Stochastic neural networks

The first purpose of this paper is to present a class of algorithms for finding the global minimum of a continuous-variable function defined on a hypercube. These algorithms, based on both diffusion processes and simulated annealing, are implementable as analog integrated circuits. Such circuits can be viewed as generalizations of neural networks of the Hopfield type, and are called “diffusion machines.” Our second objective is to show that “learning” in these networks can be achieved by a set of three interconnected diffusion machines: one that learns, one to model the desired behavior, and one to compute the weight changes.