Differentiable Programming

Ask about this topic

Overview

Differentiable programming studies how to compute gradients through programs so their parameters, inputs, or even algorithms can be optimized from data or objectives. Common approaches include automatic differentiation, adjoint and implicit differentiation through solvers, and smooth relaxations or custom gradient rules for discrete operations. These techniques are used in scientific simulation, robotics, inverse problems, and learnable optimization, where gradients can support calibration and end-to-end training. A central challenge is balancing useful, accurate gradients with computational cost and memory, especially for iterative solvers, hard constraints, and nonsmooth or discrete decisions.

Latest papers

CardsList

45 papers3 papers in the last four weeks, down 50% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. KPPax: preprocess differentiable kinetic ODE for machine learning in atmospheric chemistry

    Oct 27, 2026Wenqing Peng, Michael Boy, Zhi-Song LiuDifferentiable ProgrammingParameter Estimation

    Institute for Atmospheric and Earth Systems Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland · Atmospheric Modelling Centre Lahti (AMC-Lahti), Lahti, Finland · LUT University, Department of Computational Engineering, Lahti, Finland

  2. Coordinate-Free Automatic Differentiation

    Oct 8, 2026Alex Guerra, Joshua Aduol, Yaqian Tang +3Automatic DifferentiationDifferentiable Programming

    Department of Computer Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540 · Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London

  3. Recursive Improvement of a Differentiable Scientific Software Ecosystem

    Oct 3, 2026Pengcheng Hou, Xiaojun Tan, Sihan Hu +5Differentiable ProgrammingAutomatic Differentiation

    Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China · Institute for Advanced Algorithms Research, Shanghai 200120, China · University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China +2

  4. AEGIS: Differentiable Mars Climate Model with Neural Closures

    Oct 2, 2026Sameera S Kashyap, Victor Cruz, Angel Yepez +1Climate ModelingDifferentiable Programming

    Department of Computer Science UC Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA

  5. dOPT: Differentiating Conic Optimization via Geometric Reduction

    Sep 27, 2026Fengyu Yang, Connor W. Magoon, Tyler Watts +1Implicit DifferentiationDifferentiable Programming

    Department of Mathematics University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  6. Autonomous phase discovery

    Sep 27, 2026Shiyu Zhou, Yuxuan Zhang, Sebastian Wetzel +2Differentiable ProgrammingAutonomous Scientific Discovery

    Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada · Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA · Institute of Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland +2

  7. lapanda: A Matrix-Free Differentiable Solver for Nonconvex Constrained Optimization Layers

    Sep 27, 2026Yuankun Chen, Zifei Nie, Kangyu Lin +2Differentiable ProgrammingNonconvex Optimization

    School of Artificial Intelligence, Jilin University, China · Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, JPN · Department of Civil and Systems Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, USA

  8. Benchmarking Optimizers to Solve Inverse Problems with Differentiable Physics Simulators

    Sep 12, 2026Xiang Chen, Huanhuan XiaDifferentiable OptimizationInverse Problems

    Zhongguancun Academy, Beijing, China · Zhongguancun Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Beijing, China

  9. Ostrich: Taking Large Strides Through Stiff Contact in Differentiable Dynamics

    Sep 8, 2026Aleš Kučera, Karel ZimmermannTrajectory OptimizationContact-Rich Manipulation

    Department of Cybernetics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

  10. Branch Geometry and Finite-Radius Sensitivity of Hard-ReLU Training

    Aug 31, 2026Xiaoyang Li, Runni Zhou, Xinghao YanDynamical SystemsAutomatic Differentiation

    College of Medicine and Biological Information Engineering Northeastern University, Shenyang, China

  11. ADDA: a Modular Framework for Representing, Simulating and Assimilating Dynamics with End-to-end Differentiability

    Aug 24, 2026Anthony Frion, Vien Minh Nguyen-Thanh, Ali Can Bekar +3Data AssimilationDifferentiable Programming

    Model-Driven Machine Learning Institute of Coastal Systems - Analysis and Modeling Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon Germany

  12. Backward through Time, Algebraically

    Aug 17, 2026Konstantinos KogkalidisDifferentiable LogicTemporal Logic

  13. Differentiate the Solver, Not the Equation: Reverse-Sweep Adjoints for Block Implicit Simulation

    Aug 9, 2026Lei Shu, Ying Jiang, Kui Wu +3Automatic DifferentiationDifferentiable Programming

    Stanford University · University of California, Los Angeles · LightSpeed Studios, Tencent America +1

  14. Fast LapSum: Exact Differentiable Top-kk at Million Scale

    Aug 7, 2026Jakub Antczak, Joanna Wojciechowicz, Kamil Książek +3Differentiable ProgrammingDifferentiable Optimization

    Wrocław University of Science and Technology Wrocław, Poland · Centre for Credible Artificial Intelligence Warsaw University of Technology Warsaw, Poland · Jagiellonian University Kraków, Poland

