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Ermakov–Based embeddings as a parameter-free layer for physics-informed neural networks

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Abstract

Evolution equations with time-dependent coefficients force a neural solver to spend capacity on a scale that the equation already determines. We show that a single classical object, the Ermakov-Pinney scale function ρρ, can be written into the input layer of a physics-informed neural network as a parameter-free embedding. One construction covers three problem families through the two signs of the Pinney constant cc: linear diffusion (c=−1c=-1, ω≡0ω\equiv0), diffusion in a time-dependent confining trap (c=−1c=-1, ω≠0ω\neq0), and the quantum oscillator with time-dependent frequency (c=+1c=+1). An exact moment identity gives ρρ in closed form from the initial data alone, so no auxiliary network or knowledge of the solution is needed. Our central finding is comparative: each family requires a different component of the construction and has a different honest control. In family I, the diffusive-time reparametrisation alone reproduces most of the gain, so that family is a poor test of the idea and shows why an ablation is mandatory. In family II no time reparametrisation exists, the control degrades accuracy, and the amplitude prefactor becomes essential (40.8x). In family III the adiabatic approximation also fails, and the quadratic phase factor is what matters (5.7x). The method does not help when the reduced solution does not converge to a fixed point: its extrapolation advantage then disappears. The reduction itself is the classical scaling-variable change of the self-similar-asymptotics literature; what is new is the moment identity that makes it architectural for time-dependent coefficients, and the comparative anatomy above.

Introduction

Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) [1] struggle when a solution develops multiple scales or when coefficients vary rapidly [2, 3]. Supplying the network with structure that the equation already possesses is a natural remedy, and symmetry has been injected into neural PDE solvers as data augmentation [4], as a soft loss penalty [5], and architecturally through equivariant moving frames [6].

This paper takes the architectural route for one specific classical object. Ermakov [7] and Lewis [8] showed that an auxiliary function ρ\rho obeying the Pinney equation [9]

ρ¨+ω2(t)ρ=cρ3(1)\ddot{\rho}+\omega^{2}(t)\rho=\frac{c}{\rho^{3}} \tag*{(1)}

generates an exact invariant for the parametric oscillator. We observe that the same ρ\rho organises three superficially unrelated problems, that the sign of cc is what distinguishes them, and that writing the associated change of variables into the architecture costs no parameters. We call the resulting model an Ermakov-based network (EB-Net).

Contributions.

  1. A moment identity that makes the embedding practical (lemmas 1 and 4): for the linear conservative families, ρ\rho follows in closed form from the initial data and the coefficients, with no auxiliary network and no knowledge of the solution.

  1. One embedding, three families (sections 3–5): the same (ξ,θ)(\xi,\theta) construction, differing only in the sign of cc and in which auxiliary factor — amplitude or phase — is attached.

  1. A comparative anatomy (table 6): each family needs a different component of the same construction, and we quantify each component’s share.

  1. Ablation as a requirement, not a courtesy (remark 3): family I is degenerate, in that a trivial time reparametrisation reproduces most of the reported gain and the whole of its transfer property. Any symmetry-informed comparison on such a problem is uninterpretable without that control. We regard this as the most portable lesson of the paper.

  1. A negative result we consider load-bearing (remark 5): extrapolation beyond the training horizon helps only when the reduced solution converges to a fixed point. When it beats instead, no model extrapolates, ours included.

What we do not claim. The scaling-variable reduction is classical (remark 2); so are the diffusive-time substitution and the Lewis–Riesenfeld transformation. We claim none of them, nor a new architecture class, nor superiority over neural operators, nor applicability beyond linear first-kind self-similar problems.

The Ermakov–Pinney backbone

The invariant, for either sign of cc

Given y¨+ω2(t)y=0\ddot{y}+\omega^{2}(t)y=0 and ρ\rho solving (1), the Ermakov–Lewis quantity

I=12[c(y/ρ)2+(ρy˙−ρ˙y)2](2)I=\frac{1}{2}\left[c\left(y/\rho\right)^{2}+\left(\rho\dot{y}-\dot{\rho}y\right)^{2}\right] \tag*{(2)}

satisfies I˙=0\dot{I}=0 identically. We stress for either sign of cc: the familiar c>0c>0 branch is oscillatory and underlies the Lewis–Riesenfeld theory of the time-dependent quantum oscillator [10]; the c<0c<0 branch describes monotone expansion and is the one relevant to diffusion. Both are used below. Pinney’s formula gives the general solution of (1) as ρ2=Ay12+2By1y2+Cy22\rho^{2}=Ay_{1}^{2}+2By_{1}y_{2}+Cy_{2}^{2} with c=AC−B2c=AC-B^{2} when the Wronskian of y1,y2y_{1},y_{2} is unity.

