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Main Authors: Gukov, Sergei, Halverson, James, Ruehle, Fabian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.13321
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author Gukov, Sergei
Halverson, James
Ruehle, Fabian
author_facet Gukov, Sergei
Halverson, James
Ruehle, Fabian
contents Machine learning techniques are increasingly powerful, leading to many breakthroughs in the natural sciences, but they are often stochastic, error-prone, and blackbox. How, then, should they be utilized in fields such as theoretical physics and pure mathematics that place a premium on rigor and understanding? In this Perspective we discuss techniques for obtaining rigor in the natural sciences with machine learning. Non-rigorous methods may lead to rigorous results via conjecture generation or verification by reinforcement learning. We survey applications of these techniques-for-rigor ranging from string theory to the smooth $4$d Poincaré conjecture in low-dimensional topology. One can also imagine building direct bridges between machine learning theory and either mathematics or theoretical physics. As examples, we describe a new approach to field theory motivated by neural network theory, and a theory of Riemannian metric flows induced by neural network gradient descent, which encompasses Perelman's formulation of the Ricci flow that was utilized to resolve the $3$d Poincaré conjecture.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_13321
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Rigor with Machine Learning from Field Theory to the Poincaré Conjecture
Gukov, Sergei
Halverson, James
Ruehle, Fabian
High Energy Physics - Theory
Machine Learning
Machine learning techniques are increasingly powerful, leading to many breakthroughs in the natural sciences, but they are often stochastic, error-prone, and blackbox. How, then, should they be utilized in fields such as theoretical physics and pure mathematics that place a premium on rigor and understanding? In this Perspective we discuss techniques for obtaining rigor in the natural sciences with machine learning. Non-rigorous methods may lead to rigorous results via conjecture generation or verification by reinforcement learning. We survey applications of these techniques-for-rigor ranging from string theory to the smooth $4$d Poincaré conjecture in low-dimensional topology. One can also imagine building direct bridges between machine learning theory and either mathematics or theoretical physics. As examples, we describe a new approach to field theory motivated by neural network theory, and a theory of Riemannian metric flows induced by neural network gradient descent, which encompasses Perelman's formulation of the Ricci flow that was utilized to resolve the $3$d Poincaré conjecture.
title Rigor with Machine Learning from Field Theory to the Poincaré Conjecture
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.13321