Heat (release v1.6.0)

Kurzfassung

With Heat 1.6.0 we release the next major set of features, including continued developments within the ESAPCA project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA). The main focus of this release is a significant expansion of our distributed linear algebra capabilities, including full SVD, symmetric eigenvalue decomposition, and polar decomposition, all leveraging the efficient "Zolotarev approach". We also introduce Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD and DMDc) for the analysis of complex systems. On the performance side, the MPI communication layer has been enhanced to support buffer sizes exceeding the previous 2³¹-1 element limit, enabling data transfers at an unprecedented scale. This release also introduces support for the Zarr data format for I/O operations and experimental hardware acceleration on Apple Silicon via Metal Performance Shaders (MPS). Finally, the project's build system has been modernized to use pyproject.toml, improving its maintainability and alignment with current Python packaging standards. With this release, Heat drops support for Python 3.9, now requiring Python 3.10 or newer, and extends compatibility to include PyTorch versions up to 2.7.x. We are grateful to our community of users, students, open-source contributors, the European Space Agency, and the Helmholtz Association for their support and feedback. DETAILED CHANGELOG: https://github.com/helmholtz-analytics/heat/releases/tag/v1.6.0