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We consider stochastic approximations of sampling algorithms, such as Stochastic Gradient Langevin Dynamics (SGLD) and the Random Batch Method (RBM) for Interacting Particle Dynamcs (IPD). We observe that the noise introduced by the…

Probability · Mathematics 2023-10-10 Aniket Das , Dheeraj Nagaraj , Anant Raj

The empirical evidence indicates that stochastic optimization with heavy-tailed gradient noise is more appropriate to characterize the training of machine learning models than that with standard bounded gradient variance noise. Most…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-01-28 Hongxu Chen , Ke Wei , Xiaoming Yuan , Luo Luo

The graduated optimization approach is a method for finding global optimal solutions for nonconvex functions by using a function smoothing operation with stochastic noise. This paper makes three contributions regarding graduated…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-01-27 Naoki Sato , Hideaki Iiduka

In view of solving convex optimization problems with noisy gradient input, we analyze the asymptotic behavior of gradient-like flows under stochastic disturbances. Specifically, we focus on the widely studied class of mirror descent schemes…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2017-09-21 Panayotis Mertikopoulos , Mathias Staudigl

Deep linear networks (DLNs) are used as an analytically tractable model of the training dynamics of deep neural networks. While gradient descent in DLNs is known to exhibit saddle-to-saddle dynamics, the impact of stochastic gradient…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-09 Guillaume Corlouer , Avi Semler , Alexander Strang , Alexander Gietelink Oldenziel

Symmetries are prevalent in deep learning and can significantly influence the learning dynamics of neural networks. In this paper, we examine how exponential symmetries -- a broad subclass of continuous symmetries present in the model…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-11-08 Liu Ziyin , Mingze Wang , Hongchao Li , Lei Wu

We study the limiting dynamics of a large class of noisy gradient descent systems in the overparameterized regime. In this regime the set of global minimizers of the loss is large, and when initialized in a neighbourhood of this zero-loss…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-04-19 Anna Shalova , André Schlichting , Mark Peletier

We prove quantitative convergence rates at which discrete Langevin-like processes converge to the invariant distribution of a related stochastic differential equation. We study the setup where the additive noise can be non-Gaussian and…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-11-20 Xiang Cheng , Dong Yin , Peter L. Bartlett , Michael I. Jordan

This paper develops asymptotic theory for quantile estimation via stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with a constant learning rate. The quantile loss function is neither smooth nor strongly convex. Beyond conventional perspectives and…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2026-04-06 Ziyang Wei , Jiaqi Li , Likai Chen , Wei Biao Wu

Stochastic gradient descent with momentum (SGDm) is one of the most popular optimization algorithms in deep learning. While there is a rich theory of SGDm for convex problems, the theory is considerably less developed in the context of deep…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2020-11-05 Umut Şimşekli , Lingjiong Zhu , Yee Whye Teh , Mert Gürbüzbalaban

Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) is one of the most popular algorithms in modern machine learning. The noise encountered in these applications is different from that in many theoretical analyses of stochastic gradient algorithms. In this…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-09-16 Stephan Wojtowytsch

Stochastic gradient descent in continuous time (SGDCT) provides a computationally efficient method for the statistical learning of continuous-time models, which are widely used in science, engineering, and finance. The SGDCT algorithm…

Probability · Mathematics 2019-06-18 Justin Sirignano , Konstantinos Spiliopoulos

In the vanishing learning rate regime, stochastic gradient descent (SGD) is now relatively well understood. In this work, we propose to study the basic properties of SGD and its variants in the non-vanishing learning rate regime. The focus…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-06-14 Kangqiao Liu , Liu Ziyin , Masahito Ueda

Continuous-time models provide important insights into the training dynamics of optimization algorithms in deep learning. In this work, we establish a non-asymptotic convergence analysis of stochastic gradient Langevin dynamics (SGLD),…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-01-30 Noah Oberweis , Semih Cayci

Stochastic Gradient Langevin Dynamics (SGLD) is a sampling scheme for Bayesian modeling adapted to large datasets and models. SGLD relies on the injection of Gaussian Noise at each step of a Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) update. In this…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-06-11 Henri Palacci , Henry Hess

Recent theoretical studies have shown that heavy-tails can emerge in stochastic optimization due to `multiplicative noise', even under surprisingly simple settings, such as linear regression with Gaussian data. While these studies have…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-05-06 Mert Gurbuzbalaban , Yuanhan Hu , Umut Simsekli , Kun Yuan , Lingjiong Zhu

Studying the properties of stochastic noise to optimize complex non-convex functions has been an active area of research in the field of machine learning. Prior work has shown that the noise of stochastic gradient descent improves…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-09-20 Aurelien Lucchi , Frank Proske , Antonio Orvieto , Francis Bach , Hans Kersting

In this paper, we provide a theoretical study of noise geometry for minibatch stochastic gradient descent (SGD), a phenomenon where noise aligns favorably with the geometry of local landscape. We propose two metrics, derived from analyzing…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-02-02 Mingze Wang , Lei Wu

Recently, several studies consider the stochastic optimization problem but in a heavy-tailed noise regime, i.e., the difference between the stochastic gradient and the true gradient is assumed to have a finite $p$-th moment (say being upper…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-05-23 Zijian Liu , Zhengyuan Zhou

Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) is a cornerstone of large-scale optimization, yet its theoretical behavior under heavy-tailed noise -- common in modern machine learning and reinforcement learning -- remains poorly understood. In this…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-08-08 Ilyas Fatkhullin , Florian Hübler , Guanghui Lan