Edward Hirst

LG
h-index9
9papers
244citations
Novelty28%
AI Score35

9 Papers

5.1COMar 25, 2022Code
Cluster Algebras: Network Science and Machine Learning

Pierre-Philippe Dechant, Yang-Hui He, Elli Heyes et al.

Cluster algebras have recently become an important player in mathematics and physics. In this work, we investigate them through the lens of modern data science, specifically with techniques from network science and machine learning. Network analysis methods are applied to the exchange graphs for cluster algebras of varying mutation types. The analysis indicates that when the graphs are represented without identifying by permutation equivalence between clusters an elegant symmetry emerges in the quiver exchange graph embedding. The ratio between number of seeds and number of quivers associated to this symmetry is computed for finite Dynkin type algebras up to rank 5, and conjectured for higher ranks. Simple machine learning techniques successfully learn to classify cluster algebras using the data of seeds. The learning performance exceeds 0.9 accuracies between algebras of the same mutation type and between types, as well as relative to artificially generated data.

7.7LGSep 29, 2023Code
Machine Learning Clifford invariants of ADE Coxeter elements

Siqi Chen, Pierre-Philippe Dechant, Yang-Hui He et al.

There has been recent interest in novel Clifford geometric invariants of linear transformations. This motivates the investigation of such invariants for a certain type of geometric transformation of interest in the context of root systems, reflection groups, Lie groups and Lie algebras: the Coxeter transformations. We perform exhaustive calculations of all Coxeter transformations for $A_8$, $D_8$ and $E_8$ for a choice of basis of simple roots and compute their invariants, using high-performance computing. This computational algebra paradigm generates a dataset that can then be mined using techniques from data science such as supervised and unsupervised machine learning. In this paper we focus on neural network classification and principal component analysis. Since the output -- the invariants -- is fully determined by the choice of simple roots and the permutation order of the corresponding reflections in the Coxeter element, we expect huge degeneracy in the mapping. This provides the perfect setup for machine learning, and indeed we see that the datasets can be machine learned to very high accuracy. This paper is a pump-priming study in experimental mathematics using Clifford algebras, showing that such Clifford algebraic datasets are amenable to machine learning, and shedding light on relationships between these novel and other well-known geometric invariants and also giving rise to analytic results.

8.2GR-QCJul 6
Black Hole Black Boxes: Numerical Black Hole Metrics via AInstein Neural Networks

Tancredi Schettini Gherardini, Edward Hirst, Alexander George Stapleton

The AInstein architecture introduced an unsupervised neural method for solving the Riemannian Einstein equations on arbitrary manifolds. This Physics Informed Neural Network approach (PINN) is extended here to Lorentzian signature, validated by recovering the maximally extended Schwarzschild geometry, and tested as novel search method for arbitrary black hole solutions. The topology is built into the architecture by treating $S^{2}$ globally through its standard embedding, such that the network learns an ambient metric on the manifold $\mathbb{R}^{2} \times \mathbb{R}^{3}$, where Penrose coordinates are chosen for $\mathbb{R}^2$ and the metric on $S^{2}$ is obtained by pullback. The architecture is first trained with the objective of recovering the Schwarzschild metric via losses encoding the vacuum Einstein equation, a quadratic Weyl scalar constraint, and the $SO(3)$ symmetry of the resultant metric; directly motivated by the Birkhoff--Jebsen theorem. Following this, the objective is generalised to use the Petrov speciality index, a horizon curvature anchor, and a trapped-surface constraint, to allow search for algebraically general Petrov type I solutions, finding potentially novel general-type Lorentzian Einstein metrics with a genuinely trapped interior.

2.3CONov 6, 2024Code
Machine Learning Mutation-Acyclicity of Quivers

Kymani T. K. Armstrong-Williams, Edward Hirst, Blake Jackson et al.

Machine learning (ML) has emerged as a powerful tool in mathematical research in recent years. This paper applies ML techniques to the study of quivers -- a type of directed multigraph with significant relevance in algebra, combinatorics, computer science, and mathematical physics. Specifically, we focus on the challenging problem of determining the mutation-acyclicity of a quiver on 4 vertices, a property that is pivotal since mutation-acyclicity is often a necessary condition for theorems involving path algebras and cluster algebras. Although this classification is known for quivers with at most 3 vertices, little is known about quivers on more than 3 vertices. We give a computer-assisted proof of a theorem to prove that mutation-acyclicity is decidable for quivers on 4 vertices with edge weight at most 2. By leveraging neural networks (NNs) and support vector machines (SVMs), we then accurately classify more general 4-vertex quivers as mutation-acyclic or non-mutation-acyclic. Our results demonstrate that ML models can efficiently detect mutation-acyclicity, providing a promising computational approach to this combinatorial problem, from which the trained SVM equation provides a starting point to guide future theoretical development.

