Machine learning that predicts well may not learn the correct physical descriptions of glassy systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Swain, Arabind, Ridout, Sean Alexander, Nemenman, Ilya
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Swain, Arabind
Ridout, Sean Alexander
Nemenman, Ilya
author_facet Swain, Arabind
Ridout, Sean Alexander
Nemenman, Ilya
contents The complexity of glasses makes it challenging to explain their dynamics. Machine Learning (ML) has emerged as a promising pathway for understanding glassy dynamics by linking their structural features to rearrangement dynamics. Support Vector Machine (SVM) was one of the first methods used to detect such correlations. Specifically, a certain output of SVMs trained to predict dynamics from structure, the distance from the separating hyperplane, was interpreted as being linearly related to the activation energy for the rearrangement. By numerical analysis of toy models, we explore under which conditions it is possible to infer the energy barrier to rearrangements from the distance to the separating hyperplane. We observe that such successful inference is possible only under very restricted conditions. Typical tests, such as the apparent Arrhenius dependence of the probability of rearrangement on the inferred energy and the temperature, or high cross-validation accuracy do not guarantee success. We propose practical approaches for measuring the quality of the energy inference and for modifying the inferred model to improve the inference, which should be usable in the context of realistic datasets.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_00751
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Machine learning that predicts well may not learn the correct physical descriptions of glassy systems
Swain, Arabind
Ridout, Sean Alexander
Nemenman, Ilya
Soft Condensed Matter
The complexity of glasses makes it challenging to explain their dynamics. Machine Learning (ML) has emerged as a promising pathway for understanding glassy dynamics by linking their structural features to rearrangement dynamics. Support Vector Machine (SVM) was one of the first methods used to detect such correlations. Specifically, a certain output of SVMs trained to predict dynamics from structure, the distance from the separating hyperplane, was interpreted as being linearly related to the activation energy for the rearrangement. By numerical analysis of toy models, we explore under which conditions it is possible to infer the energy barrier to rearrangements from the distance to the separating hyperplane. We observe that such successful inference is possible only under very restricted conditions. Typical tests, such as the apparent Arrhenius dependence of the probability of rearrangement on the inferred energy and the temperature, or high cross-validation accuracy do not guarantee success. We propose practical approaches for measuring the quality of the energy inference and for modifying the inferred model to improve the inference, which should be usable in the context of realistic datasets.
title Machine learning that predicts well may not learn the correct physical descriptions of glassy systems
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.00751