Sharp approximation rates for shallow ReLU neuralnetworks on critical Besov classes

Abstract

Let $\mathbb D$ be the normalized ridge dictionary generated by $\operatorname{ReLU}^k$ on a bounded Lipschitz domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb R^d$. We determine the sharp algebraic rate of finite $n$-term approximation from $\mathbb D$ when the outer $\ell^1$ coefficient budget is independent of $n$. More precisely, let $d\ge3$, $k\in\mathbb N_+$, $0\le m\le k$, $0<p<1$, and $0<q\le1$. For the unit ball of the critical Besov space $B_{p,q}^{k+d/p}(\Omega)$, measured in $H^m(\Omega)$, the optimal algebraic exponent is \[ \min\left\{\frac{k-m+d/2}{d-1}, \frac{k-m+d/2+1/p-1/2}{d}\right\}. \] We prove two-sided estimates in the three regimes determined by the two branches of this minimum and give the corresponding logarithmic factors at and beyond the transition. The estimates coincide without logarithmic loss in the strict angular regime and at the transition when $q\le[1/2+(k-m+d/2)/(d-1)]^{-1}$. The upper estimate combines critical wavelet sparsity, localized Fourier--Radon representations, and a stable allocation of directions and biases. The lower estimates arise from two distinct obstructions, namely radial ridge approximation on the direction sphere and Gevrey localization in the joint direction--bias space. The critical smoothness is exactly the endpoint at which Besov regularity provides a uniform shallow-network variation bound without additional scale decay. The resulting representation exponent is strictly larger than the degree-limited exponent for fixed-degree isotropic finite elements under a parameter-count comparison. This last statement concerns best approximation, not training or computational complexity.