arXiv subjects

George Haller

Publications and source records attributed to George Haller.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Spectral submanifold reduction for PDEs describing nonlinear continuum vibrations

We prove the existence of spectral submanifolds in nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) describing forced-damped continuum vibrations. Our results cover structural vibrations subject to generalized structural damping. Based on these results, backbone curves and forced response curves can be rigorously extracted from PDEs, without a priori discretization. On two examples involving an elastic beam and a thin plate, we show that backbone and forced response curves can even be calculated by hand directly from the PDEs.

math.DS↗

arXiv2026

Data-Driven Reduced Modeling of Delayed Dynamical Systems via Spectral Submanifolds

We show how the recent extension of spectral submanifold (SSM) theory to delay differential equations (DDEs) enables data-driven model reduction of nonlinear delay systems. First, using a scalar DDE with a single discrete delay, we compare equation-based and data-driven SSM reductions, to illustrate the need for the latter. We then use the same algorithm to obtain purely data-driven, SSM-reduced, delay-free ODE models for several nonlinear delayed systems. Our approach requires no information about the form of the underlying DDE, or about the number and magnitude of the delays it contains. Our SSM-reduced, low-dimensional models remain predictive even for chaotic dynamics. We also illustrate the use of parametric SSM-reduction to capture bifurcations in systems with both distributed and discrete delays. Finally we extend the theoretical underpinning of delayed SSM-reductions to non-autonomous systems with periodic delays, and apply these results to experimental data from a control system with feedback delay and quantization.

math.DS↗

arXiv2026

Parametric Spectral Submanifolds across Hopf Bifurcations with Applications to Fluid Dynamics

We investigate the persistence and regularity of spectral submanifolds (SSMs) in high-dimensional parametric dynamical systems undergoing a Hopf bifurcation. By analyzing how resonances in the linearized spectrum near bifurcation points limit the existence and smoothness of SSMs, a phenomenon that has been mostly overlooked, we show that low-order Taylor coefficients of the SSM expansion and the associated reduced dynamics persist smoothly through the bifurcation. This analysis generalizes to any local bifurcation and provides a clear estimate of the parameter ranges over which a parametric SSM model can be justified, thus illustrating how globally the model can be extended despite the presence of resonances near criticality. We demonstrate these findings on multiple examples, including a data-driven SSM approach to the lid-driven cavity flow. For that problem, we construct a parametric SSM-reduced model that accurately captures the full transition to periodic dynamics and the critical Reynolds number. These results provide a mathematical foundation for robust data- and equation-driven model reduction of fluid flows across bifurcations, enabling an accurate prediction of nonlinear dynamics across critical parameter regimes.

math.DS↗

arXiv2026

Predicting Generalized Steady States in Aperiodically Forced Mechanical Systems

The existence of generalized steady states (GSSs) in nonlinear mechanical systems under moderate temporally aperiodic forcing has only been shown recently. Here we derive systematic expansions for such GSSs and construct a numerical algorithm that yields explicit and arbitrarily refinable approximations for GSSs without the need for an initial convergence period. This is to be contrasted with a direct numerical integration of the system, whose convergence is hard to assess or is even undefined for short, transient forcing. When at least the linear part of the equations of motion is known, our GSS algorithm outperforms available data-driven neural-network-based techniques for predicting forced response in structural dynamics problems. In a fully equation-driven setting, our GSS computations are shown to be faster than a direct numerical integration of forced nonlinear finite-element models of beams and shells.

math.DS↗

arXiv2026

Data-Driven Modeling of Global Bifurcations and Chaos in a Mechanical System under Delayed and Quantized Control

We illustrate how the recent theory of Spectral Submanifolds (SSM) can capture global bifurcations and complex dynamics in mechanical systems even under delay and spatial discretization. Specifically, we build a parameter-dependent SSM-reduced model that predicts global heteroclinic and local bifurcations in a Furuta pendulum under control with delay, and verify these predictions numerically. Under additional spatial discretization of the digital controller, we also obtain an SSM-reduced model that correctly reproduces a numerically and experimentally observed microchaotic attractor in the system.

