Data-driven reconstruction of dynamical systems using Takens' Theorem, manifold learning, and universal function approximators

Abstract

Embedding theorems can be used to provide theoretical guarantees about the relation between low-dimensional observations of a system and its full-dimensional state and dynamics. Such theorems do not, however, provide guidance on observable choice, embedding construction, or methodologies to learn the mapping between the embedding and full-dimensional state. In this work, we develop an algorithmic framework, TAkens Reconstruction (TAR), to analyze and reconstruct arbitrary dynamical systems from low-dimensional time series using an integration of Takens' Delay Embedding Theorem, manifold learning techniques, and universal function approximators. We validate TAR in applications to a variety of simulated and observed dynamical systems and use it to investigate how delay vector structure impacts reconstruction accuracy. In an ecological system, we show that simple predator-prey dynamics can be reconstructed with observations taken over a wide variety of embedding time scales. In molecular dynamics simulations of the protein Villin, we demonstrate how including multiple time delays of the same observable series can be used to improve reconstruction of systems with multiple characteristic time scales. In the trade record of Vanguard S&P 500, we show how the approach exposes underlying dynamical phenomenologies in the data and accurate return predictions over short time horizons without access to full-dimensional market observations. We develop and release an open-source software package to enable the application of TAR to arbitrary dynamical systems.