Top Research Papers on Physics

Physics has evolved from an attempt by ancient researchers to understand the workings of their immediate surroundings to a body of mathematical descriptions and paradoxical physical interpretations. We have today no rational explanation for the simplest of systems and phenomena, for instance, how a magnet physically attracts another from a distance or by what physical means the Earth prevents the Moon from leaving the Solar System. Not one mathematical physicist can explain in a logical manner why a pen falls to the floor rather than to the ceiling. The equations suggest that ‘mass attracts ma...

When my daughter Elena was quite young, I remember her inquir i g as to what my profession was. I told her that I was a physicist. Her next q uestion, which, of course, was quite obvious, was, “What does a physicist do?” W ithout hesitation I responded,“Physics.” Her next question was not so easy to answ er. She wanted to know what physics was. Although I do not recollect how I answered h r last question, I suspect I mumbled something about the basic structure of the uni verse, or the laws which govern its behavior, and then quickly changed the subject. T he word physics is derived from the Gr...

The primitive sense data that we form when we observe things are called primitive qualities of physical objects, e.g. their colour, sound, odour, taste, hotness, coldness, roughness; smoothness, etc. We agree, for example, that without proper light or normal vision we cannot see colour, say red. It is meaningless to ask whether colour is in the thing or merely a sensation, since objects are known through sensation, there is no other way. Naive common sense data, however, are not sufficient to give us accurate knowledge. We look around for a more reliable source of information and method, and w...

What is physics? (Physics Bulletin April 1977 pl49, June 1977 p267). What is wrong with Newton's 'Our business is with the causes of sensible effects'?

In a society such as ours, increasingly concerned as it is with improving quality, it is relatively easy to find data charting the fortunes, good or ill, of the quality of education. League tables are such an example. The `quality' of a school, whatever that means, might be judged by its league table position. A science department might be judged as offering a high quality service if its value-added indices are positive. There is often mention made of the quality of A-level students or postgraduate entrants to the teaching profession. What then of the quality of physics teaching? As an initial...

‘Physics deals with those phenomena of the inanimate world which do not produce deep changes in the structure of matter’ the old schoolbooks said. In modern terms this would mean that classical physics restricted itself to phenomena t room temperature which modified only the secondary intermolecular bonds in condensed matter, i.e. the energy concentration is supposed to be smaller than 1 eV per atom. ‘Chemistry deals with those phenomena of the inanimate world which imply essential change in the structure of matter’. The Bunsen flame is the symbol of chemistry. Chemists play with f...

Mass spectrometry is a useful diagnostic technique for monitoring plasma species and plasma-surface interactions. In order to maximize tie sensitivity of measurements of hydrogen-fueled fusion plasmas or hyrjrogen-based discharge cleaning ana etching plasmas, the ion sources of mass spectrometers are operated at or near the high pressure limit of 10 Torr do" Pa), such high ambient pressures of hydrogen give rise to high background levels of residual gases such as HjO, CO, and CH 4 , due to surface reactions on the ion source electrodes. For a commonly used ion source configuration, the residua...

This paper investigates the social space of physics research institutions by measuring and assessing the accumulated recognition and the specific scientific capital of research institutions.

Professor Lipson has certainly set up a most interesting target to shoot at with his remarks on theoretical physics in the December issue. It is probably more valuable,however, to use his remarks as a base upon which to build a clear idea of the nature of the link between mathematics and physics. Certainly such a discussion must bring in the names of two famous men on the cover of the Bulletin: Newton and Maxwell.

To most members of the Institute it might seem almost blasphemous to ask what physics is for. Physics has been studied from generation to generation over the last four hundred years, constantly changing but with a broad basis of accepted truth.

We are all interested in physics. We are therefore all concerned with knowing exactly what we mean by the name. Nevertheless, I doubt whether a satisfactory definition of the subject exists, and the dictionaries usually play for safety by keeping to generalities.

