Automatic Frechet differentiation for the numerical solution of boundary-value problems

A new solver for nonlinear boundary-value problems (BVPs) in Matlab is presented, based on the Chebfun software system for representing functions and operators automatically as numerical objects. The solver implements Newton's method in function space, where instead of the usual Jacobian matrices, the derivatives involved are Frechet derivatives. A major novelty of this approach is the application of automatic differentiation (AD) techniques to compute the operator-valued Frechet derivatives in the continuous context. Other novelties include the use of anonymous functions and numbering of each variable to enable a recursive, delayed evaluation of derivatives with forward mode AD. The AD techniques are applied within a new Chebfun class called chebop which allows users to set up and solve nonlinear BVPs in a few lines of code, using the "nonlinear backslash" operator (\). This framework enables one to study the behaviour of Newton's method in function space

Forward-Mode Automatic Differentiation in Julia

We present ForwardDiff, a Julia package for forward-mode automatic differentiation (AD) featuring performance competitive with low-level languages like C++. Unlike recently developed AD tools in other popular high-level languages such as Python and MATLAB, ForwardDiff takes advantage of just-in-time (JIT) compilation to transparently recompile AD-unaware user code, enabling efficient support for higher-order differentiation and differentiation using custom number types (including complex numbers). For gradient and Jacobian calculations, ForwardDiff provides a variant of vector-forward mode that avoids expensive heap allocation and makes better use of memory bandwidth than traditional vector mode. In our numerical experiments, we demonstrate that for nontrivially large dimensions, ForwardDiff's gradient computations can be faster than a reverse-mode implementation from the Python-based autograd package. We also illustrate how ForwardDiff is used effectively within JuMP, a modeling language for optimization. According to our usage statistics, 41 unique repositories on GitHub depend on ForwardDiff, with users from diverse fields such as astronomy, optimization, finite element analysis, and statistics. This document is an extended abstract that has been accepted for presentation at the AD2016 7th International Conference on Algorithmic Differentiation.Comment: 4 page

A novel code generation methodology for block diagram modeler and simulators Scicos and VSS

Block operations during simulation in Scicos and VSS environments can naturally be described as Nsp functions. But the direct use of Nsp functions for simulation leads to poor performance since the Nsp language is interpreted, not compiled. The methodology presented in this paper is used to develop a tool for generating efficient compilable code, such as C and ADA, for Scicos and VSS models from these block Nsp functions. Operator overloading and partial evaluation are the key elements of this novel approach. This methodology may be used in other simulation environments such as Matlab/Simulink

The automatic solution of partial differential equations using a global spectral method

A spectral method for solving linear partial differential equations (PDEs) with variable coefficients and general boundary conditions defined on rectangular domains is described, based on separable representations of partial differential operators and the one-dimensional ultraspherical spectral method. If a partial differential operator is of splitting rank $2$, such as the operator associated with Poisson or Helmholtz, the corresponding PDE is solved via a generalized Sylvester matrix equation, and a bivariate polynomial approximation of the solution of degree $(n_x,n_y)$ is computed in $\mathcal{O}((n_x n_y)^{3/2})$ operations. Partial differential operators of splitting rank $\geq 3$ are solved via a linear system involving a block-banded matrix in $\mathcal{O}(\min(n_x^{3} n_y,n_x n_y^{3}))$ operations. Numerical examples demonstrate the applicability of our 2D spectral method to a broad class of PDEs, which includes elliptic and dispersive time-evolution equations. The resulting PDE solver is written in MATLAB and is publicly available as part of CHEBFUN. It can resolve solutions requiring over a million degrees of freedom in under $60$ seconds. An experimental implementation in the Julia language can currently perform the same solve in $10$ seconds.Comment: 22 page

Automating embedded analysis capabilities and managing software complexity in multiphysics simulation part I: template-based generic programming

An approach for incorporating embedded simulation and analysis capabilities in complex simulation codes through template-based generic programming is presented. This approach relies on templating and operator overloading within the C++ language to transform a given calculation into one that can compute a variety of additional quantities that are necessary for many state-of-the-art simulation and analysis algorithms. An approach for incorporating these ideas into complex simulation codes through general graph-based assembly is also presented. These ideas have been implemented within a set of packages in the Trilinos framework and are demonstrated on a simple problem from chemical engineering

An extension of Chebfun to two dimensions

An object-oriented MATLAB system is described that extends the capabilities of Chebfun to smooth functions of two variables defined on rectangles. Functions are approximated to essentially machine precision by using iterative Gaussian elimination with complete pivoting to form “chebfun2” objects representing low rank approximations. Operations such as integration, differentiation, function evaluation, and transforms are particularly efficient. Global optimization, the singular value decomposition, and rootfinding are also extended to chebfun2 objects. Numerical applications are presented