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Electric Field Gradient
In atomic, molecular, and solid-state physics, the electric field gradient (EFG) measures the rate of change of the electric field at an atomic nucleus generated by the electronic charge distribution and the other nuclei. The EFG couples with the nuclear electric quadrupole moment of quadrupolar nuclei (those with spin quantum number greater than one-half) to generate an effect which can be measured using several spectroscopic methods, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), microwave spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR, ESR), nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), Mössbauer spectroscopy or perturbed angular correlation (PAC). The EFG is non-zero only if the charges surrounding the nucleus violate cubic symmetry and therefore generate an inhomogeneous electric field at the position of the nucleus. EFGs are highly sensitive to the electronic density in the immediate vicinity of a nucleus. This is because the EFG operator scales as ''r''−3, where ''r'' is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atomic Physics
Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned with the way in which electrons are arranged around the nucleus and the processes by which these arrangements change. This comprises ions, neutral atoms and, unless otherwise stated, it can be assumed that the term ''atom'' includes ions. The term ''atomic physics'' can be associated with nuclear power and nuclear weapons, due to the synonymous use of ''atomic'' and ''nuclear'' in standard English. Physicists distinguish between atomic physics—which deals with the atom as a system consisting of a nucleus and electrons—and nuclear physics, which studies nuclear reactions and special properties of atomic nuclei. As with many scientific fields, strict delineation can be highly contrived and atomic physics is often considered in the wider ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronic Density
In quantum chemistry, electron density or electronic density is the measure of the probability of an electron being present at an infinitesimal element of space surrounding any given point. It is a scalar quantity depending upon three spatial variables and is typically denoted as either \rho(\textbf r) or n(\textbf r). The density is determined, through definition, by the normalised N-electron wavefunction which itself depends upon 4N variables (3N spatial and N spin coordinates). Conversely, the density determines the wave function modulo up to a phase factor, providing the formal foundation of density functional theory. According to quantum mechanics, due to the uncertainty principle on an atomic scale the exact location of an electron cannot be predicted, only the probability of its being at a given position; therefore electrons in atoms and molecules act as if they are "smeared out" in space. For one-electron systems, the electron density at any point is proportional to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electrostatics
Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies electric charges at rest ( static electricity). Since classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles after rubbing. The Greek word for amber, (), was thus the source of the word 'electricity'. Electrostatic phenomena arise from the forces that electric charges exert on each other. Such forces are described by Coulomb's law. Even though electrostatically induced forces seem to be rather weak, some electrostatic forces are relatively large. The force between an electron and a proton, which together make up a hydrogen atom, is about 36 orders of magnitude stronger than the gravitational force acting between them. There are many examples of electrostatic phenomena, from those as simple as the attraction of plastic wrap to one's hand after it is removed from a package, to the apparently spontaneous explosion of grain silos, the damage of electronic components during manufac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Absolute Value
In mathematics, the absolute value or modulus of a real number x, is the non-negative value without regard to its sign. Namely, , x, =x if is a positive number, and , x, =-x if x is negative (in which case negating x makes -x positive), and For example, the absolute value of 3 and the absolute value of −3 is The absolute value of a number may be thought of as its distance from zero. Generalisations of the absolute value for real numbers occur in a wide variety of mathematical settings. For example, an absolute value is also defined for the complex numbers, the quaternions, ordered rings, fields and vector spaces. The absolute value is closely related to the notions of magnitude, distance, and norm in various mathematical and physical contexts. Terminology and notation In 1806, Jean-Robert Argand introduced the term ''module'', meaning ''unit of measure'' in French, specifically for the ''complex'' absolute value,Oxford English Dictionary, Draft Revision, June 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diagonalized
In linear algebra, a square matrix A is called diagonalizable or non-defective if it is similar to a diagonal matrix, i.e., if there exists an invertible matrix P and a diagonal matrix D such that or equivalently (Such D are not unique.) For a finite-dimensional vector space a linear map T:V\to V is called diagonalizable if there exists an ordered basis of V consisting of eigenvectors of T. These definitions are equivalent: if T has a matrix representation T = PDP^ as above, then the column vectors of P form a basis consisting of eigenvectors of and the diagonal entries of D are the corresponding eigenvalues of with respect to this eigenvector basis, A is represented by Diagonalization is the process of finding the above P and Diagonalizable matrices and maps are especially easy for computations, once their eigenvalues and eigenvectors are known. One can raise a diagonal matrix D to a power by simply raising the diagonal entries to that power, and the determina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laplace's Equation
