English

A trilinear method for finding null points in a 3D vector space

Astrophysics 2009-11-13 v1

Abstract

Null points are important locations in vector fields, such as a magnetic field. A new technique (a trilinear method for finding null points) is presented for finding null points over a large grid of points, such as those derived from a numerical experiment. The method was designed so that the null points found would agree with any fieldlines traced using the commonly used trilinear interpolation. It is split into three parts: reduction, analysis and positioning, which, when combined, provide an efficient means of locating null points to a user-defined sub-grid accuracy. We compare the results of the trilinear method with that of a method based on the Poincare index, and discuss the accuracy and limitations of both methods.

Cite

@article{arxiv.0706.0521,
  title  = {A trilinear method for finding null points in a 3D vector space},
  author = {Andrew L. Haynes and Clare E. Parnell},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0706.0521},
  year   = {2009}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T08:35:03.739Z