Physicists Definition and 436 Threads

I have conducted some modest research myself into this phenomenon. It transpires that a few bold scientists have gathered samples of seeds from the flattened areas (Wiltshire), and some from the normal crop. Very interesting results, with the non-normal ones exhibiting strange properties. Some...

Are quantum physicists hopeful that a theory of everything can derive neccesity out of quantum fluctuations or whatever is said to have been the most fundamental existence? The reason I ask is because the deepest question in philosophy is why does anything exist at all. But it doesn't seem to...

Forgive me for my bad explaining. What are all the usual sites/tools/etc. that physicists and physics students use? For example--arXiv, LaTeX, the best journals to keep up with the latest physics research/discoveries, the Feynman Lectures (and Feynman himself), Griffiths Electrodynamics, CERN...

Hi all, I've been pondering over this question for a long time. Of course physicists are specialists in a specific branch (even in those branches, sometimes they specialize themselves in an ultra-specific sub-branch) in which they produce research. I've noticed some professors at my uni...

The Institute of Physics of the UK (IOP) held a webinar in 2021 with industry representatives and university faculty to find a way to update the physics educational system for undergraduates so that they may be more readily assimilated into the modern workforce. An article published in the...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/30/science/physics-wormhole-quantum-computer.html My question is on the scale of 0 to 100 of completely misleading hype (zero) vs. good scientific reporting (100), where does this article stand? Someone can turn this into a formal poll if desired.

I've just come across the following line while studying (Young & Freedman) and found it amusing. It sounds like a dirty family secret we discuss once and then should never mention again :biggrin:

Two point-like particles of mass m. The particles are rigidly connected to each other with a mass-less rod of length L. The particles are initially at rest in such a way that one particle is at the origin and the other is at the point (0, L). A point-like particle of mass M collides with a...

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v15/147 That looks pretty cool. If more artists find out about it it might catch on.

[Moderator's note: thread spun off from previous thread due to topic/level change.] This [Ed.: the claim that photons have a "path"] is a misconception of quantum theory already for massive particles. It's even more severely misleading for massless quanta of spin ##\geq 1##, which do not even...

I have tried to study decoherence theory for a while now, and it does seem to answer why classical distributions arise, instead of quantum ones.Is this fully accepted as an explanation for a classical world out of a quantum one?

Such as Lisa Randall, Fabiola Gianotti, Shirley Ann Jackson, Ingrid Daubechies, Donna Strickland or Jocelyn Bell Burnell

What are the majority of days like? Is it always the same everyday or is everyday something brand new? Is there any aspect of this career that you didn’t expect to like that you did? Is there any aspect you didn’t expect to dislike that you did? If you could change one aspect about your job...

I recently had a discussion with my brother, about what it means to "move through time". His opinion is, that physicists cannot take this literally. His opinion is, that time is just an expression for change that takes place at different rates for different observers depending on their speed...

Is there any former astronaut who is now doing research in theoretical physics (like e.g string theory)?

Ontology is the easiest and the hardest concept in the field of quantum foundations. It is the easiest because even a child can understand it. When a child asks: "What is the world made of?", she asks about ontology. When you answer: "It's made of atoms" and when she asks "What does the atom...

David C. Bailey. "Not Normal: the uncertainties of scientific measurements." Royal Society Open 4(1) Science 160600 (2017). How bad are the tails? According to Bailey in an interview, "The chance of large differences does not fall off exponentially as you'd expect in a normal bell curve," and...

Apart from, perhaps, Giorgio Parisi, are there any potential nobel prize winners from Italy or anyone who has worked in Italy?

Hi All, I am currently doing a PhD in condensed matter physics (experiment) and want to enter medical physics. My ideal job is more like a mix of research and clinical as I want to be able to actually help people. I wonder whether anyone has any suggestions on what I should do. I already have a...

What are they employed to do most of the time? I read that Albert Einstein was working at a patent office when he came up with his theories. So do theoretical physicists work on stuff they are interested in their free time as opposed to when they are at work?

This has persistently bugged me in my intro plasma course. They keep using ##\gamma = 3## aka ##N_d = 1## (where ##N_d## is the number of degrees of freedom in the molecule) as an approximation. See for example, the Bohm-Gross dispersion curve. I can tell you from deriving this that the factor...

When physicists talk about a theory having local degrees of freedom, what is exactly meant by that statement? What are examples of theories with local degrees of freedom and what are examples of theories with no local degrees of freedom?

Why the physicists have troubles with infinities in many physical theories, such as quantum gravity? Why cannot they just use divergent integrals and regularize or renormalize them in the end so to obtain finite values? I mean, operations on divergent integrals are not a problem, and techniques...

I'm a second year undergraduate theoretical physics student. I really enjoy physics and if I'm perfectly honest I'm not certain whether or not I want to pursue a career in academics or not. However, I've had a question on my mind relating to research experience required for careers outside of...

Nature recently published this piece with another physicist (Ole Peters from the Santa Fe Institute) trying to 'fix' economics: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-019-0732-0 With a short paper that, to my reading, just comes up with a toy model of geometric brownian motion with a small...

