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Results for “Neural Tangent Kernel”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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When and why PINNs fail to train: A neural tangent kernel perspective

Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) have lately received great attention thanks to their flexibility in tackling a wide range of forward and inverse problems involving partial differential equations. However, despite their noticeable empirical success, little is known about how such constrained neural networks behave during their training via gradient descent. More importantly, even less is known about why such models sometimes fail to train at all. Here in this work, we aim to investigate these questions through the lens of the Neural Tangent Kernel (NTK); a kernel that captures the behavior of fully-connected neural networks in the infinite width limit during training via gradient descent. Specifically, we derive the NTK of PINNs and prove that, under appropriate conditions, it converges to a deterministic kernel that stays constant during training in the infinite-width limit. This allows us to analyze the training dynamics of PINNs through the lens of their limiting NTK and find a remarkable discrepancy in the convergence rate of the different loss components contributing to the total training error. To address this fundamental pathology, we propose a novel gradient descent algorithm that utilizes the eigenvalues of the NTK to adaptively calibrate the convergence rate of the total training error. Finally, we perform a series of numerical experiments to verify the correctness of our theory and the practical effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Representation Learning via Quantum Neural Tangent Kernels

Variational quantum circuits are used in quantum machine learning and variational quantum simulation tasks. Designing good variational circuits or predicting how well they perform for given learning or optimization tasks is still unclear. Here we discuss these problems, analyzing variational quantum circuits using the theory of neural tangent kernels. We define quantum neural tangent kernels, and derive dynamical equations for their associated loss function in optimization and learning tasks. We analytically solve the dynamics in the frozen limit, or lazy training regime, where variational angles change slowly and a linear perturbation is good enough. We extend the analysis to a dynamical setting, including quadratic corrections in the variational angles. We then consider a hybrid quantum classical architecture and define a large-width limit for hybrid kernels, showing that a hybrid quantum classical neural network can be approximately Gaussian. The results presented here show limits for which analytical understandings of the training dynamics for variational quantum circuits, used for quantum machine learning and optimization problems, are possible. These analytical results are supported by numerical simulations of quantum machine-learning experiments.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

pnnl/projection_ntk

This is a repository for work conducted in our research paper we would like to make open source. The main features are that we forked another open source library and added functionality that enabled us to compute neural-kernel objects using random vector projection software for both computer vision and large language text models. The new features are specifically code that enables the calculation of objects we define and refer to as the projection pseudo neural tangent kernel and the projection trace neural tangent kernel; both of which are approximations of the empirical neural tangent kernel. The software that computes the projections themselves are not part of the invention, but are necessarily tied to our software and licensed via MIT license, and BSD 2 license.

Georgiev, Kristian↗

Quantum Kerr learning

Quantum machine learning is a rapidly evolving field of research that could facilitate important applications for quantum computing and also significantly impact data-driven sciences. In our work, based on various arguments from complexity theory and physics, we demonstrate that a single Kerr mode can provide some 'quantum enhancements' when dealing with kernel-based methods. Using kernel properties, neural tangent kernel theory, first-order perturbation theory of the Kerr non-linearity, and non-perturbative numerical simulations, we show that quantum enhancements could happen in terms of convergence time and generalization error. Furthermore, we make explicit indications on how higher-dimensional input data could be considered. Finally, we propose an experimental protocol, that we call quantum Kerr learning, based on circuit QED.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Reinforcement Learning via Gaussian Processes with Neural Network Dual Kernels

While deep neural networks (DNNs) and Gaussian Processes (GPs) are both popularly utilized to solve problems in reinforcement learning, both approaches feature undesirable drawbacks for challenging problems. DNNs learn complex non-linear embeddings, but do not naturally quantify uncertainty and are often data-inefficient to train. GPs infer posterior distributions over functions, but popular kernels exhibit limited expressivity on complex and high-dimensional data. Fortunately, recently discovered conjugate and neural tangent kernel functions encode the behavior of overparameterized neural networks in the kernel domain. We demonstrate that these kernels can be efficiently applied to regression and reinforcement learning problems by analyzing a baseline case study.We apply GPs with neural network dual kernels to solve reinforcement learning tasks for the first time. We demonstrate, using the well understood mountain-car problem, that GPs empowered with dual kernels perform at least as well as those using the conventional radial basis function kernel. Finally, we conjecture that by inheriting the probabilistic rigor of GPs and the powerful embedding properties of DNNs, GPs using NN dual kernels will empower future reinforcement learning models on difficult domains.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

TwoFold: Highly accurate structure and affinity prediction for protein-ligand complexes from sequences

We describe our development of ab initio protein-ligand binding pose prediction models based on transformers and binding affinity prediction models based on the neural tangent kernel (NTK). Folding both protein and ligand, the TwoFold models achieve efficient and quality predictions matching state-of-the-art implementations while additionally reconstructing protein structures. In conclusion, solving NTK models points to a new use case for highly optimized linear solver benchmarking codes on HPC.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Infinite neural network quantum states: entanglement and training dynamics

