This paper presents a novel generic asymptotic expansion formula of expectations of multidimensional Wiener functionals through a Malliavin calculus technique. The uniform estimate of the asymptotic expansion is shown under a weaker condition on the Malliavin covariance matrix of the target Wiener functional. In particular, the method provides a tractable expansion for the expectation of an irregular functional of the solution to a multidimensional rough differential equation driven by fractional Brownian motion with Hurst index $H<1/2$, without using complicated fractional integral calculus for the singular kernel. In a numerical experiment, our expansion shows a much better approximation for a probability distribution function than its normal approximation, which demonstrates the validity of the proposed method.
The increasing reliance on numerical methods for controlling dynamical systems and training machine learning models underscores the need to devise algorithms that dependably and efficiently navigate complex optimization landscapes. Classical gradient descent methods offer strong theoretical guarantees for convex problems; however, they demand meticulous hyperparameter tuning for non-convex ones. The emerging paradigm of learning to optimize (L2O) automates the discovery of algorithms with optimized performance leveraging learning models and data - yet, it lacks a theoretical framework to analyze convergence of the learned algorithms. In this paper, we fill this gap by harnessing nonlinear system theory. Specifically, we propose an unconstrained parametrization of all convergent algorithms for smooth non-convex objective functions. Notably, our framework is directly compatible with automatic differentiation tools, ensuring convergence by design while learning to optimize.
Helmholtz decompositions of the elastic fields open up new avenues for the solution of linear elastic scattering problems via boundary integral equations (BIE) [Dong, Lai, Li, Mathematics of Computation,2021]. The main appeal of this approach is that the ensuing systems of BIE feature only integral operators associated with the Helmholtz equation. However, these BIE involve non standard boundary integral operators that do not result after the application of either the Dirichlet or the Neumann trace to Helmholtz single and double layer potentials. Rather, the Helmholtz decomposition approach leads to BIE formulations of elastic scattering problems with Neumann boundary conditions that involve boundary traces of the Hessians of Helmholtz layer potential. As a consequence, the classical combined field approach applied in the framework of the Helmholtz decompositions leads to BIE formulations which, although robust, are not of the second kind. Following the regularizing methodology introduced in [Boubendir, Dominguez, Levadoux, Turc, SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics 2015] we design and analyze novel robust Helmholtz decomposition BIE for the solution of elastic scattering that are of the second kind in the case of smooth scatterers in two dimensions. We present a variety of numerical results based on Nystrom discretizations that illustrate the good performance of the second kind regularized formulations in connections to iterative solvers.
This paper is devoted to the study of a novel mixed Finite Element Method for approximating the solutions of fourth order variational problems subjected to a constraint. The first problem we consider consists in establishing the convergence of the error of the numerical approximation of the solution of a biharmonic obstacle problem. The contents of this section are meant to generalise the approach originally proposed by Ciarlet \& Raviart, and then complemented by Ciarlet \& Glowinski. The second problem we consider amounts to studying a two-dimensional variational problem for linearly elastic shallow shells subjected to remaining confined in a prescribed half-space. We first study the case where the parametrisation of the middle surface for the linearly elastic shallow shell under consideration has non-zero curvature, and we observe that the numerical approximation of this model via a mixed Finite Element Method based on conforming elements requires the implementation of the additional constraint according to which the gradient matrix of the dual variable has to be symmetric. However, differently from the biharmonic obstacle problem previously studied, we show that the numerical implementation of this result cannot be implemented by solely resorting to Courant triangles. Finally, we show that if the middle surface of the linearly elastic shallow shell under consideration is flat, the symmetry constraint required for formulating the constrained mixed variational problem announced in the second part of the paper is not required, and the solution can thus be approximated by solely resorting to Courant triangles. The theoretical results we derived are complemented by a series of numerical experiments.
This paper presents a novel approach for constructing graph neural networks equivariant to 2D rotations and translations and leveraging them as PDE surrogates on non-gridded domains. We show that aligning the representations with the principal axis allows us to sidestep many constraints while preserving SE(2) equivariance. By applying our model as a surrogate for fluid flow simulations and conducting thorough benchmarks against non-equivariant models, we demonstrate significant gains in terms of both data efficiency and accuracy.
