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Oct 30

Emergent Transfer of a Physics Foundation Model from Simulation to Laboratory Turbulence

Whether physics foundation models can be usefully deployed on laboratory experiments remains an open question for scientific machine learning (ML). We test this question on the Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI), a ubiquitous and demanding fluid instability seen from tabletop flows to supernova explosions, in which small perturbations at a density interface grow into chaotic, multiscale mixing as a lighter fluid accelerates into a heavier one. Standard ML models struggle with RTI, and despite over a century of theoretical, numerical, and experimental work, it carries an unresolved discrepancy between simulation and experiment: the late-time mixing growth rate, α, measured in most laboratory experiments (sim 0.06-0.07), is roughly three times the value from idealized direct numerical simulations (DNS, sim 0.02). The gap's origin remains debated. These properties make RTI a stringent test for a question that matters well beyond RTI: can foundation models trained only on simulations generalise to sparse, messy, and noisy laboratory settings? We finetune Walrus, a foundation model for continuum dynamics, on three or fewer DNS realizations and recover key RTI physics over long rollouts. Applied zero-shot to sliding-barrier laboratory data, the finetuned model leaves the DNS-like regime and enters the observed growth band, having never seen a single experimental sample. These results provide independent, data-driven evidence that initial conditions play a crucial role in the longstanding sim-experiment gap in α. The model also generalises zero-shot to stable stratification, a buoyancy regime absent from training, correctly slowing mixing-layer growth. Together, our results show that foundation models can generalise well beyond their training data, predicting laboratory behavior and unseen physical regimes, opening new ways to probe longstanding simulation-experiment gaps.

polymathic-ai Polymathic AI
·
May 30

Finsler Flow Matching: Dynamics-Aware Geodesic Interpolation for Single-Snapshot Trajectory Inference

Single-cell snapshot data can resolve a continuum of cellular states but do not uniquely determine the dynamics governing transitions between them. However, additional dynamical information can often be encoded in a cell-cell Markov transition kernel. Existing generative approaches for single cell trajectory inference either infer transport only from population marginals, impose a symmetric geometry on the state space, or incorporate directionality through a single velocity vector at each observed state. We introduce Finsler Flow Matching (FFM), a framework for learning continuous stochastic dynamics from discrete Markov transition graphs. We use the first and second local moments to construct a Finsler structure motivated by the Freidlin--Wentzell action, where the second moment determines anisotropic accessibility and the first moment introduces a preferred direction of motion. We learn neural approximations of the resulting directed geodesics, use their Finsler cost to construct source-target couplings, and define geometry-aware stochastic conditional paths that can be distilled into a continuous generative process through simulation-free score and flow matching. Across synthetic and single-cell trajectory inference benchmarks, FFM improves recovery of withheld intermediate populations, particularly when the transition dynamics are strongly directional or anisotropic. Our results provide a principled route from discrete transition probabilities to continuous generative dynamics while retaining both directional and diffusive structure.

  • 2 authors
·
Oct 7

Learning the Right Abstraction: Neural Reduced Dynamics for Complex Robot Control

High-fidelity embodied AI simulators provide realistic evaluation of complex robotic systems, but their computational cost limits their direct use for large-scale reinforcement learning campaigns. We advocate the use of less accurate but more expeditious simulations, which might draw on data-driven, e.g., neural dynamics, models. This contribution argues that the practical value of a neural dynamics model for complex robot control lies in learning the right abstraction: a reduced state that preserves the control-relevant physics of the high-fidelity system while enabling high-throughput policy learning. We develop a neural reduced dynamics (NRD) framework that separates the state the model propagates from what can be supplied as an input or recovered analytically, trains policies entirely inside the frozen learned model, and validates them back in the high-fidelity simulator. Two case studies instantiate it across three control tasks: terrain-aware HMMWV trajectory tracking on rigid, bumpy and deformable Continuum Representation Model (CRM) terrain; and goal reaching for a stock tracked vehicle and its front-mounted articulated arm. Every policy transfers back to the high-fidelity simulator. A single policy trained inside the terrain-conditioned dynamics model, and given no terrain input of its own, attains lower median and mean tracking error than both single-terrain specialists on all three terrains, including zero-shot bumpy terrain. Quantitatively, the tracked vehicle reaches 100 of 100 goals and the arm 97 of 100, with zero contacts or joint-limit violations. The NRD models advance roughly four orders of magnitude faster in simulated time than the high-fidelity simulator scenes they replace, making iterative on-policy learning practical and supporting neural reduced dynamics as a bridge between accurate but expensive physics simulation and scalable robot learning.

  • 2 authors
·
Aug 18

Living Capillary Bridges

Biological tissues exhibit complex behaviors with their dynamics often resembling inert soft matter such as liquids, polymers, colloids, and liquid crystals. These analogies enable physics-based approaches for investigations of emergent behaviors in biological processes. A well-studied case is the spreading of cellular aggregates on solid surfaces, where they display dynamics similar to viscous droplets. In vivo, however, cells and tissues are in a confined environment with varying geometries and mechanical properties to which they need to adapt. In this work, we compressed cellular aggregates between two solid surfaces and studied their dynamics using microscopy, and computer simulations. The confined cellular aggregates transitioned from compressed spheres into dynamic living capillary bridges exhibiting bridge thinning and a convex-to-concave meniscus curvature transition. We found that the stability of the bridge is determined by the interplay between cell growth and cell spreading on the confining surfaces. This interaction leads to bridge rupture at a critical length scale determined by the distance between the plates. The force distributions, formation and stability regimes of the living capillary bridges were characterized with full 3D computer simulations that included cell division, migration and growth dynamics, directly showing how mechanical principles govern the behavior of the living bridges; cellular aggregates display jamming and stiffening analogously to granular matter, and cell division along the long axis enhances thinning. Based on our results, we propose a new class of active soft matter behavior, where cellular aggregates exhibit liquid-like adaptation to confinement, but with self-organized rupturing driven by biological activity.

  • 8 authors
·
Oct 16, 2025

Protein Language Model Embeddings Improve Generalization of Implicit Transfer Operators

Molecular dynamics (MD) is a central computational tool in physics, chemistry, and biology, enabling quantitative prediction of experimental observables as expectations over high-dimensional molecular distributions such as Boltzmann distributions and transition densities. However, conventional MD is fundamentally limited by the high computational cost required to generate independent samples. Generative molecular dynamics (GenMD) has recently emerged as an alternative, learning surrogates of molecular distributions either from data or through interaction with energy models. While these methods enable efficient sampling, their transferability across molecular systems is often limited. In this work, we show that incorporating auxiliary sources of information can improve the data efficiency and generalization of transferable implicit transfer operators (TITO) for molecular dynamics. We find that coarse-grained TITO models are substantially more data-efficient than Boltzmann Emulators, and that incorporating protein language model (pLM) embeddings further improves out-of-distribution generalization. Our approach, PLaTITO, achieves state-of-the-art performance on equilibrium sampling benchmarks for out-of-distribution protein systems, including fast-folding proteins. We further study the impact of additional conditioning signals -- such as structural embeddings, temperature, and large-language-model-derived embeddings -- on model performance.

  • 4 authors
·
Feb 11

DyFraNet: Forecasting and Backcasting Dynamic Fracture Mechanics in Space and Time Using a 2D-to-3D Deep Neural Network

The dynamics of materials failure is one of the most critical phenomena in a range of scientific and engineering fields, from healthcare to structural materials to transportation. In this paper we propose a specially designed deep neural network, DyFraNet, which can predict dynamic fracture behaviors by identifying a complete history of fracture propagation - from cracking onset, as a crack grows through the material, modeled as a series of frames evolving over time and dependent on each other. Furthermore, this model can not only forecast future fracture processes but also backcast to elucidate the past fracture history. In this scenario, once provided with the outcome of a fracture event, the model will elucidate past events that led to this state and will predict the future evolution of the failure process. By comparing the predicted results with atomistic-level simulations and theory, we show that DyFraNet can capture dynamic fracture mechanics by accurately predicting how cracks develop over time, including measures such as the crack speed, as well as when cracks become unstable. We use GradCAM to interpret how DyFraNet perceives the relationship between geometric conditions and fracture dynamics and we find DyFraNet pays special attention to the areas around crack tips, which have a critical influence in the early stage of fracture propagation. In later stages, the model pays increased attention to the existing or newly formed damage distribution in the material. The proposed approach offers significant potential to accelerate the exploration of the dynamics in material design against fracture failures and can be beneficially adapted for all kinds of dynamical engineering problems.