In mathematics and physics, Laplace's equation is a second-order partial differential equation named after Pierre-Simon Laplace, who first studied its properties. This is often written as \nabla^2\! f = 0 or \Delta f = 0, where \Delta = \nabla \cdot \nabla = \nabla^2 is the Laplace operator,The delta symbol, Δ, is also commonly used to represent a finite change in some quantity, for example, \Delta x = x_1 - x_2. Its use to represent the Laplacian should not be confused with this use. \nabla \cdot is the divergence operator (also symbolized "div"), \nabla is the gradient operator (also symbolized "grad"), and f (x, y, z) is a twice-differentiable real-valued function. The Laplace operator therefore maps a scalar function to another scalar function. If the right-hand side is specified as a given function, h(x, y, z), we have \Delta f = h. This is called Poisson's equation, a generalization of Laplace's equation. Laplace's equation and Poisson's equation are the simplest exa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traceless
In linear algebra, the trace of a square matrix , denoted , is defined to be the sum of elements on the main diagonal (from the upper left to the lower right) of . The trace is only defined for a square matrix (). It can be proved that the trace of a matrix is the sum of its (complex) eigenvalues (counted with multiplicities). It can also be proved that for any two matrices and . This implies that similar matrices have the same trace. As a consequence one can define the trace of a linear operator mapping a finite-dimensional vector space into itself, since all matrices describing such an operator with respect to a basis are similar. The trace is related to the derivative of the determinant (see Jacobi's formula). Definition The trace of an square matrix is defined as \operatorname(\mathbf) = \sum_^n a_ = a_ + a_ + \dots + a_ where denotes the entry on the th row and th column of . The entries of can be real numbers or (more generally) complex numbers. The trace is not def ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electrostatic Potential
Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies electric charges at rest ( static electricity). Since classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles after rubbing. The Greek word for amber, (), was thus the source of the word 'electricity'. Electrostatic phenomena arise from the forces that electric charges exert on each other. Such forces are described by Coulomb's law. Even though electrostatically induced forces seem to be rather weak, some electrostatic forces are relatively large. The force between an electron and a proton, which together make up a hydrogen atom, is about 36 orders of magnitude stronger than the gravitational force acting between them. There are many examples of electrostatic phenomena, from those as simple as the attraction of plastic wrap to one's hand after it is removed from a package, to the apparently spontaneous explosion of grain silos, the damage of electronic components during manufact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Spectroscopy
Nuclear spectroscopy is a superordinate concept of methods that uses properties of a nucleus to probe material properties. By emission or absorption of radiation from the nucleus information of the local structure is obtained, as an interaction of an atom with its closest neighbours. Or a radiation spectrum of the nucleus is detected. Most methods base on hyperfine interactions, which are the interaction of the nucleus with its interaction of its atom's electrons and their interaction with the nearest neighbor atoms as well as external fields. Nuclear spectroscopy is mainly applied to solids and liquids, rarely in gases. Its methods are important tools in condensed matter physics and solid state chemistry. Methods In nuclear physics these methods are used to study properties of the nucleus itself. Methods for studies of the nucleus: * Gamma spectroscopy * Hypernuclear spectroscopy Methods for condensed matter studies: * Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) * Mössbauer spectrosc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Density Functional Theory
Density-functional theory (DFT) is a computational quantum mechanical modelling method used in physics, chemistry and materials science to investigate the electronic structure (or nuclear structure) (principally the ground state) of many-body systems, in particular atoms, molecules, and the condensed phases. Using this theory, the properties of a many-electron system can be determined by using functionals, i.e. functions of another function. In the case of DFT, these are functionals of the spatially dependent electron density. DFT is among the most popular and versatile methods available in condensed-matter physics, computational physics, and computational chemistry. DFT has been very popular for calculations in solid-state physics since the 1970s. However, DFT was not considered accurate enough for calculations in quantum chemistry until the 1990s, when the approximations used in the theory were greatly refined to better model the exchange and correlation interactions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phase Transition
In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas, and in rare cases, plasma. A phase of a thermodynamic system and the states of matter have uniform physical properties. During a phase transition of a given medium, certain properties of the medium change as a result of the change of external conditions, such as temperature or pressure. This can be a discontinuous change; for example, a liquid may become gas upon heating to its boiling point, resulting in an abrupt change in volume. The identification of the external conditions at which a transformation occurs defines the phase transition point. Types of phase transition At the phase transition point for a substance, for instance the boiling point, the two phases involved - liquid and vapor, have id ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Local Structure
The local structure is a term in nuclear spectroscopy that refers to the structure of the nearest neighbours around an atom in crystals and molecules. E.g. in crystals the atoms order in a regular fashion on wide ranges to form even gigantic highly ordered crystals (Naica Mine). However, in reality, crystals are never perfect and have impurities or defects, which means that a foreign atom resides on a lattice site or in between lattice sites (interstitials). These small defects and impurities cannot be seen by methods such as X-ray diffraction or neutron diffraction, because these methods average in their nature of measurement over a large number of atoms and thus are insensitive to effects in local structure. Methods in nuclear spectroscopy use specific nuclei as probe. The nucleus of an atom is about 10,000 to 150,000 times smaller than the atom itself. It experiences the electric fields created by the atom's electrons that surround the nucleus. In addition, the electric fields c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
