arXiv Machine Learning

Neural Networks Provably Learn Spectral Representations for Group Composition

arXiv:2606. 02993v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Understanding how structured internal structure emerges during neural network training is central to the study of deep learning.

arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 25

Pointwise Generalization in Deep Neural Networks

The paper introduces a pointwise generalization theory for fully connected deep neural networks, using a pointwise Riemannian Dimension derived from eigenvalues of learned feature representations across layers. This framework provides hypothesis-dependent, representation-aware generalization bounds that are significantly tighter than traditional size- or norm-based approaches, both theoretically and experimentally. The authors analytically identify structural properties that explain deep networks’ tractability and empirically show that the pointwise Riemannian Dimension captures feature compression, over‑parameterization effects, and optimizer bias.

By Shaojie Li, Yunbei Xu
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 7

Deep Learning as Neural Low-Degree Filtering: A Spectral Theory of Hierarchical Feature Learning

The paper introduces Neural Low-Degree Filtering (Neural LoFi), a stylized limit of gradient-based training that turns hierarchical feature learning into an explicit iterative spectral procedure. In this framework, each layer independently selects directions with maximal low-degree correlation to the label, providing a tractable surrogate for deep learning and a kernel-space interpretation. Experiments on fully connected and convolutional networks show that Neural LoFi outperforms lazy random-feature baselines, recovers meaningful structured filters, and aligns with early gradient-descent feature discovery on real datasets.

By Yatin Dandi, Matteo Vilucchio, Luca Arnaboldi, Hugo Tabanelli, Florent Krzakala
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 23

A Spectral Theory of Grokking: Weight Decay induces Feature Learning

The paper presents a spectral theory explaining the phenomenon of grokking, where an initial fit to training data is followed by a delayed improvement in generalization. It shows that for homogeneous networks trained with squared loss and L₂ weight decay, residuals after memorization influence the neural tangent kernel (NTK) dynamics, leading to a transition from lazy to rich learning. The theory predicts that grokking timescales depend on the product of learning rate and weight decay, and that stronger decay can halt fitting, with empirical validation on modular addition tasks using MLPs and Transformers.

By Lenz Pracher, Pascal de Jong, Oskar Lieshaus, Alan Jeffares, Steffen Rulands
Hugging Face Trending Papers
Jul 15

Transforming Rank: How Architecture Navigates the Spectral Pathologies of Depth

We investigate how each component of the Transformer feedforward block architecture design determines how much rank survives across depth at initialization. We reinterpret skip connections and normalization, long understood as controlling magnitude, as mechanisms for preserving gradient rank across depth, since the very matrix multiplications and nonlinear activations that make the network expressive also reduce the rank.