arXiv:2603.16850math.NAcs.AI2026-03

用并行牛顿法打破序列计算瓶颈,让长序列模型更快更稳。

Unifying Optimization and Dynamics to Parallelize Sequential Computation: A Guide to Parallel Newton Methods for Breaking Sequential Bottlenecks

  • 将动态系统转为非线性方程组,用并行牛顿法求解
  • 提出拟牛顿与信赖域方法,提升速度与稳定性
  • 给出收敛条件:由最大李雅普诺夫指数决定是否可加速

大规模并行硬件(如GPU)和长序列数据使并行算法成为机器学习规模化的关键。然而,递归神经网络和马尔可夫链蒙特卡洛等动态系统曾被认为存在序列瓶颈。近期研究发现,通过将动态系统求解重构为非线性方程组,结合牛顿法与并行关联扫描,可在序列长度上实现并行化。但此类并行牛顿法存在效率低、不稳定及缺乏收敛保证的问题。本文从优化角度提出方法与理论贡献:方法上,发展出基于拟牛顿和信赖域的可扩展、稳定的并行牛顿法,前者更快且内存更低,后者更稳定;理论上,将皮卡德、雅可比迭代等固定点方法统一至并行牛顿框架,建立依赖近似精度与稳定性的线性收敛率。此外,给出精确条件——基于动态系统的稳定性,由最大李雅普诺夫指数符号决定并行化是否能真正加速。本工作为可扩展、稳定的序列并行计算提供支持,并为该技术何时有效提供理论依据,亦为后续研究提供指南。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Massively parallel hardware (GPUs) and long sequence data have made parallel algorithms essential for machine learning at scale. Yet dynamical systems, like recurrent neural networks and Markov chain Monte Carlo, were thought to suffer from sequential bottlenecks. Recent work showed that dynamical systems can in fact be parallelized across the sequence length by reframing their evaluation as a system of nonlinear equations, which can be solved with Newton's method using a parallel associative scan. However, these parallel Newton methods struggled with limitations, primarily inefficiency, instability, and lack of convergence guarantees. This thesis addresses these limitations with methodological and theoretical contributions, drawing particularly from optimization. Methodologically, we develop scalable and stable parallel Newton methods, based on quasi-Newton and trust-region approaches. The quasi-Newton methods are faster and more memory efficient, while the trust-region approaches are significantly more stable. Theoretically, we unify many fixed-point methods into our parallel Newton framework, including Picard and Jacobi iterations. We establish a linear convergence rate for these techniques that depends on the method's approximation accuracy and stability. Moreover, we give a precise condition, rooted in dynamical stability, that characterizes when parallelization provably accelerates a dynamical system and when it cannot. Specifically, the sign of the Largest Lyapunov Exponent of a dynamical system determines whether or not parallel Newton methods converge quickly. In sum, this thesis unlocks scalable and stable methods for parallelizing sequential computation, and provides a firm theoretical basis for when such techniques will and will not work. This thesis also serves as a guide to parallel Newton methods for researchers who want to write the next chapter in this ongoing story.

并行计算牛顿法动态系统

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