance information in order to accelerate the convergence of Stochastic Gradient Descent. In particular, starting with Adagrad, a seemingly endless line of research…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-12-08 Nikolaos Tselepidis , Jonas Kohler , Antonio Orvieto

In this paper, the Riemannian gradient algorithm and the natural gradient algorithm are applied to solve descent direction problems on the manifold of positive definite Hermitian matrices, where the geodesic distance is considered as the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-06-01 Xiaomin Duan , Huafei Sun , Linyu Peng

In this work we derive a second-order approach to bilevel optimization, a type of mathematical programming in which the solution to a parameterized optimization problem (the "lower" problem) is itself to be optimized (in the "upper"…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-05-06 Robert Dyro , Edward Schmerling , Nikos Arechiga , Marco Pavone

In this paper we present a novel quasi-Newton algorithm for use in stochastic optimisation. Quasi-Newton methods have had an enormous impact on deterministic optimisation problems because they afford rapid convergence and computationally…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2019-09-04 Adrian Wills , Thomas Schön

This paper deals with estimating model parameters in graphical models. We reformulate it as an information geometric optimization problem and introduce a natural gradient descent strategy that incorporates additional meta parameters. We…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-05-15 Eric Benhamou , Jamal Atif , Rida Laraki , David Saltiel

Despite the predominant use of first-order methods for training deep learning models, second-order methods, and in particular, natural gradient methods, remain of interest because of their potential for accelerating training through the use…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-12-23 Yi Ren , Donald Goldfarb