Scientists complete Schrödinger’s 100-year-old color theory
9 reported
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have resolved a key problem in a century-old theory of color from physicist Erwin Schrödinger. The team, led by scientist Roxana Bujack, used geometry to build a mathematical definition of color perception based on hue, saturation, and lightness. Their findings show that these color qualities are intrinsic to the structure of color perception itself, not derived from cultural or learned experiences. The work was presented at the Eurographics Conference on Visualization and builds on a broader Los Alamos project on color perception. The team identified that Schrödinger’s model had a serious gap: it lacked a formal definition of the neutral axis, the line of grays from black to white. The researchers solved this by defining the neutral axis using only the geometry of the color metric, moving beyond the traditional Riemannian model. They also corrected two other issues, including the Bezold-Brücke effect, where changing light intensity can shift perceived hue. The research was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Los Alamos and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Advanced Simulation and Computing program.
What’s reported
A team led by Los Alamos scientist Roxana Bujack used geometry to build a mathematical definition of color perception based on hue, saturation, and lightness.
The results show that these color qualities are intrinsic to the structure of color perception, not from cultural or learned experiences.
Schrödinger’s model had a gap: it never formally defined the neutral axis (the line of grays from black to white).
The team defined the neutral axis using only the geometry of the color metric, moving beyond the traditional Riemannian model.
The researchers corrected the Bezold-Brücke effect by using the shortest path in their geometric model rather than a straight line.
They also used the shortest path in a non-Riemannian space to account for diminishing returns in color perception.
The research was presented at the Eurographics Conference on Visualization.
The work builds on a broader Los Alamos project that produced a 2022 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Funding came from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Los Alamos and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Advanced Simulation and Computing program.
Key figures
Roxana Bujack, scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Erwin Schrödinger, physicist (historical figure referenced)
Bernhard Riemann, mathematician (historical figure referenced)
Sources: ScienceDaily
