A physics-informed neural network method for the approximation of slow invariant manifolds for the general class of stiff systems of ODEs

We present a physics-informed neural network (PINN) approach for the discovery of slow invariant manifolds (SIMs), for the most general class of fast/slow dynamical systems of ODEs. In contrast to other machine learning (ML) approaches that construct reduced order black box surrogate models using simple regression, and/or require a priori knowledge of the fast and slow variables, our approach, simultaneously decomposes the vector field into fast and slow components and provides a functional of the underlying SIM in a closed form. The decomposition is achieved by finding a transformation of the state variables to the fast and slow ones, which enables the derivation of an explicit, in terms of fast variables, SIM functional. The latter is obtained by solving a PDE corresponding to the invariance equation within the Geometric Singular Perturbation Theory (GSPT) using a single-layer feedforward neural network with symbolic differentiation. The performance of the proposed physics-informed ML framework is assessed via three benchmark problems: the Michaelis-Menten, the target mediated drug disposition (TMDD) reaction model and a fully competitive substrate-inhibitor(fCSI) mechanism. We also provide a comparison with other GPST methods, namely the quasi steady state approximation (QSSA), the partial equilibrium approximation (PEA) and CSP with one and two iterations. We show that the proposed PINN scheme provides SIM approximations, of equivalent or even higher accuracy, than those provided by QSSA, PEA and CSP, especially close to the boundaries of the underlying SIMs.

Nonlinear Discrete-Time Observers with Physics-Informed Neural Networks

We use Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) to solve the discrete-time nonlinear observer state estimation problem. Integrated within a single-step exact observer linearization framework, the proposed PINN approach aims at learning a nonlinear state transformation map by solving a system of inhomogeneous functional equations. The performance of the proposed PINN approach is assessed via two illustrative case studies for which the observer linearizing transformation map can be derived analytically. We also perform an uncertainty quantification analysis for the proposed PINN scheme and we compare it with conventional power-series numerical implementations, which rely on the computation of a power series solution.

Tasks Makyth Models: Machine Learning Assisted Surrogates for Tipping Points

We present a machine learning (ML)-assisted framework bridging manifold learning, neural networks, Gaussian processes, and Equation-Free multiscale modeling, for (a) detecting tipping points in the emergent behavior of complex systems, and (b) characterizing probabilities of rare events (here, catastrophic shifts) near them. Our illustrative example is an event-driven, stochastic agent-based model (ABM) describing the mimetic behavior of traders in a simple financial market. Given high-dimensional spatiotemporal data -- generated by the stochastic ABM -- we construct reduced-order models for the emergent dynamics at different scales: (a) mesoscopic Integro-Partial Differential Equations (IPDEs); and (b) mean-field-type Stochastic Differential Equations (SDEs) embedded in a low-dimensional latent space, targeted to the neighborhood of the tipping point. We contrast the uses of the different models and the effort involved in learning them.

Slow Invariant Manifolds of Singularly Perturbed Systems via Physics-Informed Machine Learning

We present a physics-informed machine-learning (PIML) approach for the approximation of slow invariant manifolds (SIMs) of singularly perturbed systems, providing functionals in an explicit form that facilitate the construction and numerical integration of reduced order models (ROMs). The proposed scheme solves a partial differential equation corresponding to the invariance equation (IE) within the Geometric Singular Perturbation Theory (GSPT) framework. For the solution of the IE, we used two neural network structures, namely feedforward neural networks (FNNs), and random projection neural networks (RPNNs), with symbolic differentiation for the computation of the gradients required for the learning process. The efficiency of our PIML method is assessed via three benchmark problems, namely the Michaelis-Menten, the target mediated drug disposition reaction mechanism, and the 3D Sel'kov model. We show that the proposed PIML scheme provides approximations, of equivalent or even higher accuracy, than those provided by other traditional GSPT-based methods, and importantly, for any practical purposes, it is not affected by the magnitude of the perturbation parameter. This is of particular importance, as there are many systems for which the gap between the fast and slow timescales is not that big, but still ROMs can be constructed. A comparison of the computational costs between symbolic, automatic and numerical approximation of the required derivatives in the learning process is also provided.