math.DS↗

arXiv2026

Nonlinear Spectral Modeling and Control of Soft-Robotic Muscles from Data

Artificial muscles are essential for compliant musculoskeletal robotics but complicate control due to nonlinear multiphysics dynamics. Hydraulically amplified electrostatic (HASEL) actuators, a class of soft artificial muscles, offer high performance but exhibit memory effects and hysteresis. Here we present a data-driven reduction and control strategy grounded in spectral submanifold (SSM) theory. In the adiabatic regime, where inputs vary slowly relative to intrinsic transients, trajectories rapidly converge to a low-dimensional slow manifold. We learn an explicit input-to-output map on this manifold from forced-response trajectories alone, avoiding decay experiments that can trigger hysteresis. We deploy the SSM-based model for real-time control of an antagonistic HASEL-clutch joint. This approach yields a substantial reduction in tracking error compared to feedback-only and feedforward-only baselines under identical settings. This record-and-control workflow enables rapid characterization and high-performance control of soft muscles and muscle-driven joints without detailed physics-based modeling.

math.DS↗

arXiv2025

Existence of spectral submanifolds in time delay systems

Spectral submanifolds (SSMs) are invariant manifolds of a dynamical system, defined by the property of being tangent to a spectral subspace of the linearized dynamics at a steady state. We show existence, along with certain desirable properties such as smoothness, attractivity and conditional uniqueness, of SSMs associated to a large class of spectral subspaces in time delay systems. Building on these results, we generalize the criteria for existence of inertial manifolds -- defined as globally exponentially attracting Lipschitz invariant manifolds of finite dimension -- and show that they need not have dimension equal to that of the physical configuration, in contrast to previous accounts. We then demonstrate the applicability of these results on a few simple examples.

math.DS↗

arXiv2025

Data-Driven Reduced Modeling of Recurrent Neural Networks

Artificial Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) are widely used in neuroscience to model the collective activity of neurons during behavioral tasks. The high dimensionality of their parameter and activity spaces, however, often make it challenging to infer and interpret the fundamental features of their dynamics. In this study, we employ recent nonlinear dynamical system techniques to uncover the core dynamics of several RNNs used in contemporary neuroscience. Specifically, using a data-driven approach, we identify Spectral Submanifolds (SSMs), i.e., low-dimensional attracting invariant manifolds tangent to the eigenspaces of fixed points. The internal dynamics of SSMs serve as nonlinear models that reduce the dimensionality of the full RNNs by orders of magnitude. Through low-dimensional, SSM-reduced models, we give mathematically precise definitions of line and ring attractors, which are intuitive concepts commonly used to explain decision-making and working memory. The new level of understanding of RNNs obtained from SSM reduction enables the interpretation of mathematically well-defined and robust structures in neuronal dynamics, leading to novel predictions about the neural computations underlying behavior.

math.DS↗

arXiv2025

Globalizing manifold-based reduced models for equations and data

One of the very few mathematically rigorous nonlinear model reduction methods is the restriction of a dynamical system to a low-dimensional, sufficiently smooth, attracting invariant manifold. Such manifolds are usually found using local polynomial approximations and, hence, are limited by the unknown domains of convergence of their Taylor expansions. To address this limitation, we extend local expansions for invariant manifolds via Pad\'e approximants, which re-express the Taylor expansions as rational functions for broader utility. This approach significantly expands the range of applicability of manifold-reduced models, enabling reduced modeling of global phenomena, such as large-scale oscillations and chaotic attractors of finite element models. We illustrate the power of globalized manifold-based model reduction on several equation-driven and data-driven examples from solid mechanics and fluid mechanics.

