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Answering complex natural language questions often necessitates multi-step reasoning and integrating external information. Several systems have combined knowledge retrieval with a large language model (LLM) to answer such questions. These systems, however, suffer from various failure cases, and we cannot directly train them end-to-end to fix such failures, as interaction with external knowledge is non-differentiable. To address these deficiencies, we define a ReAct-style LLM agent with the ability to reason and act upon external knowledge. We further refine the agent through a ReST-like method that iteratively trains on previous trajectories, employing growing-batch reinforcement learning with AI feedback for continuous self-improvement and self-distillation. Starting from a prompted large model and after just two iterations of the algorithm, we can produce a fine-tuned small model that achieves comparable performance on challenging compositional question-answering benchmarks with two orders of magnitude fewer parameters., Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables, 8 listings

Large language models (LLMs) have led to a series of breakthroughs in natural language processing (NLP), owing to their excellent understanding and generation abilities. Remarkably, what further sets these models apart is the massive amounts of world knowledge they internalize during pretraining. While many downstream applications provide the model with an informational context to aid its performance on the underlying task, how the model's world knowledge interacts with the factual information presented in the context remains under explored. As a desirable behavior, an LLM should give precedence to the context whenever it contains task-relevant information that conflicts with the model's memorized knowledge. This enables model predictions to be grounded in the context, which can then be used to update or correct specific model predictions without frequent retraining. By contrast, when the context is irrelevant to the task, the model should ignore it and fall back on its internal knowledge. In this paper, we undertake a first joint study of the aforementioned two properties, namely controllability and robustness, in the context of LLMs. We demonstrate that state-of-the-art T5 and PaLM (both pretrained and finetuned) could exhibit poor controllability and robustness, which do not scale with increasing model size. As a solution, we propose a novel method - Knowledge Aware FineTuning (KAFT) - to strengthen both controllability and robustness by incorporating counterfactual and irrelevant contexts to standard supervised datasets. Our comprehensive evaluation showcases the utility of KAFT across model architectures and sizes.

Pretrained large language models (LLMs) are general purpose problem solvers applicable to a diverse set of tasks with prompts. They can be further improved towards a specific task by fine-tuning on a specialized dataset. However, fine-tuning usually makes the model narrowly specialized on this dataset with reduced general in-context learning performances, which is undesirable whenever the fine-tuned model needs to handle additional tasks where no fine-tuning data is available. In this work, we first demonstrate that fine-tuning on a single task indeed decreases LLMs' general in-context learning performance. We discover one important cause of such forgetting, format specialization, where the model overfits to the format of the fine-tuned task.We further show that format specialization happens at the very beginning of fine-tuning. To solve this problem, we propose Prompt Tuning with MOdel Tuning (ProMoT), a simple yet effective two-stage fine-tuning framework that reduces format specialization and improves generalization.ProMoT offloads task-specific format learning into additional and removable parameters by first doing prompt tuning and then fine-tuning the model itself with this soft prompt attached. With experiments on several fine-tuning tasks and 8 in-context evaluation tasks, we show that ProMoT achieves comparable performance on fine-tuned tasks to standard fine-tuning, but with much less loss of in-context learning performances across a board range of out-of-domain evaluation tasks. More importantly, ProMoT can even enhance generalization on in-context learning tasks that are semantically related to the fine-tuned task, e.g. ProMoT on En-Fr translation significantly improves performance on other language pairs, and ProMoT on NLI improves performance on summarization. Experiments also show that ProMoT can improve the generalization performance of multi-task training., Comment: ICLR 2024

