cs.LGMay 18, 2026

The Symmetries of Three-Layer ReLU Networks

Authors: Johanna Marie GegenfurtnerMoritz GrilloGuido Montúfar

Organizations: Technical University of Denmark · Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences · UCLA and MPI MiS

Abstract

We develop a framework for analyzing parameter symmetries in deep ReLU networks and obtain a complete characterization of the generic parameter fibers for three-layer bottleneck architectures. Our approach provides explicit semi-algebraic descriptions of these fibers and yields a polynomial time algorithm for deciding functional equivalence of two parameters. The symmetries include discrete and continuous transformations arising from layer composition, and depend on whether deeper layers hide or preserve geometric structure from preceding layers. Finally, we show that some of these symmetries induce local conservation laws along gradient flow, while others do not.

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