  15. DFSC: Error-Controlled Differentiable Mittag-Leffler Propagation for Fractional Scientific Machine Learning

    Jul 31, 2026Ning Hu, Haitao Duan, Shuqun Li +1Differentiable ProgrammingScientific ML

    School of Mechanical Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University 1158 No. 2 Street, Qiantang District, Hangzhou 310018, China · School of Computer Science, Hangzhou Dianzi University 1158 No. 2 Street, Qiantang District, Hangzhou 310018, China · School of Mathematics and Physics, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 111 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou 215123, China +1

  16. Fast, accurate, and differentiable: a neural-network surrogate for NRSur7dq4 precessing binary black hole waveforms

    Jul 27, 2026Michael Pürrer, Ashwin Girish, Lucy M. Thomas +2Neural Surrogate ModelingGravitational-Wave Astronomy

    Department of Physics, East Hall, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA · Institute for AI & Computational Research, Carothers Library, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA · 3TAPIR, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA +2

  17. Differentiable Logic Programming to Mitigate Reasoning Shortcuts in Neurosymbolic Systems

    Jul 23, 2026Akihiro Takemura, Katsumi InoueDifferentiable LogicDifferentiable Programming

    National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, Japan

  18. FlashPDE: A Drop-In Fused Triton Operator Library for Neural PDE Solvers

    Jul 20, 2026Peiyu Zang, Bosen Xie, Ruoxiang Xu +1Automatic DifferentiationNeural PDE Solvers

    School of Mathematical Sciences, Beijing Normal University · 2Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications

  19. Differentiate the Evaluator, Not the Program: An Efficient Runtime Representation for Neuro-Symbolic Learning

    Jul 3, 2026Lucas ShenemanAutomatic DifferentiationDifferentiable Programming

    Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences University of Idaho

  20. Mosaic: A Benchmark Suite for Differentiable Physics Solvers

    Jun 26, 2026Andrin Rehmann, Heiko Zimmermann, Dion HäfnerAutomatic DifferentiationPDE Solving

    Pasteur Labs, Brooklyn, NY, USA

  21. A Differentiable Atari VCS:A Complex, Fully Known Ground Truth for Explainable AI

    Jun 21, 2026Andreas Maier, Siming Bayer, Patrick KraussExplainable Artificial IntelligenceDifferentiable Programming

    Pattern Recognition Lab, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany · Mannheim Center for Neuromodulation and Neuroprosthetics, Heidelberg University, Germany

  22. Compiling Differentiable Audio Graphs to Real-Time DSP

    Jun 19, 2026Facundo Franchino, Sebastian J. SchlechtDifferentiable Programming

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA · Artificial Audio, Multimedia Communications and Signal Processing Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Erlangen, Germany

  23. Compile Once, Differentiate Everywhere: A Differentiable Meta-Circular Interpreter

    Jun 7, 2026Lucas ShenemanAutomatic DifferentiationProgram Synthesis

    Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences University of Idaho

  24. Systematic LLM Translation of Legacy Scientific Code to Differentiable Frameworks: Application to a Land Surface Model

    Jun 4, 2026Aya Lahlou, Linnia Hawkins, Pierre GentineDifferentiable Programming

    Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, United States.

  25. PIVOT: Bridging Black-Scholes Implied-Volatility and Price Objectives via Differentiable Jäckel Operator

    Jun 4, 2026Raeid Saqur, Yannick Limmer, Anastasis Kratsios +2Quantitative FinanceDifferentiable Programming

    Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford · Vector Institute for AI · DRW +1

  26. Integrating Mechanistic and Data-Driven Models for Neurological Disorders through Differentiable Programming

    Jun 4, 2026Shah Pallav Dhanendrakumar, Saikat Pal, Sitikantha RoyNeural Surrogate ModelingDifferentiable Programming

    Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi-110016, India · Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi-110016, India

  27. Batched Differentiable Rigid Body Dynamics in PyTorch for GPU-Accelerated Robot Learning

    May 29, 2026Yue Wang, Yanran Xu, Wenbo Wu +2Multibody DynamicsRobot Dynamics Learning

    University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK

  28. The Neural Compiler: Program-to-Network Translation for Hybrid Scientific Machine Learning

    May 21, 2026Lucas ShenemanDifferentiable ProgrammingScientific ML

    Institute for Interdisciplinary Data Sciences University of Idaho

  29. Sutra: Tensor-Op RNNs as a Compilation Target for Vector Symbolic Architectures

    May 20, 2026Emma LeonhartLogical ReasoningDifferentiable Programming

  30. DiffPhD: A Unified Differentiable Solver for Projective Heterogeneous Materials in Elastodynamics with Contact-Rich GPU-Acceleration

    May 14, 2026Shih-Yu Lai, Sung-Han Tien, Jui-I Huang +9Robotics SimulationHyperelasticity

    National Taiwan University · MoonShine Animation Studio · National University of Singapore +3