This paper studies the curious phenomenon for machine learning models with Transformer architectures that their activation maps are sparse. By activation map we refer to the intermediate output of the multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs) after a ReLU activation function, and by sparse we mean that on average very few entries (e.g., 3.0% for T5-Base and 6.3% for ViT-B16) are nonzero for each input to MLP. Moreover, larger Transformers with more layers and wider MLP hidden dimensions are sparser as measured by the percentage of nonzero entries. Through extensive experiments we demonstrate that the emergence of sparsity is a prevalent phenomenon that occurs for both natural language processing and vision tasks, on both training and evaluation data, for Transformers of various configurations, at layers of all depth levels, as well as for other architectures including MLP-mixers and 2-layer MLPs. We show that sparsity also emerges using training datasets with random labels, or with random inputs, or with infinite amount of data, demonstrating that sparsity is not a result of a specific family of datasets. We discuss how sparsity immediately implies a way to significantly reduce the FLOP count and improve efficiency for Transformers. Moreover, we demonstrate perhaps surprisingly that enforcing an even sparser activation via Top-k thresholding with a small value of k brings a collection of desired but missing properties for Transformers, namely less sensitivity to noisy training data, more robustness to input corruptions, and better calibration for their prediction confidence., Comment: A short version was presented at ICLR 2023. Previous title: Large Models are Parsimonious Learners: Activation Sparsity in Trained Transformers

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have long been the architecture of choice for computer vision tasks. Recently, Transformer-based architectures like Vision Transformer (ViT) have matched or even surpassed ResNets for image classification. However, details of the Transformer architecture -- such as the use of non-overlapping patches -- lead one to wonder whether these networks are as robust. In this paper, we perform an extensive study of a variety of different measures of robustness of ViT models and compare the findings to ResNet baselines. We investigate robustness to input perturbations as well as robustness to model perturbations. We find that when pre-trained with a sufficient amount of data, ViT models are at least as robust as the ResNet counterparts on a broad range of perturbations. We also find that Transformers are robust to the removal of almost any single layer, and that while activations from later layers are highly correlated with each other, they nevertheless play an important role in classification., Comment: Accepted for publication at ICCV 2021. Rewrote Section 5 and made other minor changes throughout

Large Transformer models have achieved impressive performance in many natural language tasks. In particular, Transformer based language models have been shown to have great capabilities in encoding factual knowledge in their vast amount of parameters. While the tasks of improving the memorization and generalization of Transformers have been widely studied, it is not well known how to make transformers forget specific old facts and memorize new ones. In this paper, we propose a new task of \emph{explicitly modifying specific factual knowledge in Transformer models while ensuring the model performance does not degrade on the unmodified facts}. This task is useful in many scenarios, such as updating stale knowledge, protecting privacy, and eliminating unintended biases stored in the models. We benchmarked several approaches that provide natural baseline performances on this task. This leads to the discovery of key components of a Transformer model that are especially effective for knowledge modifications. The work also provides insights into the role that different training phases (such as pretraining and fine-tuning) play towards memorization and knowledge modification.

Federated learning enables the creation of a powerful centralized model without compromising data privacy of multiple participants. While successful, it does not incorporate the case where each participant independently designs its own model. Due to intellectual property concerns and heterogeneous nature of tasks and data, this is a widespread requirement in applications of federated learning to areas such as health care and AI as a service. In this work, we use transfer learning and knowledge distillation to develop a universal framework that enables federated learning when each agent owns not only their private data, but also uniquely designed models. We test our framework on the MNIST/FEMNIST dataset and the CIFAR10/CIFAR100 dataset and observe fast improvement across all participating models. With 10 distinct participants, the final test accuracy of each model on average receives a 20% gain on top of what's possible without collaboration and is only a few percent lower than the performance each model would have obtained if all private datasets were pooled and made directly available for all participants., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, NeurIPS 2019 Workshop on Federated Learning for Data Privacy and Confidentiality

