The Complexity of Gradient Descent: CLS = PPAD $\cap$ PLS

John Fearnley; Paul W. Goldberg; Alexandros Hollender; Rahul Savani

doi:10.1145/3568163

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2011.01929

The Complexity of Gradient Descent: CLS = PPAD $\cap$ PLS

John Fearnley·Paul W. Goldberg·Alexandros Hollender·Rahul Savani

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We study search problems that can be solved by performing Gradient Descent on a bounded convex polytopal domain and show that this class is equal to the intersection of two well-known classes: PPAD and PLS. As our main underlying technical contribution, we show that computing a Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) point of a continuously differentiable function over the domain $[0,1]^2$ is PPAD $\cap$ PLS-complete. This is the first non-artificial problem to be shown complete for this class. Our results also imply that the class CLS (Continuous Local Search) - which was defined by Daskalakis and Papadimitriou as a more "natural" counterpart to PPAD $\cap$ PLS and contains many interesting problems - is itself equal to PPAD $\cap$ PLS.

Explore related subjects

cs.CC cs.LG math.OC

Keep this discovery

BibTeX RIS

John Fearnley, Paul W. Goldberg, Alexandros Hollender, Rahul Savani. 2020-11-03. The Complexity of Gradient Descent: CLS = PPAD $\cap$ PLS. https://doi.org/10.1145/3568163

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

The Computational Complexity of Holant Problems on 4-regular Graphs from the Stable Subgroup Sequence of $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$

The Holant framework provides a general setting for studying counting problems and includes graph homomorphisms (\#GH) and counting constraint satisfaction problems (\#CSP) as special cases. Over the past twenty years, a series of computational complexity dichotomies have been established for Holant problems, but the classification for complex-valued signatures is still open. The main obstacle is the case in which all signatures have even arity. In this paper, we establish a dichotomy for Holant problems with a complex-valued 4-ary signature, which is a key base case for the full classification of Holant problems. We present a new strategy by introducing Schur's theorem, the classification of finite subgroups of $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ and stable subgroup sequences into the proof. These new techniques are of independent interest.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2026

Max Independent Set Remains NP-hard when Excluding a Planar Induced Minor

We show that there is a fixed planar graph $H$, namely the $5 \times 5$ grid, such that Max Independent Set remains NP-hard in $H$-induced-minor-free graphs. This refutes the Dallard--Milani\v{c}--\v{S}torgel conjecture and a weakening of it by Gartland and Lokshtanov, and by Korhonen.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2026

Topology inside NC$^1$

We show that ACC$^0$ is precisely what can be computed with constant-width circuits of polynomial size and polylogarithmic genus. This extends a characterization given by Hansen, showing that planar constant-width circuits also characterize ACC$^0$. Thus polylogarithmic genus provides no additional computational power in this model. We consider other generalizations of planarity, including crossing number and thickness. We show that constant-width circuits of polynomial size and thickness two already suffice to capture all of NC$^1$.

cs.CC↗