Curse of Dimensionality in Neural Network Optimization

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Hauptverfasser: Na, Sanghoon, Yang, Haizhao
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Na, Sanghoon
Yang, Haizhao
author_facet Na, Sanghoon
Yang, Haizhao
contents This paper demonstrates that when a shallow neural network with a Lipschitz continuous activation function is trained using either empirical or population risk to approximate a target function that is $r$ times continuously differentiable on $[0,1]^d$, the population risk may not decay at a rate faster than $t^{-\frac{4r}{d-2r}}$, where $t$ denotes the time parameter of the gradient flow dynamics. This result highlights the presence of the curse of dimensionality in the optimization computation required to achieve a desired accuracy. Instead of analyzing parameter evolution directly, the training dynamics are examined through the evolution of the parameter distribution under the 2-Wasserstein gradient flow. Furthermore, it is established that the curse of dimensionality persists when a locally Lipschitz continuous activation function is employed, where the Lipschitz constant in $[-x,x]$ is bounded by $O(x^δ)$ for any $x \in \mathbb{R}$. In this scenario, the population risk is shown to decay at a rate no faster than $t^{-\frac{(4+2δ)r}{d-2r}}$. Understanding how function smoothness influences the curse of dimensionality in neural network optimization theory is an important and underexplored direction that this work aims to address.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_05360
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Curse of Dimensionality in Neural Network Optimization
Na, Sanghoon
Yang, Haizhao
Machine Learning
Optimization and Control
This paper demonstrates that when a shallow neural network with a Lipschitz continuous activation function is trained using either empirical or population risk to approximate a target function that is $r$ times continuously differentiable on $[0,1]^d$, the population risk may not decay at a rate faster than $t^{-\frac{4r}{d-2r}}$, where $t$ denotes the time parameter of the gradient flow dynamics. This result highlights the presence of the curse of dimensionality in the optimization computation required to achieve a desired accuracy. Instead of analyzing parameter evolution directly, the training dynamics are examined through the evolution of the parameter distribution under the 2-Wasserstein gradient flow. Furthermore, it is established that the curse of dimensionality persists when a locally Lipschitz continuous activation function is employed, where the Lipschitz constant in $[-x,x]$ is bounded by $O(x^δ)$ for any $x \in \mathbb{R}$. In this scenario, the population risk is shown to decay at a rate no faster than $t^{-\frac{(4+2δ)r}{d-2r}}$. Understanding how function smoothness influences the curse of dimensionality in neural network optimization theory is an important and underexplored direction that this work aims to address.
title Curse of Dimensionality in Neural Network Optimization
topic Machine Learning
Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.05360