Gravitational shockwaves are insensitive to higher-curvature corrections in the action. Recent work found that the OPE coefficients of lowest-twist multi-stress-tensor operators, computed holographically in a planar black hole background, are insensitive as well. In this paper, we analyze the relation between these two limits. We explicitly evaluate the two-point function on a shockwave background to all orders in a large central charge expansion. In the geodesic limit, we find that the ANEC exponentiates in the multi-stress-tensor sector. To compare with the black hole limit, we obtain a recursion relation for the lowest-twist products of two stress tensors in a spherical black hole background, letting us efficiently compute their OPE coefficients and prove their insensitivity to higher curvature terms. After resumming the lowest-twist stress-tensors and analytically continuing their contributions to the Regge limit, we find a perfect agreement with the shockwave computation. We also discuss the role of double-trace operators, global degenerate states, and multi-stress-tensor conformal blocks. These holographic results suggest the existence of a larger universal structure in higher-dimensional CFTs., Comment: 28+6 pages, 2 figures; v2: typos corrected, refs added

First-quantized propagation in quantum gravitational AdS$_3$ backgrounds can be exactly reconstructed using CFT$_2$ data and Virasoro symmetry. We develop methods to compute the bulk-to-boundary propagator in a black hole microstate, $\langle \phi_L \mathcal{O}_L \mathcal{O}_H \mathcal{O}_H\rangle$, at finite central charge. As a first application, we show that the semiclassical theory on the Euclidean BTZ solution sharply disagrees with the exact description, as expected based on the resolution of forbidden thermal singularities, though this effect may appear exponentially small for physical observers., Comment: 34+27 pages, 7 figures; v2: typos corrected

We investigate the quantum null energy condition (QNEC) in holographic CFTs, focusing on half-spaces and particular classes of states. We present direct, and in certain cases nonperturbative, calculations for both the diagonal and off- diagonal variational derivatives of entanglement entropy. In d > 2, we find that the QNEC is saturated. We compute relations between the off-diagonal variation of entanglement, boundary relative entropy, and the bulk stress tensor. Strong subadditivity then leads to energy conditions in the bulk. In d = 2, we find that the QNEC is in general not saturated when the Ryu-Takayanagi surface intersects bulk matter. Moreover, when bulk matter is present the QNEC can imply new bulk energy conditions. For a simple class of states, we derive an example that is stronger than the bulk averaged null energy condition and reduces to it in certain limits., Comment: 22 pages

We recently used Virasoro symmetry considerations to propose an exact formula for a bulk proto-field $\phi$ in AdS$_3$. In this paper we study the propagator $\langle \phi \phi \rangle$. We show that many techniques from the study of conformal blocks can be generalized to compute it, including the semiclassical monodromy method and both forms of the Zamolodchikov recursion relations. When the results from recursion are expanded at large central charge, they match gravitational perturbation theory for a free scalar field coupled to gravity in our chosen gauge. We find that although the propagator is finite and well-defined at long distances, its perturbative expansion in $G_N = \frac{3}{2c}$ exhibits UV/IR mixing effects. If we nevertheless interpret $\langle \phi \phi \rangle$ as a probe of bulk locality, then when $G_N m_\phi \ll 1$ locality breaks down at the new short-distance scale $\sigma_* \sim \sqrt[4]{G_N R_{AdS}^3}$. For $\phi$ with very large bulk mass, or at small central charge, bulk locality fails at the AdS length scale. In all cases, locality `breakdown' manifests as singularities or branch cuts at spacelike separation arising from non-perturbative quantum gravitational effects., Comment: 42+17 pages, 7 figures

We use conformal symmetry to define an AdS$_3$ proto-field $\phi$ as an exact linear combination of Virasoro descendants of a CFT$_2$ primary operator $\mathcal{O}$. We find that both symmetry considerations and a gravitational Wilson line formalism lead to the same results. The operator $\phi$ has many desirable properties; in particular it has correlators that agree with gravitational perturbation theory when expanded at large $c$, and that automatically take the correct form in all vacuum AdS$_3$ geometries, including BTZ black hole backgrounds. In the future it should be possible to use $\phi$ to probe bulk locality and black hole horizons at a non-perturbative level., Comment: 24+33 pages, 2 figures; V2: refs added, terminology updated

