# All Questions

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### Could a fundamental particles electric charge or spin be 'given' to them by bosons?

I understand the statement "The Higgs Boson gives particles their mass" is not entirely true, but at least captures the spirit of the idea. What I find curious about it is that mass is an almost ...
56 views

### What is “trivial” about the trivial topological superconducting phase?

Once more I am stuck on my favorite word: "trivial". I am reading a bunch of stuff about topological superconductors at the moment and people keep talking about having to distinguish between the ...
164 views

### Statistical physics and momentum conservation

In statistical physics one usually looks at energy as a conserved quantity and e.g. in the canonical ensemble assumes a constant average energy of the ensemble. Now why don't we usually do this for ...
37 views

### Using GPS Satelites as dark matter detectors

Recently, two scientists have proposed a new way of detecting dark matter, using GPS Satellites. A part of the article is posted online: Hunting for topological dark matter with atomic clocks. Can ...
54 views

### Isolate an electronic drum from the ground

Please note that I know nothing about this part of physics, so sorry if I make some mistakes. Drum is an awesome instrument, yet it can easily make your neighbours very angry.The vibrations caused by ...
334 views

### Why isn't the path integral defined for non homotopic paths?

Context In the Aharonov Bohm effect, there is a solenoid which creates a magnetic field. Since the electron cannot be inside the solenoid, the configuration space is not simply connected. Question ...
2k views

### Force acting on a simple rigid body in space

so this is the question that's been bothering me: Say you have a simple rigid body in space that is at rest or travelling with only translational motion at a constant speed. Say that the body is ...
90 views

### Poynting vector plane wave

I'm calculating the poynting vector for a plain wave and I have some doubt. $$\bar S = \frac 1 2 \bar E \times \bar H^* = ... = \frac {| \bar E|^2} {2 \zeta} \hat i_k$$ Now if I consider a ...
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### How is expansion of the Universe consistent with the speed of light? [duplicate]

I have a question that I believe is related to @PetTaxi's question here: How far has a 13.7 billion year old photon travelled, but I didn't want to hi-jack it. My issue is this. I'm assuming the ...
56 views

### Equations for displacement

I have a pendulum which is manually operated and so does not slow down. It is going at a frequency of 10Hz. It has a maximum angle of 25 degrees and length 10 cm. What are the equations of ...
1k views

### About partially polarized light and the degree of polariztion

When I was taking Optics course, I found there were several questions about polarization of light. I use the textbook of Hecht. It seems that the definition of degree of polarization may be not so ...
214 views

### How do scientists estimate elemental-abundance in the universe?

I understand how cosmological observations can estimate the amount of 'baryonic matter' in the universe, but what I don't understand is how scientists can estimate the abundance of a particular ...
414 views

### Do partial derivatives commute on tensors?

Do partial derivatives commute on tensors? For example, is $$\partial_{\rho}\partial_{\sigma}h_{\mu\nu} - \partial_{\sigma}\partial_{\rho}h_{\mu\nu}=0$$ correct?
132 views

### How to determine velocity of two objects after they collide? [closed]

Let's say an object of mass 1 kg is moving 10 m/s. A second object of mass $m_2$ is at rest. When the two objects collide, they stick together and move 8 m/s. what is $m_2$? I understand how to solve ...
161 views

### How to convert cc to bar?

In astronomy/astrophysics, medium density is often given in cc, particles per cubic centimeter. Also, the temperature of the medium is usually given, in Kelvins. For some materials the melting point ...
51 views

### Larmor Precession of a macroscopic number of electrons

I know that there are some similiar questions out there, but I'm still quite puzzled by the following problem. Say i have a box full of interacting electrons ( I'm not sure if it would change anything ...
110 views

### How is the image in a mirror created? Are there infinitely many light rays?

How is the image in a mirror created? Are there infinitely many light rays? My motivation for the question is from image processing. We work with images as discrete 2D functions, as matrices. Spatial ...
169 views

### Design a quantum circuit from a matrix

I have unitary matrix and I would find the quantum circuit associated. There are 3 qubits input so it's a 8x8 matrix but it's not a simple operation. The number of gates is not specified. Is there a ...
1k views

### The color purple in a rainbow

In a rainbow the colors order is red then orange (made from red and yellow, thus making sense that it appears in between them) the yellow followed by green after which comes blue (again green formed ...
228 views

### Do consciousnesses get “scattered” across the many worlds of the MWI?

According the many worlds-interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics, following a decision with possible outcomes $A$ and $B$, with respective probabilities $p_A=P(A)$ and $p_B=P(B)$, a proportion ...
27 views

### Stop CO2 laser firing through holes in glass

How would you prevent a CO2 laser with interlocks used to mark glass from firing if there were holes in the glass. Usually the interlocks prevent the laser from firing unless it is pressed against ...
142 views

### 1-particle non-interacting Green function

At $T=0$ in the non-interacting case the $1$-particle Green function for an electron in the excited state $\lambda$ (empty band) is of the form \begin{eqnarray} G^{(0)}(\lambda,t-t') = -i \theta(t-t') ...
1k views

### What is divergence?

What is divergence? I was learning about Maxwells equations and don't understand the divergence part of it. Can someone give an intuition of what divergence is in relation to maxwells equation. To ...
258 views

### Want to know about divergence [duplicate]

Can anyone please explain how to know whether a vector field has divergence or not by seeing its diagram? I have read that a vector field must change for having divergence but why is divergence zero ...
185 views

### Ideas for physics-related simulations to code up as weekend (or monthly) projects [closed]

What are some good ideas for simulations that I could try to implement/code in my spare time just for educational purposes? I'm thinking that it would be a good way for me to delve into the underlying ...
159 views

### When you are standing in a running train if you jump means will you be in same place or will you be in front or back? [duplicate]

When you are standing in a running train if you jump means will you be in same place or will you be in front or back?
203 views

### Quasiparticles in Bohmian mechanics

My questions are about de Broglie-Bohm "pilot wave" interpretation of quantum mechanics (a.k.a. Bohmian mechanics). Do quasiparticles have any meaning in Bohmian mechanics, or not? Specifically, is ...
988 views

### Regarding time dilation and particle entanglement

I have a question regarding time dilation and particle entanglement. As I have read a few forums and questions here, I am aware both aspects do not contradict each other. Still, a question that I am ...
149 views

### Does the $\bf{1+3}$ representation of $SU(2)$ also represent $SU(2)\times SU(2)$?

I'm a bit confused about this following issue concerning representations of $SU(2)$. Denote by 1 the 1-dimensional representation of the group $SU(2)$ (=the spin 0). Similarly, denote by 2 and 3 the ...