  In this paper, we examine self-supervised learning methods, particularly
VICReg, to provide an information-theoretical understanding of their
construction. As a first step, we demonstrate how information-theoretic
quantities can be obtained for a deterministic network, offering a possible
alternative to prior work that relies on stochastic models. This enables us to
demonstrate how VICReg can be (re)discovered from first principles and its
assumptions about data distribution. Furthermore, we empirically demonstrate
the validity of our assumptions, confirming our novel understanding of VICReg.
Finally, we believe that the derivation and insights we obtain can be
generalized to many other SSL methods, opening new avenues for theoretical and
practical understanding of SSL and transfer learning.
