Shanghai Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences (SIMIS) Shanghai 200433, China · Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100190, China · School of Mathematical Sciences2026 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100049, China
Recent studies revealed the mathematical connection between deep neural networks (DNNs) and dynamic systems. However, the specific dynamics that DNNs, especially deep residual networks (ResNets), tend to learn during training remain insufficiently characterized. To this end, we model the forward propagation of deep residual networks using continuity equations, in which the measure is conserved and infinite curves in the measure space connect the input distribution to the output one of a ResNet. We find ResNets with
L2 regularization attempt to learn the geodesic curve in the Wasserstein space, induced by the optimal transport map. Compared with plain networks, ResNets can better approximate the geodesic curve, which explains why ResNets can be optimized and generalize better. Numerical experiments show that the data tracks of a ResNet tend to be line-shaped in terms of the line-shape score, and the map learned by a ResNet is closer to the optimal transport map in terms of the optimal transport score. In a word, we conclude that ResNets learn the geodesic curve in the Wasserstein space and discretely engineer the data transformation in high-dimensional spaces.