# Direct Acceleration of Stochastic Root-Finding Without Variance Reduction and Regularization

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.12043 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.12043/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 39 of its 58 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 12 Aug 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 39)

- [Towards Deep Learning Models Resistant to Adversarial Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.06083/) (2017)
- [SARAH: A Novel Method for Machine Learning Problems Using Stochastic Recursive Gradient](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.00102/) (2017)
- [Training GANs with Optimism](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.00141/) (2017)
- [Optimistic mirror descent in saddle-point problems: Going the extra (gradient) mile](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.02629/) (2018)
- [Katyusha: The First Direct Acceleration of Stochastic Gradient Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.05953/) (2016)
- [Near-Optimal Algorithms for Minimax Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.02417/) (2020)
- [PAGE: A Simple and Optimal Probabilistic Gradient Estimator for Nonconvex Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.10898/) (2020)
- [Accelerated Gradient Methods for Nonconvex Nonlinear and Stochastic Programming](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1310.3787/) (2013)
- [Accelerated Algorithms for Smooth Convex-Concave Minimax Problems with O(1/k2) Rate on Squared Gradient Norm](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.07922/) (2021)
- [A First Order Method for Solving Convex Bi-Level Optimization Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.03999/) (2017)
- [Fast Extra Gradient Methods for Smooth Structured Nonconvex-Nonconcave Minimax Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.02326/) (2021)
- [Halpern Iteration for Near-Optimal and Parameter-Free Monotone Inclusion and Strong Solutions to Variational Inequalities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.08872/) (2020)
- [A Universal Catalyst for First-Order Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02186/) (2015)
- [Stochastic Gradient Descent-Ascent and Consensus Optimization for Smooth Games: Convergence Analysis under Expected Co-coercivity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.00052/) (2021)
- [Stochastic Gradient Descent-Ascent: Unified Theory and New Efficient Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.07262/) (2022)
- [Accelerated Single-Call Methods for Constrained Min-Max Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03096/) (2022)
- [Stochastic Extragradient: General Analysis and Improved Rates](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.08611/) (2021)
- [Exact Optimal Accelerated Complexity for Fixed-Point Iterations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.11413/) (2022)
- [Stochastic fixed-point iterations for nonexpansive maps: Convergence and error bounds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.04193/) (2022)
- [Halpern-Type Accelerated and Splitting Algorithms For Monotone Inclusions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.08150/) (2021)
- [From Halpern's Fixed-Point Iterations to Nesterov's Accelerated Interpretations for Root-Finding Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.04869/) (2022)
- [Near-Optimal Algorithms for Making the Gradient Small in Stochastic Minimax Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.05925/) (2022)
- [Stochastic Halpern Iteration with Variance Reduction for Stochastic Monotone Inclusions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09436/) (2022)
- [ODE Analysis of Stochastic Gradient Methods with Optimism and Anchoring for Minimax Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.10899/) (2019)
- [Near-Optimal Sample Complexity for MDPs via Anchoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.04477/) (2025)
- [Stochastic Halpern iteration in normed spaces and applications to reinforcement learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.12338/) (2024)
- [Accelerating Value Iteration with Anchoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.16569/) (2023)
- [Variance Reduced Halpern Iteration for Finite-Sum Monotone Inclusions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.02987/) (2023)
- [Fast Optimistic Gradient Descent Ascent (OGDA) method in continuous and discrete time](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10947/) (2022)
- [Accelerated Minimax Algorithms Flock Together](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.11093/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Polyak-Type Extragradient Methods for Monotone Root-Finding Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.26581/) (2026)
- [Stochastic Inertial Krasnosel'skii-Mann Iteration Achieves Near-Optimal Sample Complexity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.28543/) (2026)
- [Dual-Anchor Acceleration Is Near-Optimal for Stochastic Monotone Root-Finding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.36033/) (2026)
- [Optimal Oracle Complexity for Finite-Sum Monotone Inclusions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.05038/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Acceleration for deterministic root-finding problems has been extensively studied in recent years; specifically, the anchor-based, or Halpern-type methods achieve optimal convergence rates with respect to the operator norm. However, acceleration via these methods does not directly carry over to stochastic setting due to accumulation of errors, unless one enforces diminishing variance via increasing batch sizes or variance reduction techniques. In this work, we show that another class of acceleration, namely the dual-anchor mechanism, extends to the stochastic setting without such error accumulation, in contrast to anchor-based algorithms. Consequently, we cleanly achieve O(ε-3) complexity with iteration-independent batch size, without any variance reduction or double-loop recursive regularization, for stochastic root-finding (resp. fixed-point) problems with cocoercivity (resp. square-nonexpansivity) in expectation. For strongly monotone operators, the same algorithm attains a sharper widetildeO (ε-2) complexity, nearly matching the lower bound in terms of ε-dependence.
