DOCSLIB.ORG

Astronomy and Physics About the Compilers Carl C

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Astronomy and Physics About the Compilers Carl C Astronomically Speaking A Dictionary of Quotations on Astronomy and Physics About the Compilers Carl C. Gaither was born in 1944 in San Antonio, Texas. He has conducted research work for the Texas Department of Corrections and for the Louisiana Department of Corrections. Additionally he worked as an Operations Research Analyst for ten years. He received his undergraduate degree (Psychology) from the University of Hawaii and has graduate degrees from McNeese State University (Psychology), North East Louisiana University (Criminal Justice), and the University of Southwestern Louisiana (Mathematical Statistics). Alma E. Cavazos-Gaither was born in 1955 in San Juan, Texas. She has worked in quality control, material control, and as a bilingual data collector. She is a Petty Officer First Class in the United States Navy Reserve. She received her associate degree (Telecommunications) from Central Texas College and her BA (Spanish) from Mary Hardin-Baylor University. Together they selected and arranged quotations for the books Statistically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations (Institute of Physics Publishing, 1996), Physically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations on Physics and Astronomy (Institute of Physics Publishing, 1997), Mathematically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations (Institute of Physics Publishing, 1998), Practically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations on Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (Institute of Physics Publishing, 1998), Medically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations on Dentistry, Medicine and Nursing (Institute of Physics Publishing, 1999), Scientifically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations (Institute of Physics Publishing, 2000), Naturally Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations on Biology, Botany, Nature, and Zoology (Institute of Physics Publishing, 2001) and Chemically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations (Institute of Physics Publishing, 2002). About the Illustrator Andrew Slocombe was born in Bristol in 1955. He spent four years of his life at Art College where he attained his Honours Degree (Graphic Design). Since then he has tried to see the funny side to everything and considers that seeing the funny side to science has tested him to the full! He would like to thank Carl and Alma for the challenge! Astronomically Speaking A Dictionary of Quotations on Astronomy and Physics Selected and Arranged by Carl C. Gaither and Alma E. Cavazos-Gaither Illustrated by Andrew Slocombe Institute of Physics Publishing Bristol and Philadelphia Published in 2003 by Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 © 2003 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC No claim to original U.S. Government works Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 1098765432 International Standard Book Number-10: 0-7503-0868-0 (Softcover) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references are listed. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and the publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or for the consequences of their use. No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Catalog record is available from the Library of Congress Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com Taylor & Francis Group is the Academic Division of T&F Informa plc. We respectfully dedicate this book to the students, faculty and administrators of the Marlin High School, Marlin, Texas In memory of Pearl Stevenson Gaither (August 9, 1917–October 29, 2002) Wife, Mother, and Friend You