When scientists analyze datasets in a search for underlying phenomena, patterns or causal factors, their first step is often an automatic or semi-automatic search for structures in the data. Of these feature-extraction methods, topological ones stand out due to their solid mathematical foundation. Topologically defined structures-as found in scalar, vector and tensor fields-have proven their merit in a wide range of scientific domains, and scientists have found them to be revealing in subjects such as physics, engineering, and medicine.
This group of peer-reviewed papers from the fourth TopoInVis workshop held in 2011 includes state-of-the-art research and hot topics such as the search for topological structures in time-dependent flows, and their relations to Lagrangian coherent structures.
Part I: Discrete Morse Theory.- Part II: Hierarchical Methods for Extracting and Visualizing Topological Structures.- Part III: Visualization of Dynamical Systems, Vector and Tensor Fields.- Part IV: Topological Visualization of Unsteady Flow.