Koopman operators provide a linear framework for data-driven analyses of nonlinear dynamical systems, but their infinite-dimensional nature presents major computational challenges. In this article, we offer an introductory guide to Koopman learning, emphasizing rigorously convergent data-driven methods for forecasting and spectral analysis. We provide a unified account of error control via residuals in both finite- and infinite-dimensional settings, an elementary proof of convergence for generalized Laplace analysis -- a variant of filtered power iteration that works for operators with continuous spectra and no spectral gaps -- and review state-of-the-art approaches for computing continuous spectra and spectral measures. The goal is to provide both newcomers and experts with a clear, structured overview of reliable data-driven techniques for Koopman spectral analysis.

Data-driven spectral analysis of Koopman operators is a powerful tool for understanding numerous real-world dynamical systems, from neuronal activity to variations in sea surface temperature. The Koopman operator acts on a function space and is most commonly studied on the space of square-integrable functions. However, defining it on a suitable reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) offers numerous practical advantages, including pointwise predictions with error bounds, improved spectral properties that facilitate computations, and more efficient algorithms, particularly in high dimensions. We introduce the first general, provably convergent, data-driven algorithms for computing spectral properties of Koopman and Perron--Frobenius operators on RKHSs. These methods efficiently compute spectra and pseudospectra with error control and spectral measures while exploiting the RKHS structure to avoid the large-data limits required in the $L^2$ settings. The function space is determined by a user-specified kernel, eliminating the need for quadrature-based sampling as in $L^2$ and enabling greater flexibility with finite, externally provided datasets. Using the Solvability Complexity Index hierarchy, we construct adversarial dynamical systems for these problems to show that no algorithm can succeed in fewer limits, thereby proving the optimality of our algorithms. Notably, this impossibility extends to randomized algorithms and datasets. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithms on challenging, high-dimensional datasets arising from real-world measurements and high-fidelity numerical simulations, including turbulent channel flow, molecular dynamics of a binding protein, Antarctic sea ice concentration, and Northern Hemisphere sea surface height. The algorithms are publicly available in the software package $\texttt{SpecRKHS}$.

Review update: Thanks for the response. It addressed my concerns well, and the SM kernel comparison seemed to give consistent results. The paper includes extensive empirical evidence to support FKL's superior performance over common kernels. However, from my perspective it can benefit from some improvements on certain theoretical and empirical aspects. Here are my detailed comments on said aspects.

The goal of this paper is to develop distributionally robust optimization (DRO) estimators, specifically for multidimensional Extreme Value Theory (EVT) statistics. EVT supports using semi-parametric models called max-stable distributions built from spatial Poisson point processes. While powerful, these models are only asymptotically valid for large samples. However, since extreme data is by definition scarce, the potential for model misspecification error is inherent to these applications, thus DRO estimators are natural. In order to mitigate over-conservative estimates while enhancing out-of-sample performance, we study DRO estimators informed by semi-parametric max-stable constraints in the space of point processes. We study both tractable convex formulations for some problems of interest (e.g. CVaR) and more general neural network based estimators. Both approaches are validated using synthetically generated data, recovering prescribed characteristics, and verifying the efficacy of the proposed techniques. Additionally, the proposed method is applied to a real data set of financial returns for comparison to a previous analysis. We established the proposed model as a novel formulation in the multivariate EVT domain, and innovative with respect to performance when compared to relevant alternate proposals.

In large-scale regression problems, random Fourier features (RFFs) have significantly enhanced the computational scalability and flexibility of Gaussian processes (GPs) by defining kernels through their spectral density, from which a finite set of Monte Carlo samples can be used to form an approximate low-rank GP. However, the efficacy of RFFs in kernel approximation and Bayesian kernel learning depends on the ability to tractably sample the kernel spectral measure and the quality of the generated samples. We introduce Stein random features (SRF), leveraging Stein variational gradient descent, which can be used to both generate high-quality RFF samples of known spectral densities as well as flexibly and efficiently approximate traditionally non-analytical spectral measure posteriors. SRFs require only the evaluation of log-probability gradients to perform both kernel approximation and Bayesian kernel learning that results in superior performance over traditional approaches. We empirically validate the effectiveness of SRFs by comparing them to baselines on kernel approximation and well-known GP regression problems.

Koopman operators are infinite-dimensional operators that linearize nonlinear dynamical systems, facilitating the study of their spectral properties and enabling the prediction of the time evolution of observable quantities. Recent methods have aimed to approximate Koopman operators while preserving key structures. However, approximating Koopman operators typically requires a dictionary of observables to capture the system's behavior in a finite-dimensional subspace. The selection of these functions is often heuristic, may result in the loss of spectral information, and can severely complicate structure preservation. This paper introduces Multiplicative Dynamic Mode Decomposition (MultDMD), which enforces the multiplicative structure inherent in the Koopman operator within its finite-dimensional approximation. Leveraging this multiplicative property, we guide the selection of observables and define a constrained optimization problem for the matrix approximation, which can be efficiently solved. MultDMD presents a structured approach to finite-dimensional approximations and can more accurately reflect the spectral properties of the Koopman operator. We elaborate on the theoretical framework of MultDMD, detailing its formulation, optimization strategy, and convergence properties. The efficacy of MultDMD is demonstrated through several examples, including the nonlinear pendulum, the Lorenz system, and fluid dynamics data, where we demonstrate its remarkable robustness to noise.