  • 2 authors
·
Nov 15, 2022

Stochastic gradient descent on the epigenetic landscape: a unified framework for cellular plasticity, tumor heterogeneity, and the asymptotic irrelevance of fitness

Phenotypic plasticity, the ability of cells to switch between states, is central to development, differentiation, and therapy resistance. Although it is modeled at several scales, from compartmental ODEs to phenotype-structured PDEs and single-cell stochastic equations, a framework connecting these descriptions is missing. We present such a framework. Starting from a general n-compartment ODE model encompassing nonlinear growth and linear transitions between phenotypes, we show, with a new, elementary and generalizable proof of a recent theorem, that under uniform competition, the long-term population distribution is solely governed by transition rates. All phenotypes become selectively neutral at saturation, and the imprint of fitness differences during growth fades at an explicit rate. Restricting transitions to neighboring states transforms the model into a discretization of a phenotype-structured reaction-diffusion-advection PDE. In this continuum model, diffusion and advection are identified from switching rates, and fitness remains asymptotically irrelevant. Interpreting the advection velocity as the negative gradient of an effective epigenetic potential transforms the PDE into a Fokker--Planck equation and converts single-cell trajectories into stochastic gradient descent (SGD) in the Langevin sense on the phenotypic landscape. Non-local transitions, such as mutations, are incorporated via an integro-differential term, yielding a unified model with reaction, gradient flow, diffusion, and jumps. State-dependent noise reshapes the effective landscape without altering the underlying potential. This gives cancer a route to elevated plasticity that static, single-cell snapshots cannot distinguish from a changed landscape. This framework provides a physical interpretation of Waddington's landscape, where cells perform SGD, and cancer corresponds to a corrupted landscape.

  • 1 authors
·
Sep 28

Dead or alive: Distinguishing active from passive particles using supervised learning

A longstanding open question in the field of dense disordered matter is how precisely structure and dynamics are related to each other. With the advent of machine learning, it has become possible to agnostically predict the dynamic propensity of a particle in a dense liquid based on its local structural environment. Thus far, however, these machine-learning studies have focused almost exclusively on simple liquids composed of passive particles. Here we consider a mixture of both passive and active (i.e.\ self-propelled) Brownian particles, with the aim to identify the active particles from minimal local structural information. We compare a state-of-the-art machine learning approach for passive systems with a new method we develop based on Voronoi tessellation. Both methods accurately identify the active particles based on their structural properties at high activity and low concentrations of active particles. Our Voronoi method is, however, substantially faster to train and deploy because it requires fewer, and easy to compute, input features. Notably, both become ineffective when the activity is low, suggesting a fundamentally different structural signature for dynamic propensity and non-equilibrium activity. Ultimately, these efforts might also find relevance in the context of biological active glasses such as confluent cell layers, where subtle changes in the microstructure can hint at pathological changes in cell dynamics.

  • 7 authors
·
May 21, 2023

A Cumulative Framework for Solid Deformation

A cumulative variational framework for solid deformation is proposed. Its central organizing principle is the recursive combination of three structural components of one material body: a compatible Cosserat component, a distributed-incompatibility component, and a defect-source component. At any prescribed external condition these components constitute a combined material state. They are governed under common physical boundary and initial conditions and are coupled through one cumulative energy and the associated field equations. They are not separate boundary-value problems and need not appear in a prescribed temporal sequence. The cumulative character of the framework concerns the response of the combined state to variation of externally prescribed conditions. For the special case of an initially perfect body, loss of stability may produce successive branches with defect and then source participation. Such a sequence is a bifurcation property of the selected initial state and constitutive energy, rather than a defining hierarchy of the framework. A one-dimensional specialization illustrates structural bifurcation, residual deformation and residual stress produced by retained structure, dependence on the initial combined state, directional memory under reverse loading, parametric cumulative hysteresis, and changes of observable tangent stiffness associated with structural stabilization. A spatial extension introduces defect and source gradient terms and yields a size-dependent structural stability operator. For the stable quartic energy considered, the gradient terms regularize nonuniform perturbations but do not by themselves generate a finite-wavelength localization instability on an already stable three-component branch. The examples thereby distinguish consequences of the cumulative structure and energy from phenomena requiring additional constitutive evolution laws.

  • 1 authors
·
Sep 16

DyMixOp: Guiding Neural Operator Design for PDEs from a Complex Dynamics Perspective with Local-Global-Mixing

A primary challenge in using neural networks to approximate nonlinear dynamical systems governed by partial differential equations (PDEs) is transforming these systems into a suitable format, especially when dealing with non-linearizable dynamics or the need for infinite-dimensional spaces for linearization. This paper introduces DyMixOp, a novel neural operator framework for PDEs that integrates insights from complex dynamical systems to address this challenge. Grounded in inertial manifold theory, DyMixOp transforms infinite-dimensional nonlinear PDE dynamics into a finite-dimensional latent space, establishing a structured foundation that maintains essential nonlinear interactions and enhances physical interpretability. A key innovation is the Local-Global-Mixing (LGM) transformation, inspired by convection dynamics in turbulence. This transformation effectively captures both fine-scale details and nonlinear interactions, while mitigating spectral bias commonly found in existing neural operators. The framework is further strengthened by a dynamics-informed architecture that connects multiple LGM layers to approximate linear and nonlinear dynamics, reflecting the temporal evolution of dynamical systems. Experimental results across diverse PDE benchmarks demonstrate that DyMixOp achieves state-of-the-art performance, significantly reducing prediction errors, particularly in convection-dominated scenarios reaching up to 86.7\%, while maintaining computational efficiency and scalability.

  • 3 authors
·
Aug 18, 2025

Analysis of grid instabilities in particle-in-cell codes based on a meshfree approach

A new method of analyzing grid, or aliasing, instabilities is described, in particle-in-cell (PIC) codes for plasma kinetic theory. It starts with a meshfree approach with N_{p} macroparticles, with N_{p}<infty. Linearization of these equations is done about a uniform density non-drifting equilibrium prescribed by macroparticles on a uniform lattice. Macroparticle positions perturbations are induced about this lattice. The resulting linear equations are analyzed for stability and dispersion relations. The linearized equations are then discretized on a grid of N_{g} points with N_{g} le N_{p}, in both momentum conserving (MCP) and energy conserving (ECP) formulations. For a cold stationary plasma, this leads a dynamical matrix. For ECP, the matrix is symmetric and positive definite (SPD) and immediately shows stability. For MCP, the dynamical matrix is neither symmetric nor positive definite, preventing immediate conclusions on stability. For both MCP and ECP and for a cold stationary plasma, the resulting matrix elements vary relative to the meshfree value, a result of aliasing. This deviation is periodic in the displacement of the particle lattice relative to the grid. In the MCP discretization, eigenvalues occur in complex conjugate pairs for general placement of the particle lattice relative to the grid. These conjugate pairs indicate nonnegative growth rates. The nature of the aliasing is studied and shown to be related to the trapezoidal rule error over the grid. The scaling of the linear growth rates with respect to N_{g} and especially with respect to N_{ppc} is studied. These analytical results are compared with PIC simulations and found to be in excellent agreement. The connection with a cold drifting beam is discussed briefly, specifically, grid-induced instabilities for both the MCP and ECP.

  • 2 authors
·
Sep 30

Resource supply dynamics control stability and chaos in complex ecosystems

Ecological interactions are often mediated by feedbacks between organisms and their resource environments. Yet, how resource supply dynamics dictate collective dynamical phases of an ecosystem remains unclear. Here, we analyse a generalised consumer--resource model with non-reciprocal interactions to demonstrate that self-renewing versus externally-supplied resources yield fundamentally different dynamical phase diagrams. As interactions become increasingly non-reciprocal, ecosystems relying on self-renewing resources transition from stable dynamics to chaos and ultimately to infeasibility. By contrast, ecosystems with externally-supplied resources remain stable over a broader parameter range and transition to infeasibility without experiencing an intervening chaotic phase. Using the cavity method, we derive a unified stability condition applicable to a broad class of resource supply functions, explaining why externally-supplied resources can expand the stable region. We show that stability hinges crucially on the susceptibility of resources to perturbations, which depends strongly on their supply. Further, we show that external resource supply suppresses chaos in the unstable region by drastically reducing the susceptibility of resources closest to extinction. Our findings demonstrate that resource dynamics fundamentally reshape the accessible dynamical behaviours of an ecosystem, with implications for interpreting microbial community experiments.

  • 3 authors
·
Aug 30

Droplet-triggered Faraday waves in a vertically forced bath

Repeated impacts of a droplet on a vertically forced bath can produce a growing Faraday-wave response under forcing conditions for which the corresponding initially undisturbed bath remains linearly stable. We investigate this mechanism using axisymmetric two-phase direct numerical simulations over a wide range of Reynolds and Weber numbers. The resulting phenomenological regime map identifies quasi-periodic, decaying, faint, and unstable-bath responses. Along the parameter path considered here, the transition to the unstable-bath regime occurs over a narrow range of Weber numbers and varies only weakly with Reynolds number. In the unstable regime, the bath develops a coherent subharmonic response at half the forcing frequency, while disturbances in the decaying regime remain broadband and weaken between successive rebounds. Bath-only simulations show that a finite-amplitude perturbation representative of droplet impact can seed the confined radial mode susceptible to parametric forcing, initiating a growing subharmonic response below the linear instability threshold of the initially flat bath. A reduced capillary-dominated model provides a scaling estimate for the impact-equivalent perturbation amplitude, and bath-only simulations initialized with these perturbations reproduce the bounded-to-growing transition observed in the coupled simulations. Floquet analysis of the finite cylindrical bath identifies the first axisymmetric Neumann mode as having the lowest subharmonic instability threshold. A time-resolved Bessel decomposition independently shows that the growing bath response is dominated by the same radial mode, while the droplet-induced subharmonic response projects predominantly onto this structure. These results identify a finite-amplitude route by which localized droplet impacts can access Faraday-wave dynamics below the linear onset threshold of an initially undisturbed bath.

