Events During the Week of May 16th through May 23rd, 2021
Sunday, May 16th, 2021
- Academic Calendar
- Faculty contract year ends
- Abstract: *Note: actual end time may vary.*
Monday, May 17th, 2021
- No events scheduled
Tuesday, May 18th, 2021
- No events scheduled
Wednesday, May 19th, 2021
- Physics ∩ ML Seminar
- Are wider nets better given the same number of parameters?
- Time: 11:00 am - 12:15 pm
- Place: Online Seminar: Please sign up for our mailing list at www.physicsmeetsml.org for zoom link
- Speaker: Anna Golubeva, Perimeter Institute
- Abstract: Empirical studies demonstrate that the performance of neural networks improves with increasing number of parameters. In most of these studies, the number of parameters is increased by increasing the network width. This begs the question: Is the observed improvement due to the larger number of parameters, or is it due to the larger width itself? We compare different ways of increasing model width while keeping the number of parameters constant. We show that for models initialized with a random, static sparsity pattern in the weight tensors, network width is the determining factor for good performance, while the number of weights is secondary, as long as the model achieves high training accuracy. As a step towards understanding this effect, we analyze these models in the framework of Gaussian Process kernels. We find that the distance between the sparse finite-width model kernel and the infinite-width kernel at initialization is indicative of model performance.
- Host: Gary Shiu
Thursday, May 20th, 2021
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
- Cosmic rays, astrophysics and astrobiology
- Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
- Place:
- Speaker: Noemie Globus, ELI Beamlines, Czech Republic / Flatiron Institute, USA
- Abstract: I will discuss some recent cosmic rays puzzles in the context of high energy astrophysics and astrobiology and hence this talk will be divided into two parts. In the first part, I will review briefly the observational status of the ultra high energy, extragalactic part of the cosmic-ray spectrum and the interpretation of the “dipole” anisotropy, the first anisotropy signal to pass the 5 sigma discovery threshold, and review the possible extragalactic sources yet to be discovered with future multi-messenger efforts. In the second part of my talk, I will present the connection between Galactic cosmic-rays and astrobiology and discuss the possible role of spin-polarized muons in the emergence of life - more specifically, in the emergence of biological homochirality - and show the implications for the search of life in other worlds.
- Host: Lu Lu
Friday, May 21st, 2021
- No events scheduled