Detecting Codimension—Two Objects in an Image with Ginzburg-Landau Models

In this paper, we propose a new mathematical model for detecting in an image singularities of codimension greater than or equal to two. This means we want to detect isolated points in a 2-D image or points and curves in a 3-D image. We drew one's inspiration from Ginzburg-Landau (G-L) models which have proved their efficiency for modeling many phenomena in physics. We introduce the model, state its mathematical properties and give some experimental results demonstrating its capability in image processing. First online version published in October, 2005 Author is now with CMLA (CNRS UMR 8536), ENS Cachan, France.