  • 2 authors
·
Oct 3

Reward-Consistent Dynamics Models are Strongly Generalizable for Offline Reinforcement Learning

Learning a precise dynamics model can be crucial for offline reinforcement learning, which, unfortunately, has been found to be quite challenging. Dynamics models that are learned by fitting historical transitions often struggle to generalize to unseen transitions. In this study, we identify a hidden but pivotal factor termed dynamics reward that remains consistent across transitions, offering a pathway to better generalization. Therefore, we propose the idea of reward-consistent dynamics models: any trajectory generated by the dynamics model should maximize the dynamics reward derived from the data. We implement this idea as the MOREC (Model-based Offline reinforcement learning with Reward Consistency) method, which can be seamlessly integrated into previous offline model-based reinforcement learning (MBRL) methods. MOREC learns a generalizable dynamics reward function from offline data, which is subsequently employed as a transition filter in any offline MBRL method: when generating transitions, the dynamics model generates a batch of transitions and selects the one with the highest dynamics reward value. On a synthetic task, we visualize that MOREC has a strong generalization ability and can surprisingly recover some distant unseen transitions. On 21 offline tasks in D4RL and NeoRL benchmarks, MOREC improves the previous state-of-the-art performance by a significant margin, i.e., 4.6% on D4RL tasks and 25.9% on NeoRL tasks. Notably, MOREC is the first method that can achieve above 95% online RL performance in 6 out of 12 D4RL tasks and 3 out of 9 NeoRL tasks.

  • 4 authors
·
Oct 9, 2023

Limits and Powers of Koopman Learning

Dynamical systems provide a comprehensive way to study complex and changing behaviors across various sciences. Many modern systems are too complicated to analyze directly or we do not have access to models, driving significant interest in learning methods. Koopman operators have emerged as a dominant approach because they allow the study of nonlinear dynamics using linear techniques by solving an infinite-dimensional spectral problem. However, current algorithms face challenges such as lack of convergence, hindering practical progress. This paper addresses a fundamental open question: When can we robustly learn the spectral properties of Koopman operators from trajectory data of dynamical systems, and when can we not? Understanding these boundaries is crucial for analysis, applications, and designing algorithms. We establish a foundational approach that combines computational analysis and ergodic theory, revealing the first fundamental barriers -- universal for any algorithm -- associated with system geometry and complexity, regardless of data quality and quantity. For instance, we demonstrate well-behaved smooth dynamical systems on tori where non-trivial eigenfunctions of the Koopman operator cannot be determined by any sequence of (even randomized) algorithms, even with unlimited training data. Additionally, we identify when learning is possible and introduce optimal algorithms with verification that overcome issues in standard methods. These results pave the way for a sharp classification theory of data-driven dynamical systems based on how many limits are needed to solve a problem. These limits characterize all previous methods, presenting a unified view. Our framework systematically determines when and how Koopman spectral properties can be learned.

  • 3 authors
·
Jul 8, 2024

A Topological and Operator Algebraic Framework for Asynchronous Lattice Dynamical Systems

I introduce a novel mathematical framework integrating topological dynamics, operator algebras, and ergodic geometry to study lattices of asynchronous metric dynamical systems. Each node in the lattice carries an internal flow represented by a one-parameter family of operators, evolving on its own time scale. I formalize stratified state spaces capturing multiple levels of synchronized behavior, define an asynchronous evolution metric that quantifies phase-offset distances between subsystems, and characterize emergent coherent topologies arising when subsystems synchronize. Within this framework, I develop formal operators for the evolution of each subsystem and give precise conditions under which phase-aligned synchronization occurs across the lattice. The main results include: (1) the existence and uniqueness of coherent (synchronized) states under a contractive coupling condition, (2) stability of these coherent states and criteria for their emergence as a collective phase transition in a continuous operator topology, and (3) the influence of symmetries, with group-invariant coupling leading to flow-invariant synchrony subspaces and structured cluster dynamics. Proofs are given for each theorem, demonstrating full mathematical rigor. In a final section, I discuss hypothetical applications of this framework to symbolic lattice systems (e.g. subshifts), to invariant group actions on dynamical lattices, and to operator fields over stratified manifolds in the spirit of noncommutative geometry. Throughout, I write in the first person to emphasize the exploratory nature of this work. The paper avoids any reference to cosmology or observers, focusing instead on clean, formal mathematics suitable for a broad array of dynamical systems.

  • 1 authors
·
May 14, 2025

Diffusion limits of cyclic finite-velocity random motions along vector fields

We investigate diffusion approximations for a class of multivariate inhomogeneous finite-velocity random motions motivated by models of active particles. A particle alternates cyclically among prescribed velocity fields V_1,dots,V_p with random run times and evolves according to either a flight dynamics, consisting of piecewise-linear motion, or a gliding dynamics, in which the particle follows the corresponding velocity flow. Under a Kac-type scaling that couples vanishing run times with diverging particle speed, we prove weak convergence of both processes to multidimensional diffusions. It turns out that the order of successive cyclic motions affects the diffusion limit. In addition to the second-order term generated by fluctuations of the random run times, the limiting drift contains directional derivatives DV_i[V_j] of the underlying vector fields. In Stratonovich form, part of this drift is expressed through their Lie brackets [V_i,V_j]. Thus, the generic non-commutativity of the microscopic motions survives the diffusive scaling and generates a macroscopic drift which depends on the cyclic order. The limiting drift also distinguishes the flight and gliding dynamics, despite their being driven by the same vector fields and run times. Several examples, including run-and-reverse motion and cyclic dynamics generated by multiple vector fields, illustrate how the cyclic switching protocol and the geometry of the underlying velocity fields shape the limiting diffusions.

  • 3 authors
·
Aug 30 1

Continual Model-Based Reinforcement Learning with Hypernetworks

Effective planning in model-based reinforcement learning (MBRL) and model-predictive control (MPC) relies on the accuracy of the learned dynamics model. In many instances of MBRL and MPC, this model is assumed to be stationary and is periodically re-trained from scratch on state transition experience collected from the beginning of environment interactions. This implies that the time required to train the dynamics model - and the pause required between plan executions - grows linearly with the size of the collected experience. We argue that this is too slow for lifelong robot learning and propose HyperCRL, a method that continually learns the encountered dynamics in a sequence of tasks using task-conditional hypernetworks. Our method has three main attributes: first, it includes dynamics learning sessions that do not revisit training data from previous tasks, so it only needs to store the most recent fixed-size portion of the state transition experience; second, it uses fixed-capacity hypernetworks to represent non-stationary and task-aware dynamics; third, it outperforms existing continual learning alternatives that rely on fixed-capacity networks, and does competitively with baselines that remember an ever increasing coreset of past experience. We show that HyperCRL is effective in continual model-based reinforcement learning in robot locomotion and manipulation scenarios, such as tasks involving pushing and door opening. Our project website with videos is at this link https://rvl.cs.toronto.edu/blog/2020/hypercrl

  • 4 authors
·
Sep 24, 2020

Meta Flow Matching: Integrating Vector Fields on the Wasserstein Manifold

Numerous biological and physical processes can be modeled as systems of interacting entities evolving continuously over time, e.g. the dynamics of communicating cells or physical particles. Learning the dynamics of such systems is essential for predicting the temporal evolution of populations across novel samples and unseen environments. Flow-based models allow for learning these dynamics at the population level - they model the evolution of the entire distribution of samples. However, current flow-based models are limited to a single initial population and a set of predefined conditions which describe different dynamics. We argue that multiple processes in natural sciences have to be represented as vector fields on the Wasserstein manifold of probability densities. That is, the change of the population at any moment in time depends on the population itself due to the interactions between samples. In particular, this is crucial for personalized medicine where the development of diseases and their respective treatment response depends on the microenvironment of cells specific to each patient. We propose Meta Flow Matching (MFM), a practical approach to integrating along these vector fields on the Wasserstein manifold by amortizing the flow model over the initial populations. Namely, we embed the population of samples using a Graph Neural Network (GNN) and use these embeddings to train a Flow Matching model. This gives MFM the ability to generalize over the initial distributions unlike previously proposed methods. We demonstrate the ability of MFM to improve prediction of individual treatment responses on a large scale multi-patient single-cell drug screen dataset.

  • 8 authors
·
Aug 26, 2024 2

Persistent homology of the cosmic web. I: Hierarchical topology in ΛCDM cosmologies

Using a set of LambdaCDM simulations of cosmic structure formation, we study the evolving connectivity and changing topological structure of the cosmic web using state-of-the-art tools of multiscale topological data analysis (TDA). We follow the development of the cosmic web topology in terms of the evolution of Betti number curves and feature persistence diagrams of the three (topological) classes of structural features: matter concentrations, filaments and tunnels, and voids. The Betti curves specify the prominence of features as a function of density level, and their evolution with cosmic epoch reflects the changing network connections between these structural features. The persistence diagrams quantify the longevity and stability of topological features. In this study we establish, for the first time, the link between persistence diagrams, the features they show, and the gravitationally driven cosmic structure formation process. By following the diagrams' development over cosmic time, the link between the multiscale topology of the cosmic web and the hierarchical buildup of cosmic structure is established. The sharp apexes in the diagrams are intimately related to key transitions in the structure formation process. The apex in the matter concentration diagrams coincides with the density level at which, typically, they detach from the Hubble expansion and begin to collapse. At that level many individual islands merge to form the network of the cosmic web and a large number of filaments and tunnels emerge to establish its connecting bridges. The location trends of the apex possess a self-similar character that can be related to the cosmic web's hierarchical buildup. We find that persistence diagrams provide a significantly higher and more profound level of information on the structure formation process than more global summary statistics like Euler characteristic or Betti numbers.

