For a saline Stefan problem with common thermal properties, , and fixed latent-to-sensible heat ratio, set , and . A finite- similarity solution has . At the onset of constitutional supercooling, and the error in this mean is . The salt-rejection function for a saline Stefan front then gives , whereas . Comparing the actual temperature gradient to the liquidus gradient gives the displayed onset, with supercooling on the side of greater . For a freezing front at and , the ratio of these two gradients decreases into the liquid, so their interface comparison also decides whether a supercooled interval occurs anywhere ahead. The formula is an asymptotic criterion; finite- onset requires the full Stefan condition and salt balance.
Sobolev gradient vanishes on a zero set 2026-10-07
For a Sobolev space function, almost every line parallel to a coordinate axis gives an absolutely continuous restriction. An absolutely continuous function has derivative zero almost everywhere on each of its level sets. Slicing and Fubini's theorem give the assertion in higher dimension. If , apply it to and then to each component of its gradient to get almost everywhere on . This supplies the contact differentiation used in noncontact of ROF level boundaries.
Sobolev norm Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
For , an inhomogeneous Sobolev space norm is , using weak derivatives. In particular, . The gradient seminorm alone defines a different completion, the Dirichlet energy space, unless a suitable Poincare inequality makes the two norms equivalent on the chosen zero-boundary space.
Squared-loss empirical risk for linear prediction Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Strong maximum principle for elliptic operators Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
For a locally uniformly elliptic operator with locally bounded coefficients and , a function satisfying on a connected domain cannot attain a nonnegative global maximum inside unless it is constant. If , the maximum can have either sign. If the maximum set were proper, choose an interior ball in its complement tangent to that set. The Hopf boundary point lemma gives a nonzero normal derivative at the contact point, contradicting the vanishing gradient at an interior maximum.
The strong minimum principle for elliptic operators follows by applying this to . For nonnegative with , replacing by retains the inequality, so the strict positivity-or-zero conclusion does not require an original sign restriction on .
Structure tensor 2026-10-06
For a smoothed image signal , average the gradient outer product as . The dominant eigenvector estimates the normal to a coherent image edge, and eigenvalue contrast measures local directional structure. Two distinct scales separate differentiation from orientation averaging.
Submodularity of relative perimeter 2026-10-07
The BV lattice inequality applied to two indicator functions gives the perimeter inequality. For smooth approximations, minima and maxima partition the two gradients; sequential lower semicontinuity passes the estimate to BV. It prevents a crossing of minimizers with strictly ordered set forcing.
Superfluidity 2026-10-07
Superfluidity is a quantum-fluid response with phase stiffness and flow without viscous dissipation in an appropriate low-speed regime. A superfluid supports a phase-gradient current; defects and excitations can limit that flow. Bose-Einstein condensation concerns macroscopic one-particle occupation and is a distinct criterion: the Gaussian phase stiffness theory can have divergent absolute-phase fluctuations while retaining a cost for gradients.
Superfluid velocity 2026-10-06
For a condensate with kinetic operator , its particle current is with the displayed velocity. This follows by subtracting the Gross–Pitaevskii equation from its complex conjugate. More generally, in units where the kinetic operator is , the current velocity is . The complex argument gradient and current velocity coincide only when .
Surface gradient Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
For an embedded surface with unit normal vector , the surface gradient is . It projects the ambient gradient onto the tangent space and is independent of how is extended normally off the surface.
Surrogate Hamiltonian Monte Carlo 2026-10-06
Surrogate Hamiltonian Monte Carlo uses an auxiliary smooth probability density function to generate trajectories but applies a Metropolis–Hastings acceptance probability using the intended target . For Gaussian momenta and an involutive Metropolis proposal generated by flipped leapfrog integration, the acceptance probability is . Only the surrogate gradient is required during the trajectory; target density evaluations are still required at the endpoints.
Subtracting the quadratic Taylor polynomial at the rescaling centre makes the function, gradient and Hessian matrix vanish there. Dividing by preserves the normalized Hölder oscillation of the Hessian matrix while turning a small forcing-to-oscillation ratio into a harmonic limiting equation. The three vanished Taylor coefficients provide local bounds needed by the Arzela-Ascoli theorem.
Temperature gradient Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The temperature gradient is the gradient of the temperature field. It points in the direction of fastest temperature increase.
Time-reversal invariance of a path Jacobian 2026-10-05
For additive Gaussian white noise and a time-even order parameter, a midpoint discretization of the Onsager–Machlup functional evaluates drift derivatives at the midpoint configurations. Reversing a trajectory visits the same midpoints in reverse order, so the noise-to-path Jacobian determinant is invariant under reversal. It may depend on the trajectory, and must be distinguished from the constant normalization of the noise measure.
For nonconserved order-parameter dynamics with , the factor at one time step, apart from a path-independent power of the step size, isHere the fields have first been restricted to a finite spatial grid, and is the Hessian matrix of the free energy.
For mixed conserved and nonconserved order-parameter dynamics, the required noises for a joint configuration and flux trajectory arewhere represent the divergence and gradient, and represents the Laplacian. The Jacobian matrix isTaking its Schur complement gives the joint factorFor periodic boundary conditions, discretizing the two spatial operators compatibly gives , so is the positive relaxation operator when . Reversal leaves unchanged and reverses the sign of the flux. The product of the joint factors is consequently the same for both histories, justifying its cancellation from the joint path probability of an order parameter and its flux. The functional chain rule used in the action ratio holds in the continuum limit of this midpoint convention.
Total variation seminorm on a domain Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-06
Vector potential Created 2026-09-29 Updated 2026-10-06
A vector potential for a divergence-free vector field is a vector field satisfying . It is not unique because adding a gradient leaves its curl unchanged.
Viscous scalar conservation law 2026-10-06
Positive adds diffusion to a one-dimensional scalar conservation law. For a sufficiently decaying smooth solution, the divergence structure gives , so the energy estimate is uniform in . If , testing against also yields . Thin travelling waves explain why a uniform gradient bound generally fails.
Weak gradient 2026-10-06
The weak gradient is the vector of first-order weak derivatives of a function. Its th component is specified by for compactly supported test functions. For a differentiable function with appropriate local integrability it agrees with the classical gradient.