Curvature
61curvature of field — a defect in an optical system that results in points on an object plane perpendicular to the axis being imaged on a curved surface rather than on a plane * * * Optics. a monochromatic aberration of a lens or other optical system in which the… …
62curvature of space — Physics, Astron. 1. (in relativity) a property of space near massive bodies in which their gravitational field causes light to travel along curved paths. 2. (in cosmology) a large scale property of the universe that has an algebraic sign that… …
63Sectional curvature — In Riemannian geometry, the sectional curvature is one of the ways to describe the curvature of Riemannian manifolds. The sectional curvature K(σp) depends on a two dimensional plane σp in the tangent space at p. It is the Gaussian curvature of… …
64Ricci curvature — In differential geometry, the Ricci curvature tensor, named after Gregorio Ricci Curbastro, provides one way of measuring the degree to which the geometry determined by a given Riemannian metric might differ from that of ordinary Euclidean n… …
65Scalar curvature — In Riemannian geometry, the scalar curvature (or Ricci scalar) is the simplest curvature invariant of a Riemannian manifold. To each point on a Riemannian manifold, it assigns a single real number determined by the intrinsic geometry of the… …
66Radius of curvature (applications) — The distance from the center of a sphere or ellipsoid to its surface is its radius. The equivalent surface radius that is described by radial distances at points along the body s surface is its radius of curvature (more formally, the radius of… …
67Mean curvature — In mathematics, the mean curvature H of a surface S is an extrinsic measure of curvature that comes from differential geometry and that locally describes the curvature of an embedded surface in some ambient space such as Euclidean space. The… …
68Membrane curvature — is the geometrical measure or characterization of the curvature of membranes. The membranes can be naturally occurring or man made (synthetic). An example of naturally occurring membrane is the lipid bilayer of cells, also known as cellular… …
69Gaussian curvature — In differential geometry, the Gaussian curvature or Gauss curvature of a point on a surface is the product of the principal curvatures, κ 1 and κ 2, of the given point. It is an intrinsic measure of curvature, i.e., its value depends only on how… …
70Principal curvature — Saddle surface with normal planes in directions of principal curvatures In differential geometry, the two principal curvatures at a given point of a surface are the eigenvalues of the shape operator at the point. They measure how the surface… …
