Skip to yearly menu bar Skip to main content


Poster

Explicit Eigenvalue Reguralization Improves Sharpness-Aware Minimization

Haocheng Luo · Tuan Truong · Tung Pham · Mehrtash Harandi · Dinh Phung · Trung Le

East Exhibit Hall A-C #2206
[ ]
Fri 13 Dec 4:30 p.m. PST — 7:30 p.m. PST

Abstract:

Recently, Sharpness-Aware Minimization (SAM) has gained widespread attention for effectively improving generalization performance. We begin by establishing a theoretical connection between the top eigenvalue of the Hessian matrix and generalization error using an extended PAC-Bayes theorem. Building on this foundation, we derive a third-order stochastic differential equation (SDE) to model the dynamics of SAM, which reveals a lower approximation error compared to previous second-order SDE approaches. Our theoretical analysis highlights the significance of perturbation-eigenvector alignment in reducing sharpness. To address the practical challenges of achieving this alignment, we introduce Eigen-SAM, which intermittently estimates the top eigenvector and enhances alignment, resulting in better sharpness minimization. We validate our theoretical insights and the effectiveness of Eigen-SAM through extensive experiments across multiple datasets and model architectures, demonstrating consistent improvements in test accuracy and robustness over standard SAM and SGD.

Live content is unavailable. Log in and register to view live content