I think I've come to understand this problem to my satisfaction now.
If we stayed in one instantaneously comoving frame (instead of always jumping to the next frame, etc.) we would see the path of the particle as following an ellipse, which itself is moving at a constant velocity. If we...
Yes and no.
If you take the point of view, as Einstein did, that inertial mass increases with velocity, then yes, the gravitational mass increases as well. An object will exert a greater gravitational pull when moving, than when it is stationary.
Modern usage, however, treats the mass as...
No replies? In retrospect I can understand that -- I made it hard for people without the book to follow the argument. Let me now reproduce it here; hopefully, along with the attached figure, that should grant everything you need to help me out.
Now that it's placed in a bit of context...
I've been reading Melvin Schwartz's mostly excellent book, Principles of Electrodynamics. He has a section on measuring (g-2) for the muon, and I'm trying to follow the argument. I've attached the figure for reference.
He takes the approach of considering an instantaneously comoving frame...
Almost forgot about this thread. Turns out I passed my quals with flying colours, although almost 2/3 of the people failed the second day (modern physics). All that studying paid off. :)
This was essentially the answer which a prof I know gave when several of us asked him today, minus the reason for it taking the specific form it takes (he didn't know off the top of his head). That is very enlightening. I remember those f and g functions, although I learned them in a slightly...
Hi guys,
I'm trying to derive the mean thermal wavelength from the Maxwell distribution:
M(v) = 4\pi\left(\frac{m}{2\pi k_BT}\right)^{3/2}v^2e^{-\frac{mv^2}{2k_BT}} = 4\pi\left(\frac{a}{\pi}\right)^{3/2}v^2e^{-av^2}
With a = \frac{m}{2k_BT} introduced for convenience. Since \lambda =...
It seems a little rich to associate Gell-Mann with Many Worlds, since he helped develop the Consistent Histories formalism.
EDIT: Just noticed how old the poll was. Still, though, it's worth noting that he's evidently changed his views significantly.