The generic embedding

All three families use the same three ingredients:

ξ=xρ(t),θ(t)=∫0tκ(s)ρ2(s) ds,field=ρ−αΛ(x,t)Φ(ξ,θ),(3)\xi=\frac{x}{\rho(t)},\qquad\theta(t)=\int_{0}^{t}\frac{\kappa(s)}{\rho^{2}(s)}\,\mathrm{d}s,\qquad\mathrm{field}=\rho^{-\alpha}\Lambda(x,t)\Phi(\xi,\theta), \tag*{(3)}

where κ\kappa is the diffusivity (κ=D\kappa= D) or ℏ/m\hbar/m in the quantum case, α\alpha is the scaling dimension fixed by the conserved quantity, and Λ\Lambda is an auxiliary factor: Λ≡1\Lambda\equiv1 in the diffusive families and Λ=eiS\Lambda= e^{iS} with S=mρ˙x2/(2ℏρ)S = m\dot{\rho}x^2/(2\hbar\rho) in the quantum one. Which of these ingredients carries the method turns out to depend on the family, which is the comparative result of this paper.

Three clocks

It pays to be explicit about what each candidate input measures time with.

clockdimensionswhat the solution does in it
tttimeevolves at a rate that varies with the coefficients
τ=∫0tD\tau= \int_0^t Dlength2^2still spreads, but at a uniform rate: m2m_2 is linear in τ\tau
θ=∫0tκ/ρ2\theta= \int_0^t \kappa/\rho^2dimensionlessdoes not spread: Φ(⋅,θ)\Phi(\cdot,\theta) is stationary or slowly varying

Table 5.

The middle row invites a misreading that we have found easy to make. The diffusive time τ\tau is not “time in units of the spreading”; it is time in units of accumulated diffusivity, with dimensions of length squared. Only θ\theta is the solution’s own clock: dθ\mathrm{d}\theta measures elapsed time against the time the solution currently needs to change by its own width, so one unit of θ\theta is one e-folding of ρ\rho wherever one stands on the trajectory. That distinction is the content of the method, and it explains the extrapolation results below: extrapolating in τ\tau asks the network about scales it never saw, whereas extrapolating in θ\theta asks about a profile it has already watched converge.

Family I: linear diffusion (c=−1c=-1, ω≡0\omega\equiv0)

ut=D(t)uxx,u(⋅,0)=u0≥0,∫u0=1.(4)u_t = D(t)u_{xx}, \qquad u(\cdot,0)=u_0\ge0, \qquad\int u_0=1. \tag*{(4)}

Lemma 1 (Second-moment identity). With enough decay, m2(t)=∫x2u dxm_2(t)=\int x^2u\,\mathrm{d}x satisfies m2(t)=m2(0)+2τ(t)m_2(t)=m_2(0)+2\tau(t) exactly, where τ=∫0tD\tau=\int_0^t D.

Proof. ddt∫x2u=D∫x2uxx=D[x2ux−2xu]−∞∞+2D∫u=2D\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t}\int x^2u=D\int x^2u_{xx}=D[x^2u_x-2xu]_{-\infty}^{\infty}+2D\int u=2D.

Setting ρ=m2(0)+2τ\rho=\sqrt{m_2(0)+2\tau}, ξ=x/ρ\xi=x/\rho, θ=log⁡(ρ/ρ0)\theta=\log(\rho/\rho_0) and u=ρ−1vu=\rho^{-1}v gives, by a short computation (appendix A),

ut−Duxx=Dρ3[vθ−∂ξ(vξ+ξv)].(5)u_t-Du_{xx}=\frac{D}{\rho^3}\left[v_\theta-\partial_\xi(v_\xi+\xi v)\right]. \tag*{(5)}

so vv obeys the autonomous Ornstein–Uhlenbeck equation whose unique decaying unit-mass steady state is v∞=(2π)−1/2e−ξ2/2v_\infty=(2\pi)^{-1/2}e^{-\xi^2/2}. In diffusive time ρ\rho solves ρ′′=−ρ−3\rho''=-\rho^{-3}, i.e. (1) with ω≡0\omega\equiv0, c=−1c=-1.

Remark 2 (The reduction is classical). For constant DD this is the scaling-variable change of the dynamical-systems approach to self-similar asymptotics. Gallay and Wayne [11] use ξ=x/1+t\xi=x/\sqrt{1+t}, τ=log⁡(1+t)\tau=\log(1+t) and ω=(1+t)−1w\omega=(1+t)^{-1}w, obtaining ∂τw=Δξw+12(ξ⋅∇ξ)w+w\partial_\tau w=\Delta_\xi w+\frac{1}{2}(\xi\cdot\nabla_\xi)w+w with a Gaussian kernel — the same operator as (5) up to the factor 12\frac{1}{2}, a convention in the normalisation of ρ\rho. The similarity ansatz is older still [12], and τ=∫D\tau=\int D is textbook [13]. Lemma 1 is what extends it to D=D(t)D=D(t) and to unnormalised initial data, and is therefore the part that makes an architectural layer possible.

