Nonlinear n-port decomposition via the Laplace operator
John L. Wyatt, Leon Ong Chua, GEORGE F. OSTER · IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems · 1978
We give a general solution to a previously open problem in the decomposition of nonlinear n-ports. Any resistive (or capacitive or inductive)n-port can be decomposed into a particular interconnection of two simplern-ports. The first is reciprocal, and the second can be further decomposed into( n^2 - n)/2reciprocal n-ports and(n^2 - n)/2linear2n-ports. The technique, which we believe is completely new to network theory, is based on certain algebraic properties of the Laplace operator. It is related to the Hodge theorem from differential geometry, applied to l-forms on Euclidean space.