Dynamical Low-rank Approximation Research Articles

Towards dynamical low-rank approximation for neutrino kinetic equations. Part I: Analysis of an idealized relaxation model

Dynamical low-rank approximation (DLRA) is an emerging tool for reducing computational costs and provides memory savings when solving high-dimensional problems. In this work, we propose and analyze a semi-implicit dynamical low-rank discontinuous Galerkin (DLR-DG) method for the space homogeneous kinetic equation with a relaxation operator, modeling the emission and absorption of particles by a background medium. Both DLRA and the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) scheme can be formulated as Galerkin equations. To ensure their consistency, a weighted DLRA is introduced so that the resulting DLR-DG solution is a solution to the fully discrete DG scheme in a subspace of the standard DG solution space. Similar to the standard DG method, we show that the proposed DLR-DG method is well-posed. We also identify conditions such that the DLR-DG solution converges to the equilibrium. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the theoretical findings.

Macro-micro decomposition for consistent and conservative model order reduction of hyperbolic shallow water moment equations: a study using POD-Galerkin and dynamical low-rank approximation

Geophysical flow simulations using hyperbolic shallow water moment equations require an efficient discretization of a potentially large system of PDEs, the so-called moment system. This calls for tailored model order reduction techniques that allow for efficient and accurate simulations while guaranteeing physical properties like mass conservation. In this paper, we develop the first model reduction for the hyperbolic shallow water moment equations and achieve mass conservation. This is accomplished using a macro-micro decomposition of the model into a macroscopic (conservative) part and a microscopic (non-conservative) part with subsequent model reduction using either POD-Galerkin or dynamical low-rank approximation only on the microscopic (non-conservative) part. Numerical experiments showcase the performance of the new model reduction methods including high accuracy and fast computation times together with guaranteed conservation and consistency properties.

A robust second-order low-rank BUG integrator based on the midpoint rule

Dynamical low-rank approximation has become a valuable tool to perform an on-the-fly model order reduction for prohibitively large matrix differential equations. A core ingredient is the construction of integrators that are robust to the presence of small singular values and the resulting large time derivatives of the orthogonal factors in the low-rank matrix representation. Recently, the robust basis-update & Galerkin (BUG) class of integrators has been introduced. These methods require no steps that evolve the solution backward in time, often have favourable structure-preserving properties, and allow for parallel time-updates of the low-rank factors. The BUG framework is flexible enough to allow for adaptations to these and further requirements. However, the BUG methods presented so far have only first-order robust error bounds. This work proposes a second-order BUG integrator for dynamical low-rank approximation based on the midpoint quadrature rule. The integrator first performs a half-step with a first-order BUG integrator, followed by a Galerkin update with a suitably augmented basis. We prove a robust second-order error bound which in addition shows an improved dependence on the normal component of the vector field. These rigorous results are illustrated and complemented by a number of numerical experiments.

From low-rank retractions to dynamical low-rank approximation and back

In algorithms for solving optimization problems constrained to a smooth manifold, retractions are a well-established tool to ensure that the iterates stay on the manifold. More recently, it has been demonstrated that retractions are a useful concept for other computational tasks on manifold as well, including interpolation tasks. In this work, we consider the application of retractions to the numerical integration of differential equations on fixed-rank matrix manifolds. This is closely related to dynamical low-rank approximation (DLRA) techniques. In fact, any retraction leads to a numerical integrator and, vice versa, certain DLRA techniques bear a direct relation with retractions. As an example for the latter, we introduce a new retraction, called KLS retraction, that is derived from the so-called unconventional integrator for DLRA. We also illustrate how retractions can be used to recover known DLRA techniques and to design new ones. In particular, this work introduces two novel numerical integration schemes that apply to differential equations on general manifolds: the accelerated forward Euler (AFE) method and the Projected Ralston–Hermite (PRH) method. Both methods build on retractions by using them as a tool for approximating curves on manifolds. The two methods are proven to have local truncation error of order three. Numerical experiments on classical DLRA examples highlight the advantages and shortcomings of these new methods.

