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Abstract

Mean-field stochastic differential equations, also called McKean--Vlasov equations, are the limiting equations of interacting particle systems with fully symmetric interaction potential. Such systems play an important role in a variety of fields ranging from biology and physics to sociology and economics. Global information about the behavior of complex dynamical systems can be obtained by analyzing the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of associated transfer operators such as the Perron--Frobenius operator and the Koopman operator. In this paper, we extend transfer operator theory to McKean--Vlasov equations and show how extended dynamic mode decomposition and the Galerkin projection methodology can be used to compute finite-dimensional approximations of these operators, which allows us to compute spectral properties and thus to identify slowly evolving spatiotemporal patterns or to detect metastable sets. The results will be illustrated with the aid of several guiding examples and benchmark problems including the Cormier model, the Kuramoto model, and a three-dimensional generalization of the Kuramoto model.