“Statistical Mechanics of Generalization”, Manfred Opper, Wolfgang Kinzel1996 (MLP NN)⁠:

We estimate a neural network’s ability to generalize from examples using ideas from statistical mechanics.

We discuss the connection between this approach and other powerful concepts from mathematical statistics, computer science, and information theory that are useful in explaining the performance of such machines. For the simplest network, the perceptron, we introduce a variety of learning problems that can be treated exactly by the replica method of statistical physics.