Harmonic pressure and vorticity in Stokes flow Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Divergence and curl of with give and .
Biharmonic stream function for planar Stokes flow Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Taking the curl of the planar Stokes equation makes vorticity harmonic. Since vorticity is minus the Laplacian of the stream function,
Viscous dissipation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For an incompressible Newtonian fluid, the nonnegative rate at which viscosity converts mechanical energy into heat is
Lorentz reciprocal theorem for Stokes flow Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For two Stokes velocity-stress fields in the same domain,
It follows by integrating the divergence of the corresponding cross-work flux and using symmetry of the Newtonian stress.
Hydrodynamic resistance matrix Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-28
At fixed orientation, linearity of Stokes flow relates a rigid body's translational velocity to the hydrodynamic force by
The Lorentz reciprocal theorem makes symmetric, and positive viscous dissipation makes it positive definite.
Brownian motion Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Standard one-dimensional Brownian motion is a real-valued stochastic process on a probability space with three defining properties: almost surely; its sample paths are continuous almost surely; and its Brownian increments over any finite collection of disjoint time intervals are independent, with
Here denotes the normal distribution with expectation and variance . The alternative symbol denotes the same kind of stochastic process. Continuity is a simultaneous statement about an entire sample path, rather than a separate assertion at each fixed time. Relative to its natural Brownian filtration, a future Brownian increment is independent of all observations up to its starting time.
The normalization gives , so the standard deviation of a Brownian increment over duration is . For , , and , the corresponding standard deviations are , , and . Time becoming one hundred times shorter makes typical displacement ten times smaller. Brownian scaling expresses this rule for the whole stochastic process, while the Brownian covariance kernel describes how positions at different times remain related despite independent increments.
For a concrete probability calculation, let be the cumulative distribution function of . At time four, has that normal distribution, hence
These numbers can be reproduced using the error function: . In particular, zero expectation does not mean small displacement: , but the same fixed interval contains only about of the probability at time four.
The probability density function of , for , is
Its partial derivatives satisfy
Thus the normal distribution spreads according to the heat equation. Starting at a fixed position replaces by . This is a useful bridge between individual random trajectories and the deterministic evolution of their probability density function: the same Brownian motion provides both descriptions.
Physical diffusion uses its own scale. For constant diffusion coefficient , the position model has variance , and its probability density function satisfies . For example, gives displacement variance after four seconds, hence standard deviation . Standard Brownian motion corresponds numerically to in chosen units; omitting the factor two changes the physical convention. Einstein's 1905 paper relates diffusion to the mean squared displacement in precisely this convention. [ref]
Continuity does not supply a smooth physical velocity. The difference quotient has normal distribution , so its standard deviation grows as : for the three durations above it is , , and . This calculation motivates the nowhere differentiability of Brownian motion, but it alone is not a proof of the simultaneous assertion at every time. The theorem says that, with probability one, no finite derivative exists anywhere along the sample path. A drawn polygon only displays a finite grid; its straight segments cannot establish this theorem. See Theorem 7.1.6 in Probability: Theory and Examples (fifth edition) by Rick Durrett.
For physical particles, Brownian motion is a model of position on suitable observation scales. It does not claim that microscopic velocity is a derivative of this idealized path. Einstein explicitly restricts his assumption of independent increments to intervals that are not too short. [ref]
Another way to measure the roughness is quadratic variation. On , divide time into equal intervals and form
Writing each Brownian increment as with independent standard normal random variables gives . Since and , the variance of is , and
This proves mean-square convergence to along uniform partitions. For and , the expectation is , the variance is , and the root mean square of the error is . For a general deterministic partition of an interval with lengths , the same calculation gives error variance , so shrinking the largest interval also suffices.
The resulting quadratic variation is , whereas the smooth function gives . This difference explains why the ordinary rules of calculus need the second-order correction in the Itô formula. In the figure, coarser sums reuse the same finest-grid Brownian increments; their individual values can oscillate with refinement even though the error tends to zero in mean-square convergence. Refining a fixed interpolating polygon forever would instead give zero quadratic variation, so the finite-grid illustration must not be confused with the limiting Brownian motion.
Historically, Brown's 1828 report describes microscopic observations made in 1827, starting with particles released from pollen and extending to inorganic materials; this challenged an explanation based solely on living matter. His observations and the later mathematical model are distinct contributions. [ref] Einstein's 1905 paper derived a quantitative connection between kinetic theory, diffusion, and displacement. [ref] Wiener's 1923 Differential-Space developed integration on spaces of paths, a foundation for Wiener measure; it also acknowledges earlier work and his own previous papers. These dates mark documented contributions rather than an assertion that each subject had a single discoverer. [ref]
Gaussian process Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Lévy process Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
A Lévy process starts at zero, has independent stationary increments, is stochastically continuous, and is conventionally taken to have càdlàg paths.
Stochastic continuity Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
A stochastic process is stochastically continuous when in probability as .
Uniform convergence on compacts in probability Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Processes converge uniformly on compacts in probability to when, for every and ,
Natural filtration Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-28
The natural filtration of a stochastic process records its history:
possibly completed and made right-continuous when the usual conditions are required.
Graphical Stirling number Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The graphical Stirling number counts partitions of the vertices of a graph into nonempty independent sets. Equivalently, it counts proper colourings with unlabeled nonempty colour classes.
Mass-luminosity relation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The mass-luminosity relation connects a star's mass to its luminosity. Its slope depends on opacity, nuclear burning, pressure support, composition, and evolutionary state.
Radiative stellar structure Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-28
In a radiative stellar region, photons carry luminosity down the temperature gradient. Dimensional scaling of the radiative-diffusion equation gives .
Stellar homology Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Homologous stellar models have the same dimensionless radial profiles after mass, radius, density, pressure, and temperature are scaled by characteristic values.
Stellar polytrope Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
A stellar polytrope obeys for constant and polytropic index . Its dimensionless density profile satisfies the Lane-Emden equation.
CNO cycle Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The CNO cycle catalyses hydrogen fusion through carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen nuclei. Near , its specific energy generation is approximately proportional to and is therefore strongly concentrated near a star's centre.
Proton–proton chain Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The proton–proton chain converts hydrogen to helium and dominates hydrogen burning in stars near and below the Sun's mass. Near , its specific energy generation is roughly proportional to .
Symmetrization rigidity for a perimeter minimizer Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
If Steiner symmetrization preserves area and cannot lower the perimeter of a minimizer, equality forces an axis of symmetry in the chosen direction. Applying every direction gives symmetry axes in all directions.

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