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Lippmann–Schwinger Equation
The Lippmann–Schwinger equation (named after Bernard Lippmann and Julian Schwinger) is one of the most used equations to describe particle collisions – or, more precisely, scattering – in quantum mechanics. It may be used in scattering of molecules, atoms, neutrons, photons or any other particles and is important mainly in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, nuclear physics and particle physics, but also for seismic scattering problems in geophysics. It relates the scattered wave function with the interaction that produces the scattering (the scattering potential) and therefore allows calculation of the relevant experimental parameters (scattering amplitude and cross sections). The most fundamental equation to describe any quantum phenomenon, including scattering, is the Schrödinger equation. In physical problems, this differential equation must be solved with the input of an additional set of initial and/or boundary conditions for the specific physical syste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Lippmann
Bernard Abram Lippmann. (August 18, 1914 – February 12, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. A former professor of physics at New York University, Lippmann is mainly known for the Lippmann-Schwinger equation, a widely used tool in non-relativistic scattering theory, which he formulated together with his doctoral supervisor Julian Schwinger Biography Bernard Lippmann was born in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1914. After initially attending the Polytechnic School of Brooklyn, where he attained a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, he switched to physics and was admitted to the degree of Master of Science at the University of Michigan in 1935 Subsequently, Lippmann entered the industry, where he held various engineering roles until the entry of the United States into the Second World War when he joined MIT's Radiation Laboratory. From 1941 until the end of the war, he conducted experimental and theoretical research on the X band and K band regions of the microwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limiting Absorption Principle
In mathematics, the limiting absorption principle (LAP) is a concept from operator theory and scattering theory that consists of choosing the "correct" resolvent of a linear operator at the essential spectrum based on the behavior of the resolvent near the essential spectrum. The term is often used to indicate that the resolvent, when considered not in the original space (which is usually the L^2 space), but in certain weighted spaces (usually L^2_s, see below), has a limit as the spectral parameter approaches the essential spectrum. This concept developed from the idea of introducing complex parameter into the Helmholtz equation (\Delta+k^2)u(x)=-F(x) for selecting a particular solution. This idea is credited to Vladimir Ignatowski, who was considering the propagation and absorption of the electromagnetic waves in a wire. It is closely related to the Sommerfeld radiation condition and the limiting amplitude principle (1948). The terminology – both the limiting absorption princi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partial Wave Analysis
Partial-wave analysis, in the context of quantum mechanics, refers to a technique for solving scattering problems by decomposing each wave into its constituent angular-momentum components and solving using boundary conditions. Partial wave analysis is typically useful for low energy scattering where only a few angular momentum components dominate. At high energy were scattering is weak, an alternative called the Born approximation is used. Preliminary scattering theory A steady beam of particles scatters off a spherically symmetric potential V(r), which is short-ranged, so that for large distances r \to \infty, the particles behave like free particles. The incoming beam is assumed to be a collimated plane wave \exp(ikz) traveling along the ''z'' axis. Because the beam is switched on for times long compared to the time of interaction of the particles with the scattering potential, a steady state is assumed. This means that the stationary Schrödinger equation for the wave f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discretization
In applied mathematics, discretization is the process of transferring continuous functions, models, variables, and equations into discrete counterparts. This process is usually carried out as a first step toward making them suitable for numerical evaluation and implementation on digital computers. Dichotomization is the special case of discretization in which the number of discrete classes is 2, which can approximate a continuous variable as a binary variable (creating a dichotomy for modeling purposes, as in binary classification). Discretization is also related to discrete mathematics, and is an important component of granular computing. In this context, ''discretization'' may also refer to modification of variable or category ''granularity'', as when multiple discrete variables are aggregated or multiple discrete categories fused. Whenever continuous data is discretized, there is always some amount of discretization error. The goal is to reduce the amount to a level ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fredholm Alternative
In mathematics, the Fredholm alternative, named after Ivar Fredholm, is one of Fredholm's theorems and is a result in Fredholm theory. It may be expressed in several ways, as a theorem of linear algebra, a theorem of integral equations, or as a theorem on Fredholm operators. Part of the result states that a non-zero complex number in the spectrum of a compact operator is an eigenvalue. Linear algebra If ''V'' is an ''n''-dimensional vector space and T:V\to V is a linear transformation, then exactly one of the following holds: #For each vector ''v'' in ''V'' there is a vector ''u'' in ''V'' so that T(u) = v. In other words: ''T'' is surjective (and so also bijective, since ''V'' is finite-dimensional). #\dim(\ker(T)) > 0. A more elementary formulation, in terms of matrices, is as follows. Given an ''m''×''n'' matrix ''A'' and a ''m''×1 column vector b, exactly one of the following must hold: #''Either:'' ''A'' x = b has a solution x #''Or:'' ''A''T y = 0 has a so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basis (linear Algebra)
