Continuous-time Online Learning via Mean-Field Neural Networks: Regret Analysis in Diffusion Environments

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Bayraktar, Erhan, Han, Bingyan, Zhang, Ziqing
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Bayraktar, Erhan
Han, Bingyan
Zhang, Ziqing
author_facet Bayraktar, Erhan
Han, Bingyan
Zhang, Ziqing
contents We study continuous-time online learning where data are generated by a diffusion process with unknown coefficients. The learner employs a two-layer neural network, continuously updating its parameters in a non-anticipative manner. The mean-field limit of the learning dynamics corresponds to a stochastic Wasserstein gradient flow adapted to the data filtration. We establish regret bounds for both the mean-field limit and finite-particle system. Our analysis leverages the logarithmic Sobolev inequality, Polyak-Lojasiewicz condition, Malliavin calculus, and uniform-in-time propagation of chaos. Under displacement convexity, we obtain a constant static regret bound. In the general non-convex setting, we derive explicit linear regret bounds characterizing the effects of data variation, entropic exploration, and quadratic regularization. Finally, our simulations demonstrate the outperformance of the online approach and the impact of network width and regularization parameters.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_10958
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Continuous-time Online Learning via Mean-Field Neural Networks: Regret Analysis in Diffusion Environments
Bayraktar, Erhan
Han, Bingyan
Zhang, Ziqing
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Optimization and Control
60H30, 60J60, 49Q22, 68T07
We study continuous-time online learning where data are generated by a diffusion process with unknown coefficients. The learner employs a two-layer neural network, continuously updating its parameters in a non-anticipative manner. The mean-field limit of the learning dynamics corresponds to a stochastic Wasserstein gradient flow adapted to the data filtration. We establish regret bounds for both the mean-field limit and finite-particle system. Our analysis leverages the logarithmic Sobolev inequality, Polyak-Lojasiewicz condition, Malliavin calculus, and uniform-in-time propagation of chaos. Under displacement convexity, we obtain a constant static regret bound. In the general non-convex setting, we derive explicit linear regret bounds characterizing the effects of data variation, entropic exploration, and quadratic regularization. Finally, our simulations demonstrate the outperformance of the online approach and the impact of network width and regularization parameters.
title Continuous-time Online Learning via Mean-Field Neural Networks: Regret Analysis in Diffusion Environments
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Optimization and Control
60H30, 60J60, 49Q22, 68T07
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.10958