Looming Looming Looming is a term found in the study of perception, as it relates directly to psychology. Looming refers to the rapid expansion in the size of any given image. As the image becomes increasingly large on the perceiver's retina, i.e., when an object "looms", there is an automatic physiological response to perceive the object as an approaching object or surface, instead of one that is stationary or receding. Evidence indicates that looming perception is not limited to the visual modality, but can occur due to auditory or even tactile stimuli. There is a different type of mirage that is
System size expansion System size expansion The system size expansion, also known as van Kampen's expansion or the Ω-expansion, is a technique pioneered by Nico van Kampen used in the analysis of stochastic processes. Specifically, it allows one to find an approximation to the solution of a master equation with nonlinear transition rates. The leading order term of the expansion is given by the linear noise approximation, in which the master equation is approximated by a Fokker–Planck equation with linear coefficients determined by the transition rates and stoichiometry of the system. Less formally, it is normally straightforward to write down a mathematical description