Separation Power of Equivariant Neural Networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Pacini, Marco, Dong, Xiaowen, Lepri, Bruno, Santin, Gabriele
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Pacini, Marco
Dong, Xiaowen
Lepri, Bruno
Santin, Gabriele
author_facet Pacini, Marco
Dong, Xiaowen
Lepri, Bruno
Santin, Gabriele
contents The separation power of a machine learning model refers to its ability to distinguish between different inputs and is often used as a proxy for its expressivity. Indeed, knowing the separation power of a family of models is a necessary condition to obtain fine-grained universality results. In this paper, we analyze the separation power of equivariant neural networks, such as convolutional and permutation-invariant networks. We first present a complete characterization of inputs indistinguishable by models derived by a given architecture. From this results, we derive how separability is influenced by hyperparameters and architectural choices-such as activation functions, depth, hidden layer width, and representation types. Notably, all non-polynomial activations, including ReLU and sigmoid, are equivalent in expressivity and reach maximum separation power. Depth improves separation power up to a threshold, after which further increases have no effect. Adding invariant features to hidden representations does not impact separation power. Finally, block decomposition of hidden representations affects separability, with minimal components forming a hierarchy in separation power that provides a straightforward method for comparing the separation power of models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_08966
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Separation Power of Equivariant Neural Networks
Pacini, Marco
Dong, Xiaowen
Lepri, Bruno
Santin, Gabriele
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
The separation power of a machine learning model refers to its ability to distinguish between different inputs and is often used as a proxy for its expressivity. Indeed, knowing the separation power of a family of models is a necessary condition to obtain fine-grained universality results. In this paper, we analyze the separation power of equivariant neural networks, such as convolutional and permutation-invariant networks. We first present a complete characterization of inputs indistinguishable by models derived by a given architecture. From this results, we derive how separability is influenced by hyperparameters and architectural choices-such as activation functions, depth, hidden layer width, and representation types. Notably, all non-polynomial activations, including ReLU and sigmoid, are equivalent in expressivity and reach maximum separation power. Depth improves separation power up to a threshold, after which further increases have no effect. Adding invariant features to hidden representations does not impact separation power. Finally, block decomposition of hidden representations affects separability, with minimal components forming a hierarchy in separation power that provides a straightforward method for comparing the separation power of models.
title Separation Power of Equivariant Neural Networks
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.08966