Data-driven modelling of brain activity using neural networks, Diffusion Maps, and the Koopman operator

We propose a machine-learning approach to model long-term out-of-sample dynamics of brain activity from task-dependent fMRI data. Our approach is a three stage one. First, we exploit Diffusion maps (DMs) to discover a set of variables that parametrize the low-dimensional manifold on which the emergent high-dimensional fMRI time series evolve. Then, we construct reduced-order-models (ROMs) on the embedded manifold via two techniques: Feedforward Neural Networks (FNNs) and the Koopman operator. Finally, for predicting the out-of-sample long-term dynamics of brain activity in the ambient fMRI space, we solve the pre-image problem coupling DMs with Geometric Harmonics (GH) when using FNNs and the Koopman modes per se. For our illustrations, we have assessed the performance of the two proposed schemes using a benchmark fMRI dataset with recordings during a visuo-motor task. The results suggest that just a few (for the particular task, five) non-linear coordinates of the high-dimensional fMRI time series provide a good basis for modelling and out-of-sample prediction of the brain activity. Furthermore, we show that the proposed approaches outperform the one-step ahead predictions of the naive random walk model, which, in contrast to our scheme, relies on the knowledge of the signals in the previous time step. Importantly, we show that the proposed Koopman operator approach provides, for any practical purposes, equivalent results to the FNN-GH approach, thus bypassing the need to train a non-linear map and to use GH to extrapolate predictions in the ambient fMRI space; one can use instead the low-frequency truncation of the DMs function space of L^2-integrable functions, to predict the entire list of coordinate functions in the fMRI space and to solve the pre-image problem.

Discrete-Time Nonlinear Feedback Linearization via Physics-Informed Machine Learning

We present a physics-informed machine learning (PIML) scheme for the feedback linearization of nonlinear discrete-time dynamical systems. The PIML finds the nonlinear transformation law, thus ensuring stability via pole placement, in one step. In order to facilitate convergence in the presence of steep gradients in the nonlinear transformation law, we address a greedy-wise training procedure. We assess the performance of the proposed PIML approach via a benchmark nonlinear discrete map for which the feedback linearization transformation law can be derived analytically; the example is characterized by steep gradients, due to the presence of singularities, in the domain of interest. We show that the proposed PIML outperforms, in terms of numerical approximation accuracy, the traditional numerical implementation, which involves the construction--and the solution in terms of the coefficients of a power-series expansion--of a system of homological equations as well as the implementation of the PIML in the entire domain, thus highlighting the importance of continuation techniques in the training procedure of PIML.

Data-driven Control of Agent-based Models: an Equation/Variable-free Machine Learning Approach

We present an Equation/Variable free machine learning (EVFML) framework for the control of the collective dynamics of complex/multiscale systems modelled via microscopic/agent-based simulators. The approach obviates the need for construction of surrogate, reduced-order models.~The proposed implementation consists of three steps: (A) from high-dimensional agent-based simulations, machine learning (in particular, non-linear manifold learning (Diffusion Maps (DMs)) helps identify a set of coarse-grained variables that parametrize the low-dimensional manifold on which the emergent/collective dynamics evolve. The out-of-sample extension and pre-image problems, i.e. the construction of non-linear mappings from the high-dimensional input space to the low-dimensional manifold and back, are solved by coupling DMs with the Nystrom extension and Geometric Harmonics, respectively; (B) having identified the manifold and its coordinates, we exploit the Equation-free approach to perform numerical bifurcation analysis of the emergent dynamics; then (C) based on the previous steps, we design data-driven embedded wash-out controllers that drive the agent-based simulators to their intrinsic, imprecisely known, emergent open-loop unstable steady-states, thus demonstrating that the scheme is robust against numerical approximation errors and modelling uncertainty.~The efficiency of the framework is illustrated by controlling emergent unstable (i) traveling waves of a deterministic agent-based model of traffic dynamics, and (ii) equilibria of a stochastic financial market agent model with mimesis.