  • 8 authors
·
Nov 25, 2020

Beyond the Ergodic Wall: A Discrete Geometric Physics Sandbox for Analysing AI Scaling Limits and Complexity Collapse

This paper exposes the ergodic ceiling and thermodynamic inefficiency of current deep learning, which converges to a statistical average of historic human knowledge. True semantic novelty requires a path-dependent, spatiotemporally bounded observer (a Data LifeCone) to inject non-ergodic insight, achieving KL divergence and avoiding manifold lock-in. AI Safety must recognise that a mature Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) would regard human-AI symbiosis as a thermodynamic necessity to avoid model collapse. We therefore propose hard physical containment via a digital physics sandbox powered by a Holographic E8 Projection Engine to verify models against real-world constraints. Spacetime is modeled as an information substrate of nested face-centered cubic (FCC) lattices of oscillating Planck-scale spheres maximizing local information and entropy density. Cut-and-project methods from the E8 root lattice produce a quasi-crystalline geometry where tetrahedral voids support SU chiral structure and elastic-shear eigenvalues generate candidate mass spectra. Rest mass is treated as discrete, integer microstate counts on local holographic boundaries (Bekenstein bound), replacing floating-point approximations with strict integer arithmetic to provide an information-theoretic definition of matter. Stable particles emerge as recurring lattice dislocations, and continuum recovery proceeds via variational renormalisation-group flows and Fourier Neural Operators that learn continuous spectral operators to recover the Schrödinger equation as an emergent statistical description. Crucially, these top-down topological constraints offer a mechanism for "NP-to-P" complexity collapse: by restricting an algorithm's proposal space to physically conserved causal trajectories, the sandbox prunes the combinatorial tree to deterministic, polynomial-time paths.

  • 1 authors
·
Oct 6

Force-Free Molecular Dynamics Through Autoregressive Equivariant Networks

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations play a crucial role in scientific research. Yet their computational cost often limits the timescales and system sizes that can be explored. Most data-driven efforts have been focused on reducing the computational cost of accurate interatomic forces required for solving the equations of motion. Despite their success, however, these machine learning interatomic potentials (MLIPs) are still bound to small time-steps. In this work, we introduce TrajCast, a transferable and data-efficient framework based on autoregressive equivariant message passing networks that directly updates atomic positions and velocities lifting the constraints imposed by traditional numerical integration. We benchmark our framework across various systems, including a small molecule, crystalline material, and bulk liquid, demonstrating excellent agreement with reference MD simulations for structural, dynamical, and energetic properties. Depending on the system, TrajCast allows for forecast intervals up to 30times larger than traditional MD time-steps, generating over 15 ns of trajectory data per day for a solid with more than 4,000 atoms. By enabling efficient large-scale simulations over extended timescales, TrajCast can accelerate materials discovery and explore physical phenomena beyond the reach of traditional simulations and experiments. An open-source implementation of TrajCast is accessible under https://github.com/IBM/trajcast.

  • 6 authors
·
Mar 31, 2025

amangkurat: A Python Library for Symplectic Pseudo-Spectral Solution of the Idealized (1+1)D Nonlinear Klein-Gordon Equation

This study introduces amangkurat, an open-source Python library designed for the robust numerical simulation of relativistic scalar field dynamics governed by the nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation in (1+1)D spacetime. The software implements a hybrid computational strategy that couples Fourier pseudo-spectral spatial discretization with a symplectic Størmer-Verlet temporal integrator, ensuring both exponential spatial convergence for smooth solutions and long-term preservation of Hamiltonian structure. To optimize performance, the solver incorporates adaptive timestepping based on Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) stability criteria and utilizes Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation for parallelized force computation. The library's capabilities are validated across four canonical physical regimes: dispersive linear wave propagation, static topological kink preservation in phi-fourth theory, integrable breather dynamics in the sine-Gordon model, and non-integrable kink-antikink collisions. Beyond standard numerical validation, this work establishes a multi-faceted analysis framework employing information-theoretic entropy metrics (Shannon, Rényi, and Tsallis), kernel density estimation, and phase space reconstruction to quantify the distinct phenomenological signatures of these regimes. Statistical hypothesis testing confirms that these scenarios represent statistically distinguishable dynamical populations. Benchmarks on standard workstation hardware demonstrate that the implementation achieves high computational efficiency, making it a viable platform for exploratory research and education in nonlinear field theory.

  • 2 authors
·
Dec 27, 2025

Chaos as an interpretable benchmark for forecasting and data-driven modelling

The striking fractal geometry of strange attractors underscores the generative nature of chaos: like probability distributions, chaotic systems can be repeatedly measured to produce arbitrarily-detailed information about the underlying attractor. Chaotic systems thus pose a unique challenge to modern statistical learning techniques, while retaining quantifiable mathematical properties that make them controllable and interpretable as benchmarks. Here, we present a growing database currently comprising 131 known chaotic dynamical systems spanning fields such as astrophysics, climatology, and biochemistry. Each system is paired with precomputed multivariate and univariate time series. Our dataset has comparable scale to existing static time series databases; however, our systems can be re-integrated to produce additional datasets of arbitrary length and granularity. Our dataset is annotated with known mathematical properties of each system, and we perform feature analysis to broadly categorize the diverse dynamics present across the collection. Chaotic systems inherently challenge forecasting models, and across extensive benchmarks we correlate forecasting performance with the degree of chaos present. We also exploit the unique generative properties of our dataset in several proof-of-concept experiments: surrogate transfer learning to improve time series classification, importance sampling to accelerate model training, and benchmarking symbolic regression algorithms.

  • 1 authors
·
Oct 11, 2021

Dynamical Excitation as a probe of planetary origins

We present a set of numerical simulations of the dynamical evolution of compact planetary systems migrating in a protoplanetary disk whose inner edge is sculpted by the interaction with the stellar magnetic field, as described in Yu et al. (2023). We demonstrate that the resulting final distribution of neighbouring planet period ratios contains only a small surviving fraction of resonant systems, in accordance with observations. The resulting planetary architectures are largely in place by the end of the protoplanetary disk phase (within a few Myr), and do not require significant later dynamical evolution. The divergence of planetary pairs during gas disk dispersal also leads to the excitation of eccentricities when pairs cross mean motion resonances in a divergent fashion. The resulting distribution of remnant free eccentricities is consistent with the values inferred from the observation of transit durations and transit timing variations. We furthermore demonstrate that this conclusion is not significantly altered by tides, assuming standard values for tidal dissipation in Earth or Neptune-class planets. These results demonstrate that the observed spacing and residual dynamical excitation of compact planetary systems can be reproduced by migration through a protoplanetary disk, as long as the inner disk boundary is modelled as a gradual rollover, instead of a sharp transition. Such an effect can be achieved when the model accounts for the diffusion of the stellar magnetic field into the disk. The resulting divergence of planetary pairs during the magnetospheric rebound phase breaks the resonant chains, resulting in a better match to observations than disk models with more traditional inner boundaries.

  • 4 authors
·
Oct 1, 2025

Space and Time Continuous Physics Simulation From Partial Observations

Modern techniques for physical simulations rely on numerical schemes and mesh-refinement methods to address trade-offs between precision and complexity, but these handcrafted solutions are tedious and require high computational power. Data-driven methods based on large-scale machine learning promise high adaptivity by integrating long-range dependencies more directly and efficiently. In this work, we focus on fluid dynamics and address the shortcomings of a large part of the literature, which are based on fixed support for computations and predictions in the form of regular or irregular grids. We propose a novel setup to perform predictions in a continuous spatial and temporal domain while being trained on sparse observations. We formulate the task as a double observation problem and propose a solution with two interlinked dynamical systems defined on, respectively, the sparse positions and the continuous domain, which allows to forecast and interpolate a solution from the initial condition. Our practical implementation involves recurrent GNNs and a spatio-temporal attention observer capable of interpolating the solution at arbitrary locations. Our model not only generalizes to new initial conditions (as standard auto-regressive models do) but also performs evaluation at arbitrary space and time locations. We evaluate on three standard datasets in fluid dynamics and compare to strong baselines, which are outperformed both in classical settings and in the extended new task requiring continuous predictions.

  • 4 authors
·
Jan 17, 2024

Elastic theory of low-dimensional continua and its applications in bio- and nano-structures

This review presents the elastic theory of low-dimensional (one- and two-dimensional) continua and its applications in bio- and nano-structures. First, the curve and surface theory, as the geometric representation of the low-dimensional continua, is briefly described through Cartan moving frame method. The elastic theory of Kirchhoff rod, Helfrich rod, bending-soften rod, fluid membrane, and solid shell is revisited. Secondly, the application and availability of the elastic theory of low-dimensional continua in bio-structures, including short DNA rings, lipid membranes, and cell membranes, are discussed. The kink stability of short DNA rings is addressed by using the theory of Kirchhoff rod, Helfrich rod, and bending-soften rod. The lipid membranes obey the theory of fluid membrane. A cell membrane is simplified as a composite shell of lipid bilayer and membrane skeleton, which is a little similar to the solid shell. It is found that the membrane skeleton enhances highly the mechanical stability of cell membranes. Thirdly, the application and availability of the elastic theory of low-dimensional continua in nano-structures, including graphene and carbon nanotubes, are discussed. A revised Lenosky lattice model is proposed based on the local density approximation. Its continuum form up to the second order terms of curvatures and strains is the same as the free energy of 2D solid shells. Several typical mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes are revisited and investigated based on this continuum form. It is possible to avoid introducing the controversial concepts, the Young's modulus and thickness of graphene and single-walled carbon nanotubes, with this continuum form.

