用量子力学框架解释进化策略如何全局收敛,突破传统方法局限。
From Mean-Field Limits to Semiclassical Concentration: Global Convergence of the Canonical Evolutionary Strategy

- 将进化策略建模为薛定谔型复制-突变方程,通过半经典极限分析收敛性。
- 在高维测试中,即使初始点远离最优解,仍能有效逼近全局最小值。
- 揭示‘平者生存’机制,适合研究全局优化与鲁棒性设计的学者参考。
我们研究随机连续优化中的全局收敛问题。将标准进化策略(CES)形式化为受控数学框架,通过薛定谔型复制-突变方程的半经典极限,分析进化算法的全局收敛性。建立从离散个体动力学到确定性均场极限的严格层次结构,证明全局收敛由底层算子的主特征函数决定。该性质称为几何选择,天然偏好稳健、平坦的极优解,而非狭窄局部陷阱,为‘平者生存’现象提供数学依据。不同于易因全局最小值不在初始支持集内而过早陷入方差坍缩的共识驱动方法,CES的复制-突变动力学具备内在质量传输能力。高维基准测试(d = 30)验证此优势:在偏移初始化场景下,标准共识与梯度方法迁移效果差,而CES残差更低。本框架将关注点从点对点共识转向谱集中,为进化策略的全局收敛提供了无需额外数值启发式的方法论基础。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
We address the issue of global convergence in stochastic continuous optimization. For that purpose, we formulate the Canonical Evolutionary Strategy (CES) as a controlled mathematical framework to analyze global convergence in evolutionary algorithms via the semiclassical limit of a Schr{ö}dinger-type replicator-mutator equation. We provide a rigorous hierarchy from a discrete individual-based dynamics to a deterministic mean-field limit, demonstrating that global convergence is governed by the principal eigenfunction of the underlying operator. This property, defined as Geometric Selection, naturally prioritizes robust, flat optima over narrow local traps, offering a mathematical justification for the ''survival of the flattest'' phenomenon. Moreover, unlike consensus-driven methods that are prone to premature variance collapse when the global minimizer resides outside the initial support, the replicator-mutator dynamics of CES facilitate intrinsic mass transport. High-dimensional benchmarks (d = 30) confirm this advantage, showing that CES achieves lower residual errors in shifted initialization scenarios where standard consensus-driven and gradient-based methods fail to migrate effectively. By shifting the focus from point-wise consensus to spectral concentration, our framework provides a robust theoretical foundation for global convergence in Evolution Strategies (ES) without the need for additional numerical heuristics.
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