7.1LGFeb 3, 2025
Grokking vs. Learning: Same Features, Different Encodings

Dmitry Manning-Coe, Jacopo Gliozzi, Alexander G. Stapleton et al.

Grokking typically achieves similar loss to ordinary, "steady", learning. We ask whether these different learning paths - grokking versus ordinary training - lead to fundamental differences in the learned models. To do so we compare the features, compressibility, and learning dynamics of models trained via each path in two tasks. We find that grokked and steadily trained models learn the same features, but there can be large differences in the efficiency with which these features are encoded. In particular, we find a novel "compressive regime" of steady training in which there emerges a linear trade-off between model loss and compressibility, and which is absent in grokking. In this regime, we can achieve compression factors 25x times the base model, and 5x times the compression achieved in grokking. We then track how model features and compressibility develop through training. We show that model development in grokking is task-dependent, and that peak compressibility is achieved immediately after the grokking plateau. Finally, novel information-geometric measures are introduced which demonstrate that models undergoing grokking follow a straight path in information space.

4.1LGOct 6, 2025
Approximate Gaussianity Beyond Initialisation in Neural Networks

Edward Hirst, Sanjaye Ramgoolam

Ensembles of neural network weight matrices are studied through the training process for the MNIST classification problem, testing the efficacy of matrix models for representing their distributions, under assumptions of Gaussianity and permutation-symmetry. The general 13-parameter permutation invariant Gaussian matrix models are found to be effective models for the correlated Gaussianity in the weight matrices, beyond the range of applicability of the simple Gaussian with independent identically distributed matrix variables, and notably well beyond the initialisation step. The representation theoretic model parameters, and the graph-theoretic characterisation of the permutation invariant matrix observables give an interpretable framework for the best-fit model and for small departures from Gaussianity. Additionally, the Wasserstein distance is calculated for this class of models and used to quantify the movement of the distributions over training. Throughout the work, the effects of varied initialisation regimes, regularisation, layer depth, and layer width are tested for this formalism, identifying limits where particular departures from Gaussianity are enhanced and how more general, yet still highly-interpretable, models can be developed.

9.7HEP-THDec 12, 2021Code
Machine Learning Calabi-Yau Hypersurfaces

David S. Berman, Yang-Hui He, Edward Hirst

We revisit the classic database of weighted-P4s which admit Calabi-Yau 3-fold hypersurfaces equipped with a diverse set of tools from the machine-learning toolbox. Unsupervised techniques identify an unanticipated almost linear dependence of the topological data on the weights. This then allows us to identify a previously unnoticed clustering in the Calabi-Yau data. Supervised techniques are successful in predicting the topological parameters of the hypersurface from its weights with an accuracy of R^2 > 95%. Supervised learning also allows us to identify weighted-P4s which admit Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces to 100% accuracy by making use of partitioning supported by the clustering behaviour.

7.3AGJun 7, 2021
Neurons on Amoebae

Jiakang Bao, Yang-Hui He, Edward Hirst

We apply methods of machine-learning, such as neural networks, manifold learning and image processing, in order to study 2-dimensional amoebae in algebraic geometry and string theory. With the help of embedding manifold projection, we recover complicated conditions obtained from so-called lopsidedness. For certain cases it could even reach $\sim99\%$ accuracy, in particular for the lopsided amoeba of $F_0$ with positive coefficients which we place primary focus. Using weights and biases, we also find good approximations to determine the genus for an amoeba at lower computational cost. In general, the models could easily predict the genus with over $90\%$ accuracies. With similar techniques, we also investigate the membership problem, and image processing of the amoebae directly.

13.8HEP-THJun 18, 2020
Quiver Mutations, Seiberg Duality and Machine Learning

Jiakang Bao, Sebastián Franco, Yang-Hui He et al.

We initiate the study of applications of machine learning to Seiberg duality, focusing on the case of quiver gauge theories, a problem also of interest in mathematics in the context of cluster algebras. Within the general theme of Seiberg duality, we define and explore a variety of interesting questions, broadly divided into the binary determination of whether a pair of theories picked from a series of duality classes are dual to each other, as well as the multi-class determination of the duality class to which a given theory belongs. We study how the performance of machine learning depends on several variables, including number of classes and mutation type (finite or infinite). In addition, we evaluate the relative advantages of Naive Bayes classifiers versus Convolutional Neural Networks. Finally, we also investigate how the results are affected by the inclusion of additional data, such as ranks of gauge/flavor groups and certain variables motivated by the existence of underlying Diophantine equations. In all questions considered, high accuracy and confidence can be achieved.