Interpretation Definition and 835 Threads

hi guys,does anyone knows what is the physical interpretation of second(third, fourth,...) derivative?

I have a question about Ring Laser Interferometry. A couple of years ago I contributed some text and several pictures to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagnac_effect" . Ever since I have been curious about the quantum interpretation of Ring laser interferometry. The special thing about...

I collect here info from another thread, to have a more focussed discussion. ''this particular assumption'' refers to the assumption that |psi(x_1,...,x_n|^2 is the probability density of observing simultaneously particle k at position x_k (k=1:N). Please show me a comparison with experiment...

I don't seem to be able to fully wrap my head around the equivalence of standard QM and 0+1 QFT. In particular, I am having difficulty with the relationship between the correlator in QFT, <T\phi(t_1) \phi(t_2)> and the propagator in QM, <x', t' |x,t>. First of all, is there any relationship...

On an oriented surface, the integral of the Gauss curvature over a smooth triangle can be interpreted as the angle of rotation of a vector that is parallel translated once around the three bounding edges. How does one interpret the integral of the Gauss curvature of an arbitrary SO(20 bundle...

It seems like a problem that a physicist would need to solve, but I can't wrap my head around the physical interpretation of it. http://exampleproblems.com/wiki/index.php/CoV7 Also, why do they use u=c*x2? What is c in this case? It says "classical" so it can't be the speed of light, right?

I have read that MWI predicts that gravity is quantised. Is this prediction unique to MWI? If for example, someone discovered a quantum theory of gravity that was correct, that MWI would be declared the only valid interpretation of QM and that interpretations such the Copenhagen interpretation...

Some more info about it is here: http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Front/tofc.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_sensing Anyways, does anyone here know about remote sensing careers, and what it takes to get into one?

Hi guys. What is really the need for complex numbers? Is there any physical meaning associated with it?

Below is a spacetime diagram which depicts the movement of a rod, four units long, relative to another rod of equal length. The red lines are the "moving" rod; the purple lines are the "stationary" rod. The gray lines are the world lines of the unit marks (0, 1, 2, 3, 4) on each rod. As I...

Can anyone help me with the following? satisfaction and models: The sentence α : ∀x(odd(x) ⊃ even(s(x))) is not logically implied by the set S of 4 sentences: even(0) odd(s(0)) ∀x(even(x) ⊃ even(s(s(x)))) ∀x(even(s(x)) ⊃ odd(x)) Prove that this is so by identifying an interpretation...

I am having trouble understanding (not for homework) what a wave packet is in terms of the correspondence of the idea of a wave packet to a "point like" particle. I'd like to focus on the 1d wave packet ultimately, but in order to describe my consternation -- let me detour to a well defined...

Hi I am trying to figure out the physical interpretation of tensor indices. E.g., if we have an anisotropic material, then the tensor element of the susceptibility xx,y gives the response in the x-direction of an electric field in the y-direction. Lets not go up one dimension and look at...

Homework Statement hi, i have been given a question and would appreciate help in interpreting it. given a plane, state the problem of finding points on the intersection of the plane and the line in the form Ax=d, where A is a 3by3 matrix, x and d are vectors. Homework Equations The...

how would you learn to interpret the components of something like this? Am i seeing the whole cross-sectional area of a cell? http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/membranes/images/tomography.jpg (insulin-producing pancreas cell...

Hi all. Just have a quick question on perturbation theory. Let's consider a molecule in ground electronic state. If a time-independent external perturbation acts on the molecule, the average electronic energy is going to change. From time-independent perturbation theory, we know that <E> =...

Please forgive me if I am hideously wrong in any of my points. I am not terribly well-versed in quantum physics. Alright. This all began when I was thinking of a somewhat speculative and arguably philosophical idea that probably wouldn't have much of a place on this forum. My train of...

We all know \int \frac{1}{x} dx = ln(x) + c but if you try to apply the power rule for integration: \int x^n dx = \frac{x^{n+1}}{n+1} + c you get \int x^{-1} dx = \frac{x^0}{0} What can you learn from this/what does this mean? David

Homework Statement I'm having a bit of difficulty interpreting the spectrum. I've given it a shot but I think I might be missing something. The compound contains only C,H,O and any assistance would be appreciated. The molecular weight is 116g/mol. Homework Equations none The Attempt...

I've been wondering what the interpretation of the moment of inertia tensor in generalized coordinates is, and whether there is a way to derive it from first principles, similar to the integration we do in a Cartesian coordinate system. Specifically, I've been given the inertia matrix for a...

Hello everybody! Should I interpret the expression P(A and B|C) as P((A and B)|C) or as P(A and (B|C))? Or the last expression has no meaning because P(B|C) is a ratio and I can't make an intersection with a ratio? Thanks, Alexei.

page 61 in Introduction To Electrodynamics (3rd ed, Griffiths) writes: " What exactly is an electric field? ... I encourage you to think of the field as a "real" physical entity, filling the space in the neighborhood of any electric charge. Maxwell himself came to believe that electric and...

Hi I was wondering if someone could better explain this. I do not quite understand the implications. Thanks for any input. "Unlike the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment which used poison gas and a radioactive decay trigger, this version involves a lethal weapon and a device that...

For a euclidean space, the interval between 2 events (one at the origin) is defined by the equation: L^2=x^2 + y^2 The graph of this equation is a circle for which all points on the circle are separated by the distance L from the origin. For space-time, the interval between 2 events is...

