What is a gradient-like vector field?

by Prof. Kai Cieliebak (Universität Augsburg)

Tuesday 6 Jan 2026, 17:00 → 18:00 Europe/Berlin

H4 (Geomatikum)

For many applications, one would like to replace the notion of a gradient vector field
by the more flexible notion of a "gradient-like vector field". However, there is no consensus
on this notion and various proposals have appeared in the literature. After reviewing some
of these proposals, I will introduce a new notion of a gradient-like vector field and discuss
its implications for the theory of Stein and Weinstein structures as well as some open questions.