Remark 3 (This family is degenerate, and that is the lesson). The map t↦τt\mapsto\tau alone already removes D(t)D(t) from (4), and the exact solution depends on tt only through τ\tau. A model fed (x,τ)(x,\tau) therefore inherits both a large share of the accuracy gain and the entire zero-shot transfer property, with no Ermakov structure whatsoever. Table 1 shows PINN-τ\tau recovering a factor 2.2 of the 4.0 total. We conclude that family I cannot support a claim about symmetry, and we present it not as evidence but as the reason the rest of the paper is organised around controls.

ModelInputGaussianbimodal
PINN(x,t)(x,t)3.84×10−3 ±4.7×10−43.84 \times10^{-3} \ \pm4.7 \times10^{-4}9.63×10−3 ±2.6×10−39.63 \times10^{-3} \ \pm2.6 \times10^{-3}
PINN-τ\tau(x,τ)(x,\tau)1.76×10−3 ±2.5×10−41.76 \times10^{-3} \ \pm2.5 \times10^{-4}8.16×10−3 ±2.7×10−38.16 \times10^{-3} \ \pm2.7 \times10^{-3}
EB-coords(ξ,θ)(\xi,\theta)9.56×10−4 ±1.4×10−49.56 \times10^{-4} \ \pm1.4 \times10^{-4}6.33×10−3 ±3.3×10−36.33 \times10^{-3} \ \pm3.3 \times10^{-3}
EB-Net(ξ,θ), ρ−αv(\xi,\theta),\ \rho^{-\alpha}v1.16×10−3 ±4.7×10−41.16 \times10^{-3} \ \pm4.7 \times10^{-4}5.53×10−3 ±2.0×10−35.53 \times10^{-3} \ \pm2.0 \times10^{-3}

Table 1. Family I. Mean ±\pm s.d. over five seeds; all models have 12 737 parameters. The gain from PINN to PINN-τ\tau uses no Ermakov structure. The amplitude prefactor is neutral here (EB-coords vs EB-Net).

Transfer across coefficient schedules certifies the trivial step

Because (5) contains no trace of DD, the reduced profile is universal across the family {D(⋅)}\{D(\cdot)\}: changing the coefficient only changes the path t↦(ρ(t),θ(t))t \mapsto(\rho(t),\theta(t)) traced in the (ξ,θ)(\xi,\theta) plane. One is tempted to present the resulting zero-shot transfer as the decisive argument for the embedding. Table 2 shows why that would be wrong.

Evaluation D(t)D(t)PINNPINN-τ\tauEB-Net
D1D_1 (training)3.32×10−33.32 \times10^{-3}1.83×10−31.83 \times10^{-3}1.05×10−31.05 \times10^{-3}
D2D_2 (phase +π/2+\pi/2)6.12×10−26.12 \times10^{-2}1.83×10−31.83 \times10^{-3}8.84×10−48.84 \times10^{-4}
D3D_3 (f=3f=3, a=0.9a=0.9)5.35×10−25.35 \times10^{-2}1.85×10−31.85 \times10^{-3}1.01×10−31.01 \times10^{-3}
D4D_4 (D0=1.6D_0=1.6, fast) †1.26×10−11.26 \times10^{-1}1.14×10−21.14 \times10^{-2}1.81×10−31.81 \times10^{-3}
D5D_5 (D0=0.4D_0=0.4, slow)2.26×10−12.26 \times10^{-1}1.62×10−31.62 \times10^{-3}6.56×10−46.56 \times10^{-4}
† only D4D_4 leaves the trained diffusive-time interval.

Table 2. Zero-shot transfer in family I: the same weights evaluated under a different D(t)D(t), with no retraining. PINN-τ\tau matches EB-Net on the schedules that stay inside the trained diffusive-time interval.

On D2D_2, D3D_3 and D5D_5 — which stay inside the trained diffusive-time interval — PINN-τ\tau transfers as well as EB-Net, for the reason given in remark 3. The plain PINN has no mechanism at all and degrades by one to two orders of magnitude. The informative column is D4D_4, which overshoots the interval, together with the temporal extrapolation to t∈[T,2T]t \in[T,2T]: there EB-Net reaches 3.91×10−33.91 \times10^{-3} against 4.61×10−24.61 \times10^{-2} for PINN-τ\tau and 1.71×10−11.71 \times10^{-1} for the baseline. Two effects compound. The logarithmic time contracts overshoot — a 100% excess in τ\tau is only 28.9% in θ\theta — and the function being extrapolated has already collapsed onto a constant profile.