Parsimonious Physics-Informed Random Projection Neural Networks for Initial-Value Problems of ODEs and index-1 DAEs

We address a physics-informed neural network based on the concept of random projections for the numerical solution of IVPs of nonlinear ODEs in linear-implicit form and index-1 DAEs, which may also arise from the spatial discretization of PDEs. The scheme has a single hidden layer with appropriately randomly parametrized Gaussian kernels and a linear output layer, while the internal weights are fixed to ones. The unknown weights between the hidden and output layer are computed by Newton's iterations, using the Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse for low to medium, and sparse QR decomposition with regularization for medium to large scale systems. To deal with stiffness and sharp gradients, we propose a variable step size scheme for adjusting the interval of integration and address a continuation method for providing good initial guesses for the Newton iterations. Based on previous works on random projections, we prove the approximation capability of the scheme for ODEs in the canonical form and index-1 DAEs in the semiexplicit form. The optimal bounds of the uniform distribution are parsimoniously chosen based on the bias-variance trade-off. The performance of the scheme is assessed through seven benchmark problems: four index-1 DAEs, the Robertson model, a model of five DAEs describing the motion of a bead, a model of six DAEs describing a power discharge control problem, the chemical Akzo Nobel problem and three stiff problems, the Belousov-Zhabotinsky, the Allen-Cahn PDE and the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky PDE. The efficiency of the scheme is compared with three solvers ode23t, ode23s, ode15s of the MATLAB ODE suite. Our results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the stiff solvers in several cases, especially in regimes where high stiffness or sharp gradients arise in terms of numerical accuracy, while the computational costs are for any practical purposes comparable.

Parsimonious Random Projection Neural Networks for the Numerical Solution of Initial-Value Problems of ODEs and index-1 DAEs

We address a physics-informed neural network based on the concept of random projections for the numerical solution of IVPs of nonlinear ODEs in linear-implicit form and index-1 DAEs, which may also arise from the spatial discretization of PDEs. The scheme has a single hidden layer with appropriately randomly parametrized Gaussian kernels and a linear output layer, while the internal weights are fixed to ones. The unknown weights between the hidden and output layer are computed by Newton's iterations, using the Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse for low to medium, and sparse QR decomposition with regularization for medium to large scale systems. To deal with stiffness and sharp gradients, we propose a variable step size scheme for adjusting the interval of integration and address a continuation method for providing good initial guesses for the Newton iterations. Based on previous works on random projections, we prove the approximation capability of the scheme for ODEs in the canonical form and index-1 DAEs in the semiexplicit form. The optimal bounds of the uniform distribution are parsimoniously chosen based on the bias-variance trade-off. The performance of the scheme is assessed through seven benchmark problems: four index-1 DAEs, the Robertson model, a model of five DAEs describing the motion of a bead, a model of six DAEs describing a power discharge control problem, the chemical Akzo Nobel problem and three stiff problems, the Belousov-Zhabotinsky, the Allen-Cahn PDE and the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky PDE. The efficiency of the scheme is compared with three solvers ode23t, ode23s, ode15s of the MATLAB ODE suite. Our results show that the proposed scheme outperforms the stiff solvers in several cases, especially in regimes where high stiffness or sharp gradients arise in terms of numerical accuracy, while the computational costs are for any practical purposes comparable.

Constructing coarse-scale bifurcation diagrams from spatio-temporal observations of microscopic simulations: A parsimonious machine learning approach

We address a three-tier data-driven approach to solve the inverse problem in complex systems modelling from spatio-temporal data produced by microscopic simulators using machine learning. In the first step, we exploit manifold learning and in particular parsimonious Diffusion Maps using leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) to both identify the intrinsic dimension of the manifold where the emergent dynamics evolve and for feature selection over the parametric space. In the second step, based on the selected features, we learn the right-hand-side of the effective partial differential equations (PDEs) using two machine learning schemes, namely shallow Feedforward Neural Networks (FNNs) with two hidden layers and single-layer Random Projection Networks(RPNNs) which basis functions are constructed using an appropriate random sampling approach. Finally, based on the learned black-box PDE model, we construct the corresponding bifurcation diagram, thus exploiting the numerical bifurcation analysis toolkit. For our illustrations, we implemented the proposed method to construct the one-parameter bifurcation diagram of the 1D FitzHugh-Nagumo PDEs from data generated by $D1Q3$ Lattice Boltzmann simulations. The proposed method was quite effective in terms of numerical accuracy regarding the construction of the coarse-scale bifurcation diagram. Furthermore, the proposed RPNN scheme was $\sim$ 20 to 30 times less costly regarding the training phase than the traditional shallow FNNs, thus arising as a promising alternative to deep learning for solving the inverse problem for high-dimensional PDEs.