We analytically solve the conformal bootstrap equations in the Regge limit for large N conformal field theories. For theories with a parametrically large gap, the amplitude is dominated by spin-2 exchanges and we show how the crossing equations naturally lead to the construction of AdS exchange Witten diagrams. We also show how this is encoded in the anomalous dimensions of double-trace operators of large spin and large twist. We use the chaos bound to prove that the anomalous dimensions are negative. Extending these results to correlators containing two scalars and two conserved currents, we show how to reproduce the CEMZ constraint that the three-point function between two currents and one stress tensor only contains the structure given by Einstein-Maxwell theory in AdS, up to small corrections. Finally, we consider the case where operators of unbounded spin contribute to the Regge amplitude, whose net effect is captured by summing the leading Regge trajectory. We compute the resulting anomalous dimensions and corrections to OPE coefficients in the crossed channel and use the chaos bound to show that both are negative., Comment: 40 pages, 1 figure; V2: Small corrections and clarifications

We chart the breakdown of semiclassical gravity by analyzing the Virasoro conformal blocks to high numerical precision, focusing on the heavy-light limit corresponding to a light probe propagating in a BTZ black hole background. In the Lorentzian regime, we find empirically that the initial exponential time-dependence of the blocks transitions to a universal $t^{-\frac{3}{2}}$ power-law decay. For the vacuum block the transition occurs at $t \approx \frac{\pi c}{6 h_L}$, confirming analytic predictions. In the Euclidean regime, due to Stokes phenomena the naive semiclassical approximation fails completely in a finite region enclosing the `forbidden singularities'. We emphasize that limitations on the reconstruction of a local bulk should ultimately stem from distinctions between semiclassical and exact correlators., Comment: 45 pages, 23 figures

The numerical conformal bootstrap is used to study mixed correlators in $\mathcal{N}=1$ superconformal field theories (SCFTs) in $d=4$ spacetime dimensions. Systems of four-point functions involving scalar chiral and real operators are analyzed, including the case where the scalar real operator is the zero component of a global conserved current multiplet. New results on superconformal blocks as well as universal constraints on the space of 4D $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFTs with chiral operators are presented. At the level of precision used, the conditions under which the putative "minimal" 4D $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFT may be isolated into a disconnected allowed region remain elusive. Nevertheless, new features of the bounds are found that provide further evidence for the presence of a special solution to crossing symmetry corresponding to the "minimal" 4D $\mathcal{N}=1$ SCFT., Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures; v2: Some typos fixed

Aspects of black hole thermodynamics and information loss can be derived as a consequence of Virasoro symmetry. To bolster the connection between Virasoro conformal blocks and AdS$_3$ quantum gravity, we study sl$(2)$ Chern-Simons Wilson line networks and revisit the idea that they compute a variety of CFT$_2$ observables, including Virasoro OPE blocks, exactly. We verify this in the semiclassical large central charge limit and to low orders in a perturbative $1/c$ expansion. Wilson lines connecting the boundary to points in the bulk play a natural role in bulk reconstruction. Because quantum gravity in AdS$_3$ is rigidly fixed by Virasoro symmetry, we argue that sl$(2)$ Wilson lines provide building blocks for background independent bulk reconstruction. In particular, we show explicitly that they automatically compute the uniformizing coordinates appropriate to any background state., Comment: V3- Added some references V2- Significantly Expanded Appendix on Regulation; 32+21 pages

One can obtain exact information about Virasoro conformal blocks by analytically continuing the correlators of degenerate operators. We argued in recent work that this technique can be used to explicitly resolve information loss problems in AdS$_3$/CFT$_2$. In this paper we use the technique to perform calculations in the small $1/c \propto G_N$ expansion: (1) we prove the all-orders resummation of logarithmic factors $\propto \frac{1}{c} \log z$ in the Lorentzian regime, demonstrating that $1/c$ corrections directly shift Lyapunov exponents associated with chaos, as claimed in prior work, (2) we perform another all-orders resummation in the limit of large $c$ with fixed $cz$, interpolating between the early onset of chaos and late time behavior, (3) we explicitly compute the Virasoro vacuum block to order $1/c^2$ and $1/c^3$, corresponding to $2$ and $3$ loop calculations in AdS$_3$, and (4) we derive the heavy-light vacuum blocks in theories with $\mathcal{N}=1,2$ superconformal symmetry., Comment: 34+20 pages, 2 figures

