Eigenfunction
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A function ϕ such that, for a given linear operator D, Dϕ=λϕ for some scalar λ (called an eigenvalue).
"For many quantum-mechanical problems it is important to investigate the change of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions with the continuous change of one or more parameters. The case in which one knows the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for two special values of the parameters, and is interested in the region in between is particularly interesting."
Example
More examples"For many quantum-mechanical problems it is important to investigate the change of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions with the continuous change of one or more parameters. The case in which one knows the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for two special values of the parameters, and is interested in the region in between is particularly interesting."
Etymology
From eigen- + function.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.