mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

A Spectral Theory of Normalized Corrected GNN Propagation

arXiv 2606.23572 ↗First posted 22 Jun 2026cs.LGcited by 0

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Abstract (arXiv)

We develop a spectral theory for normalized corrected GNN propagation. The object of study is the symmetric normalized adjacency with its degree-stationary component removed, matching the normalization used by standard GCN-style models while isolating the stationary direction most directly tied to oversmoothing. The central theoretical question is whether this corrected normalized operator preserves class-discriminative signal after many propagation layers. Our main result is a high-probability exact-recovery theorem for the binary Contextual Stochastic Block Model after (k=O(log n)) propagation steps in the dense polylogarithmic regime (p≥ ClogB n/n), for any fixed (B>4), under explicit graph-signal and feature-SNR conditions. We also establish a multi-class partial recovery theorem showing contraction toward class centers for most nodes. Synthetic and real node-classification experiments are included as empirical checks of the theory's predicted dependence on depth, graph signal, and feature noise.

Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 34 of its 40 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 22 Jun 2026.

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34 of 40 references.

References · 34

  1. 2016Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networkscited by 11,361
  2. 2017Inductive Representation Learning on Large Graphscited by 6,320
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  5. 2013Spectral Networks and Locally Connected Networks on Graphscited by 1,102
  6. 2018Deeper Insights into Graph Convolutional Networks for Semi-Supervised Learningcited by 1,102
  7. 2018Predict then Propagate: Graph Neural Networks meet Personalized PageRankcited by 993
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  10. 2019DropEdge: Towards Deep Graph Convolutional Networks on Node Classificationcited by 680
  11. 2020Adaptive Universal Generalized PageRank Graph Neural Networkcited by 595
  12. 2019PairNorm: Tackling Oversmoothing in GNNscited by 297
22 more
  1. 2021GRAND: Graph Neural Diffusioncited by 258
  2. 2020A Note on Over-Smoothing for Graph Neural Networkscited by 249
  3. 2023A Survey on Oversmoothing in Graph Neural Networkscited by 247
  4. 2018Contextual Stochastic Block Modelscited by 134
  5. 2022Not too little, not too much: a theoretical analysis of graph (over)smoothingcited by 106
  6. 2021Graph Convolution for Semi-Supervised Classification: Improved Linear Separability and Out-of-Distribution Generalizationcited by 70
  7. 2022Generalization Analysis of Message Passing Neural Networks on Large Random Graphscited by 59
  8. 2019Stochastic Blockmodels meet Graph Neural Networkscited by 39
  9. 2024Residual Connections and Normalization Can Provably Prevent Oversmoothing in GNNscited by 34
  10. 2022Effects of Graph Convolutions in Multi-layer Networkscited by 24
  11. 2020Contextual Stochastic Block Model: Sharp Thresholds and Contiguitycited by 22
  12. 2024Generalization Bounds for Message Passing Networks on Mixture of Graphonscited by 17
  13. 2023Optimality of Message-Passing Architectures for Sparse Graphscited by 13
  14. 2024Mitigating Oversmoothing Through Reverse Process of GNNs for Heterophilic Graphscited by 10
  15. 2024Almost Surely Asymptotically Constant Graph Neural Networkscited by 7
  16. 2024Oversmoothing Alleviation in Graph Neural Networks: A Survey and Unified Viewcited by 4
  17. 2025Mamba-Based Graph Convolutional Networks: Tackling Over-smoothing with Selective State Spacecited by 4
  18. 2025KrawtchoukNet: A Unified GNN Solution for Heterophily and Over-smoothing with Adaptive Bounded Polynomialscited by 3
  19. 2024Analysis of Corrected Graph Convolutionscited by 2
  20. 2024Graph Attention is Not Always Beneficial: A Theoretical Analysis of Graph Attention Mechanisms via Contextual Stochastic Block Modelscited by 2
  21. 2025A Signed Graph Approach to Understanding and Mitigating Oversmoothing in GNNscited by 2
  22. 2025Statistical physics analysis of graph neural networks: Approaching optimality in the contextual stochastic block modelcited by 2

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