# Inferring physical fields in coupled systems with unknown parameters from incomplete observations using physics-constrained attentive neural operators

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.05723 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.05723/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 17 of its 46 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 5 Oct 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 17 of 17)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [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)
- [Characterizing possible failure modes in physics-informed neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.01050/) (2021)
- [When and why PINNs fail to train: A neural tangent kernel perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.14527/) (2020)
- [Learning the solution operator of parametric partial differential equations with physics-informed DeepOnets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.10974/) (2021)
- [Physics-Informed Neural Operator for Learning Partial Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.03794/) (2021)
- [Muon is Scalable for LLM Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.16982/) (2025)
- [Estimates on the generalization error of Physics Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) for approximating a class of inverse problems for PDEs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.01138/) (2020)
- [Deep Learning of Vortex Induced Vibrations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1808.08952/) (2018)
- [Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Multiphysics Data Assimilation with Application to Subsurface Transport](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.02968/) (2019)
- [Global field reconstruction from sparse sensors with Voronoi tessellation-assisted deep learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.00554/) (2021)
- [RecFNO: a resolution-invariant flow and heat field reconstruction method from sparse observations via Fourier neural operator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.09808/) (2023)
- [Magnetohydrodynamics with Physics Informed Neural Operators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.08332/) (2023)
- [Learning Hidden Physics and System Parameters with Deep Operator Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.05133/) (2024)
- [Reconstructing unsteady flows from sparse, noisy measurements with a physics-constrained convolutional neural network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.00260/) (2024)
- [Distributed physics-informed neural networks via domain decomposition for fast flow reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.15883/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Given incomplete measurements of a single physical field in a coupled system with unknown parameters, can we infer its full physical state and identify the underlying parameters? This problem is challenging because multiple coupled fields must be reconstructed simultaneously from limited observations of only one, while the system parameters are unknown. In this work, we propose a machine learning framework for full-field reconstruction and parameter identification of unknown physical systems from sparse observations of a single physical field. Specifically, the cross-attention encoder propagates sparse sensor observations onto a regular grid to construct a sensor-conditioned latent representation, while a Fourier neural operator (FNO) decoder captures global spatial dependencies to reconstruct all coupled physical fields. The network parameters and unknown physical parameters are jointly optimized by minimizing observation losses, governing equation residuals, and boundary/initial condition constraints. The proposed approach is validated on two- and three-dimensional lid-driven cavity flows, a two-dimensional cylinder wake, and a two-dimensional non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics problem, demonstrating the recovery performance of unobserved fields and physical parameters from incomplete observations.