math.DS↗

arXiv2025

Joint Reduced Model for the Laminar and Chaotic Attractors in Plane Couette Flow

We use the theory of spectral submanifolds (SSMs) to develop a low-dimensional reduced-order model for plane Couette flow in the permanently chaotic regime studied by Kreilos & Eckhardt (2012). Our three-dimensional model is obtained by restricting the dynamics to the slowest mixed-mode SSM of the edge state. We show that this results in a nonlinear model that accurately reconstructs individual trajectories, representing the entire chaotic attractor and the laminar dynamics simultaneously. In addition, we derive a two-dimensional Poincar\'e map that enables the rapid computation of the periodic orbits embedded in the chaotic attractor.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2025

Taming High-Dimensional Dynamics: Learning Optimal Projections onto Spectral Submanifolds

High-dimensional nonlinear systems pose considerable challenges for modeling and control across many domains, from fluid mechanics to advanced robotics. Such systems are typically approximated with reduced-order models, which often rely on orthogonal projections, a simplification that may lead to large prediction errors. In this work, we derive optimality of fiber-aligned projections onto spectral submanifolds, preserving the nonlinear geometric structure and minimizing long-term prediction error. We propose a data-driven procedure to learn these projections from trajectories and demonstrate its effectiveness through a 180-dimensional robotic system. Our reduced-order models achieve up to fivefold improvement in trajectory tracking accuracy under model predictive control compared to the state of the art.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2025

Data-Driven Nonlinear Model Reduction to Spectral Submanifolds via Oblique Projection

The dynamics in a primary Spectral Submanifold (SSM) constructed over the slowest modes of a dynamical system provide an ideal reduced-order model for nearby trajectories. Modeling the dynamics of trajectories further away from the primary SSM, however, is difficult if the linear part of the system exhibits strong non-normal behavior. Such non-normality implies that simply projecting trajectories onto SSMs along directions normal to the slow linear modes will not pair those trajectories correctly with their reduced counterparts on the SSMs. In principle, a well-defined nonlinear projection along a stable invariant foliation exists and would exactly match the full dynamics to the SSM-reduced dynamics. This foliation, however, cannot realistically be constructed from practically feasible amounts and distributions of experimental data. Here we develop an oblique projection technique that is able to approximate this foliation efficiently, even from a single experimental trajectory of a significantly non-normal and nonlinear beam.

math.DS↗

arXiv2025

Data-Driven Soft Robot Control via Adiabatic Spectral Submanifolds

The mechanical complexity of soft robots creates significant challenges for their model-based control. Specifically, linear data-driven models have struggled to control soft robots on complex, spatially extended paths that explore regions with significant nonlinear behavior. To account for these nonlinearities, we develop here a model-predictive control strategy based on the recent theory of adiabatic spectral submanifolds (aSSMs). This theory is applicable because the internal vibrations of heavily overdamped robots decay at a speed that is much faster than the desired speed of the robot along its intended path. In that case, low-dimensional attracting invariant manifolds (aSSMs) emanate from the path and carry the dominant dynamics of the robot. Aided by this recent theory, we devise an aSSM-based model-predictive control scheme purely from data. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our data-driven model in tracking dynamic trajectories across diverse tasks. We validate on high-fidelity, high-dimensional finite-element models of a soft trunk robot and Cosserat-rod-based elastic soft arms, with additional experiments confirming robust performance even in the presence of experimental noise. Notably, we find that five- or six-dimensional aSSM-reduced models outperform the tracking performance of other data-driven modeling methods by a factor up to 10 across all closed-loop control tasks.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2024

Data-Driven Reduction of the Finite-Element Model of a Tribomechadynamics Benchmark Problem

Bolted joints can exhibit nonsmooth and significantly nonlinear dynamics. Finite Element Models (FEMs) of this phenomenon require fine spatial discretizations, inclusion of nonlinear contact and friction laws, as well as geometric nonlinearity. Owing to the nonlinearity and high dimensionality of such models, full-order dynamic simulations are computationally expensive. In this work, we use the theory of Spectral Submanifolds (SSMs) to construct a data-driven, smoothed reduced model for a 187,920-dimensional FEM model of a broadly studied Tribomechadynamics benchmark structure with bolted joints. We train the 4-dimensional reduced model using only a few transient trajectories of the full unforced FEM model. We show that this smooth model accurately predicts the experimentally observed nonlinear forced response of the full nonsmooth benchmark problem.

