Hyperparameter Transfer for Dense Associative Memories

Hyperparameter transfer allows extrapolating optimal optimization hyperparameters from small to large scales, making it critical for training large language models (LLMs). This is done either by fitting a scaling law to the hyperparameters or by a judicious choice of parameterization, such as Maximal Update ($μ$P), that renders optimal hyperparameters approximately scale invariant. In this paper, we first develop a framework to quantify hyperparameter transfer through three metrics: (1) the quality of the scaling law fit, (2) the robustness to extrapolation errors, and (3) the asymptotic loss penalty due to choice of parameterization. Next, we investigate through a comprehensive series of ablations why $μ$P appears to offer high-quality learning rate transfer relative to standard parameterization (SP), as existing theory is inadequate. We find that the overwhelming benefit of $μ$P relative to SP when training with AdamW arises simply from maximizing the learning rate of the embedding layer. In SP, the embedding layer learning rate acts as a bottleneck that induces training instabilities; increasing it by a factor of width to match $μ$P dramatically smooths out training while improving hyperparameter transfer. We also find that weight decay improves the scaling law fits, while, in the fixed token-per-parameter setting, it hurts the robustness of the extrapolation.

Using large deviations theory, we solve and obtain a general expression for the free energy functional for a broad class of associative memories, including dense associative memories. We illustrate the method by reproducing classical results for the Hopfield model. For a finite number of patterns, we derive the temperature-dependent free energy functional for dense associative memories featuring polynomial interactions and Log-Sum-Exponential (LSE) activation. We also evaluate the disorder-averaged ground-state energy of these systems in the extensive limit. Our analytical framework reveals how memory retrieval depends on the initial state in higher-order dense networks, and gives the exact full-retrieval threshold for the LSE model. This method provides a systematic procedure for analyzing diverse, complex architectures in associative memory.

Training and scaling Large Language Models demand enormous computational resources, motivating both efficient sub-quadratic architectures and principled hyperparameter tuning methods. While the Maximal Update Parametrization ($μ$P) has enabled zero-shot hyperparameter transfer for standard Transformers, its extension to linear models, particularly those with structured state transitions and complicated architectures, remains largely unexplored. By rigorously propagating coordinate-size estimates through the forward pass, gating mechanisms, and recurrent state dynamics, we derive the scaling rules for Gated Delta Network. Experiments on language-model pre-training confirm that our configurations enable stable learning-rate transfer across model widths under both AdamW and SGD, whereas standard parametrization fails to transfer, validating the correctness and practical utility of our analysis.