The physical residual carries an implicit ρ−3\rho^{-3} weighting

Identity (5) has a consequence that any follow-up work in this direction will have to account for. Minimising the physical residual, as a standard PINN does, is equivalent to minimising the reduced residual weighted by (D/ρ3)2(D/\rho^3)^2. Over our test horizon ρ\rho grows by a factor 3, so early times are weighted up to 27 times more heavily than late ones. This bias interacts with the amplitude ansatz: the model carrying the ρ−α\rho^{-\alpha} prefactor inherits a steeper weighting than the one that does not, which is why the two are indistinguishable in Table 1 even though only the former makes the trace exactly stationary.

Reweighting makes every model roughly an order of magnitude worse in physical L2L^2 (3.84×10−3→3.64×10−23.84 \times10^{-3} \rightarrow3.64 \times10^{-2} for the baseline): the implicit bias is not a defect for this metric, since early times are where the profile is narrow and hardest to resolve. The result we care about is that the ordering survives (3.64×10−2>1.99×10−2>1.05×10−2≈1.04×10−23.64 \times10^{-2} > 1.99 \times10^{-2} > 1.05 \times10^{-2} \approx1.04 \times10^{-2}). Since the ablation ladder is invariant under this rather drastic change of loss weighting, the gain is attributable to the coordinates rather than to a fortunate weighting.

Modelphysical residualreduced residual
PINN3.84×10−33.84 \times10^{-3}3.64×10−23.64 \times10^{-2}
PINN-τ\tau1.76×10−31.76 \times10^{-3}1.99×10−21.99 \times10^{-2}
EB-coords9.56×10−49.56 \times10^{-4}1.05×10−21.05 \times10^{-2}
EB-Net1.16×10−31.16 \times10^{-3}1.04×10−21.04 \times10^{-2}

Table 3. Family I with the residual reweighted by ρ3/D\rho^3/D (normalised to unit mean), applied identically to all four models. Absolute accuracy worsens by about an order of magnitude; the ordering survives.

ModelRelative L2L^2 error GaussianRelative L2L^2 error bimodalExtrapolation t∈[T,2T]t \in[T,2T] GaussianExtrapolation t∈[T,2T]t \in[T,2T] bimodal
PINN1.19×10−2 ±1.2×10−31.19 \times10^{-2}\ \pm1.2 \times10^{-3}1.74×10−2 ±1.4×10−31.74 \times10^{-2}\ \pm1.4 \times10^{-3}1.21×1001.21 \times10^{0}1.14×1001.14 \times10^{0}
PINN-τ\tau8.00×10−2 ±4.5×10−28.00 \times10^{-2}\ \pm4.5 \times10^{-2}1.13×10−1 ±3.6×10−21.13 \times10^{-1}\ \pm3.6 \times10^{-2}4.16×10−14.16 \times10^{-1}2.89×10−12.89 \times10^{-1}
EB-coords4.13×10−2 ±4.9×10−24.13 \times10^{-2}\ \pm4.9 \times10^{-2}9.80×10−2 ±2.0×10−29.80 \times10^{-2}\ \pm2.0 \times10^{-2}6.31×10−16.31 \times10^{-1}2.86×1002.86 \times10^{0}
EB-Net1.01×10−3 ±9.7×10−51.01 \times10^{-3}\ \pm9.7 \times10^{-5}6.32×10−3 ±6.3×10−46.32 \times10^{-3}\ \pm6.3 \times10^{-4}6.81×10−36.81 \times10^{-3}7.09×10−27.09 \times10^{-2}

Table 4. Family II. Mean ±\pm s.d. over three seeds. PINN-τ\tau is now worse than the plain baseline; the amplitude prefactor separates EB-coords from EB-Net by 40.8×40.8\times.

Family II: diffusion in a breathing trap (c=−1c=-1, ω≠0\omega\ne0)

ut=D(t)uxx+γ(t)(xu)x,γ>0.(6)u_t = D(t)u_{xx} + \gamma(t)(xu)_x,\qquad\gamma> 0. \tag*{(6)}

The drift contains xx explicitly, so no reparametrisation s=s(t)s=s(t) can remove it: the degeneracy of family I is gone. Physically this is diffusion inside a trap whose stiffness is modulated — optical tweezers at varying power, a colloid in an oscillating field.

