Finding geodesics with the Deep Ritz method

Abstract: Geodesic problems involve computing trajectories between prescribed initial and final states to minimize a user-defined measure of distance, cost, or energy. They arise throughout physics and engineering -- for instance, in determining optimal paths through complex environments, modeling light propagation in refractive media, and the study of spacetime trajectories in control theory and general relativity. Despite their ubiquity, the scientific machine learning (SciML) community has given relatively little attention to investigating its methods in the context of these problems. In this work, we argue that given their simple geometry, variational structure, and natural nonlinearity, geodesic problems are particularly well-suited for the Deep Ritz method. We substantiate this claim with three numerical examples drawn from path planning, optics, and solid mechanics. Our goal is not to provide an exhaustive study of geodesic problems, but rather to identify a promising application of the Deep Ritz method and a fruitful direction for future SciML research.