Algorithm-independent bounds on complex optimization through the statistics of marginal optima

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autore principale: Kent-Dobias, Jaron
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866911965422551040
author Kent-Dobias, Jaron
author_facet Kent-Dobias, Jaron
contents Optimization seeks extremal points in a function. When there are superextensively many optima, optimization algorithms are liable to get stuck. Under these conditions, generic algorithms tend to find marginal optima, which have many nearly flat directions. In a companion paper, we introduce a technique to count marginal optima in random landscapes. Here, we use the statistics of marginal optima calculated using this technique to produce generic bounds on optimization, based on the simple principle that algorithms will overwhelmingly tend to get stuck only where marginal optima are found. We demonstrate the idea on a simple non-Gaussian problem of maximizing the sum of squared random functions on a compact space. Numeric experiments using both gradient descent and generalized approximate message passing algorithms fall inside the expected bounds.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_02092
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Algorithm-independent bounds on complex optimization through the statistics of marginal optima
Kent-Dobias, Jaron
Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Statistical Mechanics
Optimization seeks extremal points in a function. When there are superextensively many optima, optimization algorithms are liable to get stuck. Under these conditions, generic algorithms tend to find marginal optima, which have many nearly flat directions. In a companion paper, we introduce a technique to count marginal optima in random landscapes. Here, we use the statistics of marginal optima calculated using this technique to produce generic bounds on optimization, based on the simple principle that algorithms will overwhelmingly tend to get stuck only where marginal optima are found. We demonstrate the idea on a simple non-Gaussian problem of maximizing the sum of squared random functions on a compact space. Numeric experiments using both gradient descent and generalized approximate message passing algorithms fall inside the expected bounds.
title Algorithm-independent bounds on complex optimization through the statistics of marginal optima
topic Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.02092