ReBoot: Distributed statistical learning via refitting Bootstrap samples

In this paper, we study a one-shot distributed learning algorithm via refitting Bootstrap samples, which we refer to as ReBoot. Given the local models that are fit on multiple independent subsamples, ReBoot refits a new model on the union of the Bootstrap samples drawn from these local models. The whole procedure requires only one round of communication of model parameters. Theoretically, we analyze the statistical rate of ReBoot for generalized linear models (GLM) and noisy phase retrieval, which represent convex and non-convex problems respectively. In both cases, ReBoot provably achieves the full-sample statistical rate whenever the subsample size is not too small. In particular, we show that the systematic bias of ReBoot, the error that is independent of the number of subsamples, is $O(n ^ {-2})$ in GLM, where n is the subsample size. This rate is sharper than that of model parameter averaging and its variants, implying the higher tolerance of ReBoot with respect to data splits to maintain the full-sample rate. Simulation study exhibits the statistical advantage of ReBoot over competing methods including averaging and CSL (Communication-efficient Surrogate Likelihood) with up to two rounds of gradient communication. Finally, we propose FedReBoot, an iterative version of ReBoot, to aggregate convolutional neural networks for image classification, which exhibits substantial superiority over FedAve within early rounds of communication

VarRCWA: An Adaptive High-Order Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis Method

Semi-analytical methods, such as rigorous coupled wave analysis, have been pivotal for numerical analysis of photonic structures. In comparison to other methods, they offer much faster computation, especially for structures with constant cross-sectional shapes (such as metasurface units). However, when the cross-sectional shape varies even mildly (such as a taper), existing semi-analytical methods suffer from high computational cost. We show that the existing methods can be viewed as a zeroth-order approximation with respect to the structure's cross-sectional variation. We instead derive a high-order perturbative expansion with respect to the cross-sectional variation. Based on this expansion, we propose a new semi-analytical method that is fast to compute even in presence of large cross-sectional shape variation. Furthermore, we design an algorithm that automatically discretizes the structure in a way that achieves a user specified accuracy level while at the same time reducing the computational cost