Subdiscipline of theoretical physics which consists in the study of physics problems using numerical algorithms. PLEASE NOTE that questions about computational methods and/or programming are OFF-TOPIC on Physics.SE.

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32 views

The imaginary time method and normalization [closed]

Hey there and thanks for giving time to look at my question. I'm currently studying a 2D exciton spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate and am curious about the ground state of this system. I'm using ...
3
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0answers
48 views

The etymology of “Umbrella Sampling” [migrated]

I am just wondering where the term Umbrella Sampling came from. Is there another meaning of literal "umbrella" in physics or mathematics?
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1answer
98 views

How to determine predicted CP violation for a given SUSY point?

I'm currently studying at the spectra of some supersymmetric models, and would like to know whether the parameter points I'm looking at are ruled out due to excessive CP violation. I am using SPheno, ...
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14 views

Spring damper model does not work very well [migrated]

I'm trying to model a spring damper system from a tutorial that I've found on this site. If I use the exact same parameters as the ones in the tutorial the system is not stable. I've downloaded the ...
2
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0answers
28 views

Energy Conservation [migrated]

I'm working on a time integration scheme for my research. As a result I have come across an interesting phenomena. Somehow, the total energy of the scheme oscillates. At any given time the total ...
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1answer
87 views

Initial position and velocity of rocket to escape earth's gravity

I'm trying to numerically simulate a spacecraft trajectory between earth and mars. I already wrote the solar system model where the sun is at the origin of the x,y,z plane Earth and Mars are orbiting ...
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6 views

Finite Element, NASTRAN, how to print the differential stiffness matrix in .f06 output file [migrated]

We are working on an optimization problem in which we can approximate the eigenvalue calculation by assuming a constant eigenvector, using the formula: $$ ...
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1answer
264 views

How do you simulate chiral gauge theories on a computer?

David Tong and Lubos Motl have argued that our universe can't possibly be a digital computer simulation because chiral gauge theories can't be discretized, and the Standard Model is a chiral gauge ...
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12 views

Calculation of translational free energy in condensed phase

For gases, the reference volume in molecular calculations is usually understood to be 24.5 L whereas in solution, the reference volume usually is considered to be 1 L. The free energy corrections ...
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1answer
45 views

Computational Fluid Dynamics methods

I have read some articles about the finite difference method on a cartesian orthogonal grid. I understand how it works when Dirichlet boundary conditions are used, or when Neumann boundary conditions ...
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16 views

Implementing Explicit formulation of 1D wave equation in Matlab #FiniteElements #FiniteDifferences [migrated]

so the theory is straight forward. we have: $\frac{d^2U}{(\Delta t)^2}=c^2 \frac{d^2U}{(\Delta x)^2}$ discretizing it gives: $\frac{U(i+1,j)- 2U(i,j) + U(i-1,j)}{(\Delta t)^2} = c^2 ...
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1answer
56 views

Deriving the change in the Helmholtz free energy in the context of the free energy perturbation method

I am reading Free Energy Calculations: Theory and Applications in Chemistry and Biology by Chipot and Pohorille. At the beginning of the text (page 19, for example), the authors define the Helmholtz ...
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1answer
92 views

reversible cellular automata

Let's suppose a cellular automaton has a value $b(r,t)$ belongs to $Q$ at site $r$ and time $t$, where $Q$ is the set of possible states at each site. Let $N(r, t)$ be the values of the states of all ...
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1answer
78 views

What states are satisfying an entropic area law and why do they satisfy it? More specificly why do matrix product states satisfy it?

I am currently reading some papers concerning the question why the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method is working well for simulating one dimensional systems and bad for higher ...
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0answers
32 views

Trotter splitting and entanglement entropy

I have heard that a numerical solution to the Schrodinger equation using the Trotter splitting formula for a many-body Hamiltonian can cause an artificial increase in the entanglement entropy. I was ...
3
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1answer
110 views

Diifference between real time propagation and imaginary time propagation?

