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:
“True variety is in that plenitude of real and unexpected elements, in the branch charged with blue flowers thrusting itself, against all expectations, from the springtime hedge which seems already too full, while the purely formal imitation of variety ... is but void and uniformity, that is, that which is most opposed to variety....”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“Was man made stupid to see his own stupidity?
Is God by definition indifferent, beyond us all?
Is the eternal truth man’s fighting soul
Wherein the Beast ravens in its own avidity?”
—Richard Eberhart (b. 1904)