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Main Authors: Debnath, Jayashrita, Hummer, Gerhard
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.17937
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author Debnath, Jayashrita
Hummer, Gerhard
author_facet Debnath, Jayashrita
Hummer, Gerhard
contents Machine learning (ML) is rapidly transforming the way molecular dynamics simulations are performed and analyzed, from materials modeling to studies of protein folding and function. ML algorithms are often employed to learn low-dimensional representations of conformational landscapes and to cluster trajectories into relevant metastable states. Most of these algorithms require selecting a small number of features that describe the problem of interest. Although deep neural networks can tackle large numbers of input features, the training costs increase with input size, which makes the selection of a subset of features mandatory for most problems of practical interest. Here, we show that random nonlinear projections can be used to compress large feature spaces and make computations faster without substantial loss of information. We describe an efficient way to produce random projections and then exemplify the general procedure for protein folding. For our test cases NTL9 and the double-norleucin variant of the villin headpiece, we find that random compression retains the core static and dynamic information of the original high dimensional feature space and makes trajectory analysis more robust.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_17937
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Random functions as data compressors for machine learning of molecular processes
Debnath, Jayashrita
Hummer, Gerhard
Soft Condensed Matter
Machine Learning
Machine learning (ML) is rapidly transforming the way molecular dynamics simulations are performed and analyzed, from materials modeling to studies of protein folding and function. ML algorithms are often employed to learn low-dimensional representations of conformational landscapes and to cluster trajectories into relevant metastable states. Most of these algorithms require selecting a small number of features that describe the problem of interest. Although deep neural networks can tackle large numbers of input features, the training costs increase with input size, which makes the selection of a subset of features mandatory for most problems of practical interest. Here, we show that random nonlinear projections can be used to compress large feature spaces and make computations faster without substantial loss of information. We describe an efficient way to produce random projections and then exemplify the general procedure for protein folding. For our test cases NTL9 and the double-norleucin variant of the villin headpiece, we find that random compression retains the core static and dynamic information of the original high dimensional feature space and makes trajectory analysis more robust.
title Random functions as data compressors for machine learning of molecular processes
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.17937