Recent content by xmavidis

I have a question regarding traveling at the speed of light. Suppose that we were massless, so we could travel at the speed of light for a stationary observer. What speed we would measure for light in this case in our reference frame? According to the postulates of special relativity our...

Inertia is connected with the mass. The bigger the mass of a body the bigger its inertia. So, why a body has mass? According to standard model, please correct me if that's wrong, the mass, and therefore the inertia of a body, exist because of a field called Higgs field. Bodies interact...

Materials Science, Fall 2009, senior year (4th year) Semiconductor physics Symmetry in materials science (group theory) {grad course} Quantum mechanics I Mathematical physics {grad course} + research on photonics (diploma thesis)

I am an international student and I will apply next fall to physics, electrical engineering and materials science programs in US and Europe. I am going to apply in 2 or 3 schools in TOP 10 and the rest will be in top 50. But, think of that. Top 50 of US universities are almost in top 70 or...

Thank you for your responses. Just got Jackson's electrodynamics.

"Life" after Griffiths EM Hi, I need a textbook on electrodynamics. I have already finished Griffiths electrodynamics, a wonderful book but it does not cover the things I need now from an EM book (i.e. research on photonics). Therefore, I need a book which covers the mathematical methods...

For absorption to occur, photon energy must be equal to the difference of two energy levels of the atom. In any other case, it depends on the scattering cross-section of the particular atom.

Could someone define "extracurricular stuff"? To win in a physics olympiad, or something like that? I agree that one should have a strong application package to get into top grad schools. I think the most important thing, the one that can distinguish you from the crowd is your research...

So you need extracurricular stuff also for the graduate programs or research experience, top GPA and good GRE scores are enough?

What's your math background? If you know basic calculus I think that you can begin from a book like Serway (Mechanics) or Halliday and Resnick.

I'll take classical mechanics next semester and I want a book for this course. I choose two books but, unfortunately, I can buy only one, Kibble or Goldstein. I know Goldstein is going to be better but Kibble's book is much cheaper (17 pounds @ amazon.com). Does Goldstein worth it? Could you...

I don't have the time now to study QFT in depth but I need some basic knowledge about QED and quantum forces (like casimir). I want to study the role of casimir force to solid state devices (photonic and plasmonic devices). Which part of QFT is needed to study for now and which books are...

I am going to take GRE physics next October (or November). From what someone should begin with? Are the 1st year textbooks (like Serway's) useful, or one should study all the stuff from the advanced undergraduate texts (Griffiths' e/m, Goldstein's classical mech., Shankar's quantum mech...

Photons are the quanta of the EM force.

That's the way I understand light: The photon is the particle-picture of light. Photon has momentum but no rest mass. Light has also a wave-picture with some frequency. Light is wave and particle simultaneously. Photons are not the elementary parts of light-waves and vice-versa.