Differential abundance analysis is a key component of microbiome studies. While dozens of methods for it exist, currently, there is no consensus on the preferred methods. Correctness of results in differential abundance analysis is an ambiguous concept that cannot be evaluated without employing simulated data, but we argue that consistency of results across datasets should be considered as an essential quality of a well-performing method. We compared the performance of 14 differential abundance analysis methods employing datasets from 54 taxonomic profiling studies based on 16S rRNA gene or shotgun sequencing. For each method, we examined how the results replicated between random partitions of each dataset and between datasets from independent studies. While certain methods showed good consistency, some widely used methods were observed to produce a substantial number of conflicting findings. Overall, the highest consistency without unnecessary reduction in sensitivity was attained by analyzing relative abundances with a non-parametric method (Wilcoxon test or ordinal regression model) or linear regression (MaAsLin2). Comparable performance was also attained by analyzing presence/absence of taxa with logistic regression.
This paper studies the convergence of a spatial semidiscretization of a three-dimensional stochastic Allen-Cahn equation with multiplicative noise. For non-smooth initial values, the regularity of the mild solution is investigated, and an error estimate is derived with the spatial $ L^2 $-norm. For smooth initial values, two error estimates with the general spatial $ L^q $-norms are established.
The problems of optimal recovering univariate functions and their derivatives are studied. To solve these problems, two variants of the truncation method are constructed, which are order-optimal both in the sense of accuracy and in terms of the amount of involved Galerkin information. For numerical summation, it has been established how the parameters characterizing the problem being solved affect its stability.
Identifiability of statistical models is a key notion in unsupervised representation learning. Recent work of nonlinear independent component analysis (ICA) employs auxiliary data and has established identifiable conditions. This paper proposes a statistical model of two latent vectors with single auxiliary data generalizing nonlinear ICA, and establishes various identifiability conditions. Unlike previous work, the two latent vectors in the proposed model can have arbitrary dimensions, and this property enables us to reveal an insightful dimensionality relation among two latent vectors and auxiliary data in identifiability conditions. Furthermore, surprisingly, we prove that the indeterminacies of the proposed model has the same as \emph{linear} ICA under certain conditions: The elements in the latent vector can be recovered up to their permutation and scales. Next, we apply the identifiability theory to a statistical model for graph data. As a result, one of the identifiability conditions includes an appealing implication: Identifiability of the statistical model could depend on the maximum value of link weights in graph data. Then, we propose a practical method for identifiable graph embedding. Finally, we numerically demonstrate that the proposed method well-recovers the latent vectors and model identifiability clearly depends on the maximum value of link weights, which supports the implication of our theoretical results
We explore a class of splitting schemes employing implicit-explicit (IMEX) time-stepping to achieve accurate and energy-stable solutions for thin-film equations and Cahn-Hilliard models with variable mobility. This splitting method incorporates a linear, constant coefficient implicit step, facilitating efficient computational implementation. We investigate the influence of stabilizing splitting parameters on the numerical solution computationally, considering various initial conditions. Furthermore, we generate energy-stability plots for the proposed methods, examining different choices of splitting parameter values and timestep sizes. These methods enhance the accuracy of the original bi-harmonic-modified (BHM) approach, while preserving its energy-decreasing property and achieving second-order accuracy. We present numerical experiments to illustrate the performance of the proposed methods.
Temporal reasoning with conditionals is more complex than both classical temporal reasoning and reasoning with timeless conditionals, and can lead to some rather counter-intuitive conclusions. For instance, Aristotle's famous "Sea Battle Tomorrow" puzzle leads to a fatalistic conclusion: whether there will be a sea battle tomorrow or not, but that is necessarily the case now. We propose a branching-time logic LTC to formalise reasoning about temporal conditionals and provide that logic with adequate formal semantics. The logic LTC extends the Nexttime fragment of CTL*, with operators for model updates, restricting the domain to only future moments where antecedent is still possible to satisfy. We provide formal semantics for these operators that implements the restrictor interpretation of antecedents of temporalized conditionals, by suitably restricting the domain of discourse. As a motivating example, we demonstrate that a naturally formalised in our logic version of the `Sea Battle' argument renders it unsound, thereby providing a solution to the problem with fatalist conclusion that it entails, because its underlying reasoning per cases argument no longer applies when these cases are treated not as material implications but as temporal conditionals. On the technical side, we analyze the semantics of LTC and provide a series of reductions of LTC-formulae, first recursively eliminating the dynamic update operators and then the path quantifiers in such formulae. Using these reductions we obtain a sound and complete axiomatization for LTC, and reduce its decision problem to that of the modal logic KD.