Laplace operator

In mathematics, the Laplace operator or Laplacian is a differential operator given by the divergence of the gradient of a function on Euclidean space. It is usually denoted by the symbols ∇·∇, ∇² or ∆. The Laplacian ∆f(p) of a function f at a point p, up to a constant depending on the dimension, is the rate at which the average value of f over spheres centered at p, deviates from f(p) as the radius of the sphere grows. In a Cartesian coordinate system, the Laplacian is given by the sum of second partial derivatives of the function with respect to each independent variable. In other coordinate systems such as cylindrical and spherical coordinates, the Laplacian also has a useful form.

The Laplace operator is named after the French mathematician Pierre-Simon de Laplace (1749–1827), who first applied the operator to the study of celestial mechanics. In this case, the operator gives a constant multiple of the mass density—when it is applied to a given gravitational potential. Solutions of the equation ∆f = 0, now called Laplace's equation, are the so-called harmonic functions, and represent the possible gravitational fields in free space.

The Laplacian occurs in differential equations that describe many physical phenomena, such as electric and gravitational potentials, the diffusion equation for heat and fluid flow, wave propagation, and quantum mechanics. The Laplacian represents the flux density of the gradient flow of a function. For instance, the net rate at which a chemical dissolved in a fluid moves toward or away from some point is proportional to the Laplacian of the chemical concentration at that point; the resulting equation is the diffusion equation. For these reasons, the Laplace operator is used in the sciences for modelling all kinds of physical phenomena. In image processing and computer vision, the Laplacian operator has been used for various tasks such as blob and edge detection.

Related pages

• Curl
• Vector Laplacian