Homework Statement 1) Time = 0 to 2.5s a. What is the velocity during this time? b. Determine the displacement traveled during this time. c. What is the acceleration during this time? 2) Time = 5.5 to 10s a. What is the velocity during this time? b. Determine the...

Three simple experiments put to question Einstein's Special Relativity interpretation. It has nothing to do with the formulas. Formulas work pretty well; the BIG problem is interpretation! 1.The most recent particle collisions at CERN: Two Proton Beams at 3.5 TeV, traveling in opposite...

hi, what do you think of the Penrose interpretation of quantum gravity, that gravity is responsible of the transitions between the quantum world and the macroscopic world?

I know that generally complex numbers are represented in a two-dimensional plane with one real and one imaginary dimension. I also know that we have the quaternions, consisting of one real number and three imaginary numbers. The imaginary axis is always perpendicular to the real axis. The...

Pauli exclusion says no two particles should occupy the same state. Alternatively, it says that exchanging two particles generate a factor of -1. This is a basic fact about a spinor field, as a result of anticommutation relations. However, I hear that in strongly curved space time, QFTs have no...

Hi, I'm about to go into my 4th and final year of my undergraduate physics degree and after all the quantum mechanics we've done so far, I still get this nagging feeling that I'm answering homework and exam problems blindly. Apologies for the length of this question by the way. For example...

we have been learning ststisticsl physics for the last month and the lecturer has still not explained what entropy is.Other than say "this is the boltman interpretation of entropy" all the info i find on the web seems to say different things for different situations so i was hoping someone...

Hi everyone, I'd like to start by saying that I have no background or knowledge of maths other than high school. As a consequence, I have no idea if this question is stupid, trivial, nonsensical or whatever. I also don't even know if it's in the correct thread (I made the best guess I could). So...

hi, I am a novice to quantum mechanics and get a lot of troubles with operators. I cannot explain why: - why QM uses operators for observables such as position, momentum, energy, ..ect, but classical physics does not? - what are physical interpretations of operators? - why are operators needed...

Is there a combinatorial interpretation of the sum \sum_{k=0}^{n}\binom{k}{r}\binom{n-k}{m-r} ? If it were a sum over r instead, it would be n C m. But I don't know about this one.

I just finished my first Linear Algebra class and loved it. There is one thing we didn't go over much though. What exactly IS a determinate? Is there a physical interpretation? Or is it just an operator that has these special properties? Thanks! ~Matt

Hi, this is from a physics subforum of physicsforums: My calculus is not very good, but the above does not strike me as true and I would like a second opinion. If it is true, then my calculus is even worse than I thought and I need someone to explain to me how dr/dt=0 always implies that...

As noted in the thread "Dark Matter, On the Ropes?" there is disagreement with the observed velocity profile of spiral galaxies, the size of spiral galaxies' bulge, and the spiral galaxies' halo when compared to what theory predicts and what simulations with dark matter indicate...

I was wondering whether any members of this PF sub-forum would help me towards some physical interpretation of Maxwell’s time-dependent equations, which must ultimately underpin any classical description of EM wave propagation. I know that some might simply suggest reading a good textbook, but I...

Homework Statement Compute the \mu=0 component of the Minkowski force law K^\mu=q\eta_\nu F^{\mu\nu}. (Einstien summation convention applies.) Homework Equations \eta_\nu=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-u^2/c^2}}(-c,u_x,u_y,u_z) F^{\mu\nu} is the field tensor where...

Dear all, could you please suggest me books on philosophy and interpretation of quantum mechanics?? Kindest regards. Goldbeetle

Hi all, I have read in several places about an "old Copenhagen Interpretation" and I wonder what are the differences between the old one and the current one. I read several times Wikipedia article about CI but had no success finding any references about the old one. I guess that the old...

Mathematical constructs may or may not agree with reality (that is observed by us through our senses or high-tech instruments). What’s the touchstone that a mathematical construct for a theory is the right one and would not be violated in future? For example the mathematics that was used...

Hello; I have never really come across vectors before in physics, so could someone help me out? For example, what would be an example question and a calculation involving this; \phi_m = \int \vec{B} \cdot d \vec{A} Correct me if I'm wrong but is this saying that the magnetic flux is equal to...

Hello PF :) Let me for the moment consider just <0|\varphi(y)\varphi(x)|0> as a propagator (instead of commutator of the fields)... and so in this expression evolves only <0|aa^{+}|0> part. Now my question is: 1) We can consider this expression as <0|a vector multiplied by a^{+}|0> which...

I understand that certain vectors in space-time (spacelike vectors) present a non-causal situation where E2 which takes place at a time after E1 in the rest frame cannot physically be a consequence in a different frame at sufficient speed. but there is also the relationship that arises from the...

Hello, How is the following notation read? (a_n) is a bounded sequence. Let y_n = sup(a_k : k\geq n) What is meant by k\geq n ? Thank you for your help. M

What exactly is the Debye length? From what I understand, when a charge q>0 is shielded by an electron cloud, then the Debye length is the distance the potential of the charge q falls by 1/e. Is it that simple? Furthermore, how do you go about deriving the expression...

Is this the right way to think about the covariant derivative, and if not, what improvements would you suggest to visualize the meaning of the covariant derivative? (1)\mbox{ }\vec{e}_i(x')=\vec{e}_i(x)+\frac{\partial \vec{e}_i(x)}{\partial x^j}dx^j...

Homework Statement They were asking for the geometric interpretation and the says its triangular prism with infinite right angles. I don't understand what they mean by that. Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution

I would like to know how can parity be physically interpreted :confused:?