Deep neural networks as discrete dynamical systems: Implications for physics-informed learning

Abstract

We revisit the analogy between feed-forward deep neural networks (DNNs) and discrete dynamical systems derived from neural integral equations and their corresponding partial differential equation forms. A comparative analysis between the numerical/exact solutions of the Burgers’ and Eikonal equations and those obtained via physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) is presented. We show that PINN learning provides a different computational pathway compared to standard numerical discretization in approximating essentially the same underlying dynamics of the system. Within this framework, DNNs can be interpreted as discrete dynamical systems whose layerwise evolution approaches attractors, and multiple parameter configurations may yield comparable solutions, reflecting the degeneracy of the inverse mapping. In contrast to the structured operators associated with finite-difference procedures, PINNs learn dense parameter representations that are not directly associated with classical discretization stencils. This distributed representation generally involves a larger number of parameters, leading to reduced interpretability and increased computational cost. However, the additional flexibility of such representations may offer advantages in high-dimensional settings where classical grid-based methods become impractical.