Robust and conservative dynamical low-rank methods for the Vlasov equation via a novel macro-micro decomposition

Dynamical low-rank (DLR) approximation has gained interest in recent years as a viable solution to the curse of dimensionality in the numerical solution of kinetic equations including the Boltzmann and Vlasov equations. These methods include the projector-splitting and Basis-update & Galerkin (BUG) DLR integrators, and have shown promise at greatly improving the computational efficiency of kinetic solutions. However, this often comes at the cost of conservation of charge, current and energy. In this work we show how a novel macro-micro decomposition may be used to separate the distribution function into two components, one of which carries the conserved quantities, and the other of which is orthogonal to them. We apply DLR approximation to the latter, and thereby achieve a clean and extensible approach to a conservative DLR scheme which retains the computational advantages of the base scheme. Moreover, our approach requires no change to the mechanics of the DLR approximation, so it is compatible with both the BUG family of integrators and the projector-splitting integrator which we use here. We describe a first-order integrator which can exactly conserve charge and either current or energy, as well as an integrator which exactly conserves charge and energy and exhibits second-order accuracy on our test problems. To highlight the flexibility of the proposed macro-micro decomposition, we implement a pair of velocity space discretizations, and verify the claimed accuracy and conservation properties on a suite of plasma benchmark problems.

Energy Stable and Conservative Dynamical Low-Rank Approximation for the Su–Olson Problem

Energy Stable and Conservative Dynamical Low-Rank Approximation for the Su–Olson Problem

Dynamical low-rank approximation of the Vlasov–Poisson equation with piecewise linear spatial boundary

Dynamical low-rank approximation (DLRA) for the numerical simulation of Vlasov–Poisson equations is based on separation of space and velocity variables, as proposed in several recent works. The standard approach for the time integration in the DLRA model uses a splitting of the tangent space projector for the low-rank manifold according to the separated variables. It can also be modified to allow for rank-adaptivity. A less studied aspect is the incorporation of boundary conditions in the DLRA model. In this work, a variational formulation of the projector splitting is proposed which allows to handle inflow boundary conditions on spatial domains with piecewise linear boundary. Numerical experiments demonstrate the principle feasibility of this approach.

A DEIM Tucker tensor cross algorithm and its application to dynamical low-rank approximation

We introduce a Tucker tensor cross approximation method that constructs a low-rank representation of a d-dimensional tensor by sparsely sampling its fibers. These fibers are selected using the discrete empirical interpolation method (DEIM). Our proposed algorithm is referred to as DEIM fiber sampling (DEIM-FS). For a rank-r approximation of an O(Nd) tensor, DEIM-FS requires access to only dNrd−1 tensor entries, a requirement that scales linearly with the tensor size along each mode. We demonstrate that DEIM-FS achieves an approximation accuracy close to the Tucker-tensor approximation obtained via higher-order singular value decomposition at a significantly reduced cost. We also present DEIM-FS (iterative) that does not require access to singular vectors of the target tensor unfolding and can be viewed as a black-box Tucker tensor algorithm. We employ DEIM-FS to reduce the computational cost associated with solving nonlinear tensor differential equations (TDEs) using dynamical low-rank approximation (DLRA). The computational cost of solving DLRA equations can become prohibitive when the exact rank of the right-hand side tensor is large. This issue arises in many TDEs, especially in cases involving non-polynomial nonlinearities, where the right-hand side tensor has full rank. This necessitates the storage and computation of tensors of size O(Nd). We show that DEIM-FS results in significant computational savings for DLRA by constructing a low-rank Tucker approximation of the right-hand side tensor on the fly. Another advantage of using DEIM-FS is to significantly simplify the implementation of DLRA equations, irrespective of the type of TDEs. We demonstrate the efficiency of the algorithm through several examples including solving high-dimensional partial differential equations.

Accelerating the simulation of kinetic shear Alfvén waves with a dynamical low-rank approximation

We propose a dynamical low-rank algorithm for a gyrokinetic model that is used to describe strongly magnetized plasmas. The low-rank approximation is based on a decomposition into variables parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field, as suggested by the physics of the underlying problem. We show that the resulting scheme exactly recovers the dispersion relation even with rank 1. We then perform a simulation of kinetic shear Alfvén waves and show that using the proposed dynamical low-rank algorithm a drastic reduction (multiple orders of magnitude) in both computational time and memory consumption can be achieved. We also compare the performance of robust first and second-order projector splitting, BUG (also called unconventional), and augmented BUG integrators as well as a FFT-based spectral and Lax–Wendroff discretization.

