Discrete Differential Geometry Lab

Discrete differential geometry (DDG) is an emerging field that explores discrete counterparts of classical differential geometry, connecting novel theoretical concepts with efficient and robust algorithms. Applications range from physical simulations over computer graphics to geometry processing and computational geometry.

Discrete differential geometry can be said to have arisen from the observation that when a notion from smooth geometry (such as the notion of a minimal surface) is discretized properly, the discrete objects are not merely approximations of the smooth ones, but have special properties of their own which make them form in some sense a coherent entity by themselves. The discrete theory would seem to be the more fundamental one: The smooth theory can always be recovered as a limit, while there seems to be no natural way to predict from the smooth theory which discretizations will have the nicest properties.

— Oberwolfach Report 12/2006 Discrete Differential Geometry

The DDG group at the University of Göttingen is part of the university's excellence initiative.