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Autori principali: Ayday, Nil, Sabanayagam, Mahalakshmi, Ghoshdastidar, Debarghya
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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Accesso online:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25452
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author Ayday, Nil
Sabanayagam, Mahalakshmi
Ghoshdastidar, Debarghya
author_facet Ayday, Nil
Sabanayagam, Mahalakshmi
Ghoshdastidar, Debarghya
contents Graph Neural Networks (GNN) are currently the most popular approach for learning and prediction on graph-structured data and are deployed in various fields, from social network analysis to drug discovery. However, there is limited mathematical understanding of the performance of GNNs. We discuss the various perspectives used to study statistical generalisation in GNNs. We identify three broad frameworks. The first approach, rooted in learning theory, relies on uniform convergence bounds and the complexity of the hypothesis class of specific GNN architectures. This approach also builds on the expressivity of GNNs, typically studied through the lens of graph isomorphism tests. The second principle is to simplify the neural architecture by analysing GNNs under the asymptotics of infinitely many parameters or infinite graph size. This approach approximates GNNs using Gaussian processes, neural tangent kernels or graphon neural network operators, which allow studying the generalisation or stability of trained GNNs. The third framework studies GNNs under random graph models, often the contextual stochastic block model, and derives non-asymptotic error rates using tools from high-dimensional statistics. We highlight some key theoretical results and discuss a few limitations and open research questions for each perspective.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_25452
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Different Statistical Perspectives for Understanding Generalisation in Graph Neural Networks
Ayday, Nil
Sabanayagam, Mahalakshmi
Ghoshdastidar, Debarghya
Methodology
Machine Learning
68Q32, 68T07, 62H12, 05C80
Graph Neural Networks (GNN) are currently the most popular approach for learning and prediction on graph-structured data and are deployed in various fields, from social network analysis to drug discovery. However, there is limited mathematical understanding of the performance of GNNs. We discuss the various perspectives used to study statistical generalisation in GNNs. We identify three broad frameworks. The first approach, rooted in learning theory, relies on uniform convergence bounds and the complexity of the hypothesis class of specific GNN architectures. This approach also builds on the expressivity of GNNs, typically studied through the lens of graph isomorphism tests. The second principle is to simplify the neural architecture by analysing GNNs under the asymptotics of infinitely many parameters or infinite graph size. This approach approximates GNNs using Gaussian processes, neural tangent kernels or graphon neural network operators, which allow studying the generalisation or stability of trained GNNs. The third framework studies GNNs under random graph models, often the contextual stochastic block model, and derives non-asymptotic error rates using tools from high-dimensional statistics. We highlight some key theoretical results and discuss a few limitations and open research questions for each perspective.
title Different Statistical Perspectives for Understanding Generalisation in Graph Neural Networks
topic Methodology
Machine Learning
68Q32, 68T07, 62H12, 05C80
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25452