We discuss information loss from black hole physics in AdS$_3$, focusing on two sharp signatures infecting CFT$_2$ correlators at large central charge $c$: 'forbidden singularities' arising from Euclidean-time periodicity due to the effective Hawking temperature, and late-time exponential decay in the Lorentzian region. We study an infinite class of examples where forbidden singularities can be resolved by non-perturbative effects at finite $c$, and we show that the resolution has certain universal features that also apply in the general case. Analytically continuing to the Lorentzian regime, we find that the non-perturbative effects that resolve forbidden singularities qualitatively change the behavior of correlators at times $t \sim S_{BH}$, the black hole entropy. This may resolve the exponential decay of correlators at late times in black hole backgrounds. By Borel resumming the $1/c$ expansion of exact examples, we explicitly identify 'information-restoring' effects from heavy states that should correspond to classical solutions in AdS$_3$. Our results suggest a line of inquiry towards a more precise formulation of the gravitational path integral in AdS$_3$., Comment: 41+18 pages, 13 figures; v2 typos & refs; v3 intro expanded

In this paper, we prove that the "conformal collider bounds" originally proposed by Hofman and Maldacena hold for any unitary parity-preserving conformal field theory (CFT) with a unique stress tensor in spacetime dimensions larger than 2. In particular this implies that the ratio of central charges for a unitary 4d CFT lies in the interval $\frac{31}{18} \geq \frac{a}{c} \geq \frac{1}{3}$. For superconformal theories this is further reduced to $\frac{3}{2} \geq \frac{a}{c} \geq \frac{1}{2}$. The proof relies only on CFT first principles - in particular, bootstrap methods - and thus constitutes the first complete field theory proof of these bounds. We further elaborate on similar bounds for non-conserved currents and relate them to results obtained recently from deep inelastic scattering., Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures

We analytically study the lightcone limit of the conformal bootstrap equations for 4-point functions containing global symmetry currents and the stress tensor in 3d CFTs. We show that the contribution of the stress tensor to the anomalous dimensions of large spin double-twist states is negative if and only if the conformal collider physics bounds are satisfied. In the context of AdS/CFT these results indicate a relation between the attractiveness of AdS gravity and positivity of the CFT energy flux. We also study the contribution of non-Abelian conserved currents to the anomalous dimensions of double-twist operators, corresponding to the gauge binding energy of 2-particle states in AdS. We show that the representation of the double-twist state determines the sign of the gauge binding energy if and only if the coefficient appearing in the current 3-point function satisfies a similar bound, which is equivalent to an upper bound on the charge flux asymmetry of the CFT., Comment: 56 pages, 1 table

We analytically study the lightcone limit of the conformal bootstrap for 4-point functions containing scalars charged under global symmetries. We show the existence of large spin double-twist operators in various representations of the global symmetry group. We then compute their anomalous dimensions in terms of the central charge $C_T$, current central charge $C_J$, and the OPE coefficients of low dimension scalars. In AdS, these results correspond to the binding energy of two-particle states arising from the exchange of gravitons, gauge bosons, and light scalar fields. Using unitarity and crossing symmetry, we show that gravity is universal and attractive among different types of two-particle states, while the gauge binding energy can have either sign as determined by the representation of the two-particle state, with universal ratios fixed by the symmetry group. We apply our results to 4D $\mathcal{N}=1$ SQCD and the 3D O(N) vector models. We also show that in a unitary CFT, if the current central charge $C_J$ stays finite when the global symmetry group becomes infinitely large, such as the $N\rightarrow\infty$ limit of the O(N) vector model, then the theory must contain an infinite number of higher spin currents., Comment: Added comments on the weak gravity conjecture

