multipeak

Multipeak is a term used across several disciplines to describe systems, distributions, or signals that exhibit more than one peak or local maximum. The word is often used interchangeably with multimodal, though multipeak can be used when referring to discrete peak structures in data, spectra, or landscapes. In statistics, a multipeak or multimodal distribution has more than one mode, indicating subpopulations or competing processes. In mathematics, a multipeak function is a function with several local maxima, which can create non-convex optimization landscapes.

In signal processing and analytical chemistry, multipeak spectra or signals contain multiple maxima in intensity as a function of frequency or wavelength. Peak detection methods must distinguish closely spaced peaks and separate signal from noise, often using smoothing, derivative analysis, or fitting of Gaussian or Lorentzian components.

In data analysis, kernel density estimates can be multimodal when data come from mixtures; identifying peaks helps infer underlying components. In optimization, a multipeak landscape presents multiple local optima, requiring global optimization approaches or multi-start strategies to find the best solution.

The term is widely used informally; when precision is needed, authors may use "multimodal" or "multi-peak" with a hyphen. See also multimodal distribution, peak detection, and spectral analysis.