Maslov

Maslov is a Slavic surname commonly found in Russia and other post-Soviet states. The feminine form is Maslova. The name is borne by many individuals across fields such as science, literature, and sport, reflecting its broad distribution in the region.

In science and mathematics, Maslov is best known for the Maslov index, a topological invariant in symplectic geometry. The Maslov index is defined for a path of Lagrangian subspaces and records the net number of phase changes encountered along the path. It plays a central role in semiclassical analysis, quantum mechanics, and wave propagation, linking classical and quantum descriptions. Related concepts include the Maslov class, a cohomology class on the Lagrangian Grassmannian that underlies the index’s construction.