Laplace operator

E139493

The Laplace operator is a second-order differential operator widely used in mathematics and physics to describe phenomena such as diffusion, heat flow, and wave propagation.

All labels observed (4)

Label Occurrences
Laplacian 3
Laplace–Beltrami operator 2
Laplace operator canonical 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf differential operator
elliptic differential operator
second-order differential operator
actsOn scalar fields
vector fields
alsoKnownAs Laplacian
linked to: Laplace operator
appearsIn Schrödinger equation
heat equation ∂u/∂t = κΔu
wave equation
definitionInCartesianCoordinates sum of second partial derivatives with respect to spatial coordinates
definitionInRn Δf = ∑_{i=1}^n ∂²f/∂x_i²
discreteAnalogue discrete Laplacian
domain functions on Euclidean space
functions on Riemannian manifolds
equation Laplace equation Δu = 0
Poisson equation Δu = f
field mathematics
physics
generalization Hodge Laplacian
Laplace–Beltrami operator
linked to: Laplace operator
graphAnalogue graph Laplacian
historicalPeriod 18th century
invariance invariant under Euclidean isometries
rotation invariant in Euclidean space
linearity linear
namedAfter Pierre-Simon Laplace
order 2
property negative semi-definite on appropriate function spaces
self-adjoint under suitable boundary conditions
relatedConcept Dirichlet boundary condition
Green's function
Neumann boundary condition
harmonic function
relatedProcess Brownian motion
spectralTheory eigenvalues form the Laplacian spectrum
symbol Δ
∇²
type local operator
usedFor electrostatics
fluid dynamics
gravitation
modeling diffusion
modeling heat flow
modeling wave propagation
potential theory
quantum mechanics
usedIn Fourier analysis
partial differential equations
stochastic processes

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Pierre-Simon Laplace developedConcept Laplace operator
Jean d’Alembert knownFor d’Alembert operator
linked to: Laplace operator
Laplace equation involvesOperator Laplacian
linked to: Laplace operator
Laplace operator alsoKnownAs Laplacian
linked to: Laplace operator
Laplace operator generalization Laplace–Beltrami operator
linked to: Laplace operator
Selberg trace formula coreConcept Laplace–Beltrami operator
linked to: Laplace operator
Laplacian spectrum hasOperator Laplacian
linked to: Laplace operator