  • 2 authors
·
May 31, 2008

FISC: A Fluid-Inspired Framework for Decentralized and Scalable Swarm Control

Achieving scalable coordination in large robotic swarms is often constrained by reliance on inter-agent communication, which introduces latency, bandwidth limitations, and vulnerability to failure. To address this gap, a decentralized approach for outer-loop control of large multi-agent systems based on the paradigm of how a fluid moves through a volume is proposed and evaluated. A relationship between fundamental fluidic element properties and individual robotic agent states is developed such that the corresponding swarm "flows" through a space, akin to a fluid when forced via a pressure boundary condition. By ascribing fluid-like properties to subsets of agents, the swarm evolves collectively while maintaining desirable structure and coherence without explicit communication of agent states within or outside of the swarm. The approach is evaluated using simulations involving O(10^3) quadcopter agents and compared against Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solutions for a converging-diverging domain. Quantitative agreement between swarm-derived and CFD fields is assessed using Root-Mean-Square Error (RMSE), yielding normalized errors of 0.15-0.9 for velocity, 0.61-0.98 for density, 0-0.937 for pressure. These results demonstrate the feasibility of treating large robotic swarms as continuum systems that retain the macroscopic structure derived from first principles, providing a basis for scalable and decentralized control.

  • 3 authors
·
Jan 30

Towards a Physics Foundation Model

Foundation models have revolutionized natural language processing through a ``train once, deploy anywhere'' paradigm, where a single pre-trained model adapts to countless downstream tasks without retraining. Access to a Physics Foundation Model (PFM) would be transformative -- democratizing access to high-fidelity simulations, accelerating scientific discovery, and eliminating the need for specialized solver development. Yet current physics-aware machine learning approaches remain fundamentally limited to single, narrow domains and require retraining for each new system. We present the General Physics Transformer (GPhyT), trained on 1.8 TB of diverse simulation data, that demonstrates foundation model capabilities are achievable for physics. Our key insight is that transformers can learn to infer governing dynamics from context, enabling a single model to simulate fluid-solid interactions, shock waves, thermal convection, and multi-phase dynamics without being told the underlying equations. GPhyT achieves three critical breakthroughs: (1) superior performance across multiple physics domains, outperforming specialized architectures by up to 29x, (2) zero-shot generalization to entirely unseen physical systems through in-context learning, and (3) stable long-term predictions through 50-timestep rollouts. By establishing that a single model can learn generalizable physical principles from data alone, this work opens the path toward a universal PFM that could transform computational science and engineering.

  • 3 authors
·
Sep 17, 2025 2

A Finite Element Method for the Grad--Mercier Equation

We develop and analyse a conforming piecewise affine finite element method for the Grad--Mercier equation, a nonlocal elliptic model for magnetic equilibria whose source depends on the global rank of a flux function. The principal difficulty is that the unique continuum equilibrium has a maximum plateau of prescribed positive area. The solution therefore samples the rank law only above the plateau mass, while perturbations that separate equal values may distribute this mass over several numerical ranks and thereby alter the non-strict rank source. We exploit the continuum well-posedness structure to replace the rank law by an equivalent clipped, nonnegative law, and replace Lebesgue measure by a mass-lumped nodal measure. Equal nodal values are assigned a common rank interval, thereby retaining the full lumped mass of each tied level. The resulting weighted rearrangement gives a strictly convex discrete energy and hence a unique finite element equilibrium. On meshes satisfying a discrete comparison principle, the discrete equilibrium is nonnegative and bounded above by a computable barrier. A Poisson-preconditioned rearrangement iteration converges on each fixed mesh and admits computable a posteriori energy and energy-norm bounds. As polygonal finite element domains converge to the physical cross-section, the discrete equilibria converge strongly in H^1_0(Ω) and uniformly on overlineΩ to the unique Grad--Mercier equilibrium. Reconstructed equilibrium sources converge weak-* in L^{infty}(Ω) to the original nonlocal source.

  • 2 authors
·
Oct 3

Semigroup Solutions for A Multilayered Filtration System

We investigate solutions to a coupled system of partial differential equations that describe a multilayered filtration system. Namely, we study the interaction of a viscous incompressible flow with bulk poroelasticity, via a poroelastic interface. The configuration consists of two 3D toroidal subdomains connected via a plate interface, which permits elastic deformation and perfusive fluid dynamics. The governing dynamics comprise Stokes equations in the bulk fluid region, Biot's equations in the bulk poroelastic region, and the recent poroplate of Mikelić at the interface. Coupling occurs on the top and lower surfaces of the plate, and involves conservation of mass, stress balance, and a certain slip condition for the fluid free-flow. We seek strong (and mild) solutions in the Hilbert space framework via the Lumer-Phillips theorem. The resolvent analysis employs a nonstandard mixed variational formulation which captures the complex, multi-physics coupling at the interface. We explicitly characterize the infinitesimal generator associated to the linear Cauchy problem and establish the generation of a C_0-semigroup on a suitably chosen finite-energy space. With the semigroup in hand, we may treat elastic nonlinearities for plate displacements through perturbation theory. These result parallel those for Biot-Stokes filtration systems, and complement the recently established weak solution theory for multilayer filtrations. The agency of the semigroup straightforwardly admits structural (plate) nonlinearity into the dynamics. Future stability and regularity analyses for multilayer filtrations are also made possible by these results, as well as a comparison of spectral and regularity properties between filtration configurations, and the elucidation of the mitigating poroplate dynamics as possibly regularizing and stabilizing.

  • 3 authors
·
Jan 31

MeLM, a generative pretrained language modeling framework that solves forward and inverse mechanics problems

We report a flexible multi-modal mechanics language model, MeLM, applied to solve various nonlinear forward and inverse problems, that can deal with a set of instructions, numbers and microstructure data. The framework is applied to various examples including bio-inspired hierarchical honeycomb design, carbon nanotube mechanics, and protein unfolding. In spite of the flexible nature of the model-which allows us to easily incorporate diverse materials, scales, and mechanical features-it performs well across disparate forward and inverse tasks. Based on an autoregressive attention-model, MeLM effectively represents a large multi-particle system consisting of hundreds of millions of neurons, where the interaction potentials are discovered through graph-forming self-attention mechanisms that are then used to identify relationships from emergent structures, while taking advantage of synergies discovered in the training data. We show that the model can solve complex degenerate mechanics design problems and determine novel material architectures across a range of hierarchical levels, providing an avenue for materials discovery and analysis. Looking beyond the demonstrations reported in this paper, we discuss other opportunities in applied mechanics and general considerations about the use of large language models in modeling, design, and analysis that can span a broad spectrum of material properties from mechanical, thermal, optical, to electronic.

  • 1 authors
·
Jun 30, 2023

Multi-mode Pulsations in AGB Stars: Insights from 3D RHD CO5BOLD Simulations

Stars on the AGB can exhibit acoustic pulsation modes of different radial orders, along with non-radial modes. These pulsations are essential to the mass-loss process and influence the evolutionary pathways of AGB stars. P-L relations serve as a valuable diagnostic for understanding stellar evolution along the AGB. 3D RHD simulations provide a powerful tool for investigating pulsation phenomena driven by convective processes and their non-linear coupling with stellar oscillations. We investigate multi-mode pulsations in AGB stars using advanced 3D 'star-in-a-box' simulations with the CO5BOLD code. Signatures of these multi-mode pulsations were weak in our previous 3D models. Our focus is on identifying and characterising the various pulsation modes, examining their persistence and transitions, and comparing the results with 1D model predictions and observational data where applicable. We produced a new model grid comprising AGB stars with current masses of 0.7, 0.8, and 1,M_{odot}. Fourier analysis was applied to dynamic, time-dependent quantities to extract dominant pulsation modes and their corresponding periods. Additionally, wavelet transforms were employed to identify mode-switching behaviour over time. The models successfully reproduce the P-L sequences found in AGB stars. Mode-switching phenomena are found in both the models and wavelet analyses of observational data, allowing us to infer similarities in the underlying pulsation dynamics. These 3D simulations highlight the natural emergence of multi-mode pulsations, including both radial and non-radial modes, driven by the self-consistent interplay of convection and oscillations. Our findings underscore the value of 3D RHD models in capturing the non-linear behaviour of AGB pulsations, providing insights into mode switching, envelope structures, and potential links to episodic mass-loss events.

