@article{isbackpropagationoptimalwhensyntheticgra,
  title = {Is Backpropagation Optimal? When Synthetic Gradients Improve Sample Efficiency},
  author = {Yibo Jacky Zhang and Zeyu Tang and Sanmi Koyejo},
  year = {2026},
  eprint = {2605.27946},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27946},
}