A kernel-based method for data-driven Koopman spectral analysis

A data-driven, kernel-based method for approximating the leading Koopman eigenvalues, eigenfunctions, and modes in problems with highdimensional state spaces is presented. This approach uses a set of scalar observables (functions that map a state to a scalar value) that are defined implicitly by the feature map associated with a user-defined kernel function. This circumvents the computational issues that arise due to the number of functions required to span a "sufficiently rich" subspace of all possible scalar observables in such applications. We illustrate this method on two examples: the first is the FitzHugh-Nagumo PDE, a prototypical one-dimensional reaction-diffusion system, and the second is a set of vorticity data computed from experimentally obtained velocity data from flow past a cylinder at Reynolds number 413. In both examples, we use the output of Dynamic Mode Decomposition, which has a similar computational cost, as the benchmark for our approach.