Efficient computation of Morse-Smale complexes for three-dimensional scalar functions
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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

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Published on: April 8, 2020
Attila Gyulassy1, Vijay Natarajan, Valerio Pascucci
1Institute for Data Analysis and Visualization, Dept. of Computer Science, University of California, Davis, USA. aggyulassy@ucdavis.edu
Abstract:
The Morse-Smale complex is an efficient representation of the gradient behavior of a scalar function, and critical points paired by the complex identify topological features and their importance. We present an algorithm that constructs the Morse-Smale complex in a series of sweeps through the data, identifying various components of the complex in a consistent manner. All components of the complex, both geometric and topological, are computed, providing a complete decomposition of the domain. Efficiency is maintained by representing the geometry of the complex in terms of point sets.
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