arXiv:2608.15472cs.LGcs.AI2026-08

证明了网络信息聚合的误差下界为1/√D,解决了长期悬而未决的问题。

Optimal Lower Bounds for Networked Information Aggregation

  • 构造最坏情况实例,揭示信息传递路径长度与误差下界的理论极限
  • 首次证明在均方误差下,误差不可能优于Ω(1/√D)
  • 方法可推广至逻辑损失等常见凸损失函数,适用范围广

网络信息聚合问题研究的是:位于有向无环图顶点上的学习者,通过局部特征及父节点预测器逐步学习目标变量Y的线性预测器。学习按拓扑排序顺序进行,关注当前学习者相对于已知所有特征的最佳线性预测器的误差。此前研究显示,均方误差(MSE)上界为O(1/√D),但存在Ω(1/D)的下界实例,使正确阶数悬而未决。本文解决该核心开放问题,构造一族最坏情况实例,证明MSE下界为Ω(1/√D)。通过分析学习预测器的结构不变性,该结果推广至满足正则性条件的任意凸损失函数,包括强凸性与理想预测器与标签正相关的情形。在高斯实例中,针对理想预测器的ℓ-误差同样被证明下界为Ω(1/√D)。多种常用损失(如逻辑损失)均满足这些条件,因此也解决了Bateni等(2026)中的上下界差距问题。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

The problem of networked information aggregation, studied in Kearns et al. (2026), involves a group of learners situated on the vertices of a directed acyclic graph $G$, each learning a linear predictor $\widehat Y$ for a fixed random variable $Y$ given access to a local feature, as well as the predictors learnt by its parents. Learning proceeds iteratively, with learners ordered according to a topological sort of $G$. The main quantity of interest is the error incurred by the current learner, constrained to this flow of information, with respect to the best linear predictor using all the features seen so far. When the studied error is the MSE, i.e., $\mathbb{E} (\widehat Y - Y)^2$, Kearns et al. (2026) show that the error is at most $O(1/\sqrt{D})$ along a path of length $D$. They also obtain a hard instance where the MSE is lower bounded by $Ω(1/D)$, leaving the correct order open. In this work, we resolve this central open problem, and obtain a family of worst case problem instances with a MSE lower bound of $Ω(1/\sqrt{D})$. By exploiting invariances in the structure of the learnt predictors, our analysis generalizes to all convex loss functions $\ell(\widehat Y, Y)$ satisfying regularity conditions which include strong convexity in a ball around the origin, and that the ideal predictor minimizing the population loss is positively correlated with the label. We show that networked information aggregation on a gaussian instance in our worst case family incurs an $\ell$-error lower bounded by $Ω(1/\sqrt{D})$ with respect to this ideal predictor. We demonstrate that a variety of common losses satisfy these regularity conditions. In particular, the logistic loss satisfies them, and hence our analysis also closes the gap between the upper and lower bounds in Bateni et al. (2026).

信息聚合理论分析凸优化

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