@article{VillaniAndresArconesUngeretal.2026, author = {Villani, Paolo and Andr{\´e}s Arcones, Daniel and Unger, J{\"o}rg F. and Weiser, Martin}, title = {Gaussian mixture models for model improvement}, arxiv = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15101}, year = {2026}, abstract = {Modeling complex physical systems such as they arise in civil engineering applications requires finding a trade-off between physical fidelity and practicality. Consequently, deviations of simulation from measurements are ubiquitous even after model calibration due to the model discrepancy, which may result from deliberate modeling decisions, ignorance, or lack of knowledge. If the mismatch between simulation and measurements are deemed unacceptable, the model has to be improved. Targeted model improvement is challenging due to a non-local impact of model discrepancies on measurements and the dependence on sensor configurations. Many approaches to model improvement, such as Bayesian calibration with additive mismatch terms, gray-box models, symbolic regression, or stochastic model updating, often lack interpretability, generalizability, physical consistency, or practical applicability. This paper introduces a non-intrusive approach to model discrepancy analysis using mixture models. Instead of directly modifying the model structure, the method maps sensor readings to clusters of physically meaningful parameters, automatically assigning sensor readings to parameter vector clusters. This mapping can reveal systematic discrepancies and model biases, guiding targeted, physics-based refinements by the modeler. The approach is formulated within a Bayesian framework, enabling the identification of parameter clusters and their assignments via the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm. The methodology is demonstrated through numerical experiments, including an illustrative example and a real-world case study of heat transfer in a concrete bridge.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{BorndoerferJocasWeiser2026, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Jocas, Arturas and Weiser, Martin}, title = {An Eikonal Approach for Globally Optimal Free Flight Trajectories}, arxiv = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.11830}, year = {2026}, abstract = {We present an eikonal-based approach that is capable of finding a continuous globally optimal trajectory for an aircraft in a stationary wind field. This minimizes emissions and fuel consumption. If the destination is close to a cut locus of the associated Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, small numerical discretization errors can lead to selecting a merely locally optimal trajectory and missing the globally optimal one. Based on finite element error estimates, we construct a trust region around the cut loci in order to guarantee uniqueness of trajectories for destinations sufficiently far from cut loci.}, language = {en} } @article{KruegerDopslaffManleyetal.2026, author = {Kr{\"u}ger, Jan and Dopslaff, Sven and Manley, Phillip and Bergmann, Detlef and K{\"o}ning, Rainer and Dai, Gaoliang and Hahm, Kai and Schneider, Philipp-Immanuel and Hammerschmidt, Martin and Zschiedrich, Lin and Bosse, Harald and Bodermann, Bernd}, title = {Photomask linewidth measurement comparison including an improved model-based through-focus measurement approach}, volume = {37}, journal = {Meas. Sci. Technol.}, doi = {10.1088/1361-6501/ae44bb}, pages = {095004}, year = {2026}, language = {en} } @misc{BaumannDudaSchielaetal.2026, author = {Baumann, Felix and Duda, Georg and Schiela, Anton and Weiser, Martin}, title = {Identification of Stress in Heterogeneous Contact Models}, volume = {173}, journal = {Non-Smooth and Complementarity-Based Distributed Parameter Systems}, editor = {Hinterm{\"u}ller, Michael and Herzog, Roland and Kanzow, Christian and Ulbrich, Michael and Ulbrich, Stefan}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, year = {2026}, abstract = {We develop a heterogeneous model of the lower limb system to simulate muscle forces and stresses acting on the knee joint. The modelling of the bone dynamics leads to an index-3 DAE, which we discretize by higher order collocation methods. Furthermore, we present an elastomechanical contact knee joint model of the articular cartilage. For the solution of the contact problem we develop an efficient multigrid solver, based on an Augmented-Lagrangian relaxation of the contact constraints. We formulate the identification of joint forces and resulting stresses with respect to different knee joint models as an inverse problem based on medical gait data.