Hodge–Laplacian

Compressible/solenoidal energy split, harmonic 1-forms, curl/div ratio, Laplacian energy, source/sink density
topologicaldim 2D4 metrics

What It Measures

Two complementary 2D structures derived from the 1D signal — the Laplacian field of a row-major reshape, and the Hodge-Helmholtz decomposition of an empirical phase-space velocity field.

The scalar-field branch reshapes the 1D byte stream into a square 2D field and analyzes it through the Laplacian operator and its iterates: the Laplacian Δf (source/sink density), the biharmonic Δ²f (curvature of curvature), and Poisson recovery error (non-periodic boundary content). Two anisotropy metrics exploit the vertical/horizontal asymmetry created by row-major reshaping — temporal adjacency is preserved along rows but broken across rows. The phase-space branch delay-embeds the signal into a 64×64 bin grid, averages the per-sample velocity (Δs(t), Δs(t+τ)) inside each bin, and applies the Hodge-Helmholtz decomposition v = ∇φ + ∇⊥ψ + h via Leray projection in Fourier space. The split between gradient (∇φ) and rotational (∇⊥ψ) components is a real signal axis the framework otherwise lacks.

Metrics

biharmonic_energy

L2 energy of the biharmonic field Δ²f, normalized. Phyllotaxis (2.34) and Circle Map QP (2.34) score highest: their angular structure creates maximum biharmonic energy in the 2D field. Logistic Period-2 (0.08) is near zero — its simple alternation produces a smooth 2D pattern.

dirichlet_energy

Integrated squared gradient magnitude, normalized. Logistic Period-3 (1.57) tops the list: its three-cycle creates sharp 2D boundaries in the reshaped field. Wigner Semicircle (0.002) is near zero — its smooth distribution creates a smooth gradient field.

laplacian_energy

L2 energy of the Laplacian field Δf. Logistic Period-3 (2.29) again dominates. Thue-Morse (1.93) is second — its binary substitution creates sharp source/sink density in the 2D field.

laplacian_mean

Mean of the Laplacian field. L-System Dragon Curve (0.78) has the most positive mean (net source density); Devil's Staircase (-1.39) has the most negative (net sink density from its monotone plateaus).

laplacian_std

Standard deviation of the Laplacian. Thue-Morse (177.2) and Rule 110 (155.7) score highest — their binary structure creates extreme Laplacian variation in the 2D field. Wigner Semicircle (1.3) is nearly uniform.

laplacian_spectral_ratio

2D analog of the 1D Laplacian's bounded spectral fraction: low-radial-frequency energy / (low + high) on the radial 2D Laplacian power spectrum. Smooth continuous-time signals reshape into smoothly-varying 2D fields whose curvature is entirely low-frequency — Sine Wave (0.99), Lorenz (0.94), Van der Pol (0.92), Clipped Sine (0.84), Triangle Wave (0.81). Discrete chaos reshapes into noisy 2D fields with high-frequency curvature (logistic chaos near 0.0). White Noise (0.03) and Constants (0.0) sit at the floor.

gradient_coherence

Spatial autocorrelation of the gradient field. Wigner Semicircle (0.84) and Temperature Drift (0.82) score highest: their smooth distributions create coherent gradient fields. Logistic Period-3 (-0.33) has anti-coherent gradients (sharp alternating boundaries).

poisson_recovery_error

2D analog: solve Δu = Δf periodically and measure residual. Hawkes Process (541.1) scores highest — its clustered spike events create strong non-periodic boundary content in the 2D field. fBm Persistent (0.67) is near zero (well-captured by periodic modes).

source_fraction

Fraction of pixels where the Laplacian is positive (sources vs sinks). Logistic Period-3 (0.66) is most source-heavy; Period-2 (0.02) is almost entirely sinks.

spatial_anisotropy

Log ratio of vertical to horizontal gradient energy. Sine Wave (6.2) has strong vertical anisotropy because row-major reshaping preserves its temporal periodicity along rows. Logistic Edge-of-Chaos (-30.4) has extreme horizontal anisotropy — its chaotic dynamics create structure within rows but not across them.

spectral_anisotropy

Log ratio of vertical to horizontal Laplacian spectral energy. Tidal Gauge (6.1) scores highest: its slow ocean dynamics create anisotropic curvature structure in the 2D field. Logistic Edge-of-Chaos (-52.2) is the most extreme negative — same mechanism as spatial_anisotropy but amplified by the spectral transform.

