# All Questions

453 views

### Difference between baryonic, inertial and gravitational mass? (and relation to dark matter)

Inertial mass: determined from Newton's f = ma Gravitational mass: determined via Newton's law of gravity Baryonic mass: sum of mass of all baryons. Which ones ...
982 views

### For a theoretical (not mathematical) physicist, is there a need to learn pure mathematics?

For a theoretical physicist (not a mathematical physicist), is there a need to learn pure mathematics ?
2k views

### Why does it seem like a broken magnet's poles flip?

I just took a rare earth magnet out of an old hard drive. Lacking an appropriate screwdriver, force was used, and the magnet broke into two pieces; one about a quarter of the original size and one ...
3k views

### Electron behavior changes when observed?

I saw this video of the double slit experiment by Dr. Quantum on youtube. Later in the video he says, the behavior of the electrons changes to produce double bars effect as if it knows that it is ...
427 views

### Non-renormalizable corrections to GUT unification

While writing these answers: Hypercharge for U(1) in SU(2)xU(1) model and Is there a concise-but-thorough statement of the Standard Model? , it occured to me that the unification prediction for ...
819 views

### What is a free fermion model?

Title says it all really.. Why is the XX spin chain a free fermion (non-interacting) model, and the XXZ chain not? Is it right that $\sum_l a_l^\dagger a_{l+1}$ isn't an interaction between fermions ...
36k views

### Yield Strength versus Ultimate Strength

What is the qualitative difference between these two: As seen on the table Typical yield and ultimate strengths. I am trying to resolve the meaning of the phrase "contact yield stress" from C. ...
92 views

### Allowed states vis-a-vis allowed dynamics in generalized probabilistic theories (GPTs)

In his work on information processing in GPTs http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0508211 Barrett speculates that the trade-off between allowed states and the allowed dynamics in a GPT is optimal in quantum ...
205 views

### Timber floating in the river

There's an old puzzle (but the physical it is): Lumberjack chop wood and float it down the river. He noticed an interesting feature: in the spring, when the water is comming, timber is nailed to the ...
293 views

### Geometric quantization of identical particles

Background: It is well known that the quantum mechanics of $n$ identical particles living on $\mathbb{R}^3$ can be obtained from the geometric quantization of the cotangent bundle of the manifold ...
6k views

### Can there be black light? I mean is it possible to devise a machine that outputs darkness?

I understand there are various colours that light can have. But i was wondering why there is no 'black' light. What is the logical explanation for this? I mean I am expecting an answer that goes ...
146 views

### Is the distinction between the Poincaré group and other internal symmetry groups artificial?

For instance, given a theory and a formulation thereof in terms of a principal bundle with a Lie group $G$ as its fiber and spacetime as its base manifold, would a principle bundle with the Poincaré ...
461 views

### Is 'now' smeared over time?

Conventional physics as is usually presented in textbooks deals with the evolution of states in phase space parameterized by sharp instances in time, a real parameter. However, quantum fluctuations ...
3k views

### Metric tensor of coordinate transformation

How do you find a metric tensor given a coordinate transformation, $(t', x', y', z') \rightarrow (t, x, y, z)$? Our textbook gives a somewhat vague example as it skips some steps ...
2k views

### Hermitian operator and reality of eigenvalues

Prove or disprove: The eigenvalues of an operator are all real if and only if the operator is hermitian. I know the proof in one way; that is, I know how to prove that if the operator is hermitian, ...
5k views

### What's the difference between constitutive laws and governing equations?

I'm studying about the finite element method in a class but I don't come from a civil engineering background. Anyways, it hasn't been made clear to me what the difference between constitutive laws and ...
759 views

### Galilean transformation in relativity

Assume flat spacetime in a general relativistic framework (or special relativity for that matter) and two observers $A$ and $B$, with non-vanishing velocity relative to each other. We know that they ...
442 views

### Hydrogen 2P Probability Density Question

I'd like to calculate the probability density for Hydrogen in the $|2,1,1\rangle$ and $|2,1,-1\rangle$ states. There is an $\exp(\pm i\phi)$ term attached to the wave function for these states. It ...
54 views

### Transit of Mercury: how did he see it?

On November 7, 1631 Pierre Gassendi saw the transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun. How did he see it? I mean what instrument was used to reduce the apparent brightness of the Sun?
815 views

### How do I rearrange dE/dt to find an electron's 'half-life' due to synchrotron radiation?

I know that $-\frac{\mathrm{d}E}{\mathrm{d}t} \propto E^2$ for an electron losing energy to synchrotron radiation, but I can't find how to arrange this to give the time it would take for the electron ...
406 views

### WHy is SUSY QM important?

why is SUSY QM important ? i mean for each one DImensional Hamiltonian , can we write 'H' as $H= A.A^{+}+C$ (or similar constant) here $A= \frac{d}{dt}+A(x)$ and $A^{+}= -\frac{d}{dt}+A(x)$ 1) ...
3k views

### Why is beta negative decay more common than beta positive?

In simple terms, why is beta negative decay more common than beta positive? I know it's something to do with occuring inside/outside the nucleus - but I can't find a simple, easy to understand ...