Energy Landscape - Formal Definition

Formal Definition

Mathematically, an energy landscape is a continuous function associating each physical state with an energy, where is a topological space.

In the continuous case, where is the number of degrees of freedom of the system. The graph of a continuous energy landscape is a hypersurface in .

Hills and valleys in the energy lanscape correpond to local maxima and minima of, respectively.

Read more about this topic:  Energy Landscape

Famous quotes containing the words formal and/or definition:

    “I will not let him stir
    Till I have used the approvèd means I have,
    With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayers,
    To make of him a formal man again.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “It is very hard to give a just definition of love. The most we can say of it is this: that in the soul, it is a desire to rule; in the spirit, it is a sympathy; and in the body, it is but a hidden and subtle desire to possess—after many mysteries—what one loves.”
    —François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)