Complexity Theory meets Ordinary Differential Equations

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Fono, Adalbert, Wedlich, Noah, Boche, Holger, Kutyniok, Gitta
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Fono, Adalbert
Wedlich, Noah
Boche, Holger
Kutyniok, Gitta
author_facet Fono, Adalbert
Wedlich, Noah
Boche, Holger
Kutyniok, Gitta
contents This contribution investigates the computational complexity of simulating linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) on digital computers. We provide an exact characterization of the complexity blowup for a class of ODEs of arbitrary order based on their algebraic properties, extending previous characterization of first order ODEs. Complexity blowup indeed arises in most ODEs (except for certain degenerate cases) and means that there exists a low complexity input signal, which can be generated on a Turing machine in polynomial time, leading to a corresponding high complexity output signal of the system in the sense that the computation time for determining an approximation up to $n$ significant digits grows faster than any polynomial in $n$. Similarly, we derive an analogous blowup criterion for a subclass of first-order systems of linear ODEs. Finally, we discuss the implications for the simulation of analog systems governed by ODEs and exemplarily apply our framework to a simple model of neuronal dynamics$-$the leaky integrate-and-fire neuron$-$heavily employed in neuroscience.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_09790
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Complexity Theory meets Ordinary Differential Equations
Fono, Adalbert
Wedlich, Noah
Boche, Holger
Kutyniok, Gitta
Computational Complexity
This contribution investigates the computational complexity of simulating linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) on digital computers. We provide an exact characterization of the complexity blowup for a class of ODEs of arbitrary order based on their algebraic properties, extending previous characterization of first order ODEs. Complexity blowup indeed arises in most ODEs (except for certain degenerate cases) and means that there exists a low complexity input signal, which can be generated on a Turing machine in polynomial time, leading to a corresponding high complexity output signal of the system in the sense that the computation time for determining an approximation up to $n$ significant digits grows faster than any polynomial in $n$. Similarly, we derive an analogous blowup criterion for a subclass of first-order systems of linear ODEs. Finally, we discuss the implications for the simulation of analog systems governed by ODEs and exemplarily apply our framework to a simple model of neuronal dynamics$-$the leaky integrate-and-fire neuron$-$heavily employed in neuroscience.
title Complexity Theory meets Ordinary Differential Equations
topic Computational Complexity
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09790