Part of International Conference on Representation Learning 2024 (ICLR 2024) Conference
Qiyu Kang, Kai Zhao, Qinxu Ding, Feng Ji, Xuhao Li, Wenfei Liang, Yang Song, Wee Peng Tay
We introduce the FRactional-Order graph Neural Dynamical network (FROND), a new continuous graph neural network (GNN) framework. Unlike traditional continuous GNNs that rely on integer-order differential equations, FROND employs the Caputo fractional derivative to leverage the non-local properties of fractional calculus. This approach enables the capture of long-term dependencies in feature updates, moving beyond the Markovian update mechanisms in conventional integer-order models and offering enhanced capabilities in graph representation learning. We offer an interpretation of the node feature updating process in FROND from a non-Markovian random walk perspective when the feature updating is particularly governed by a diffusion process.We demonstrate analytically that oversmoothing can be mitigated in this setting.Experimentally, we validate the FROND framework by comparing the fractional adaptations of various established integer-order continuous GNNs, demonstrating their consistently improved performance and underscoring the framework's potential as an effective extension to enhance traditional continuous GNNs.The code is available at \url{https://github.com/zknus/ICLR2024-FROND}.