# All Questions

869 views

### Anti-laser: How sure we are that energy is transported?

Reading this PE question can-we-transport-energy-over-infinite-distances-through-vacuum-using-light, a related question arises naturally: Is energy transported (by light)? -- (I did believed in this ...
713 views

### Light years in terms of actual time space [closed]

What actually is 1 light year? What is the equivalent time in Earth time space?
4k views

### What is Fermi surface and why is this concept so useful in metals research?

What is Fermi surface and why is this concept so useful in metals research? Particularly, I can somewhat appreciate the Fermi energy idea - the radius of Fermi surface which is a sphere. But is there ...
223 views

### How do you derive Noether's theorem when the action combines chiral, antichiral, and full superspace?

How do you derive Noether's theorem when the action combines chiral, antichiral, and full superspace?
822 views

### A die versus a quantum experiment

Let suppose you roll a die, and it falls into a hidden place, for example under furniture. Then although the experiment has already been made (the die already has a number to show), that value can not ...
1k views

### Momentum-Representations in Quantum Mechanics

Why do we get information about position and momentum when we go to different representations. Why is momentum, which was related to time derivative of position in classical physics, now in QM just a ...
372 views

### Are there any applications of quantum information theory to physics?

Are there any applications of quantum information theory to physics?
237 views

### Natural systems that test the primality of a number?

There might be none. But I was thinking of links between number theory and physics, and this would seem like an example that would definitely solidify that link. Are there any known natural systems, ...
652 views

### Most elegant/fundamental formulations of the laws of classical mechanics?

Newton tried to do it with three laws/statements. While the first can be derived from the second, the three form a pretty nice framework. Later on, I've encountered Lagrangian Mechanics, which ...
513 views

### The difference between free energy and perpetual motion [closed]

What is the difference between free energy (over unity) and perpetual motion? Please provide some examples, both real world and theoretical.
904 views

### Can we transport energy over infinite distances through vacuum using light?

I know that light (or electromagnetic radiation in general) attenuates in intensity as the square of the distance it travels. Why does it attenuate? Are the photons being scattered by the medium ...
368 views

### The full entropy quote

What is the full text (and possibly the source) of the summary of the 3 laws of thermodynamics that goes something along the lines of "Can't break even, can't win and can't even stop playing the ...
404 views

### Diff(M) and requirements on GR observables

This question is kind of inspired in this one: Diff(M) as a gauge group and local observables in theories with gravity The conundrum i'm trying to understand is how is derived the (quite) ...
718 views

### The Coriolis force bending a railway

Suppose a very long railway line goes from South Africa to Sweden, and then it's decided to move the entire railway line, sliding it 1 km to the north (leaving aside the difficulty of moving and ...
1k views

### What are the uses of Hopf algebras in physics?

Hopf algebra is nice object full of structure (a bialgebra with an antipode). To get some idea what it looks like, group itself is a Hopf algebra, considered over a field with one element ;) usual ...
191 views

### Gravitational effect of the distant universe

When we observe at close to the cosmological horizon (as close as we currently can) we see the universe as a much younger, denser place. As we feel the gravitational forces from these objects distant, ...
303 views

### Static gauge choice in string theory

In solving different problems in string theory and also in brane theory, we consider this static gauge choice and I think that's due to the local symmetry(Repara. Inv. and Weyl) that we have in our ...
434 views

### Questions on string theory vacuum and quantizing gravity

Actually I have few questions. The answer to a question related to string field theory helped me, but let me still ask it as its probably a bit different. When e.g we do bosonic/super string theory ...
18k views

### Electricity takes the path of least resistance?

Electricity takes the path of least resistance! Is this statement correct? If so, why is it the case? If there are two paths available, and one, for example, has a resistor, why would the ...
327 views

### Purchasing semiconductor substrates

I'd like to make a comparison of prices, availability and properties of semiconductor substrate layers like Si, Ge, GaP, AlN etc. I wonder what are the problems related to getting such data, what are ...
1k views

### Electric charge in string theory

The mass of an elementary particle in string theory is related with the way the string vibrates. The more frantically a string vibrates the more energy it posses and hence the more massive it is. My ...
270 views

### What mechanism in string theory enforces the consistency of self-couplings of massless vector bosons?

I have been reading the stackexchange questions on enhanced symmetries in string theory, the Leech lattice, monstrous moonshine, etc. , and I have a question to ask. An astute commentator pointed out ...
536 views

597 views

### feynman diagram - direction of arrows

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Feynmann_Diagram_Gluon_Radiation.svg Why does the arrow of the positron doesn't show upwards?
844 views

### Spinning Tachyons

In all examples that I know, tachyons are described by scalar fields. I was wondering why you can't have a tachyon with spin 1. If this spinning tachyon were to condense to a vacuum, the vacuum ...
408 views

### Consistent theory of continuum

Why is there a consistent theory of continuum mechanics in which one just consider things like differential elements and apply Newtons laws? Is there a deeper reason for it. Is it the nature of ...
1k views

### A pendulum clock problem

Below is a picture of a simple pendulum clock. Suppose that the bob (a rigid disk) on the end of the pendulum can spin without friction about its geometrical axis and is spinning at an angular ...
449 views

### Do extra-dimensional theories like ADD or Randall-Sundrum require string theory to be true?

What I mean is could it turn out that the world is not described by string theory / M-Theory, but that nevertheless some version of one of these extra-dimensional theories is true? I have no real ...
1k views

### Why does lambda decay violate parity?

When a lambda particle decays into proton and a pion, I am told it does not conserve parity. Why?
447 views

### What is the medium that allows magnetic fields *or any forcefield* to exist?

Magnetic fields are obvious distortions.. of.. something, but what exactly are they distortions of? Massive objects produce curvatures/gradients in space-time resulting in what we observe as ...
12k views

### What's the core difference between the electric and magnetic forces?

I require only a simple answer. One sentence is enough... (It's for high school physics)
1k views

### Is there a nice tool to plot graphs of paper citations? [closed]

I would like a tool which allows me to enter some paper citation, and then will begin drawing a graph, where each paper is linked to other papers that cite the original paper or are cited by it. It ...
773 views

### Quantum shot-noise and the fluctuation dissipation theorem

Classically, shot noise observed in the signal generated by a laser incident on a photodiode is explained as being due to the quantization of light into photons, giving rise to a Poisson process. In ...
383 views

### what does 'same energy as a ton of TNT' mean?

Very often the energy released in large-scale events (e.g., earthquakes, meteor impacts, etc) is described in terms of some number of 'tons of TNT'. This may be all well and good for those with an ...