Lemma 4 (Moment identity, generalised). dm2/dt=2D(t)−2γ(t)m2\mathrm{d}m_2/\mathrm{d}t = 2D(t) - 2\gamma(t)m_2, a linear ODE; hence ρ=m2\rho=\sqrt{m_2} is again available in closed form from m2(0)m_2(0) alone.

Writing u=ρ−1v(ξ,θ)u=\rho^{-1}v(\xi,\theta) with ξ=x/ρ\xi=x/\rho and θ′=D/ρ2\theta'=D/\rho^2 reproduces exactly the operator of (5) provided ρρ˙=D−γρ2\rho\dot{\rho}=D-\gamma\rho^2; differentiating that relation gives

ρ¨+(γ˙−γ2)ρ−D˙ρ=−D2ρ3.(7)\ddot{\rho}+(\dot{\gamma}-\gamma^2)\rho-\frac{\dot{D}}{\rho}=-\frac{D^2}{\rho^3}. \tag*{(7)}

which for constant DD is (1) with ω2=γ˙−γ2\omega^2=\dot{\gamma}-\gamma^2 and c=−D2c=-D^2. Two consequences matter. First, ω≠0\omega\ne0: the Ermakov structure is no longer in its degenerate branch. Second, ρ\rho oscillates rather than growing as a power of tt, so the classical scaling variables ξ=x/t\xi=x/\sqrt{t}, θ=log⁡t\theta=\log t of remark 2 do not describe this case at all.

The trivial control does not merely fail; it hurts. PINN-τ\tau reaches 8.00×10−28.00 \times10^{-2} against the baseline’s 1.19×10−21.19 \times10^{-2}, with a seed-to-seed spread an order of magnitude larger than any other model’s. Feeding τ\tau supplies a clock that absorbs DD but is inconsistent with the drift, and the network is worse off than with physical time. We regard this as the cleanest available refutation of the objection that family I invites.

The amplitude prefactor switches from neutral to essential. It was indistinguishable from omission in family I; here removing it costs 40.8×40.8\times (Gaussian) and 15.5×15.5\times (bimodal), and in the bimodal case EB-coords is worse than the plain PINN. The trap compresses and expands the density, so the amplitude genuinely oscillates and the ansatz must absorb it.

Extrapolation. With weights trained only on [0,T][0,T], EB-Net reaches 6.81×10−36.81 \times10^{-3} on t∈[T,2T]t \in[T,2T] against the baseline’s 1.21×1001.21 \times10^{0}, a factor 178. Figure 1(c) shows EB-Net crossing t=Tt=T without visible incident.

Four-panel comparison of relative $L^2$ error for Family II, with trap and extrapolation cases

Figure 1. Family II. (a,b) in-domain error; (c,d) instantaneous error for weights trained only on t∈[0,T]t \in[0,T], shaded region extrapolated.

Family III: the quantum oscillator (c=+1c=+1)

With ℏ=m=1\hbar=m=1,

iψt=−12ψxx+12ω2(t)x2ψ.(8)i\psi_t=-\frac{1}{2}\psi_{xx}+\frac{1}{2}\omega^2(t)x^2\psi. \tag*{(8)}

The Lewis–Riesenfeld transformation [10]

ψ=ρ−1/2exp⁡(iρ˙x22ρ)ϕ(ξ,θ),ξ=xρ,θ˙=1ρ2,(9)\psi=\rho^{-1/2}\exp\left(\frac{i\dot{\rho}x^2}{2\rho}\right)\phi(\xi,\theta),\qquad\xi=\frac{x}{\rho},\qquad\dot{\theta}=\frac{1}{\rho^2}, \tag*{(9)}

with ρ\rho solving (1) at c=+1c=+1, yields the autonomous oscillator iϕθ=−12ϕξξ+12ξ2ϕi\phi_\theta=-\frac{1}{2}\phi_{\xi\xi}+\frac{1}{2}\xi^2\phi. We verified this symbolically; the residual difference is exactly zero (appendix B). Here α=1/2\alpha=1/2 because ∣ψ∣2|\psi|^2 is conserved, and Λ=eiS\Lambda=e^{iS} is not optional — omitting it breaks the reduction, a claim we measure rather than assert.

The honest control is adiabatic, not trivial. No time reparametrisation absorbs ω(t)\omega(t). The baseline a physicist would reach for is the adiabatic one: rescale by the instantaneous oscillator length 1/ω1/\sqrt{\omega} and use the adiabatic phase ∫ω dt\int\omega\,\mathrm{d}t. It is exact in the slow limit. We therefore choose a regime where it has no right to work: ω∈[0.3,1.7]\omega\in[0.3,1.7], ρ\rho breathing by a factor 2.4, and ∣ω˙∣/ω2=2.2|\dot{\omega}|/\omega^2=2.2.