Asymptotic-Preserving and Energy Stable Dynamical Low-Rank Approximation

Asymptotic-Preserving and Energy Stable Dynamical Low-Rank Approximation

Dynamically Orthogonal Runge–Kutta Schemes with Perturbative Retractions for the Dynamical Low-Rank Approximation

Dynamically Orthogonal Runge–Kutta Schemes with Perturbative Retractions for the Dynamical Low-Rank Approximation

A robust and conservative dynamical low-rank algorithm

Dynamical low-rank approximation, as has been demonstrated recently, can be extremely efficient in solving kinetic equations. However, a major deficiency is that it does not preserve the structure of the underlying physical problem. For example, the classic dynamical low-rank methods violate mass, momentum, and energy conservation. In Einkemmer and Joseph (2021) [9] a conservative dynamical low-rank approach has been proposed. However, directly integrating the resulting equations of motion, similar to the classic dynamical low-rank approach, results in an ill-posed scheme. In this work we propose a robust, i.e. well-posed, low-rank integrator that conserves mass and momentum (up to machine precision) and significantly improves energy conservation. We also report improved qualitative results for some problems and show how the approach can be combined with a rank adaptive scheme.

A robust collision source method for rank adaptive dynamical low-rank approximation in radiation therapy

Deterministic models for radiation transport describe the density of radiation particles moving through a background material. In radiation therapy applications, the phase space of this density is composed of energy, spatial position and direction of flight. The resulting six-dimensional phase space prohibits fine numerical discretizations, which are essential for the construction of accurate and reliable treatment plans. In this work, we tackle the high dimensional phase space through a dynamical low-rank approximation of the particle density. Dynamical low-rank approximation (DLRA) evolves the solution on a low-rank manifold in time. Interpreting the energy variable as a pseudo-time lets us employ the DLRA framework to represent the solution of the radiation transport equation on a low-rank manifold for every energy. Stiff scattering terms are treated through an efficient implicit energy discretization and a rank adaptive integrator is chosen to dynamically adapt the rank in energy. To facilitate the use of boundary conditions and reduce the overall rank, the radiation transport equation is split into collided and uncollided particles through a collision source method. Uncollided particles are described by a directed quadrature set guaranteeing low computational costs, whereas collided particles are represented by a low-rank solution. It can be shown that the presented method is L2-stable under a time step restriction which does not depend on stiff scattering terms. Moreover, the implicit treatment of scattering does not require numerical inversions of matrices. Numerical results for radiation therapy configurations as well as the line source benchmark underline the efficiency of the proposed method.

Low-rank Parareal: a low-rank parallel-in-time integrator

In this work, the Parareal algorithm is applied to evolution problems that admit good low-rank approximations and for which the dynamical low-rank approximation (DLRA) can be used as time stepper. Many discrete integrators for DLRA have recently been proposed, based on splitting the projected vector field or by applying projected Runge–Kutta methods. The cost and accuracy of these methods are mostly governed by the rank chosen for the approximation. These properties are used in a new method, called low-rank Parareal, in order to obtain a time-parallel DLRA solver for evolution problems. The algorithm is analyzed on affine linear problems and the results are illustrated numerically.

On the Stability of Robust Dynamical Low-Rank Approximations for Hyperbolic Problems

The dynamical low-rank approximation (DLRA) is used to treat high-dimensional problems that arise in such diverse fields as kinetic transport and uncertainty quantification. Even though it is well known that certain spatial and temporal discretizations when combined with the DLRA approach can result in numerical instability, this phenomenon is poorly understood. In this paper we perform an stability analysis for the corresponding nonlinear equations of motion. This reveals the source of the instability for the projector-splitting integrator [C. Lubich and I. V. Oseledets, BIT, 54 (2014), pp. 171–188] when first discretizing the equations and then applying the DLRA. Based on this we propose a projector-splitting integrator, based on applying DLRA to the continuous system before performing the discretization, that recovers the classic CFL condition. We also show that the unconventional integrator [G. Ceruti and C. Lubich, BIT, 62 (2021), pp. 23–44] has more favorable stability properties. Moreover, we explain why the projector-splitting integrator performs better when approximating higher moments, while the unconventional integrator is generally superior for first order moments. Furthermore, an efficient and stable dynamical low-rank update for the scattering term in kinetic transport is proposed. Numerical experiments for kinetic transport and uncertainty quantification, which confirm the results of the stability analysis, are presented.