Suppose I want to solve Nonlinear Schrodinger equation using imaginary time propagation to get the ground state solution. I choose $t = - i t$, and then solve the equation using split step Crank ...
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0answers
78 views

2D quantum well energy spectrum (analytical vs numerical)

I am trying to understand the energy spectrum difference between the analytical and the approximated solution for a quantum well. The particle is inside a box with domain $\Omega=(0,0)$X$(1,1)$. For ...
3
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2answers
148 views

Difference between Monte Carlo and Quantum Monte Carlo methods?

What are the differences between Classical Monte Carlo methods and Quantum Monte Carlo methods in condensed matter physics? If one want to study strongly correlated systems with Quantum Monte Carlo ...
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0answers
62 views

What libraries are available for solving problems at the college physics level? [closed]

Are there any libraries available for solving problems at the level of college physics? In particular, I'm interested in libraries for general purpose programming languages that can calculate results ...
2
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0answers
79 views

Difference between a Fixed Point and a Limit Point in implementations of the Renormalization Group (RNG) in Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model

In the introduction of this paper, it is explained that and how the application of a dynamic subrid scale model for turbulence into a large eddy simulation (LES) model corresponds to doing one ...
2
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1answer
47 views

The number of mean free paths which a particle traverses is independent of the material traversed

This is a manual from a Monte Carlo physics manual: Computing the occurrence of a process Can anyone tell me why the number of mean free paths of a particle is independent of the material which it ...
2
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1answer
245 views

Lennard Jones liquid vapour phase transition

I am trying to generate a phase diagram of pressure versus temperature in a NPT ensemble using molecular dynamics method. I am using the Lennard Jones potential with 108 particles and Berendsen ...
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1answer
189 views

Industry application of computational quantum mechanics?

I was wondering if anybody knew of an industry application of computational quantum mechanics. For example, the efficient placement of circuit elements on a PCB is in part motivated by classical FDTD ...
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0answers
45 views

numerical investigation of stability [closed]

I am trying to find the required specifications of an paul RF trap, in which a proton can be confined.(trap dimensions,voltage frequency and amplitude used, etc). I have to solve the equations of ...
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0answers
149 views

Comparison of different ab-initio codes

One may find on the web a lot of different computational packages to perform "ab-initio" calculations of electron structure of the solids. Usually, the documentation is not quite transparent about the ...
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2answers
91 views

How can one determine at which distance the Lennard-Jones potential reaches a given value?

My question is fairly simple, but I do need clarification on how to get the inverse of the Lennard-Jones potential V(x). I am working with the following expression: $$ V(x) = e\times[(R/x)^{12} ...
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0answers
114 views

Physics problems requiring numerical solutions to polynomial systems? [closed]

This is a very general/open-ended question. I wonder if numerical solutions to large scale system of polynomial equations (in many variables) are used in physics at all. I am looking for some good ...
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1answer
81 views

Magnetic field of permanent magnet [closed]

Hi I am looking for some code to (computationally) calculate the magnetic field of a rectangular permanent magnet in 3D space. Preferably I could edit it to add in my own dimensions. Does anyone know ...
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5answers
433 views

What do theoretical physicists need from computer scientists?

I recently co-authored a paper (not online yet unfortunately) with some chemists that essentially provided answers to the question, "What do chemists need from computer scientists?" This included the ...
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1answer
85 views

Parameter determining argon phase

Currently I am working a molecular simulation to determine phases of an argon NPT ensemble using Lennard Jones potential. Mainly I use the radial distribution function to determine solid, liquid, or ...
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2answers
53 views

Standards for scientific metadata in common-use image formats? [closed]

I have a bunch of JPEG, JPEG2000 GIF and PNG files that in theory could be used for some types of science analysis if there were temporal and spatial information in them. Years ago, I had looked into ...
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1answer
172 views

Using Relaxation Method to Model Negative Dielectrics in an electric field?

How can you use the relaxation method to model negative dielectrics? The relaxation method is usually used to model electrostatics problems but negative dielectrics are only see in dynamic systems. ...
2
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1answer
83 views

Mutual Interaction of $N$-Particles in a Cartesian Plane

I am making a simulation of $N$-Particles in a cartesian plane and need help with understanding the basics. At anytime, in my particle system, I will have $N$ number of particles. I am treating the ...
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1answer
108 views

Using the monte carlo method to compute the magnetic field of a curent carrying loop

I have written a program in cpp that computes the magnetic field at a point from a current carrying loop. It uses the biot savart law and the monte carlo technique to carry out the integral. The ...
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1answer
166 views

What equation describes the electrostatic potential in these circumstances?