flow_energy

log₁₀ of the mean kinetic energy per cell in the empirical phase-space velocity field. Distinguishes high-power dynamical flows (oscillators, low-d chaos) from low-power random walks where per-bin average velocities cancel to ~0. Arnold Cat Map (-0.49), RANDU (-0.51), Beta Noise (-0.55), Gzip (-0.56), and Pi Digits (-0.56) sit at the top — their delay-embedding bins are filled densely enough that the mean velocity per bin is large. Primes (-9.36), Partition Function (-9.29), and Minkowski ?(x) (-8.78) sit at the bottom — these number-theoretic signals trace tight quasi-monotone manifolds in delay space, so almost every bin is empty and the average velocity vanishes. Constants saturate at the floor (-30.0).

solenoidal_fraction

Fraction of the phase-space velocity field's energy carried by the rotational component: ‖∇⊥ψ‖² / (‖∇φ‖² + ‖∇⊥ψ‖²). 0 means pure gradient flow (sources and sinks), 1 means pure rotation (closed orbits), 0.5 is balanced. Sine Wave (0.999), Chua's Circuit (0.997), Duffing (0.996), Hénon-Heiles (0.996), and Berry Random Wave (0.994) saturate at the rotational end — their phase portraits are dominated by closed-orbit structure. Temperature Drift (0.20), Circle Map QP (0.24), and Phyllotaxis (0.24) sit at the gradient end. This is a real signal axis the framework otherwise lacks: rotational vs gradient-like dynamical structure on delay-embedded phase space.

curl_div_ratio

log(‖∇×v‖² / ‖∇·v‖²) on the phase-space velocity field. The same rotational/gradient axis as solenoidal_fraction, but k²-weighted so it emphasizes small-scale vorticity vs divergence. Decouples from solenoidal_fraction on scale-anisotropic flows where the dominant rotational structure lives at a different scale than the dominant divergence. Sine Wave (7.01), Duffing (5.71), Chua's Circuit (5.49), Hénon-Heiles (5.46), and Berry Random Wave (5.15) score highest. Phyllotaxis (-1.27), Circle Map QP (-1.27), and Temperature Drift (-0.92) score lowest.

Atlas Rankings

curl_div_ratio
SourceDomainValue
Sine Wavewaveform7.0095
Magnetic Pendulum (3-Magnet)motion5.9458
Spring Pendulummotion5.9013
···
Circle Map Quasiperiodicchaos-1.2723
Phyllotaxisbio-1.2723
Critical Circle Map (Bronze Mean)chaos-0.8954
poisson_recovery_error
SourceDomainValue
Lotka-Volterrabio5.3673
Seismograph (ANMO)geophysics5.0545
Halvorsen Attractorchaos4.7706
···
LIGO Hanfordastro0.0000
LIGO Livingstonastro0.0000
Critical Transition (Fold)chaos0.0196
solenoidal_fraction
SourceDomainValue
Sine Wavewaveform0.9989
Magnetic Pendulum (3-Magnet)motion0.9971
Period-Doubled Wavewaveform0.9970
···
Temperature Driftclimate0.2042
Circle Map Quasiperiodicchaos0.2384
Phyllotaxisbio0.2384
source_fraction
SourceDomainValue
Pomeau-Mannevillechaos0.7421
Anderson 1D Localizedquantum0.6773
Solar Flares Daily Peakastro0.6735
···
Logistic r=3.2 (Period-2)chaos0.0156
Mian-Chowlanumber_theory0.0182
Devil's Staircaseexotic0.0988

When It Lights Up

Hodge-Laplacian is the 2D complement to the 1D Laplacian geometry. The scalar-field metrics capture spatial structure that 1D analysis misses: gradient coherence, source/sink balance, and directional anisotropy from row-major reshaping. The Hodge-Helmholtz metrics (solenoidal_fraction, curl_div_ratio, flow_energy) add a phase-space dynamical axis: the rotational-vs-gradient split of the empirical velocity field cleanly separates closed-orbit dynamics from gradient flows, and flow_energy separates dense-attractor systems from sparse-manifold or random-walk systems. In the atlas, biharmonic_energy is a top-5 PC1 loading and the Hodge branch contributes a unique rotational axis that no other geometry exposes.

Open in Atlas
← Laplacian