We study infinite limits of neural network quantum states (∞-NNQS), which exhibit representation power through ensemble statistics, and also tractable gradient descent dynamics. Ensemble averages of entanglement entropies are expressed in terms of neural network correlators, and architectures that exhibit volume-law entanglement are presented. The analytic calculations of entanglement entropy bound are tractable because the ensemble statistics are simplified in the Gaussian process limit. A general framework is developed for studying the gradient descent dynamics of neural network quantum states (NNQS), using a quantum state neural tangent kernel (QS-NTK). For ∞-NNQS the training dynamics is simplified, since the QS-NTK becomes deterministic and constant. An analytic solution is derived for quantum state supervised learning, which allows an ∞-NNQS to recover any target wavefunction. Numerical experiments on finite and infinite NNQS in the transverse field Ising model and Fermi Hubbard model demonstrate excellent agreement with theory. ∞-NNQS opens up new opportunities for studying entanglement and training dynamics in other physics applications, such as in finding ground states.

quantum state supervised learning↗

On the eigenvector bias of Fourier feature networks: From regression to solving multi-scale PDEs with physics-informed neural networks

Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) are demonstrating remarkable promise in integrating physical models with gappy and noisy observational data, but they still struggle in cases where the target functions to be approximated exhibit high-frequency or multi-scale features. Here in this work we investigate this limitation through the lens of Neural Tangent Kernel (NTK) theory and elucidate how PINNs are biased towards learning functions along the dominant eigen-directions of their limiting NTK. Using this observation, we construct novel architectures that employ spatio-temporal and multi-scale random Fourier features, and justify how such coordinate embedding layers can lead to robust and accurate PINN models. Numerical examples are presented for several challenging cases where conventional PINN models fail, including wave propagation and reaction–diffusion dynamics, illustrating how the proposed methods can be used to effectively tackle both forward and inverse problems involving partial differential equations with multi-scale behavior.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Feature learning and generalization in deep networks with orthogonal weights

Fully-connected deep neural networks with weights initialized from independent Gaussian distributions can be tuned to criticality, which prevents the exponential growth or decay of signals propagating through the network. However, such networks still exhibit fluctuations that grow linearly with the depth of the network, which may impair the training of networks with width comparable to depth. We show analytically that rectangular networks with tanh activations and weights initialized from the ensemble of orthogonal matrices have corresponding preactivation fluctuations which are independent of depth, to leading order in inverse width. Moreover, we demonstrate numerically that, at initialization, all correlators involving the neural tangent kernel (NTK) and its descendants at leading order in inverse width—which govern the evolution of observables during training—saturate at a depth of ~20, rather than growing without bound as in the case of Gaussian initializations. We speculate that this structure preserves finite-width feature learning while reducing overall noise, thus improving both generalization and training speed in deep networks with depth comparable to width. We provide some experimental justification by relating empirical measurements of the NTK to the superior performance of deep non-linear orthogonal networks trained under full-batch gradient descent on the MNIST and CIFAR-10 classification tasks.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Improved Architectures and Training Algorithms for Deep Operator Networks

Operator learning techniques have recently emerged as a powerful tool for learning maps between infinite-dimensional Banach spaces. Trained under appropriate constraints, they can also be effective in learning the solution operator of partial differential equations (PDEs) in an entirely self-supervised manner. In this work we analyze the training dynamics of deep operator networks (DeepONets) through the lens of Neural Tangent Kernel theory, and reveal a bias that favors the approximation of functions with larger magnitudes. To correct this bias we propose to adaptively re-weight the importance of each training example, and demonstrate how this procedure can effectively balance the magnitude of back-propagated gradients during training via gradient descent. We also propose a novel network architecture that is more resilient to vanishing gradient pathologies. Taken together, our developments provide new insights into the training of DeepONets and consistently improve their predictive accuracy by a factor of 10-50x, demonstrated in the challenging setting of learning PDE solution operators in the absence of paired input-output observations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Forward variable selection enables fast and accurate dynamic system identification with Karhunen-Loève decomposed Gaussian processes

A promising approach for scalable Gaussian processes (GPs) is the Karhunen-Loève (KL) decomposition, in which the GP kernel is represented by a set of basis functions which are the eigenfunctions of the kernel operator. Such decomposed kernels have the potential to be very fast, and do not depend on the selection of a reduced set of inducing points. However KL decompositions lead to high dimensionality, and variable selection thus becomes paramount. This paper reports a new method of forward variable selection, enabled by the ordered nature of the basis functions in the KL expansion of the Bayesian Smoothing Spline ANOVA kernel (BSS-ANOVA), coupled with fast Gibbs sampling in a fully Bayesian approach. It quickly and effectively limits the number of terms, yielding a method with competitive accuracies, training and inference times for tabular datasets of low feature set dimensionality. Theoretical computational complexities are O ( N P 2 ) in training and O ( P ) per point in inference, where N is the number of instances and P the number of expansion terms. The inference speed and accuracy makes the method especially useful for dynamic systems identification, by modeling the dynamics in the tangent space as a static problem, then integrating the learned dynamics using a high-order scheme. The methods are demonstrated on two dynamic datasets: a ‘Susceptible, Infected, Recovered’ (SIR) toy problem, along with the experimental ‘Cascaded Tanks’ benchmark dataset. Comparisons on the static prediction of time derivatives are made with a random forest (RF), a residual neural network (ResNet), and the Orthogonal Additive Kernel (OAK) inducing points scalable GP, while for the timeseries prediction comparisons are made with LSTM and GRU recurrent neural networks (RNNs) along with the SINDy package.

Hayes, Kyle↗