In mathematics, a Set (mathematics), set of elements of a vector space is called a basis (: bases) if every element of can be written in a unique way as a finite linear combination of elements of . The coefficients of this linear combination are referred to as components or coordinates of the vector with respect to . The elements of a basis are called . Equivalently, a set is a basis if its elements are linearly independent and every element of is a linear combination of elements of . In other words, a basis is a linearly independent spanning set. A vector space can have several bases; however all the bases have the same number of elements, called the dimension (vector space), dimension of the vector space. This article deals mainly with finite-dimensional vector spaces. However, many of the principles are also valid for infinite-dimensional vector spaces. Basis vectors find applications in the study of crystal structures and frame of reference, frames of reference. De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Singularity
In mathematics, a singularity is a point at which a given mathematical object is not defined, or a point where the mathematical object ceases to be well-behaved in some particular way, such as by lacking differentiability or analyticity. For example, the reciprocal function f(x) = 1/x has a singularity at x = 0, where the value of the function is not defined, as involving a division by zero. The absolute value function g(x) = , x, also has a singularity at x = 0, since it is not differentiable there. The algebraic curve In mathematics, an affine algebraic plane curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two variables. A projective algebraic plane curve is the zero set in a projective plane of a homogeneous polynomial in three variables. An affine algebraic plane cu ... defined by \left\ in the (x, y) coordinate system has a singularity (called a cusp (singularity), cusp) at (0, 0). For singularities in algebraic geometry, see singular point of an algebraic variety. For singul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inverse Element
In mathematics, the concept of an inverse element generalises the concepts of opposite () and reciprocal () of numbers. Given an operation denoted here , and an identity element denoted , if , one says that is a left inverse of , and that is a right inverse of . (An identity element is an element such that and for all and for which the left-hand sides are defined.) When the operation is associative, if an element has both a left inverse and a right inverse, then these two inverses are equal and unique; they are called the ''inverse element'' or simply the ''inverse''. Often an adjective is added for specifying the operation, such as in additive inverse, multiplicative inverse, and functional inverse. In this case (associative operation), an invertible element is an element that has an inverse. In a ring, an ''invertible element'', also called a unit, is an element that is invertible under multiplication (this is not ambiguous, as every element is invertible under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hellmann–Feynman Theorem
In quantum mechanics, the Hellmann–Feynman theorem relates the derivative of the total energy with respect to a parameter to the expectation value of the derivative of the Hamiltonian with respect to that same parameter. According to the theorem, once the spatial distribution of the electrons has been determined by solving the Schrödinger equation, all the forces in the system can be calculated using classical electrostatics. The theorem has been proven independently by many authors, including Paul Güttinger (1932), Wolfgang Pauli (1933), Hans Hellmann (1937) and Richard Feynman (1939). The theorem states where *\hat_ is a Hermitian operator depending upon a continuous parameter \lambda\,, *, \psi_\lambda\rangle, is an eigenstate (eigenfunction) of the Hamiltonian, depending implicitly upon \lambda, *E_\, is the energy (eigenvalue) of the state , \psi_\lambda\rangle, i.e. \hat_, \psi_\lambda\rangle = E_, \psi_\lambda\rangle. Note that there is a breakdown of the Hellma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eigenstate
In quantum physics, a quantum state is a mathematical entity that embodies the knowledge of a quantum system. Quantum mechanics specifies the construction, evolution, and measurement of a quantum state. The result is a prediction for the system represented by the state. Knowledge of the quantum state, and the rules for the system's evolution in time, exhausts all that can be known about a quantum system. Quantum states may be defined differently for different kinds of systems or problems. Two broad categories are * wave functions describing quantum systems using position or momentum variables and * the more abstract vector quantum states. Historical, educational, and application-focused problems typically feature wave functions; modern professional physics uses the abstract vector states. In both categories, quantum states divide into pure versus mixed states, or into coherent states and incoherent states. Categories with special properties include stationary states for time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamiltonian (quantum Mechanics)
In quantum mechanics, the Hamiltonian of a system is an operator corresponding to the total energy of that system, including both kinetic energy and potential energy. Its spectrum, the system's ''energy spectrum'' or its set of ''energy eigenvalues'', is the set of possible outcomes obtainable from a measurement of the system's total energy. Due to its close relation to the energy spectrum and time-evolution of a system, it is of fundamental importance in most formulations of quantum theory. The Hamiltonian is named after William Rowan Hamilton, who developed a revolutionary reformulation of Newtonian mechanics, known as Hamiltonian mechanics, which was historically important to the development of quantum physics. Similar to vector notation, it is typically denoted by \hat, where the hat indicates that it is an operator. It can also be written as H or \check. Introduction The Hamiltonian of a system represents the total energy of the system; that is, the sum of the kine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudopotential
In physics, a pseudopotential or effective potential is used as an approximation for the simplified description of complex systems. Applications include atomic physics and neutron scattering. The pseudopotential approximation was first introduced by Hans Hellmann in 1934. Atomic physics The pseudopotential is an attempt to replace the complicated effects of the motion of the core (i.e. non- valence) electrons of an atom and its nucleus with an effective potential, or pseudopotential, so that the Schrödinger equation contains a modified effective potential term instead of the Coulombic potential term for core electrons normally found in the Schrödinger equation. The pseudopotential is an effective potential constructed to replace the atomic all-electron potential (full-potential) such that core states are eliminated ''and'' the valence electrons are described by pseudo-wavefunctions with significantly fewer nodes. This allows the pseudo-wavefunctions to be described with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
