# GAIA: Geometry-Adaptive Operator Learning for Forward and Inverse Problems

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.01128 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.01128/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 38 of its 53 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Jul 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 38)

- [PointNet: Deep Learning on Point Sets for 3D Classification and Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.00593/) (2016)
- [Fourier Neural Operator for Parametric Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.08895/) (2020)
- [Transformers are RNNs: Fast Autoregressive Transformers with Linear Attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.16236/) (2020)
- [Neural Operator: Graph Kernel Network for Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.03485/) (2020)
- [DGM: A deep learning algorithm for solving partial differential equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.07469/) (2017)
- [The Deep Ritz method: A deep learning-based numerical algorithm for solving variational problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.00211/) (2017)
- [Fourier Neural Operator with Learned Deformations for PDEs on General Geometries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.05209/) (2022)
- [Multipole Graph Neural Operator for Parametric Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.09535/) (2020)
- [GNOT: A General Neural Operator Transformer for Operator Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.14376/) (2023)
- [Transolver: A Fast Transformer Solver for PDEs on General Geometries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.02366/) (2024)
- [Geometry-Informed Neural Operator for Large-Scale 3D PDEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.00583/) (2023)
- [Transformer for Partial Differential Equations' Operator Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.13671/) (2022)
- [Factorized Fourier Neural Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.13802/) (2021)
- [U-NO: U-shaped Neural Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.11127/) (2022)
- [Gradient-enhanced physics-informed neural networks for forward and inverse PDE problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.02801/) (2021)
- [Bayesian Deep Convolutional Encoder-Decoder Networks for Surrogate Modeling and Uncertainty Quantification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.06879/) (2018)
- [Solving ill-posed inverse problems using iterative deep neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.04058/) (2017)
- [Prediction of Aerodynamic Flow Fields Using Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.13166/) (2019)
- [Operator Learning with Neural Fields: Tackling PDEs on General Geometries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.07266/) (2023)
- [Latent Neural Operator for Solving Forward and Inverse PDE Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.03923/) (2024)
- [Wavelet neural operator: a neural operator for parametric partial differential equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.02191/) (2022)
- [Multi-Grid Tensorized Fourier Neural Operator for High-Resolution PDEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.00120/) (2023)
- [Neural Inverse Operators for Solving PDE Inverse Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.11167/) (2023)
- [Geometry Aware Operator Transformer as an Efficient and Accurate Neural Surrogate for PDEs on Arbitrary Domains](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.18781/) (2025)
- [Improved Operator Learning by Orthogonal Attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.12487/) (2023)
- [On conditional diffusion models for PDE simulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.16415/) (2024)
- [Learning to Accelerate Partial Differential Equations via Latent Global Evolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.07681/) (2022)
- [Fast Tetrahedral Meshing in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.03581/) (2019)
- [Regularization by architecture: A deep prior approach for inverse problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.03889/) (2018)
- [Semi-supervised Invertible Neural Operators for Bayesian Inverse Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.02772/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [HRTF Upsampling and Personalization via Neural Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.20400/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Operator learning for partial differential equations (PDEs) on arbitrary geometries builds fast neural surrogates for large-scale simulation. Although recent geometry-adaptive neural operators have made substantial progress, they are mainly designed for forward problems in which inputs and outputs share the same spatial domain. This limits their applicability for boundary value problems (BVPs) and inverse problems, where inputs and outputs may live on different domains. We introduce the Geometry-Adaptive Integral Autoencoder (GAIA), an operator learning model that encodes the domain boundary and the interior field distribution into geometry tokens, and conditions integral transform layers on these tokens via cross-attention, allowing the kernel to adapt locally to geometric features. This yields a single architecture for forward (including BVPs) and inverse problems on arbitrary domains in one pass, without retraining, iterative optimization, or graph construction. We evaluate GAIA on seven 2D and 3D benchmarks, four of which are new or substantially extended benchmarks for inverse problems and BVP: electrical impedance tomography, optical tomography, 3D Darcy flow on varying geometries, and a modified setting of Poisson BVP on mechanical components benchmark (MCB). GAIA sets new state-of-the-art results on every inverse and BVP task, reducing median relative L2 error by 64% on airfoil flow reconstruction and 27% on EIT relative to the next best amortized method, and outperforming all baselines on every shape category of MCB. On other forward problems, GAIA is competitive with specialized solvers while maintaining stable accuracy across point resolutions on which transformer-based baselines degrade.
