Phase autoencoder for rapid data-driven synchronization of rhythmic spatiotemporal patterns

We present a machine-learning method for data-driven synchronization of rhythmic spatiotemporal patterns in reaction-diffusion systems. Extending the phase autoencoder [Yawata et al., Chaos 34, 063111 (2024)1054-150010.1063/5.0205718] for low-dimensional oscillators, we develop a framework to map high-dimensional field variables of the reaction-diffusion system to low-dimensional latent variables characterizing the asymptotic phase and amplitudes of the field variables. This yields a reduced phase description of the limit cycle underlying the rhythmic spatiotemporal dynamics in a data-driven manner. We propose a method to drive the system along the tangential direction of the limit cycle, enabling phase control without inducing amplitude deviations. With examples of 1D oscillating spots and 2D spiral waves in the FitzHugh-Nagumo reaction-diffusion system, we show that the method achieves rapid synchronization in both reference-based and coupling-based settings. These results demonstrate the potential of data-driven phase description based on the phase autoencoder for synchronization of high-dimensional spatiotemporal dynamics.