The invariant does physical work. Evaluating (2) as a quantum expectation on the exact solution gives ⟨I⟩=0.500000000000\langle I\rangle=0.500000000000 at every time to 2.2×10−162.2\times10^{-16}, while ⟨H⟩\langle H\rangle runs from 0.500 to

ModelInputRelative L2L^2 error: ground stateRelative L2L^2 error: superposition
PINN(x,t)(x,t)9.99×10−2 ±6.1×10−39.99 \times10^{-2} \ \pm6.1 \times10^{-3}3.40×10−1 ±9.5×10−23.40 \times10^{-1} \ \pm9.5 \times10^{-2}
PINN-ad(xω,tω)(x\sqrt{\omega},t\sqrt{\omega})1.16×10−1 ±2.1×10−21.16 \times10^{-1} \ \pm2.1 \times10^{-2}4.19×10−1 ±9.5×10−24.19 \times10^{-1} \ \pm9.5 \times10^{-2}
EB-coords(ξ,θ)(\xi,\theta)4.10×10−2 ±3.2×10−34.10 \times10^{-2} \ \pm3.2 \times10^{-3}1.14×10−1 ±1.7×10−21.14 \times10^{-1} \ \pm1.7 \times10^{-2}
EB no-phase(ξ,θ),ρ−1/2φ(\xi,\theta),\rho^{-1/2}\varphi4.19×10−2 ±3.9×10−34.19 \times10^{-2} \ \pm3.9 \times10^{-3}9.16×10−2 ±2.7×10−29.16 \times10^{-2} \ \pm2.7 \times10^{-2}
EB-Net(ξ,θ),ρ−1/2eiSφ(\xi,\theta),\rho^{-1/2}e^{iS}\varphi7.31×10−3 ±1.0×10−37.31 \times10^{-3} \ \pm1.0 \times10^{-3}6.07×10−2 ±1.6×10−26.07 \times10^{-2} \ \pm1.6 \times10^{-2}

caption: Family III. Mean ±\pm s.d. over three seeds. The adiabatic control is worse than the plain PINN in both cases. Omitting the quadratic phase costs 5.7×5.7\times on the ground state.

:::

0.960. The energy is not conserved; the Ermakov–Lewis invariant is, and its value is exactly the ground-state energy of the reduced oscillator.

Remark 5 (When the method does not help). For the (n=0)+(n=2)(n=0)+(n=2) superposition the reduced solution is not stationary: it beats at E2−E0=2E_2-E_0=2 in θ\theta. There is then no fixed point to extrapolate toward, and Figure 2(d) shows every model, ours included, degrading to ∼0.8\sim0.8 past t=Tt=T. The extrapolation advantage of the embedding is therefore conditional on convergence of the reduced solution, not a general property. We prefer this sharp, falsifiable statement to a blanket claim.

Family III error comparisons and extrapolation plots

Figure 2. Family III. Note in (b,d) that no model extrapolates when the reduced solution beats rather than converging (remark 5).

Synthesis: which component carries the method

Read across the rows, table 6 says three things. The control degrades from sufficient to actively harmful as one moves away from the degenerate branch. The gain over the plain baseline grows in the same direction. And the component that matters changes: bare coordinates, then amplitude, then phase. A reader who saw only family I would conclude the prefactor is decorative; one who saw only family III would conclude the same of the amplitude. Both conclusions would be artefacts of the chosen test problem, which is our main methodological point.

FamilyPinney branchTrivial controlLoad-bearing piecevs PINNpiece’s share
I. diffusion ut=Duxxu_t = Du_{xx}c=−1c=-1, ω=0\omega=0τ\tau (suffices)coordinates only4.0prefactor: 1.22×
II. trap +γ(xu)x+\gamma(xu)_xc=−1c=-1, ω≠0\omega\ne0τ\tau (fails)+ prefactor ρ−α\rho^{-\alpha}11.7prefactor: 41×
III. quantum ω(t)\omega(t)c=+1c=+1adiabatic (fails)+ phase eiSe^{iS}13.7phase: 5.7×

Table 6. The central result. One construction, three families, and a different component load-bearing in each. Gains are EB-Net versus the plain PINN on the favourable initial condition of each family; the last column isolates the named component.

Architecture and protocol

EB-Net has three blocks: a parameter-free embedding (x,t)↦(ξ,θ)(x,t)\mapsto(\xi,\theta); an MLP backbone; and a reconstruction ρ−αΛΦ\rho^{-\alpha}\Lambda\Phi. Because the embedding carries no weights, every model in every ladder has an identical parameter count (12 737 for the real families) and the same per-iteration cost to within 4%.

