arXiv Machine Learning

Non-KKT Accumulation in Entropic Mirror Descent

arXiv:2608. 01658v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: For mirror descent generated by a Legendre kernel, perhaps one of the most basic question in optimization is this: must every accumulation point of a bounded mirror descent sequence be Karush--Kuhn--Tucker (KKT) stationary under proper stepsizes?

Hugging Face Trending Papers
Sep 3

Projected Riemannian Gradient Descent for the Bures-Wasserstein Barycenter: Dimension-Independent Linear Convergence at Unit Step Size

The paper introduces a Projected Riemannian Gradient Descent (RGD) algorithm for computing the Bures‑Wasserstein barycenter of positive definite matrices, achieving dimension‑independent linear convergence at unit step size. It resolves a previous dichotomy by showing that clipping eigenvalues to a fixed interval yields a closed‑form, non‑expansive projection in the BW metric, allowing the algorithm to match the empirical speed of unit‑step RGD while maintaining theoretical guarantees. The method also extends to the invariant matrix projection problem, providing a unified dimension‑independent analysis.

arXiv Machine Learning
Jul 21

Scaling Limits of Constant-Stepsize SGD at Flat Minima

arXiv:2607. 16384v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: For stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with a constant stepsize $\alpha$, the invariant law of the iterates, centered at a minimizer, describes the behavior of the algorithm over long time horizons.

By Jingyi Zhang, Cheng Mao, Debankur Mukherjee
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 10

A proximal subgradient method for nonconvex stochastic optimization under the Kurdyka-{\L}ojasiewicz condition

arXiv:2608. 05460v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: This work introduces a proximal stochastic subgradient method for minimizing the sum of an expected cost, whose integrand is potentially nonsmooth and nonconvex, and a lower semicontinuous, prox-bounded function.

By Felipe Atenas, Alejandro Jofr\'e, Pedro P\'erez-Aros, David Torregrosa-Bel\'en
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 27

Common-Center Geometry and Certified Radial Reconstruction for Energy-Form Full Conformal Regions

The paper investigates the geometry of full conformal prediction (FullCP) regions produced by an empirical energy‑form pairwise score. It shows that convexity of the candidate score alone does not ensure connected FullCP regions, and establishes conditions under which comparison regions share a common minimizer, making the exact conformal region star‑shaped. For power distances with exponent β≥1 the geometry is deterministic, and for β between 1 and 2 explicit Lipschitz bounds allow certified inner and outer radial envelopes with Hausdorff guarantees.

By Yiheng Feng
arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 11

Mirror Descent Beyond Euclidean Stability: An Exponential Separation in Initialization Sensitivity

arXiv:2606. 11431v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Mirror Descent (MD) extends Gradient Descent (GD) beyond Euclidean geometry and has recently reappeared as a lens for KL-regularized policy optimization in reinforcement learning and LLM post-training.

By Shira Vansover-Hager, Matan Schliserman, Ofir Schlisselberg, Tomer Koren
arXiv Machine Learning
1d ago

Sharp Oracle-Regret Tradeoffs for Projection-Free Online Convex Optimization

The paper studies online convex optimization when the learner can only query an exact linear optimization oracle. It establishes a dimension‑free minimax expected regret bound of θ(GD max{√T, T/(1+min{Q,BT})^{1/4}}) for convex G‑Lipschitz losses, where Q is the total oracle budget and B the per‑round limit. The authors provide matching lower and upper bounds, showing how strict per‑round or total‑budget constraints affect the achievable regret, and extend the analysis to smooth losses with curvature‑dependent bounds.

By Vaneet Aggarwal