}, language = {en} } @misc{Villani2025, type = {Master Thesis}, author = {Villani, Paolo}, title = {Regression Techniques for Surrogate Modelling in Bayesian Inverse Problems}, pages = {59}, year = {2025}, abstract = {For many real-world applications, a system of interest can be represented via a mathematical model which depends on a set of parameters. In order to identify the parameters, a set of observations is available and an Inverse Problem is formulated. Identifying the parameters from the observations is often a challenging task, especially when the model is expensive to evaluate. This is the case for Partial Differential Equations models, where numerical simulations which are both inexact and computationally expensive are required to obtain the model output. To ease the computational costs, surrogate models can be used to approximate the forward model. In this work, we present two different regression techniques, Gaussian Process Regression and Lipschitz Regression. After reformulating the Inverse Problem to account for the surrogate model, we develope an adaptive training strategy to train the surrogate model. The proposed training strategy aims at optimizing not only the training points' positions but also their evaluation accuracies. Moreover, interleaved sampling of the posterior distribution of the unknown parameters is performed while the surrogate model is trained, providing a solution for the Inverse Problem. The quality of the surrogating techniques as well as the effectiveness of the adaptive training strategy are tested through different numerical experiments.}, language = {en} } @article{ZimperDjurdjevacHartmannetal.2025, author = {Zimper, Sebastian and Djurdjevac, Ana and Hartmann, Carsten and Sch{\"u}tte, Christof and Conrad, Natasa Djurdjevac}, title = {Mean-field optimal control with stochastic leaders}, arxiv = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2512.19201}, year = {2025}, abstract = {We consider interacting agent systems with a large number of stochastic agents (or particles) influenced by a fixed number of external stochastic lead agents. Such examples arise, for example in models of opinion dynamics, where a small number of leaders (influencers) can steer the behaviour of a large population of followers. In this context, we study a partial mean-field limit where the number of followers tends to infinity, while the number of leaders stays constant. The partial mean-field limit dynamics is then given by a McKean-Vlasov stochastic differential equation (SDE) for the followers, coupled to a controlled It{\^o}-SDE governing the dynamics of the lead agents. For a given cost functional that the lead agents seek to minimise, we show that the unique optimal control of the finite agent system convergences to the optimal control of the limiting system. This establishes that the low-dimensional control of the partial (mean-field) system provides an effective approximation for controlling the high-dimensional finite agent system. In addition, we propose a stochastic gradient descent algorithm that can efficiently approximate the mean-field control. Our theoretical results are illustrated on opinion dynamics model with lead agents, where the control objective is to drive the followers to reach consensus in finite time.}, language = {en} } @article{AbouHamdanJanaColometal.2026, author = {Abou Hamdan, Loubnan and Jana, Aloke and Colom, R{\´e}mi and Aboujoussef, Nour and Carlson, Cooper and Overvig, Adam and Binkowski, Felix and Burger, Sven and Genevet, Patrice}, title = {A Complex-Frequency Framework for Kerker Unidirectionality in Photonic Resonators}, doi = {10.21203/rs.3.rs-8444305/v1}, year = {2026}, language = {en} } @article{WehlitzPavliotisSchuetteetal.2026, author = {Wehlitz, Nathalie and Pavliotis, Grigorios and Sch{\"u}tte, Christof and Winkelmann, Stefanie}, title = {Data-driven Reduction of Transfer Operators for Particle Clustering Dynamics}, arxiv = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2601.02932}, year = {2026}, abstract = {We develop an operator-based framework to coarse-grain interacting particle systems that exhibit clustering dynamics. Starting from the particle-based transfer operator, we first construct a sequence of reduced representations: the operator is projected onto concentrations and then further reduced by representing the concentration dynamics on a geometric low-dimensional manifold and an adapted finite-state discretization. The resulting coarse-grained transfer operator is finally estimated from dynamical simulation data by inferring the transition probabilities between the Markov states. Applied to systems with multichromatic and Morse interaction potentials, the reduced model reproduces key features of the clustering process, including transitions between cluster configurations and the emergence of metastable states. Spectral analysis and transition-path analysis of the estimated operator reveal implied time scales and dominant transition pathways, providing an interpretable and efficient description of particle-clustering dynamics.}, language = {en} } @article{AkhyarZhangStoltzetal.2025, author = {Akhyar, Fatima-Zahrae and Zhang, Wei and Stoltz, Gabriel and Sch{\"u}tte, Christof}, title = {Generative modeling of conditional probability distributions on the level-sets of collective variables}, arxiv = {http://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17374}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Given a probability distribution \$\mu\$ in \$\mathbb{R}^d\$ represented by data, we study in this paper the generative modeling of its conditional probability distributions on the level-sets of a collective variable \$\xi: \mathbb{R}^d \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^k\$, where \$1 \le k