PHYS 5305 Monte Carlo Simulation Method and its Application (3 semester credit hours) An introductory course on the method of Monte Carlo simulation of physical events. This course covers the generation of 0-1 random number, simulation of arbitrary distributions, modeling, simulation and statistical analysis of experimental activities in physics research and engineering studies. As a comparison the concepts and applications of the Neural Networks will be discussed. Prerequisites: Background knowledge in probability and statistics and in a programming language or instructor consent required. (3...

in Minkowski, as well as simple toroidal and orbifold compactifications. T-duality, D-branes, tree amplitudes. Construct some simple unified models of particle physics. Motivate the 10- 11-dimensional supergravities. Simple supergravity solutions and use these to explore some aspects of adS/CFT duality.

From massive quarks deep in the hearts of atomic nuclei to the catastrophic collapse of giant stars in the farthest reaches of the universe, from the partial realization of Einstein's dream of a unified theory of the forces of nature to the most practical applications in technology, medicine, and throughout contemporary society, physics continues to have a profound impact on man's view of the universe and on the quality of life. The author argues that the past few years, in terms of new discoveries, new insight—and the new questions—have been among the most productive in the history of the fie...

The Physics Department at Mines offers a full program of instruction and research leading to the MS in Applied Physics or PhD in Physics and is part of interdisciplinary programs in Materials Science and in Nuclear Engineering, through which students can obtain both the MS and the PhD degrees. The research in these graduate programs is supported by external grants and contracts totaling $6M/year. Research in the Department is organized under three primary themes: subatomic physics, condensed matter physics, and applied optics. With 23 faculty, 66 graduate students, and 225 undergraduate physic...

PHYS 411. Quantum Mechanics I. 4 hours. Wave particle duality; wave functions; matrix representation; operators and observables; 1-D potentials; harmonic oscillator; eigenvalues and eigenfunctions; time-independent perturbation theory; approximation methods; 3-D Schroedingerâ€TMs equation. Course Information: Prerequisite(s): PHYS 215 and PHYS 240 and PHYS 245; or approval of the department. Recommended background: MATH 220.

1. Measurements and Experimentation (i) Estimation by orders of magnitude of size (length, area and volume), mass and time. Order of magnitude as statement of magnitude in powers of ten; familiarity with the orders of magnitude of some common sizes (length, area and volume), masses and time intervals e.g. idea of, mass of atoms, bottle of water, planets, diameter of atom, length of football field, inter stellar distances, pulse rate, age of earth etc. (ii) International System of Units, the required SI units with correct symbols are given at the end of this syllabus. Other commonly used system...

PHYS 5305 Monte Carlo Simulation Method and its Application (3 semester credit hours) An introductory course on the method of Monte Carlo simulation of physical events. This course covers the generation of 0-1 random number, simulation of arbitrary distributions, modeling, simulation and statistical analysis of experimental activities in physics research and engineering studies. As a comparison the concepts and applications of the Neural Networks will be discussed. Prerequisites: Background knowledge in probability and statistics and in a programming language or instructor consent required. (3...

The paper presents the calculation results of the coplanar waveguide geometry using the method of conformal mapping and computerized simulation with COMSOL Multiphysics software. Ferromagnetic FeNi/Cu/FeNi magneto-sensitive elements are fabricated in one cycle with the coplanar waveguide which conveys drive signals. Magnetodynamics of the obtained film structures is studied within the frequency range of 1–20 GHz. It is shown that the main parameters of ferromagnetic resonance can be found for the thin film structures on the coplanar waveguide.

While the measured charge asymmetry in the semileptonic decays of K is clear-cut evidence for CP violation in these processes, the Li detailed theoretical interpretation of this ie suit is somewhat complicated by the presence of electromagnetic effects. It is shown however that whereas these electromagnetic effects can produce sizeable differences in decay distributions for decays into charge conjugate states, their contribution to the asymmetry parameter