# Fast meta-solvers for 3D complex-shape scatterers using neural operators trained on a non-scattering problem

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.12380 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.12380/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 30 of its 63 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 20 May 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 30)

- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [Fourier Neural Operator for Parametric Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.08895/) (2020)
- [DeepONet: Learning nonlinear operators for identifying differential equations based on the universal approximation theorem of operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.03193/) (2019)
- [On the Spectral Bias of Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.08734/) (2018)
- [Scientific Machine Learning through Physics-Informed Neural Networks: Where we are and What's next](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.05624/) (2022)
- [Learning the solution operator of parametric partial differential equations with physics-informed DeepOnets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.10974/) (2021)
- [Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) for fluid mechanics: A review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.09506/) (2021)
- [Fourier Neural Operator with Learned Deformations for PDEs on General Geometries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.05209/) (2022)
- [U-FNO -- An enhanced Fourier neural operator-based deep-learning model for multiphase flow](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.03697/) (2021)
- [Uncertainty Quantification in Scientific Machine Learning: Methods, Metrics, and Comparisons](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.07766/) (2022)
- [CAN-PINN: A Fast Physics-Informed Neural Network Based on Coupled-Automatic-Numerical Differentiation Method](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.15832/) (2021)
- [Multifidelity deep neural operators for efficient learning of partial differential equations with application to fast inverse design of nanoscale heat transport](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.06684/) (2022)
- [Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Power Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.03737/) (2019)
- [Reliable extrapolation of deep neural operators informed by physics or sparse observations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.06347/) (2022)
- [Bayesian Physics-Informed Neural Networks for real-world nonlinear dynamical systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.08304/) (2022)
- [Blending Neural Operators and Relaxation Methods in PDE Numerical Solvers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.13273/) (2022)
- [Physics informed neural networks for continuum micromechanics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.07374/) (2021)
- [Physics Informed Neural Networks for Simulating Radiative Transfer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.13291/) (2020)
- [NeuralUQ: A comprehensive library for uncertainty quantification in neural differential equations and operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.11866/) (2022)
- [Novel DeepONet architecture to predict stresses in elastoplastic structures with variable complex geometries and loads](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03645/) (2023)
- [Correcting model misspecification in physics-informed neural networks (PINNs)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.10776/) (2023)
- [Out-of-distributional risk bounds for neural operators with applications to the Helmholtz equation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.11509/) (2023)
- [L-HYDRA: Multi-Head Physics-Informed Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.02152/) (2023)
- [ViTO: Vision Transformer-Operator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08891/) (2023)
- [Uncertainty quantification for noisy inputs-outputs in physics-informed neural networks and neural operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.11262/) (2023)
- [Phase-Field DeepONet: Physics-informed deep operator neural network for fast simulations of pattern formation governed by gradient flows of free-energy functionals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.13368/) (2023)
- [Discovering a reaction-diffusion model for Alzheimer's disease by combining PINNs with symbolic regression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.08107/) (2023)
- [Leveraging viscous Hamilton-Jacobi PDEs for uncertainty quantification in scientific machine learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.08809/) (2024)
- [A Generative Modeling Framework for Inferring Families of Biomechanical Constitutive Laws in Data-Sparse Regimes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.03184/) (2023)
- [Leveraging Hamilton-Jacobi PDEs with time-dependent Hamiltonians for continual scientific machine learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.07790/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [A comprehensive and FAIR comparison between MLP and KAN representations for differential equations and operator networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.02917/) (2024)
- [NOWS: Neural Operator Warm Starts for Accelerating Iterative Solvers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.02481/) (2025)
- [Leveraging Operator Learning to Accelerate Convergence of the Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient Method](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.00101/) (2025)
- [A Neural-Operator Preconditioned Newton Method for Accelerated Nonlinear Solvers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.08811/) (2025)
- [Hybrid Iterative Solvers with Geometry-Aware Neural Preconditioners for Parametric PDEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.14596/) (2025)
- [HEATNETs: Explainable Random Feature Neural Networks for High-Dimensional Parabolic PDEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.00886/) (2025)
- [NSPOD: Accelerating Krylov solvers via DeepONet-learned POD subspaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.07828/) (2026)
- [McMg: A Learned Phase-Space Multi-channel Multigrid Preconditioner for Helmholtz Equation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.30495/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Three-dimensional target identification using scattering techniques requires high accuracy solutions and very fast computations for real-time predictions in some critical applications. We first train a deep neural operator~(DeepONet) to solve wave propagation problems described by the Helmholtz equation in a domain textitwithout scatterers but at different wavenumbers and with a complex absorbing boundary condition. We then design two classes of fast meta-solvers by combining DeepONet with either relaxation methods, such as Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel, or with Krylov methods, such as GMRES and BiCGStab, using the trunk basis of DeepONet as a coarse-scale preconditioner. We leverage the spectral bias of neural networks to account for the lower part of the spectrum in the error distribution while the upper part is handled inexpensively using relaxation methods or fine-scale preconditioners. The meta-solvers are then applied to solve scattering problems with different shape of scatterers, at no extra training cost. We first demonstrate that the resulting meta-solvers are shape-agnostic, fast, and robust, whereas the standard standalone solvers may even fail to converge without the DeepONet. We then apply both classes of meta-solvers to scattering from a submarine, a complex three-dimensional problem. We achieve very fast solutions, especially with the DeepONet-Krylov methods, which require orders of magnitude fewer iterations than any of the standalone solvers.