In $\mathcal{N}=1$ superconformal theories in four dimensions the two-point function of superconformal multiplets is known up to an overall constant. A superconformal multiplet contains several conformal primary operators, whose two-point function coefficients can be determined in terms of the multiplet's quantum numbers. In this paper we work out these coefficients in full generality, i.e. for superconformal multiplets that belong to any irreducible representation of the Lorentz group with arbitrary scaling dimension and R-charge. From our results we recover the known unitarity bounds, and also find all shortening conditions, even for non-unitary theories. For the purposes of our computations we have developed a Mathematica package for the efficient handling of expansions in Grassmann variables., Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure. v2: Minor corrections. v3: Fixed typo in eq. (4.19). v4: Fixed typos. v5: Fixed more typos

We use supershadow methods to derive new expressions for superconformal blocks in 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ superconformal field theories. We analyze the four-point function $\langle\mathcal{A}_1 \mathcal{A}_2^\dagger \mathcal{B}_1 \mathcal{B}_2^\dagger\rangle$, where $\mathcal{A}_i$ and $\mathcal{B}_i$ are scalar superconformal primary operators with arbitrary dimension and $R$-charge and the exchanged operator is neutral under $R$-symmetry. Previously studied superconformal blocks for chiral operators and conserved currents are special cases of our general results., Comment: 30 pages

We develop techniques for computing superconformal blocks in 4d superconformal field theories. First we study the super-Casimir differential equation, deriving simple new expressions for superconformal blocks for 4-point functions containing chiral operators in theories with N-extended supersymmetry. We also reproduce these results by extending the "shadow formalism" of Ferrara, Gatto, Grillo, and Parisi to supersymmetric theories, where superconformal blocks can be represented as superspace integrals of three-point functions multiplied by shadow three-point functions., Comment: 32 pages

We develop a systematic and general approach to study the effective Higgs Lagrangian in a supersymmetric framework in which the Higgs fields in the visible sector couple weakly to another sector. The extra sector may be strongly coupled in general. It is assumed to be superconformal in the ultraviolet, but develop a mass-gap with supersymmetry breaking in the infrared. The main technique used in our approach is that of the operator product expansion (OPE). By using OPE methods we are able to compute the parameters in the Higgs Lagrangian to quadratic order and make general statements that are applicable to many classes of models. Not only does this approach allow us to understand the traditional problems plaguing simple models from a different perspective, it also reveals new possibilities for solutions of these problems. The methods and results of our work should be useful in constructing a viable and natural model of physics beyond the Standard Model., Comment: 34 pages. v3: Fixed a typo in eq. (3.33) and a mistake in eq. (3.34)

We establish a correspondence between superembedding and supertwistor methods for constructing 4D N = 1 SCFT correlation functions by deriving a simple relation between tensors used in the two methods. Our discussion applies equally to 4D CFTs by simply reducing all formulas to the N = 0 case.

We extend the superembedding formalism for 4D N=1 superconformal field theory (SCFT) to the case of fields in arbitrary representations of the superconformal group SU(2,2|1). As applications we obtain manifestly superconformally covariant expressions for two- and three-point functions involving conserved currents, e.g. the supercurrent multiplet or global symmetry current superfields. The embedding space results are presented in a compact form by employing an index-free formalism. Our expressions are consistent with the literature, but the manifestly covariant forms of correlators presented here are new., Comment: 26 pages

We compute the electroweak S and T parameters induced by SU(2)_L triplet scalars up to one-loop order. We consider the most general renormalizable potential for a triplet and the Standard Model Higgs doublet. Our calculation is performed by integrating out the triplet at the one-loop level and also includes the one-loop renormalization group running. Effective field theory framework allows us to work in the phase with unbroken SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y symmetry. Both S and T parameters exhibit decoupling when all dimensionful parameters are large while keeping dimensionless ratios fixed. We use bounds on S and T to constrain the triplet mass and couplings., Comment: 18 pages