Neural Collapse: How Simplex Equiangular Tight Frames Emerge at the Terminal Phase of Training
In classification tasks, deep neural networks exhibit an unexpected geometric simplicity during late-stage optimization. While the internal activations of early training appear high-dimensional and complex, the penultimate layer representations and linear classifiers converge toward an exact, symmetrical geometric structure known as Neural Collapse (NC). First identified empirically by Papyan, Han, and Donoho (2020), Neural Collapse emerges during the Terminal Phase of Training (TPT). This regi
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