  • 3 authors
·
Feb 17, 2025

Conditional Normalizing Flow for Gas-Surface Scattering from Thermal to Hypersonic Velocities

Accurate aerodynamic modeling of satellites in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) requires gas-surface interaction (GSI) models that capture the full velocity spectrum from thermal to orbital speeds. Atmospheric particles initially strike spacecraft surfaces at hypersonic velocities of 6 000 - 10 000 m/s. Due to surface roughness and complex geometries, especially within air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) intake systems, multiple collisions occur, progressively reducing the particle velocities. A recent machine learning framework for deriving scattering kernels from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations has shown promise, but remains limited to high-velocity single impacts and possibly violates fundamental equilibrium principles such as detailed balance. This work extends this machine learning based scattering kernel to cover the complete velocity range using conditional normalizing flows trained with physics-informed constraints, enabling accurate modeling of multi-bounce scenarios in realistic VLEO applications. We train a conditional Real-valued Non-Volume Preserving (cRealNVP) model on expanded molecular dynamics simulations covering velocities from thermal to hypersonic speeds, incorporating a detailed balance loss term. The resulting model demonstrates improved accuracy compared to previous approaches even in the original high-velocity regime, while successfully capturing thermal-velocity scattering. Quantitative assessment shows that thermalization is approximated within acceptable tolerances. This framework provides essential capabilities for accurate ABEP intake optimization and VLEO mission planning while offering a general methodology applicable to broader rarefied gas dynamics problems requiring thermodynamic consistency.

  • 6 authors
·
Jul 2

Modeling transport in weakly collisional plasmas using thermodynamic forcing

How momentum, energy, and magnetic fields are transported in the presence of macroscopic gradients is a fundamental question in plasma physics. Answering this question is especially challenging for weakly collisional, magnetized plasmas, where macroscopic gradients influence the plasma's microphysical structure. In this paper, we introduce thermodynamic forcing, a new method for systematically modeling how macroscopic gradients in magnetized or unmagnetized plasmas shape the distribution functions of constituent particles. In this method, we propose to apply an anomalous force to those particles inducing the anisotropy that would naturally emerge due to macroscopic gradients in weakly collisional plasmas. We implement thermodynamic forcing in particle-in-cell (TF-PIC) simulations using a modified Vay particle pusher and validate it against analytic solutions of the equations of motion. We then carry out a series of simulations of electron-proton plasmas with periodic boundary conditions using TF-PIC. First, we confirm that the properties of two electron-scale kinetic instabilities -- one driven by a temperature gradient and the other by pressure anisotropy -- are consistent with previous results. Then, we demonstrate that in the presence of multiple macroscopic gradients, the saturated state can differ significantly from current expectations. This work enables, for the first time, systematic and self-consistent transport modeling in weakly collisional plasmas, with broad applications in astrophysics, laser-plasma physics, and inertial confinement fusion.

  • 2 authors
·
Apr 18, 2025

Domain walls in the scaling regime: Equal Time Correlator and Gravitational Waves

Domain walls are topological defects that may have formed in the early Universe through the spontaneous breakdown of discrete symmetries, and can be a strong source of gravitational waves (GWs). We perform 3D lattice field theory simulations with CosmoLattice, considering grid sizes N = 1250, 2048 and 4096, to study the dynamics of the domain wall network and its GW signatures. We first analyze how the network approaches the scaling regime with a constant O(1) number of domain walls per Hubble volume, including setups with a large initial number of domains as expected in realistic scenarios, and find that scaling is always reached in a few Hubble times after the network formation. To better understand the properties of the scaling regime, we then numerically extract the Equal Time Correlator (ETC) of the energy-momentum tensor of the network, thus determining its characteristic shape for the case of domain walls, and verifying explicitly its functional dependence as predicted by scaling arguments. The ETC can be further extended to the Unequal Time Correlator (UTC) controlling the GW emission by making assumptions on the coherence of the source. By comparison with the actual GW spectrum evaluated by CosmoLattice, we are then able to infer the degree of coherence of the domain wall network. Finally, by performing numerical simulations in different background cosmologies, e.g. radiation domination and kination, we find evidence for a universal ETC at subhorizon scales and hence a universal shape of the GW spectrum in the UV, while the expansion history of the Universe may instead be determined by the IR features of the GW spectrum.

  • 4 authors
·
Nov 20, 2025

Impulsive mixing of stellar populations in dwarf spheroidal galaxies

We study the response of mono-energetic stellar populations with initially isotropic kinematics to impulsive and adiabatic changes to an underlying dark matter potential. Half-light radii expand and velocity dispersions decrease as enclosed dark matter is removed. The details of this expansion and cooling depend on the time scale on which the underlying potential changes. In the adiabatic regime, the product of half-light radius and average velocity dispersion is conserved. We show that the stellar populations maintain centrally isotropic kinematics throughout their adiabatic evolution, and their densities can be approximated by a family of analytical radial profiles. Metallicity gradients within the galaxy flatten as dark matter is slowly removed. In the case of strong impulsive perturbations, stellar populations develop power-law-like density tails with radially biased kinematics. We show that the distribution of stellar binding energies within the dark matter halo substantially widens after an impulsive perturbation, no matter the sign of the perturbation. This allows initially energetically separated stellar populations to mix, to the extent that previously chemo-dynamically distinct populations may masquerade as a single population with large metallicity and energy spread. Finally, we show that in response to an impulsive perturbation, stellar populations that are deeply embedded in cored dark matter halos undergo a series of damped oscillations before reaching a virialised equilibrium state, driven by inefficient phase mixing in the harmonic potentials of cored halos. This slow return to equilibrium adds substantial systematic uncertainty to dynamical masses estimated from Jeans modeling or the virial theorem.

  • 5 authors
·
Feb 26, 2025

Multi-marginal Schrödinger Bridges with Iterative Reference Refinement

Practitioners frequently aim to infer an unobserved population trajectory using sample snapshots at multiple time points. For instance, in single-cell sequencing, scientists would like to learn how gene expression evolves over time. But sequencing any cell destroys that cell. So we cannot access any cell's full trajectory, but we can access snapshot samples from many cells. Stochastic differential equations are commonly used to analyze systems with full individual-trajectory access; since here we have only sample snapshots, these methods are inapplicable. The deep learning community has recently explored using Schr\"odinger bridges (SBs) and their extensions to estimate these dynamics. However, these methods either (1) interpolate between just two time points or (2) require a single fixed reference dynamic within the SB, which is often just set to be Brownian motion. But learning piecewise from adjacent time points can fail to capture long-term dependencies. And practitioners are typically able to specify a model class for the reference dynamic but not the exact values of the parameters within it. So we propose a new method that (1) learns the unobserved trajectories from sample snapshots across multiple time points and (2) requires specification only of a class of reference dynamics, not a single fixed one. In particular, we suggest an iterative projection method inspired by Schr\"odinger bridges; we alternate between learning a piecewise SB on the unobserved trajectories and using the learned SB to refine our best guess for the dynamics within the reference class. We demonstrate the advantages of our method via a well-known simulated parametric model from ecology, simulated and real data from systems biology, and real motion-capture data.

  • 3 authors
·
Aug 12, 2024

Particle-Grid Neural Dynamics for Learning Deformable Object Models from RGB-D Videos

Modeling the dynamics of deformable objects is challenging due to their diverse physical properties and the difficulty of estimating states from limited visual information. We address these challenges with a neural dynamics framework that combines object particles and spatial grids in a hybrid representation. Our particle-grid model captures global shape and motion information while predicting dense particle movements, enabling the modeling of objects with varied shapes and materials. Particles represent object shapes, while the spatial grid discretizes the 3D space to ensure spatial continuity and enhance learning efficiency. Coupled with Gaussian Splattings for visual rendering, our framework achieves a fully learning-based digital twin of deformable objects and generates 3D action-conditioned videos. Through experiments, we demonstrate that our model learns the dynamics of diverse objects -- such as ropes, cloths, stuffed animals, and paper bags -- from sparse-view RGB-D recordings of robot-object interactions, while also generalizing at the category level to unseen instances. Our approach outperforms state-of-the-art learning-based and physics-based simulators, particularly in scenarios with limited camera views. Furthermore, we showcase the utility of our learned models in model-based planning, enabling goal-conditioned object manipulation across a range of tasks. The project page is available at https://kywind.github.io/pgnd .

  • 4 authors
·
Jun 18, 2025

Deep Embedded Multiplicative DMD for Algebra-Preserving Koopman Learning

Koopman theory turns nonlinear dynamics into a linear spectral problem. In computation, however, everything depends on a hard finite-dimensional choice: the observables must be expressive, nearly invariant under the dynamics, and, ideally, compatible with composition. Deep Koopman methods learn flexible coordinates, whereas structure-preserving methods enforce operator identities on fixed dictionaries. We combine these ideas by introducing Deep Embedded Multiplicative Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DeepMDMD), a method that learns a latent space and a partition of it, while enforcing the Koopman product rule as an exact algebraic constraint. Training alternates between an exact multiplicative operator update and a differentiable latent-clustering step that promotes Koopman closure. The result is a finite transition map on learned latent cells. Its nonzero spectrum lies on the unit circle, its dictionary is shaped by the dynamics rather than by ambient geometry, and forecasts are made in latent coordinates before being decoded to physical space. Across Hamiltonian, chaotic, and fluid examples, DeepMDMD learns dictionaries that are far more compact and dynamically coherent than those produced by geometric MDMD partitions. It reduces spectral pollution, reveals richer continuous-spectrum structure, and gives stable forecasts under severe noise. In high-dimensional flows, including a 158,624-dimensional cylinder wake and a noisy Re=20,000 lid-driven cavity, it preserves coherent structures and long-time spectral statistics where state-space MDMD fails. These results suggest a practical rule for Koopman learning: learn the coordinates, constrain the algebra.