Fairness. Within each family all models (i) minimise the same loss functional, evaluated by automatic differentiation in physical coordinates — no model is trained on the reduced equation; (ii) share architecture (4 ×\times 64, tanh, Xavier initialisation), collocation budget and optimiser schedule (Adam [14] with cosine decay, then L-BFGS); (iii) run over the same seeds; and (iv) normalise inputs to O(1)O(1) in their own natural parametrisation. The initial-condition weight was selected per model by a sweep on a held-out seed, which selected the same value (λic=10\lambda_{\mathrm{ic}}=10) for all of them.

References and precision. The scale functions are obtained by integrating the relevant ODE system to rtol = 10−1210^{-12} and exposed to automatic differentiation through a C1C^1 cubic Hermite interpolant built from exact nodal derivatives. Exact solutions satisfy their PDEs to 10−1010^{-10} or better on the evaluation grid, so the reported errors are not reference-limited.

Related work

Scaling variables. The reduction of section 3 is classical [11, 12], as is the diffusive-time substitution [13] and the Lewis–Riesenfeld transformation [10]. Our role is to move them from the analysis into the architecture, which lemmas 1–4 make possible for time-dependent coefficients.

Symmetry in neural solvers. Lie point symmetries have been used for augmentation [4], as a loss penalty [5], and structurally for ODEs [6]; conservative projections appear in [15]. Transformations of PINN inputs to smooth the target [16] and architectures for variable-coefficient PDEs [17] are the nearest PINN-side neighbours.

Dynamic rescaling. Self-similar blow-up profiles have been found by fixing a similarity ansatz [18]. The closest work is Kavousanakis et al. [19], who learn the rescaling with an auxiliary network under algebraic constraints, producing an index-2 differential-algebraic system. That method applies when the scaling is unknown, including second-kind similarity; ours applies when it is known, which by our lemmas is the whole linear conservative class, and costs no extra parameters.

Limitations

  • Linearity and conservation. Both lemmas use them; for nonlinear problems (porous medium, Fisher–KPP) the moment hierarchy does not close and ρ\rho is no longer explicit.

  • First-kind similarity only. Second-kind exponents, fixed by a nonlinear eigenvalue problem [12], are outside the construction.

  • Conditional extrapolation. Remark 5.

  • Operator-learning baselines are a different comparison. A neural operator [20, 21] trained across the coefficient family would be the natural rival for the transfer claim of § 3.1, and we have not run it. We note that the comparison is not like-for-like: an operator network amortises training over a distribution of coefficients, whereas every model compared here solves a single instance from its residual alone, with no data. The operator setting is the subject of the companion NN-dimensional work (§ 10), where it is the main object rather than a baseline.

  • Absolute accuracy in family III. All models remain near 10−110^{-1} on the superposition at our training budget; the comparison is informative but the absolute numbers are not competitive with a spectral solver.

  • Scope. One spatial dimension throughout.

Outlook: the NN-dimensional case

The one-dimensional construction generalises, but not by replacing scalars with matrices. For a general symmetric frequency matrix Ω2(t)\Omega^2(t) whose eigenvectors rotate, the correct frame follows from the linear equation Q¨+Ω2Q=0\ddot{Q}+\Omega^2Q=0 rather than from a symmetric matrix Pinney equation, which fails to preserve symmetry as soon as [Ω2(t),Ω2(t′)]≠0[\Omega^2(t),\Omega^2(t')] \ne0; the width and phase matrices then obey a matrix Ermakov–Pinney system closed by a Lyapunov equation. The scalar Ermakov clock θ\theta becomes a U(N)U(N)-valued clock carrying a rotational term, so no single latent time exists unless the frame is isotropic, and the NN Williamson invariants generalise (2). The frame remains observable from phase-space moments, which additionally permits reconstruction of an unknown Ω2(t)\Omega^2(t). These results, their operator-learning consequences and their verification against a spectral solution of the two-dimensional Schrödinger equation with a chirped, cross-coupled trap are developed in a companion paper in preparation. The present work establishes the one-dimensional case that the companion assumes.

Conclusion

A single Pinney function organises linear diffusion, diffusion in a breathing trap, and the quantum oscillator with time-dependent frequency; the sign of cc is what separates them. Writing the associated change of variables into a neural solver’s input layer costs no parameters and is made practical for time-dependent coefficients by an exact moment identity. What the construction buys depends on the family in a way we have quantified: coordinates alone where a time reparametrisation would have sufficed, the amplitude prefactor where a trap makes the density oscillate, the quadratic phase where the dynamics are quantum. The honest control degrades from sufficient to harmful along the same axis. We regard the resulting table, rather than any single error figure, as the contribution.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the transformative agreements of Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.

Data availability statement

No new data were created in this study beyond those generated by the accompanying code. All results, figures and tables are reproduced from scratch by the software archived at [DOI on acceptance]; no numerical value in this paper is transcribed by hand.

