Mean--Fluctuation Dynamics at the Edge of Stability
Read the original on arXiv AI →The paper investigates gradient descent dynamics in the Edge of Stability regime, where a large learning rate causes persistent oscillations linked to improved generalization. It introduces a tractable continuous‑time mean–fluctuation model that couples the window‑averaged trajectory with its fluctuation covariance, derives this model rigorously from a sharp‑valley framework, and analyzes its stationary states and linear stability. The authors also extend the model to wide two‑layer networks, deriving a Wasserstein‑2 gradient flow for weights and fluctuations, proving well‑posedness, a mean‑field limit, and conditional convergence results, with numerical experiments illustrating the predictions and finite‑time limitations.
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