Critical point (mathematics) | EPFL Graph Search

Critical point is a wide term used in many branches of mathematics. When dealing with functions of a real variable, a critical point is a point in the domain of the function where the function is either not differentiable or the derivative is equal to zero. When dealing with complex variables, a critical point is, similarly, a point in the function's domain where it is either not holomorphic or the derivative is equal to zero. Likewise, for a function of several real variables, a critical point is a value in its domain where the gradient is undefined or is equal to zero. The value of the function at a critical point is a critical value. This sort of definition extends to differentiable maps between \R^m and \R^n, a critical point being, in this case, a point where the rank of the Jacobian matrix is not maximal. It extends further to differentiable maps between differentiable manifolds, as the points where the rank of the Jacobian matrix decreases. In this case,

A generalized mountain-pass theorem: the existence of multiple critical points

Hans-Jörg Ruppen

We analyse the existence of multiple critical points for an even functional J : H -> R in the following context: the Hilbert space H can be split into an orthogonal sum H = Y circle plus Z in such a way that inf{J(u) : u is an element of Z and parallel to u parallel to = rho >= alpha > J(0) and that here exits a point b is an element of H with parallel to b parallel to > rho and with J(b)

Springer Heidelberg2016

Inversion de Fourier ponctuelle

Emanuel Enrico Seifert

Let f be an integrable function on RN, a a point in RN and B a complex number. If the mean value of f on the sphere of centre a and radius r tends to B when r tends to 0, we show that the Fourier integral at a of f is summable to B in Cesàro means of order λ > (N-1)/2. Let now U be a bounded open subset of RN whose boundary ∂U is a real analytic submanifold of RN with dimension N-1. We deduce from the preceding result that the Fourier integral at a of the indicator function of U is summable in Cesàro means of order λ > (N-1)/2 to 1 if a ∈ U, to 1/2 if a ∈ ∂U and to 0 if a ∉ U. We then show that if the function defined on ∂U by y → ‖ y - a ‖ has only a finite number of critical points, then we can take λ less or equal to (N-1)/2 ; more precisely, it suffices to have λ > (N-3)/2 + σ(a|∂U), where σ (a|∂U) < 0 is the maximum of the oscillatory indices associated to the critical points of y → ‖ y - a ‖ ; this generalizes results obtained by Pinsky, Taylor and Popov in 1997. Finally, writing μ∂U for the natural measure supported by ∂U, P(D) for a differential operator with constant coefficients of order m and b for a C∞ function on RN, we show that, if a is a point outside ∂U such that ‖ y - a ‖ has only a finite number of critical points on ∂U, the Fourier integral at a of the distribution P(D) bμ∂U is summable to 0 in Cesàro means of order λ > (N-1)/2 + m + σ (a|∂U) ; this generalizes a result obtained by Gonzàlez Vieli in 2002.

EPFL2007

Unraveling looping efficiency of stochastic Cosserat polymers

Giulio Corazza, Raushan Singh

Understanding looping probabilities, including the particular case of ring closure or cyclization, of fluctuating polymers (e.g., DNA) is important in many applications in molecular biology and chemistry. In a continuum limit the configuration of a polymer is a curve in the group SE(3) of rigid body displacements, whose energy can be modeled via the Cosserat theory of elastic rods. Cosserat rods are a more detailed version of the classic wormlike-chain (WLC) model, which we show to be more appropriate in short-length scale, or stiff, regimes, where the contributions of extension and shear deformations are not negligible and lead to noteworthy high values for the cyclization probabilities (or J-factors). We therefore observe that the Cosserat framework is a candidate for gaining a better understanding of the enhanced cyclization of short DNA molecules reported in various experiments, which is not satisfactorily explained by WLC-type models. Characterizing the stochastic fluctuations about minimizers of the energy by means of Laplace expansions in a (real) path integral formulation, we develop efficient analytical approximations for the two cases of full looping, in which both end-to-end relative translation and rotation are prescribed, and of marginal looping probabilities, where only end-to-end translation is prescribed. For isotropic Cosserat rods, certain looping boundary value problems admit nonisolated families of critical points of the energy due to an associated continuous symmetry. For the first time, taking inspiration from (imaginary) path integral techniques, a quantum mechanical probabilistic treatment of Goldstone modes in statistical rod mechanics sheds light on J-factor computations for isotropic rods in the semiclassical context. All the results are achieved exploiting appropriate Jacobi fields arising from Gaussian path integrals and show good agreement when compared with intense Monte Carlo simulations for the target examples.

AMER PHYSICAL SOC2022

Unraveling looping efficiency of stochastic Cosserat polymers

Giulio Corazza, Raushan Singh

AMER PHYSICAL SOC2022