{"paper":{"title":"$\\epsilon$-rank and the Staircase Phenomenon: New Insights into Neural Network Training Dynamics","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["cs.NA","math.NA"],"primary_cat":"cs.LG","authors_text":"Jiang Yang, Quanhui Zhu, Yuxiang Zhao","submitted_at":"2024-12-06T16:00:50Z","abstract_excerpt":"Understanding the training dynamics of deep neural networks (DNNs), particularly how they evolve low-dimensional features from high-dimensional data, remains a central challenge in deep learning theory. In this work, we introduce the concept of $\\epsilon$-rank, a novel metric quantifying the effective feature of neuron functions in the terminal hidden layer. Through extensive experiments across diverse tasks, we observe a universal staircase phenomenon: during training process implemented by the standard stochastic gradient descent methods, the decline of the loss function is accompanied by an"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2412.05144","kind":"arxiv","version":3},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2412.05144/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}