I am curious about how top scholars or passionate physicists approach a new topic or a chapter. Do they just dive right in or they do something else before approaching the topic? What's their method of working? Also, I want to know the significance of online videos in understanding a topic...

I want (need tbh) to learn some chemistry. I'm pretty comfortable in my understanding of the standard QM I and II you'd learn at uni, and I'm decent at statistical physics. I am interested in condensed matter physics, and I would like to learn some chemistry. Well, more like "need", because it's...

Just wanted a fresh perspective on this considering that physics is more successful at modeling reality compared to finance.

I know of some physicists (e.g Holger B Nielsen, Grigory Volovik or Edward Witten) who have proposed that all symmetries (Local gauge symmetries associated with forces and dynamics and global symmetries associated with conservation laws) are emergent rather than fundamental. Are there any other...

I read an article in Science Daily 'Physicists build circuit that generates clean, limitless power from graphene'. Can someone explain how to take this from the physics science experiment to the engineering prototype and implementation stage? Is this technology going to revolutionize the mobile...

Actually, is not a doubt as a question, in which there is wrong or right. I just want to update myself with respect to the current physicists opinion about the Copenhagen interpretation of Bohr and Heisenberg. Summarizing, there is a consensus among the majority? In another words, there is still...

I have failed a course on group theory for physicists in my university, and i need a good book to learn group theory from because anthony zee's book is simply too hard to read. His book is verbose, glosses over many concepts, and is not very rigorous. Then the exercises in the book are very...

Hi there. I'd like to ask you, educated folk, a question. I'm graduating from university next summer. My major is the law. Although, all the time I keep some kind of passion for physics. Even though I am not a techie. I realize that I graduated as a dummy in math, physics, and chemistry due to...

https://www.theonion.com/physicists-hail-major-breakthrough-after-discovering-ne-1844363984 "Confirming the search for the mysterious Godfather particle was finally over, physicists at the University of Chicago hailed what they call a major breakthrough Monday after discovering neutrinos are...

I've just found a recent very interesting and very modern textbook on classical electrodynamics. It starts with special relativity (rather than electrostatics) and contains a lot of high-energy topics, including renormalization (within classical realm), massive vector fields, gravitational...

Condensed, simplified version:: https://www.livescience.com/physicists-entangle-15-trillion-hot-atoms.html The link at the end of the article does not always work, here is one that does. The research article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15899-1 Cheers, Tom

I found this a very interesting article: Retrocausality may sound like science fiction, but it might be the best way to explain certain features of the quantum world, as detailed in a major new paper by physicists Ken Wharton and Nathan Argaman. Published in Reviews of Modern Physics, Wharton...

We know that whatever we experience as happening in the universe is actually a model created in our brains. For example when we look at the Milky Way Galaxy, light rays are transduced in the rods and cones into nerve impulses and we experience those impulses and not the actually light from the...

I was often told that If you want to pursue something pure and abstract like theoretical physics and pure maths you have to give up the materialism , say good bye to your dream of living a big house , swimming pool and a yatch. there is no weath in these fields. And people who work in these...

This is not only useful to biologists and physicists, but also to anyone wanting to engage with biologists and/or physicists. Thirteen tips for engaging with physicists, as told by a biologist Twelve tips for engaging with biologists, as told by a physicist Zz.

how many approximately scientists believe or support this hypothesis?

The arrival of quantum computing reminds me of "the manhattan project" and "the sputnik alert" when physicists are highly demanded. And this makes me wonder if the age of quantum computing means the better future for physicists since the development of quantum computers needs at least...

Hi All This is just a dumb question. I have usually called the the Quantum/Classical cut the Von-Neumann cut because Von-Neumann's classic text was the first serious QM book I read - nearly 40 years ago now - seems like yesterday. Recently I noticed in some of the papers I have been...

In respect to the above question, I also have a follow up question. Is progress in Theoretical Physics somewhat slow currently as compared to Experimental Physics?

I am searching for anything on quantum fluctuations and virtual bosons for someone who is a serious but amateur physicist ie. I have completed undergrad physics/math and some graduate level math at university. I am having a hard time finding anything that isn't beyond pop science. Not really...

In case you have not seen the equation that has gone viral recently https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/math/a28569610/viral-math-problem-2019-solved/ This lead me to this Why are physicists allowed to break the rules? What reasoning does the Physics Review and Feynman have for making...

Summary: Do physicists really need to master mathematical modeling? Do physicists really need to master mathematical modeling? As far as I know Mathematical modeling is a separate discipline form Physics?

Great physicists from the past decide to return to Earth for one last road-trip vacation to the coast together. They all appear on Earth on the designated evening. Heisenberg pulls up behind the wheel of a gigantic 1930's car, a huge grin on his face. As they're getting in the car, Hubble looks...

Summary: Do chemists think differently than physicists? And should I Change my subject in University... Hey guys, I'm asking myself this question in hoping to find myself in life… some advice and ideas would be really helpful. I'm from Europe and I'm actually studying chemistry. I still Need...