Learning Neural Constitutive Laws From Motion Observations for Generalizable PDE Dynamics

We propose a hybrid neural network (NN) and PDE approach for learning generalizable PDE dynamics from motion observations. Many NN approaches learn an end-to-end model that implicitly models both the governing PDE and constitutive models (or material models). Without explicit PDE knowledge, these approaches cannot guarantee physical correctness and have limited generalizability. We argue that the governing PDEs are often well-known and should be explicitly enforced rather than learned. Instead, constitutive models are particularly suitable for learning due to their data-fitting nature. To this end, we introduce a new framework termed "Neural Constitutive Laws" (NCLaw), which utilizes a network architecture that strictly guarantees standard constitutive priors, including rotation equivariance and undeformed state equilibrium. We embed this network inside a differentiable simulation and train the model by minimizing a loss function based on the difference between the simulation and the motion observation. We validate NCLaw on various large-deformation dynamical systems, ranging from solids to fluids. After training on a single motion trajectory, our method generalizes to new geometries, initial/boundary conditions, temporal ranges, and even multi-physics systems. On these extremely out-of-distribution generalization tasks, NCLaw is orders-of-magnitude more accurate than previous NN approaches. Real-world experiments demonstrate our method's ability to learn constitutive laws from videos.

  • 7 authors
·
Apr 27, 2023

Envisioning the Future, One Step at a Time

Accurately anticipating how complex, diverse scenes will evolve requires models that represent uncertainty, simulate along extended interaction chains, and efficiently explore many plausible futures. Yet most existing approaches rely on dense video or latent-space prediction, expending substantial capacity on dense appearance rather than on the underlying sparse trajectories of points in the scene. This makes large-scale exploration of future hypotheses costly and limits performance when long-horizon, multi-modal motion is essential. We address this by formulating the prediction of open-set future scene dynamics as step-wise inference over sparse point trajectories. Our autoregressive diffusion model advances these trajectories through short, locally predictable transitions, explicitly modeling the growth of uncertainty over time. This dynamics-centric representation enables fast rollout of thousands of diverse futures from a single image, optionally guided by initial constraints on motion, while maintaining physical plausibility and long-range coherence. We further introduce OWM, a benchmark for open-set motion prediction based on diverse in-the-wild videos, to evaluate accuracy and variability of predicted trajectory distributions under real-world uncertainty. Our method matches or surpasses dense simulators in predictive accuracy while achieving orders-of-magnitude higher sampling speed, making open-set future prediction both scalable and practical. Project page: http://compvis.github.io/myriad.

CompVis CompVis
·
Apr 9 2

WorldParticle: Unified World Simulation of Lagrangian Particle Dynamics via Transformer

A unified simulator that can model diverse physical phenomena without solver-specific redesign is a long-standing goal across simulation science. We present a learning-based particle simulator built on a single transformer architecture to model cloth, elastic solds, Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, granular materials, and molecular dynamics. Our model follows a prediction-correction design on a shared Lagrangian particle representation. An explicit predictor first advances particles under the known external forces, producing an intermediate state that captures externally driven motion but not inter-particle interactions. A learned corrector then predicts the residual position and velocity updates through three stages: a particle tokenizer that encodes local particle-particle, particle-boundary, and topology-guided interactions; a super-token encoder that hierarchically merges particle tokens into a compact set of super tokens via alternating self-attention and token merging; and a super-token decoder that lifts these super tokens back to particle resolution through cross-attention to predict per-particle position and velocity corrections. Progressive token merging reduces the attention cost at successive encoder layers by halving the token count at each level, and the decoder communicates through the compact super-token set rather than full particle-to-particle attention. Across the six dynamics categories, the same architecture generalizes to unseen materials, boundary configurations, initial conditions, and external forces. We further demonstrate downstream interactive control, inverse design, and learning from real-world manipulation data, reducing the need for per-phenomenon solver engineering.

  • 16 authors
·
May 19

PhysLDM: Latent Diffusion for High-Fidelity Deformable Simulation

Neural simulation of high-fidelity deformable bodies is a foundational challenge in computer graphics and physical AI. Long-horizon prediction for high-resolution 3D volumetric meshes is hard: autoregressive methods are prone to error accumulation, while direct multi-frame prediction at native resolution is computationally prohibitive. This motivates a compact spatiotemporal latent representation, which is largely unexplored for mesh-based volumetric physics. Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether deterministic regression or generative diffusion is the more suitable predictive paradigm. To address these coupled challenges, we introduce PhysLDM, a unified latent-diffusion paradigm for one-shot deformable simulation. Its core is a holistic spatiotemporal VAE that avoids the "staircase" artifacts of standard temporal compression (e.g., video VAEs), achieving ~2.48 mm reconstruction precision on meter-scale scenes at up to 78x token compression. Based on this reliable latent space, we systematically compare regression and diffusion methods. Our experiments uncover a key modeling insight: complex deformable dynamics are often chaotic, and in this regime deterministic regression tends to produce non-physical averages, whereas diffusion better models their distribution. Accordingly, we employ a latent diffusion model that effectively learns from chaotic data to generate physically plausible trajectories. Trained purely kinematically on an Objaverse-scale dataset, a single PhysLDM generalizes zero-shot to unseen OOD datasets. Its differentiability further enables efficient solution of inverse problems and higher-order design optimization. To our knowledge, PhysLDM is the first high-fidelity spatiotemporal autoencoder and latent-diffusion paradigm for volumetric deformable dynamics, offering a scalable and robust approach to neural simulation. Project Page: https://yucrazing.github.io/physldm/

mmlab-ntu MMLab@NTU
·
Oct 17 2

Structure-Preserving Operator Learning

Learning complex dynamics driven by partial differential equations directly from data holds great promise for fast and accurate simulations of complex physical systems. In most cases, this problem can be formulated as an operator learning task, where one aims to learn the operator representing the physics of interest, which entails discretization of the continuous system. However, preserving key continuous properties at the discrete level, such as boundary conditions, and addressing physical systems with complex geometries is challenging for most existing approaches. We introduce a family of operator learning architectures, structure-preserving operator networks (SPONs), that allows to preserve key mathematical and physical properties of the continuous system by leveraging finite element (FE) discretizations of the input-output spaces. SPONs are encode-process-decode architectures that are end-to-end differentiable, where the encoder and decoder follows from the discretizations of the input-output spaces. SPONs can operate on complex geometries, enforce certain boundary conditions exactly, and offer theoretical guarantees. Our framework provides a flexible way of devising structure-preserving architectures tailored to specific applications, and offers an explicit trade-off between performance and efficiency, all thanks to the FE discretization of the input-output spaces. Additionally, we introduce a multigrid-inspired SPON architecture that yields improved performance at higher efficiency. Finally, we release a software to automate the design and training of SPON architectures.

  • 2 authors
·
Oct 1, 2024

Physics-Informed Neural Compression of High-Dimensional Plasma Data

High-fidelity scientific simulations are now producing unprecedented amounts of data, creating a storage and analysis bottleneck. A single simulation can generate tremendous data volumes, often forcing researchers to discard valuable information. A prime example of this is plasma turbulence described by the gyrokinetic equations: nonlinear, multiscale, and 5D in phase space. It constitutes one of the most computationally demanding frontiers of modern science, with runs taking weeks and yielding tens of terabytes of data dumps. The increasing storage demands underscore the importance of compression. However, reconstructed snapshots do not necessarily preserve essential physical quantities. We present a spatiotemporal evaluation pipeline, accounting for structural phenomena and multi-scale transient fluctuations to assess the degree of physical fidelity. Indeed, we find that various compression techniques lack preservation of both spatial mode structure and temporal turbulence characteristics. Therefore, we explore Physics-Informed Neural Compression (PINC), which incorporates physics-informed losses tailored to gyrokinetics and enables extreme compressions ratios of over 70,000x. Entropy coding on top of PINC further pushes it to 120,000x. This direction provides a viable and scalable solution to the prohibitive storage demands of gyrokinetics, enabling post-hoc analyses that were previously infeasible.

  • 9 authors
·
Feb 4

Frenkel's entropy-exchange mechanism in monodisperse, nearly hard-sphere colloids: minimal perturbations to access fluid-crystal coexistence

Entropically driven fluid-solid transitions in monodisperse, purely repulsive hard spheres (MPRHS) are well established in theory, simulation, and experiment for atomic and colloidal systems. For MPRHS, however, coexistence is usually located via bulk free-energy calculations; the underlying microscopic balance between configurational and vibrational entropy is left implicit. Frenkel clarified this mechanism explicitly as an exchange of long-range configurational entropy for short-range vibrational entropy, but in the pristine MPRHS limit the nucleation barrier near coexistence is so high that phase separation is predicted only on astronomical time scales. Consistent with this, even unbiased simulations do not show spontaneous, equilibrium fluid-crystal coexistence; transient mixtures are mostly overtaken by a single phase; observed coexistence is still algorithmically-driven. Nearly hard-sphere colloid experiments do observe fluid-crystal coexistence, but always in the presence of unavoidable triggers such as gravity, walls, and polydispersity. We treat the hard-sphere phase diagram as settled and ask how the entropic exchange mechanism can be revealed in nearly hard-sphere colloidal simulations. We probe the mechanism on finite time scales by introducing minimal perturbations that trigger phase separation: small reductions in hardness that increase locally accessible free volume (and thus gently increase vibrational entropy), and 2-4% distributed crystal seeds. These perturbations produce coexisting fluid and crystal domains with crystal fraction, phase envelope and osmotic pressure that, with systematically increasing particle hardness, approach the hard-sphere limit. These results demonstrate that slight enhancements to vibrational entropy provide a dynamically accessible route to realizing the long-range/short-range entropy exchange required for phase separation.

