The effects of a variable amount of random dilution of the synaptic couplings
in Q-Ising multi-state neural networks with Hebbian learning are examined. A
fraction of the couplings is explicitly allowed to be anti-Hebbian. Random
dilution represents the dying or pruning of synapses and, hence, a static
disruption of the learning process which can be considered as a form of
multiplicative noise in the learning rule. Both parallel and sequential
updating of the neurons can be treated. Symmetric dilution in the statics of
the network is studied using the mean-field theory approach of statistical
mechanics. General dilution, including asymmetric pruning of the couplings, is
examined using the generating functional (path integral) approach of disordered
systems. It is shown that random dilution acts as additive gaussian noise in
the Hebbian learning rule with a mean zero and a variance depending on the
connectivity of the network and on the symmetry. Furthermore, a scaling factor
appears that essentially measures the average amount of anti-Hebbian couplings.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the Conference
on Noise in Complex Systems and Stochastic Dynamics II (SPIE International