I have a solver for Poisson's equation and it works nicely. It uses finite differences. It works in the presence of multiple dielectrics. It also solves the Poisson Boltzmann equation. That is, fixed ...
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1answer
88 views

Strange Behavior in Spring Computer Model

To learn more about oscillatory motion which I am learning about in my high school physics class, I have created a computer model of a damped spring where the damping force is proportional to ...
1
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1answer
170 views

Help: 3D visualization of magnetic field around moving point charge

The diagrams I'm able to find online only show the concentric field lines in the particle's plane, perpendicular to the motion, which of course generalizes to the cylindrical shape around a conductor. ...
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2answers
132 views

Computational Science involve programming? [closed]

I read what is computational science in Wikipedia but the explanation and understanding are not very clear. So, I could you please give a simple example computational science project and what all ...
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4answers
164 views

Computer Science Modeling of Physical World

I am curious what efforts have been made to date to define virtual computer worlds based on the physics we know in the real world? I think it would be awesome to say start off with an atom defining ...
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2answers
154 views

Where does Computer Science background students fit in Theoretical Physics [closed]

I am basically an Electronics student - background in computer science (that's where I want to work). I applied for an internship in USA in a research institute where the group is focused in ...
2
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2answers
132 views

numerical formulation of Dirac equation plus electromagnetic field

I have the following equations describing the electron field in a (classic) electromagnetic field: $$ c\left(\alpha _i\right.{\cdot (P - q(A + A_b) + \beta mc) \psi = E \psi } $$ where $A_b$ is ...
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3answers
223 views

Can a wavefunction be solved to any arbitrary precision, given enough computer time?

I learned that the wavefunction for the hydrogen atom can be solved analytically (we did the derivation in class), but that for more complicated atoms it is "impossible" to solve and that only ...
3
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2answers
220 views

Can I use imaginary time propagation for many-body problems?

There are various ways to numerically find the ground state energy and wavefunction of a many-body Hamiltonian. You can diagonalize the Hamiltonian and pick out the lowest eigenstate, or you use ...
3
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2answers
452 views

Can cellular automata be reconcilied with quantum mechanics?

CAs are deterministic representations of the universe, which, according to the Bell's inequality are not entirely accurate. Cells interact "locally" (only with the closest neighbours), while quantum ...
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0answers
76 views

Coupled decay behavior? [closed]

I solved the following "coupled" ODE numerically, whit forward Euler scheme: $$ \frac{\text{d}N_a}{\text{d}t} = -\frac{N_a}{\tau_a} $$ $$ \frac{\text{d}N_b}{\text{d}t} = ...
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2answers
138 views

Why are Markov chains better than naive algorithm for Random picking?

I have a question about the problem of coming up with a random distribution of non-overlapping coins in a given two dimensional space. I don't understand why using the random sequential adsorption ...
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3answers
340 views

Calculate kinematics of body movement from the set of spatial coordinates

Short intro I have a set of 3D (x,y,z) spatial coordinates of arm movement obtained using motion capture system. The example set of such coordinates looks like this (rounded up): ...
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2answers
438 views

How do I integrate the Poisson equation to determine the electric potential along a particular direction (e.g., $z$)?

This question is a sequel of sorts to my earlier (resolved) question about a recent paper. In the paper, the authors performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of parallel-plate supercapacitors, ...
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54 views

Is it possible to use the properties of quantum mechnics to develop a computer that develop mathmatical theory? [closed]

Is it possible to use the properties of quantum mechnics to develop a computer that develop mathmatical theory? I want some reference please, because i want to get into very detailed. Thanks in ...
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1answer
195 views

How is acceleration computed in the leap-frog algorithm in computer simulations of particles?

I am reading the book Computer Simulation of Liquids by Allen and Tildesley (here is another link). On page 80, the authors describe the leap-frog algorithm, which is used extensively in molecular ...

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