A sweep-based low-rank method for the discrete ordinate transport equation

The dynamical low-rank (DLR) approximation is an efficient technique to approximate the solution to matrix differential equations. Recently, the DLR method was applied to radiation transport calculations to reduce memory requirements and computational costs. This work extends the low-rank scheme for the time-dependent radiation transport equation in 2-D and 3-D Cartesian geometries with discrete ordinates discretization in angle (SN method). The reduced system that evolves on a low-rank manifold is constructed via the “unconventional” basis update & Galerkin integrator to avoid a substep that is backward in time, which could be unstable for dissipative problems. The resulting system preserves the information on angular direction by applying separate low-rank decompositions in each octant where angular intensity has the same sign as the direction cosines. Then, transport sweeps and source iteration can efficiently solve this low-rank-SN system. The numerical results in 2-D and 3-D Cartesian geometries demonstrate that the low-rank solution requires less memory and computational time than solving the full rank equations using transport sweeps without losing accuracy.

Learning coordinate systems for fast and accurate acoustic modeling

Many popular numerical methods, such as finite difference and spectral methods, rely on simple domain geometry and environmental smoothness. Unfortunately, these features are rarely found in real-world simulations. We propose learning coordinate transformations with deep neural networks to facilitate acoustic modeling in complex media. Using automatic differentiation, we obtain new coordinate systems by solving various optimization problems that map the computational domain to a rectangular grid. Different choices of the objective function are utilized to attain different goals, including (i) mapping complicated boundaries such as the seafloor to straight lines and (ii) reducing the rank of two-dimensional slices of the refractive index. The first choice allows for domain decomposition to accurately model sharp discontinuities in density and sound speed. The second drastically accelerates a non-intrusive reduced-order modeling technique referred to as the dynamical low-rank approximation. Using realistic ocean test cases, we compare the performance of our learned coordinate systems with domain decomposition to the classic approach of smoothing sharp discontinuities, and we compare full-rank, low-rank, and coordinate-system-accelerated low-rank solutions of the three-dimensional parabolic wave equation.

A low-rank power iteration scheme for neutron transport criticality problems

Computing effective eigenvalues for neutron transport often requires a fine numerical resolution. The main challenge of such computations is the high memory effort of classical solvers, which limits the accuracy of chosen discretizations. In this work, we derive a method for the computation of effective eigenvalues when the underlying solution has a low-rank structure. This is accomplished by utilizing dynamical low-rank approximation (DLRA), which is an efficient strategy to derive time evolution equations for low-rank solution representations. The main idea is to interpret the iterates of the classical inverse power iteration as pseudo-time steps and apply the DLRA concepts in this framework. In our numerical experiment, we demonstrate that our method significantly reduces memory requirements while achieving the desired accuracy. Analytic investigations show that the proposed iteration scheme inherits the convergence speed of the inverse power iteration, at least for a simplified setting.

Rank-adaptive structure-preserving model order reduction of Hamiltonian systems

This work proposes an adaptive structure-preserving model order reduction method for finite-dimensional parametrized Hamiltonian systems modeling non-dissipative phenomena. To overcome the slowly decaying Kolmogorov width typical of transport problems, the full model is approximated on local reduced spaces that are adapted in time using dynamical low-rank approximation techniques. The reduced dynamics is prescribed by approximating the symplectic projection of the Hamiltonian vector field in the tangent space to the local reduced space. This ensures that the canonical symplectic structure of the Hamiltonian dynamics is preserved during the reduction. In addition, accurate approximations with low-rank reduced solutions are obtained by allowing the dimension of the reduced space to change during the time evolution. Whenever the quality of the reduced solution, assessed via an error indicator, is not satisfactory, the reduced basis is augmented in the parameter direction that is worst approximated by the current basis. Extensive numerical tests involving wave interactions, nonlinear transport problems, and the Vlasov equation demonstrate the superior stability properties and considerable runtime speedups of the proposed method as compared to global and traditional reduced basis approaches.

A rank-adaptive robust integrator for dynamical low-rank approximation

A rank-adaptive integrator for the dynamical low-rank approximation of matrix and tensor differential equations is presented. The fixed-rank integrator recently proposed by two of the authors is extended to allow for an adaptive choice of the rank, using subspaces that are generated by the integrator itself. The integrator first updates the evolving bases and then does a Galerkin step in the subspace generated by both the new and old bases, which is followed by rank truncation to a given tolerance. It is shown that the adaptive low-rank integrator retains the exactness, robustness and symmetry-preserving properties of the previously proposed fixed-rank integrator. Beyond that, up to the truncation tolerance, the rank-adaptive integrator preserves the norm when the differential equation does, it preserves the energy for Schrödinger equations and Hamiltonian systems, and it preserves the monotonic decrease of the functional in gradient flows. Numerical experiments illustrate the behaviour of the rank-adaptive integrator.