math.DS↗

arXiv2024

Data-Driven Linearization of Dynamical Systems

Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) and its variants, such as extended DMD (EDMD), are broadly used to fit simple linear models to dynamical systems known from observable data. As DMD methods work well in several situations but perform poorly in others, a clarification of the assumptions under which DMD is applicable is desirable. Upon closer inspection, existing interpretations of DMD methods based on the Koopman operator are not quite satisfactory: they justify DMD under assumptions that hold only with probability zero for generic observables. Here, we give a justification for DMD as a local, leading-order reduced model for the dominant system dynamics under conditions that hold with probability one for generic observables and non-degenerate observational data. We achieve this for autonomous and for periodically forced systems of finite or infinite dimensions by constructing linearizing transformations for their dominant dynamics within attracting slow spectral submanifolds (SSMs). Our arguments also lead to a new algorithm, data-driven linearization (DDL), which is a higher-order, systematic linearization of the observable dynamics within slow SSMs. We show by examples how DDL outperforms DMD and EDMD on numerical and experimental data.

math.DS↗

arXiv2024

Nonlinear Model Reduction to Random Spectral Submanifolds in Random Vibrations

Dynamical systems in engineering and physics are often subject to irregular excitations that are best modeled as random. Monte Carlo simulations are routinely performed on such random models to obtain statistics on their long-term response. Such simulations, however, are prohibitively expensive and time consuming for high-dimensional nonlinear systems. Here we propose to decrease this numerical burden significantly by reducing the full system to very low-dimensional, attracting, random invariant manifolds in its phase space and performing the Monte Carlo simulations on that reduced dynamical system. The random spectral submanifolds (SSMs) we construct for this purpose generalize the concept of SSMs from deterministic systems under uniformly bounded random forcing. We illustrate the accuracy and speed of random SSM reduction by computing the SSM-reduced power spectral density of the randomly forced mechanical systems that range from simple oscillator chains to finite-element models of beams and plates.

math.DS↗

arXiv2024

Modeling Nonlinear Dynamics from Videos

We introduce a method for constructing reduced-order models directly from videos of dynamical systems. The method uses a non-intrusive tracking to isolate the motion of a user-selected part in the video of an autonomous dynamical system. In the space of delayed observations of this motion, we reconstruct a low-dimensional attracting spectral submanifold (SSM) whose internal dynamics serves as a mathematically justified reduced-order model for nearby motions of the full system. We obtain this model in a simple polynomial form that allows explicit identification of important physical system parameters, such as natural frequencies, linear and nonlinear damping and nonlinear stiffness. Beyond faithfully reproducing attracting steady states and limit cycles, our SSM-reduced models can also uncover hidden motion not seen in the video, such as unstable fixed points and unstable limit cycles forming basin boundaries. We demonstrate all these features on experimental videos of five physical systems: a double pendulum, an inverted flag in counter-flow, water sloshing in tank, a wing exhibiting aeroelastic flutter and a shimmying wheel.

math.DS↗

arXiv2024

Nonlinear Model Reduction to Temporally Aperiodic Spectral Submanifolds

We extend the theory of spectral submanifolds (SSMs) to general non-autonomous dynamical systems that are either weakly forced or slowly varying. Examples of such systems arise in structural dynamics, fluid-structure interactions and control problems. The time-dependent SSMs we construct under these assumptions are normally hyperbolic and hence will persist for larger forcing and faster time dependence that are beyond the reach of our precise existence theory. For this reason, we also derive formal asymptotic expansions that, under explicitly verifiable nonresonance conditions, approximate SSMs and their aperiodic anchor trajectories accurately for stronger, faster or even temporally discontinuous forcing. Reducing the dynamical system to these persisting SSMs provides a mathematically justified model reduction technique for non-autonomous physical systems whose time dependance is moderate either in magnitude or speed. We illustrate the existence, persistence and computation of temporally aperiodic SSMs in mechanical examples under chaotic forcing.

math.DS↗