  • 4 authors
·
Dec 18, 2025

Dynamical evolution of massless particles in star clusters with NBODY6++GPU-MASSLESS: I. Free-floating MLPs

Context. Low-mass bodies, such as comets, asteroids, planetesimals, and free-floating planets, are continuously injected into the intra-cluster environment after expulsion from their host planetary systems. These can be modeled as massless particles (MLPs, hereafter). The dynamics of large populations of MLPs, however, has yet received little attention in literature. Aims. We investigate the dynamical evolution of MLP populations in star clusters, and characterize their kinematics and ejection rates. Methods. We present NBODY6++GPU-MASSLESS, a modified version of the N-body simulation code NBODY6++GPU, that allows fast integration of star clusters that contain large numbers of massless particles (MLPs). NBODY6++GPU-MASSLESS contains routines specifically directed at the dynamical evolution of low-mass bodies, such as planets. Results. Unlike stars, MLPs do not participate in the mass segregation process. Instead, MLPs mostly follow the gravitational potential of the star cluster, which gradually decreases over time due to stellar ejections and stellar evolution. The dynamical evolution of MLPs is primarily affected by the evolution of the core of the star cluster. This is most apparent in the outer regions for clusters with higher initial densities. High escape rates of MLPs are observed before the core-collapse, after which escape rates remain stable. Denser star clusters undergo a more intense core collapse, but this does not impact the dynamical evolution of MLPs. The speeds of escaping stars are similar to those of escaping MLPs, when disregarding the high-velocity ejections of neutron stars during the first 50 Myr.

  • 5 authors
·
Dec 11, 2024

Automating modeling in mechanics: LLMs as designers of physics-constrained neural networks for constitutive modeling of materials

Large language model (LLM)-based agentic frameworks increasingly adopt the paradigm of dynamically generating task-specific agents. We suggest that not only agents but also specialized software modules for scientific and engineering tasks can be generated on demand. We demonstrate this concept in the field of solid mechanics. There, so-called constitutive models are required to describe the relationship between mechanical stress and body deformation. Constitutive models are essential for both the scientific understanding and industrial application of materials. However, even recent data-driven methods of constitutive modeling, such as constitutive artificial neural networks (CANNs), still require substantial expert knowledge and human labor. We present a framework in which an LLM generates a CANN on demand, tailored to a given material class and dataset provided by the user. The framework covers LLM-based architecture selection, integration of physical constraints, and complete code generation. Evaluation on three benchmark problems demonstrates that LLM-generated CANNs achieve accuracy comparable to or greater than manually engineered counterparts, while also exhibiting reliable generalization to unseen loading scenarios and extrapolation to large deformations. These findings indicate that LLM-based generation of physics-constrained neural networks can substantially reduce the expertise required for constitutive modeling and represent a step toward practical end-to-end automation.

  • 7 authors
·
Dec 1, 2025

Unified Micromechanics Theory of Composites

We consider the matrix composite materials (CM) of either random (statistically homogeneous or inhomogeneous), periodic, or deterministic (neither random nor periodic) structures. CMs exhibit linear or nonlinear behavior, coupled or uncoupled multi-physical phenomena, locally elastic, weakly nonlocal (strain gradient and stress gradient), or strongly nonlocal (strain-type and displacement-type, peridynamics) phase properties. A modified Computational Analytical Micromechanics (CAM) approach introduces an exact Additive General Integral Equation (AGIE) for CMs of any structure and phase properties mentioned above. The unified iteration solution of static AGIEs is adapted to the body force with compact support serving as a fundamentally new universal training parameter. The approach also establishes a critical threshold for filtering out unsuitable sub-datasets of effective parameters through a novel Representative Volume Element (RVE) concept, which extends Hill's classical framework. This RVE concept eliminates sample size, boundary layer, and edge effects, making it applicable to CMs of any structure and phase properties, regardless of local or nonlocal, linear or nonlinear. Incorporating this new RVE concept into machine learning and neural network techniques enables the construction of any unpredefined surrogate nonlocal operators. The methodology is structured as a modular, block-based framework, allowing independent development and refinement of software components. This flexible, robust AGIE-CAM framework integrates data-driven, multi-scale, and multi-physics modeling, accelerating research in CM of any microtopology and phase properties considered. The AGIE-CAM framework represents a groundbreaking paradigm shift in the micromechanics of composites, redefining the very philosophy that underpins our understanding of their behavior at the microscopic level.

  • 1 authors
·
Mar 15, 2025

Fluctuations and correlations in chemical reaction kinetics and population dynamics

This chapter provides a pedagogical introduction and overview of spatial and temporal correlation and fluctuation effects resulting from the fundamentally stochastic kinetics underlying chemical reactions and the dynamics of populations or epidemics. After reviewing the assumptions and mean-field type approximations involved in the construction of chemical rate equations for uniform reactant densities, we first discuss spatial clustering in birth-death systems, where non-linearities are introduced through either density-limiting pair reactions, or equivalently via local imposition of finite carrying capacities. The competition of offspring production, death, and non-linear inhibition induces a population extinction threshold, which represents a non-equilibrium phase transition that separates active from absorbing states. This continuous transition is characterized by the universal scaling exponents of critical directed percolation clusters. Next we focus on the emergence of depletion zones in single-species annihilation processes and spatial population segregation with the associated reaction fronts in two-species pair annihilation. These strong (anti-)correlation effects are dynamically generated by the underlying stochastic kinetics. Finally, we address noise-induced and fluctuation-stabilized spatio-temporal patterns in basic predator-prey systems, exemplified by spreading activity fronts in the two-species Lotka-Volterra model as well as spiral structures in the May-Leonard variant of cyclically competing three-species systems akin to rock-paper-scissors games.

  • 1 authors
·
Jul 3, 2018

Learning Flexible Body Collision Dynamics with Hierarchical Contact Mesh Transformer

Recently, many mesh-based graph neural network (GNN) models have been proposed for modeling complex high-dimensional physical systems. Remarkable achievements have been made in significantly reducing the solving time compared to traditional numerical solvers. These methods are typically designed to i) reduce the computational cost in solving physical dynamics and/or ii) propose techniques to enhance the solution accuracy in fluid and rigid body dynamics. However, it remains under-explored whether they are effective in addressing the challenges of flexible body dynamics, where instantaneous collisions occur within a very short timeframe. In this paper, we present Hierarchical Contact Mesh Transformer (HCMT), which uses hierarchical mesh structures and can learn long-range dependencies (occurred by collisions) among spatially distant positions of a body -- two close positions in a higher-level mesh correspond to two distant positions in a lower-level mesh. HCMT enables long-range interactions, and the hierarchical mesh structure quickly propagates collision effects to faraway positions. To this end, it consists of a contact mesh Transformer and a hierarchical mesh Transformer (CMT and HMT, respectively). Lastly, we propose a flexible body dynamics dataset, consisting of trajectories that reflect experimental settings frequently used in the display industry for product designs. We also compare the performance of several baselines using well-known benchmark datasets. Our results show that HCMT provides significant performance improvements over existing methods. Our code is available at https://github.com/yuyudeep/hcmt.

  • 12 authors
·
Dec 19, 2023

PhysRig: Differentiable Physics-Based Skinning and Rigging Framework for Realistic Articulated Object Modeling

Skinning and rigging are fundamental components in animation, articulated object reconstruction, motion transfer, and 4D generation. Existing approaches predominantly rely on Linear Blend Skinning (LBS), due to its simplicity and differentiability. However, LBS introduces artifacts such as volume loss and unnatural deformations, and it fails to model elastic materials like soft tissues, fur, and flexible appendages (e.g., elephant trunks, ears, and fatty tissues). In this work, we propose PhysRig: a differentiable physics-based skinning and rigging framework that overcomes these limitations by embedding the rigid skeleton into a volumetric representation (e.g., a tetrahedral mesh), which is simulated as a deformable soft-body structure driven by the animated skeleton. Our method leverages continuum mechanics and discretizes the object as particles embedded in an Eulerian background grid to ensure differentiability with respect to both material properties and skeletal motion. Additionally, we introduce material prototypes, significantly reducing the learning space while maintaining high expressiveness. To evaluate our framework, we construct a comprehensive synthetic dataset using meshes from Objaverse, The Amazing Animals Zoo, and MixaMo, covering diverse object categories and motion patterns. Our method consistently outperforms traditional LBS-based approaches, generating more realistic and physically plausible results. Furthermore, we demonstrate the applicability of our framework in the pose transfer task highlighting its versatility for articulated object modeling.

  • 5 authors
·
Jun 25, 2025 3