Momentum in large-batch training: Polyak enlarges the critical batch size, Nesterov improves data efficiency
Jia-Nan Wang, Zixun Huang, Kairui Li, Zilin Wang, Lei Wu
We study when and how momentum improves large-batch training in the one-pass regime, using power-law kernel regression as a tractable setting. We first characterize stochastic stability through the \emph{critical learning rate}, defined as the largest learning rate for stable training, and obtain $η_{\mathrm{SGD}}^{\mathrm{crit}}\eqsim 1$, $η_{\mathrm{Polyak}}^{\mathrm{crit}}\eqsim \min\{1,B(1-β)\}$, and $η_{\mathrm{Nesterov}}^{\mathrm{crit}}\eqsim \min\{1,B^q(1-β)\}$, where $B$ is the batch size, $β\in[0,1)$ is the momentum factor, and \(q>1\) is the capacity exponent governing spectral decay. Within the stable region, we derive scaling laws for the full risk dynamics, capturing the progression from an early transient through power-law decay to a noise floor. We then optimize the final-step risk under a fixed data budget, obtaining a three-regime phase diagram that reveals how the benefits of momentum change with batch size. Notably, Polyak enlarges the critical batch size, the largest batch size preserving the optimal small-batch data-scaling exponent, thereby allowing fewer sequential updates without sacrificing data efficiency. In contrast, Nesterov improves the optimal data-scaling exponent in the large-batch regime through look-ahead-induced suppression of noise amplification. Experiments on PLK regression quantitatively support the theoretical scaling predictions, while neural-network experiments provide qualitative evidence for the predicted batch-size dependence and stability behavior.
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