Declaration of generative AI use

During the preparation of this work the authors used a large language model to assist with code implementation, numerical experimentation and manuscript drafting. The authors reviewed and edited all content and take full responsibility for the published work.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Derivation for family I

In diffusive time s=τs=\tau, (4) reads us=uxxu_s=u_{xx} and ρρ′=1\rho\rho'=1 since ρ2=m2(0)+2s\rho^2=m_2(0)+2s. With u=ρ−1v(ξ,θ)u=\rho^{-1}v(\xi,\theta), ξ=x/ρ\xi=x/\rho, θ′=ρ−2\theta'=\rho^{-2}:

us=−ρ−2ρ′v−ρ−2ρ′ξvξ+ρ−1θ′vθ,uxx=ρ−3vξξ.(10)u_s=-\rho^{-2}\rho'v-\rho^{-2}\rho'\xi v_\xi+\rho^{-1}\theta'v_\theta,\qquad u_{xx}=\rho^{-3}v_{\xi\xi}. \tag*{(10)}

Multiplying us−uxxu_s-u_{xx} by ρ3\rho^3 and using ρρ′=ρ2θ′=1\rho\rho'=\rho^2\theta'=1 gives vθ−vξξ−ξvξ−vv_\theta-v_{\xi\xi}-\xi v_\xi-v; multiplying by D/ρ3D/\rho^3 and using ut=Dusu_t=Du_s gives (5). Integrating θ′=ρ−2\theta'=\rho^{-2} yields θ=log⁡(ρ/ρ0)\theta=\log(\rho/\rho_0). The exponent α=1\alpha=1 is fixed by mass conservation: ∫u dx=ρ1−α∫v dξ\int u\,\mathrm{d}x=\rho^{1-\alpha}\int v\,\mathrm{d}\xi is tt-independent only for α=1\alpha=1; in dd dimensions α=d\alpha=d, and in the quantum case α=1/2\alpha=1/2 because ∫∣ψ∣2\int|\psi|^2 is the conserved quantity.

Code

Implementation: ebnet.py (core and family I), trap.py and run_trap.py (family II), quantum.py and run_quantum.py (family III), plus verify_*.py for the symbolic and numerical checks and make_tables_final.py, which regenerates every number in this paper from the stored results.

Listing 1: Family II: the scale function comes from a linear moment ODE, so no auxiliary network is needed.

def _build(self, n=6001):
    def rhs(t, y):
        m2, _ = y
        return [2*self._Dnp(t) - 2*self._gnp(t)*m2, # {xref}`Lemma 2`
                self._Dnp(t) / m2] # dtheta/dt
    ts = np.linspace(0.0, self.t_end, n)
    sol = solve_ivp(rhs, (0.0, self.t_end), [self.m2_0, 0.0], t_eval=ts,
                    rtol=1e-12, atol=1e-14, method="DOP853")
    m2, th = sol.y
    rho = np.sqrt(m2)
    drho = (self._Dnp(ts) - self._gnp(ts)*m2) / rho # exact nodal derivative
    self._rho = Hermite(ts, rho, drho) # C^1, differentiable
    self._theta = Hermite(ts, th, self._Dnp(ts)/m2)

Listing 2: Family III: the full Lewis–Riesenfeld reconstruction. The ablated model drops cS/sS, which is the phase-factor comparison of table 5.

class QEBNet(_QSolver):
    def forward(self, x, t):
        rho, drho = self.p.rho(t), self.p.drho(t)
        f = self.mlp(torch.cat([x/rho, self.p.theta(t)/self._thmax], 1))
fr, fi = f[:, :1], f[:, 1:]
S = drho * x**2 / (2*rho) # quadratic phase
cS, sS = torch.cos(S), torch.sin(S)
pre = rho**(-0.5)
return torch.cat([pre*(fr*cS - fi*sS),
                  pre*(fr*sS + fi*cS)], dim=1)

Listing 3: Symbolic verification of the Lewis–Riesenfeld transformation: the printed difference is exactly zero.

psi = rho**sp.Rational(-1,2) * sp.exp(I*rp*x**2/(2*rho)) * phi(x/rho, th)
expr = I*sp.diff(psi,t) + sp.Rational(1,2)*sp.diff(psi,x,2) \
     - sp.Rational(1,2)*w**2*x**2*psi
expr = expr.subs(sp.Derivative(rho,(t,2)), 1/rho**3 - w**2*rho).doit()
expr = expr.subs(sp.Derivative(th,t), 1/rho**2)
# -> i phi_theta + 1/2 phi_xixi - 1/2 xi**2 phi (difference = 0)

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