Potential Function
The term potential function may refer to: * A mathematical function, whose values are given by a scalar potential or vector potential * The electric potential, in the context of electrodynamics, is formally described by both a scalar electrostatic potential and a magnetic vector potential * The class of functions known as harmonic functions, which are the topic of study in potential theory * The potential function of a potential game * In the potential method In computational complexity theory, the potential method is a method used to analyze the amortized time and space complexity of a data structure, a measure of its performance over sequences of operations that smooths out the cost of infrequent but ...

Function (mathematics)
In mathematics, a function from a set (mathematics), set to a set assigns to each element of exactly one element of .; the words ''map'', ''mapping'', ''transformation'', ''correspondence'', and ''operator'' are sometimes used synonymously. The set is called the Domain of a function, domain of the function and the set is called the codomain of the function. Functions were originally the idealization of how a varying quantity depends on another quantity. For example, the position of a planet is a ''function'' of time. History of the function concept, Historically, the concept was elaborated with the infinitesimal calculus at the end of the 17th century, and, until the 19th century, the functions that were considered were differentiable function, differentiable (that is, they had a high degree of regularity). The concept of a function was formalized at the end of the 19th century in terms of set theory, and this greatly increased the possible applications of the concept. A f ...
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Scalar Potential
In mathematical physics, scalar potential describes the situation where the difference in the potential energies of an object in two different positions depends only on the positions, not upon the path taken by the object in traveling from one position to the other. It is a scalar field in three-space: a directionless value ( scalar) that depends only on its location. A familiar example is potential energy due to gravity. A ''scalar potential'' is a fundamental concept in vector analysis and physics (the adjective ''scalar'' is frequently omitted if there is no danger of confusion with '' vector potential''). The scalar potential is an example of a scalar field. Given a vector field , the scalar potential is defined such that: \mathbf = -\nabla P = - \left( \frac, \frac, \frac \right), where is the gradient of and the second part of the equation is minus the gradient for a function of the Cartesian coordinates . In some cases, mathematicians may use a positive sign ...
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Vector Potential
In vector calculus, a vector potential is a vector field whose curl is a given vector field. This is analogous to a ''scalar potential'', which is a scalar field whose gradient is a given vector field. Formally, given a vector field \mathbf, a ''vector potential'' is a C^2 vector field \mathbf such that \mathbf = \nabla \times \mathbf. Consequence If a vector field \mathbf admits a vector potential \mathbf, then from the equality \nabla \cdot (\nabla \times \mathbf) = 0 (divergence of the curl is zero) one obtains \nabla \cdot \mathbf = \nabla \cdot (\nabla \times \mathbf) = 0, which implies that \mathbf must be a solenoidal vector field. Theorem Let \mathbf : \R^3 \to \R^3 be a solenoidal vector field which is twice continuously differentiable. Assume that \mathbf(\mathbf) decreases at least as fast as 1/\, \mathbf\, for \, \mathbf\, \to \infty . Define \mathbf (\mathbf) = \frac \int_ \frac \, d^3\mathbf where \nabla_y \times denotes curl with respect to variab ...
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Electric Potential
Electric potential (also called the ''electric field potential'', potential drop, the electrostatic potential) is defined as electric potential energy per unit of electric charge. More precisely, electric potential is the amount of work (physics), work needed to move a test charge from a reference point to a specific point in a static electric field. The test charge used is small enough that disturbance to the field is unnoticeable, and its motion across the field is supposed to proceed with negligible acceleration, so as to avoid the test charge acquiring kinetic energy or producing radiation. By definition, the electric potential at the reference point is zero units. Typically, the reference point is Earth (electricity), earth or a point at infinity, although any point can be used. In classical electrostatics, the electrostatic field is a vector quantity expressed as the gradient of the electrostatic potential, which is a scalar (physics), scalar quantity denoted by or occasi ...
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Electrodynamics
In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interactions of atoms and molecules. Electromagnetism can be thought of as a combination of electrostatics and magnetism, which are distinct but closely intertwined phenomena. Electromagnetic forces occur between any two charged particles. Electric forces cause an attraction between particles with opposite charges and repulsion between particles with the same charge, while magnetism is an interaction that occurs between charged particles in relative motion. These two forces are described in terms of electromagnetic fields. Macroscopic charged objects are described in terms of Coulomb's law for electricity and Ampère's force law for magnetism; the Lorentz force describes microscopic charged particles. The electromagnetic force is responsible for m ...
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Magnetic Vector Potential
In classical electromagnetism, magnetic vector potential (often denoted A) is the vector quantity defined so that its curl is equal to the magnetic field, B: \nabla \times \mathbf = \mathbf. Together with the electric potential ''φ'', the magnetic vector potential can be used to specify the electric field E as well. Therefore, many equations of electromagnetism can be written either in terms of the fields E and B, or equivalently in terms of the potentials ''φ'' and A. In more advanced theories such as quantum mechanics, most equations use potentials rather than fields. Magnetic vector potential was independently introduced by Franz Ernst Neumann and Wilhelm Eduard Weber in 1845 and in 1846, respectively to discuss Ampère's circuital law. William Thomson also introduced the modern version of the vector potential in 1847, along with the formula relating it to the magnetic field. Unit conventions This article uses the SI system. In the SI system, the units of A are ...
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Harmonic Function
In mathematics, mathematical physics and the theory of stochastic processes, a harmonic function is a twice continuously differentiable function f\colon U \to \mathbb R, where is an open subset of that satisfies Laplace's equation, that is, \frac + \frac + \cdots + \frac = 0 everywhere on . This is usually written as \nabla^2 f = 0 or \Delta f = 0 Etymology of the term "harmonic" The descriptor "harmonic" in the name "harmonic function" originates from a point on a taut string which is undergoing harmonic motion. The solution to the differential equation for this type of motion can be written in terms of sines and cosines, functions which are thus referred to as "harmonics." Fourier analysis involves expanding functions on the unit circle in terms of a series of these harmonics. Considering higher dimensional analogues of the harmonics on the unit ''n''-sphere, one arrives at the spherical harmonics. These functions satisfy Laplace's equation and, over time, "harmon ...
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Potential Theory
In mathematics and mathematical physics, potential theory is the study of harmonic functions. The term "potential theory" was coined in 19th-century physics when it was realized that the two fundamental forces of nature known at the time, namely gravity and the electrostatic force, could be modeled using functions called the gravitational potential and electrostatic potential, both of which satisfy Poisson's equation—or in the vacuum, Laplace's equation. There is considerable overlap between potential theory and the theory of Poisson's equation to the extent that it is impossible to draw a distinction between these two fields. The difference is more one of emphasis than subject matter and rests on the following distinction: potential theory focuses on the properties of the functions as opposed to the properties of the equation. For example, a result about the Mathematical singularity, singularities of harmonic functions would be said to belong to potential theory whilst a result ...
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Potential Game
In game theory, a game is said to be a potential game if the incentive of all players to change their strategy can be expressed using a single global function called the potential function. The concept originated in a 1996 paper by Dov Monderer and Lloyd Shapley. The properties of several types of potential games have since been studied. Games can be either ''ordinal'' or ''cardinal'' potential games. In cardinal games, the difference in individual payoffs for each player from individually changing one's strategy, other things equal, has to have the same value as the difference in values for the potential function. In ordinal games, only the signs of the differences have to be the same. The potential function is a useful tool to analyze equilibrium properties of games, since the incentives of all players are mapped into one function, and the set of pure Nash equilibria can be found by locating the local optima of the potential function. Convergence and finite-time convergence of ...
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