arXiv:2509. 24882v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Neural scaling laws underlie many of the recent advances in deep learning, yet their theoretical understanding remains largely confined to linear models.
By Leonardo Defilippis, Yizhou Xu, Julius Girardin, Emanuele Troiani, Vittorio Erba, Lenka Zdeborov\'a, Bruno Loureiro, Florent Krzakala
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
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
arXiv:2606. 30226v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Hessian spectral properties are a standard tool in analysing neural-network training, with eigenvalues linked to sharpness, generalization, and optimization dynamics.
By Marcelina Marjankowska, Valerio Modugno, Paolo Barucca
arXiv:2606. 28486v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: The emergence of low-dimensional structures in the spectra of neural network weight matrices is a common empirical feature of trained models, but the dynamical origin of this phenomenon during learning remains an open problem.
By Chanju Park, Dario Bocchi, Francesco D'Amico, Biagio Lucini, Gert Aarts
arXiv:2510. 14217v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: The spectral properties of feature embeddings offer critical insights into model generalization and representation quality.
By Asma Jamali, Tin Sum Cheng, Rodrigo A. Vargas-Hern\'andez