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Zitterbewegung
In physics, the Zitterbewegung (, ) is the theoretical prediction of a rapid oscillatory motion of elementary particles that obey relativistic wave equations. This prediction was first discussed by Gregory Breit in 1928 and the term was coined by Erwin Schrödinger in 1930 as a result of analysis of the wave packet solutions of the Dirac equation for relativistic electrons in free space, in which an interference between positive and negative energy states produces an apparent fluctuation (up to the speed of light) of the position of an electron around the median, with an angular frequency of , which is twice the Compton angular frequency. The oscillatory Zitterbewegung motion is often interpreted as an artifact of using the Dirac equation in a single particle description and disappears in quantum field theory. For the hydrogen atom, the Zitterbewegung is related to the Darwin term, a small correction of the energy level of the s-orbitals. Theory Free spin-1/2 fermion T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregory Breit
Gregory Breit (, ; July 14, 1899 – September 13, 1981) was an American physicist born in Mykolaiv, Russian Empire (now Mykolaiv, Ukraine). He was a professor at New York University (1929–1934), University of Wisconsin–Madison (1934–1947), Yale University (1947–1968), and University at Buffalo (1968–1973). In 1921, he was Paul Ehrenfest's assistant in Leiden University. Biography He was born in the city of Mykolaiv in the family of the book publisher Alfred Schneider. After the death of his mother in 1911, his father left for the United States of America. Until 1915, Gregory studied at the Mykolaiv Oleksandrivska gymnasium. In 1915, he followed his father to USA. He studied at Johns Hopkins University: in 1918 he obtained a Bachelor degree, in 1920 a Master degree, and in 1921 he earned a PhD in physics. In 1921-1922, he worked as a researcher at Leiden University. In 1922-1923, he was a research fellow at Harvard University. From 1923 to 1924, he was an assistant p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foldy–Wouthuysen Transformation
The Foldy–Wouthuysen transformation was historically significant and was formulated by Leslie Lawrance Foldy and Siegfried Adolf Wouthuysen in 1949 to understand the nonrelativistic limit of the Dirac equation, the equation for spin-1/2 particles. A detailed general discussion of the Foldy–Wouthuysen-type transformations in particle interpretation of relativistic wave equations is in Acharya and Sudarshan (1960). Its utility in high energy physics is now limited due to the primary applications being in the ultra-relativistic domain where the Dirac field is treated as a quantised field. A canonical transform The FW transformation is a unitary transformation of the orthonormal basis in which both the Hamiltonian and the state are represented. The eigenvalues do not change under such a unitary transformation, that is, the physics does not change under such a unitary basis transformation. Therefore, such a unitary transformation can always be applied: in particular a unitary basi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirac Equation
In particle physics, the Dirac equation is a relativistic wave equation derived by British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928. In its free form, or including electromagnetic interactions, it describes all spin-1/2 massive particles, called "Dirac particles", such as electrons and quarks for which parity is a symmetry. It is consistent with both the principles of quantum mechanics and the theory of special relativity, and was the first theory to account fully for special relativity in the context of quantum mechanics. The equation is validated by its rigorous accounting of the observed fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum and has become vital in the building of the Standard Model. The equation also implied the existence of a new form of matter, '' antimatter'', previously unsuspected and unobserved and which was experimentally confirmed several years later. It also provided a ''theoretical'' justification for the introduction of several component wave functions in Pauli' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which relates to the order of nature, or, in other words, to the regular succession of events." It is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines. "Physics is one of the most fundamental of the sciences. Scientists of all disciplines use the ideas of physics, including chemists who study the structure of molecules, paleontologists who try to reconstruct how dinosaurs walked, and climatologists who study how human activities affect the atmosphere and oceans. Physics is also the foundation of all engineering and technology. No engineer could design a flat-screen TV, an interplanetary spacecraft, or even a better mousetrap without first understanding the basic laws of physics. (...) You will come to see physics as a towering achievement of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bispinor
In physics, and specifically in quantum field theory, a bispinor is a mathematical construction that is used to describe some of the fundamental particles of nature, including quarks and electrons. It is a specific embodiment of a spinor, specifically constructed so that it is consistent with the requirements of special relativity. Bispinors transform in a certain "spinorial" fashion under the action of the Lorentz group, which describes the symmetries of Minkowski spacetime. They occur in the relativistic spin- wave function solutions to the Dirac equation. Bispinors are so called because they are constructed out of two simpler component spinors, the Weyl spinors. Each of the two component spinors transform differently under the two distinct complex-conjugate spin-1/2 representations of the Lorentz group. This pairing is of fundamental importance, as it allows the represented particle to have a mass, carry a charge, and represent the flow of charge as a current, and perhaps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantum Electrodynamics
In particle physics, quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the Theory of relativity, relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics. In essence, it describes how light and matter interact and is the first theory where full agreement between quantum mechanics and special relativity is achieved. QED mathematically describes all phenomenon, phenomena involving electric charge, electrically charged particles interacting by means of exchange of photons and represents the quantum mechanics, quantum counterpart of classical electromagnetism giving a complete account of matter and light interaction. In technical terms, QED can be described as a perturbation theory (quantum mechanics), perturbation theory of the electromagnetic Quantum vacuum state, quantum vacuum. Richard Feynman called it "the jewel of physics" for its precision tests of QED, extremely accurate predictions of quantities like the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron and the Lamb shift of the energy levels of hydrogen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schrödinger Equation
