The Kuramoto Neural Operator: Learning to Solve PDEs via Coupled Oscillator Dynamics

Abstract

Operator learning is a rapidly advancing area of computational science. It is particularly well suited to problems where a partial differential equation (PDE) must be solved repeatedly under varying physical configurations. Most existing architectures represent the solution operator in a fixed basis. While this assumption is well aligned with global structures, it is less suitable for phenomena governed by local interactions in physical space. We explore an alternative perspective motivated by the observation that the continuum limit of coupled oscillator systems can describe a broad class of PDEs. Building on this idea, we introduce the Kuramoto Neural Operator (KNO), which represents the solution through the evolution of a latent field of interacting oscillators. Across a diverse collection of PDE benchmarks, KNO achieves strong predictive performance, with improvements over competing approaches. Our experimental evaluation also includes an extensive ablation study that quantifies the contribution of each architectural component incorporated into KNO. Furthermore, we show that the model's prediction error is closely linked to the collective dynamics of the latent oscillators. It varies systematically with their degree of synchronization, providing insights into the underlying mechanisms.