The Schrödinger equation is a partial differential equation that governs the wave function of a non-relativistic quantum-mechanical system. Its discovery was a significant landmark in the development of quantum mechanics. It is named after Erwin Schrödinger, an Austrian physicist, who postulated the equation in 1925 and published it in 1926, forming the basis for the work that resulted in his Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933. Conceptually, the Schrödinger equation is the quantum counterpart of Newton's second law in classical mechanics. Given a set of known initial conditions, Newton's second law makes a mathematical prediction as to what path a given physical system will take over time. The Schrödinger equation gives the evolution over time of the wave function, the quantum-mechanical characterization of an isolated physical system. The equation was postulated by Schrödinger based on a postulate of Louis de Broglie that all matter has an associated matter wave. The equati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Position Operator
In quantum mechanics, the position operator is the operator that corresponds to the position observable of a particle. When the position operator is considered with a wide enough domain (e.g. the space of tempered distributions), its eigenvalues are the possible position vectors of the particle. In one dimension, if by the symbol , x \rangle we denote the unitary eigenvector of the position operator corresponding to the eigenvalue x, then, , x \rangle represents the state of the particle in which we know with certainty to find the particle itself at position x. Therefore, denoting the position operator by the symbol X we can write X, x\rangle = x , x\rangle, for every real position x. One possible realization of the unitary state with position x is the Dirac delta (function) distribution centered at the position x, often denoted by \delta_x. In quantum mechanics, the ordered (continuous) family of all Dirac distributions, i.e. the family \delta = (\delta_x)_, is called ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heisenberg Picture
In physics, the Heisenberg picture or Heisenberg representation is a Dynamical pictures, formulation (largely due to Werner Heisenberg in 1925) of quantum mechanics in which observables incorporate a dependency on time, but the quantum state, states are time-independent. It stands in contrast to the Schrödinger picture in which observables are constant and the states evolve in time. It further serves to define a third, hybrid, picture, the interaction picture. Mathematical details In the Heisenberg picture of quantum mechanics the state vectors do not change with time, while observables satisfy where "H" and "S" label observables in Heisenberg and Schrödinger picture respectively, is the Hamiltonian (quantum mechanics), Hamiltonian and denotes the commutator of two operators (in this case and ). Taking expectation values automatically yields the Ehrenfest theorem, featured in the correspondence principle. By the Stone–von Neumann theorem, the Heisenberg picture and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gamma Matrices
In mathematical physics, the gamma matrices, \ \left\\ , also called the Dirac matrices, are a set of conventional matrices with specific anticommutation relations that ensure they generate a matrix representation of the Clifford algebra \ \mathrm_(\mathbb) ~. It is also possible to define higher-dimensional gamma matrices. When interpreted as the matrices of the action of a set of orthogonal basis vectors for contravariant vectors in Minkowski space, the column vectors on which the matrices act become a space of spinors, on which the Clifford algebra of spacetime acts. This in turn makes it possible to represent infinitesimal spatial rotations and Lorentz boosts. Spinors facilitate spacetime computations in general, and in particular are fundamental to the Dirac equation for relativistic particles. Gamma matrices were introduced by Paul Dirac in 1928. In Dirac representation, the four contravariant gamma matrices are : \begin \gamma^0 &= \begin 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Momentum Operator
In quantum mechanics, the momentum operator is the operator associated with the linear momentum. The momentum operator is, in the position representation, an example of a differential operator. For the case of one particle in one spatial dimension, the definition is: \hat = - i \hbar \frac where is the reduced Planck constant, the imaginary unit, is the spatial coordinate, and a partial derivative (denoted by \partial/\partial x) is used instead of a total derivative () since the wave function is also a function of time. The "hat" indicates an operator. The "application" of the operator on a differentiable wave function is as follows: \hat\psi = - i \hbar \frac In a basis of Hilbert space consisting of momentum eigenstates expressed in the momentum representation, the action of the operator is simply multiplication by , i.e. it is a multiplication operator, just as the position operator is a multiplication operator in the position representation. Note that the definition ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speed Of Light
The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted , is a universal physical constant exactly equal to ). It is exact because, by international agreement, a metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of second. The speed of light is invariant (physics), the same for all observers, no matter their relative velocity. It is the upper limit for the speed at which Information#Physics_and_determinacy, information, matter, or energy can travel through Space#Relativity, space. All forms of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, travel at the speed of light. For many practical purposes, light and other electromagnetic waves will appear to propagate instantaneously, but for long distances and sensitive measurements, their finite speed has noticeable effects. Much starlight viewed on Earth is from the distant past, allowing humans to study the history of the universe by viewing distant objects. When Data communication, comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