will be missed Distant scintillating star, Shall I tell you what you are? Nay, for I can merely know What you were some years ago. For, the rays that reach me here May have left your photosphere Ere the fight of Waterloo— Ere the pterodactyl flew! Many stars have passed away Since your aether-shaking ray On its lengthy journey sped— So that you, perhaps, are dead! Smashed in some tremendous war With another mighty star— You and all your planets just Scattered into cosmic dust! Strange, if you have vanished quite, That we still behold your light, Playing for so long a time Some celestial pantomime! But, supposing all is well, What you’re made of, can I tell? Yes, ’twill be an easy task If my spectroscope I ask. Minchin, G.M. Nature 14 April 1898 CONTENTS No prefatory remarks can so clearly indicate the scope of this book as its Table of Contents, to which the reader is referred. Such a table is a skeleton of the subject matter presented, but it does not describe the flesh which this bare framework carries. Moulton, Forest Ray Astronomy Preface (p. v) CONTENTS vii PREFACE xv ACCURACY 1 AGE 2 ANALOGY 3 ARBITRARY 4 ASTEROID 5 ASTROLOGY 6 ASTRONAUTS 8 ASTRONOMER 10 ASTRONOMICAL 17 ASTRONOMICAL SONGS 19 ASTRONOMY 22 ASTRONOMY MNEMONICS 29 ASTROPHYSICS 32 ATOM 34 ATOMIC POWER 37 vii viii CONTENTS ATOMISM 38 AURORA BOREALIS 39 AXIAL TILT 42 AXIOM 43 BEAUTY 44 BIG BANG 48 BLACK HOLE 50 BOOK 52 CELESTIAL MOTION 54 CHANCE 55 CHANGE 56 CHAOS 57 COMET 58 COMMUNICATION 63 COMPULSORY 64 CONCEPT 65 CONSTELLATION 67 ANDROMEDA 70 ARCTURUS 70 ARIES 71 CANIS MAJOR 71 CAPRICORNUS 71 DRACO 71 LIBRA 72 LOST PLEIAD 72 ORION 72 PLEIADES 73 SAGITTARIUS 73 SCORPIO 73 SOUTHERN CROSS 74 VIRGO 74 COSMOCHEMISTRY 75 COSMOGONY 76 COSMOLOGY 77 COSMOS 79 CONTENTS ix CREATION 81 CURIOSITY 82 DARK MATTER 84 DATA 85 DEPLETION 86 DESIGN 87 DETERMINISM 88 DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS 89 DIMENSION 91 DISCOVERY 92 DISTANCE 96 DOGMA 97 DUST 98 ECLIPSE 100 ELECTRON 104 ELLIPSE 105 ENERGY 106 EQUATION 109 ERROR 110 ETERNITY 111 EVENT 113 EXPERIMENT 114 EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE 115 FACT 124 FORCE 128 FORMULA 129 FUSION 130 FUTURE 131 GALAXY 132 GEOMETRY 134 GOD 136 x CONTENTS GRAIN 140 GRAVITATIONAL LENS 141 GRAVITY 142 HEAVENS 144 HYPOTHESIS 148 IDEA 150 IGNORANCE 152 IMAGINATION 153 IMPOSSIBLE 157 INFINITE 158 INSTRUMENT 161 INTERACTION 164 KNOWLEDGE 165 LAWS 169 LEARN 172 LIFE 173 LIGHT 175 LOGIC 177 MAGNETIC 179 MAN 180 MATTER 182 MEASUREMENT 184 MECHANICS 185 MERE 186 METAPHOR 187 METEOR 188 MILKY WAY 192 MIND 195 MODEL 198 MOLECULE 199 MOMENTUM 200 CONTENTS xi MOON 201 MOON LANDING 206 MOTION 208 MUON 210 NATURE 211 NEUTRINO 217 NIGHT 218 NOTATION 220 NOVAE 221 OBSERVATION 222 OBSERVATORY 228 OBSERVER 229 ORDER 230 OTHER WORLDS 232 PARADOX 233 PARTICLE 234 PAST 236 PATTERNS 237 PHENOMENON 239 PHILOSOPHY 241 PHOTONS 244 PHYSICIST 245 PHYSICS 248 PION 256 PLANET 257 MERCURY 260 VENUS 261 EARTH 261 MARS 264 JUPITER 265 SATURN 265 URANUS 266 NEPTUNE 266 PLUTO 267 xii CONTENTS POSITRON 268 PROBLEM 269 PROGRESS 271 PROOF 273 QUANTUM 277 QUASAR 280 QUESTION 281 RADIO ASTRONOMY 283 REALITY 285 REASON 288 RED SHIFT 290 RELATIVITY 292 RESEARCH 293 SCATTERING 294 SCIENCE 295 SCIENTIFIC 308 SCIENTIST 310 SENSES 312 SHADOW 313 SIMPLICITY 315 SKY 317 SOLAR SYSTEM 321 SPACE 323 SPACETIME 328 SPACE TRAVEL 330 SPECTRA 334 SPIN 336 SPIRAL ARMS 337 STAR 338 STUDY 354 STUPIDITY 355 CONTENTS xiii SUN 356 SUNSPOT 360 SUPERNOVA 361 SYMMETRY 363 TEACH 365 TELESCOPE 366 THEORY 371 THERMODYNAMICS 376 TIME 378 TIME TRAVEL 382 TRUTH 383 UFO 385 UNCERTAINTY 386 UNDERSTAND 387 UNIVERSE 389 COSMOGENESIS 408 DYING 410 SAINT AUGUSTINE ERA 414 UNKNOWN 416 VACUUM 418 VERNAL EQUINOX 419 VERNIER 420 WAVE 421 WISDOM 422 WORK 423 WORLD 424 WRITING 426 BIBLIOGRAPHY 428 PERMISSIONS 460 SUBJECT BY AUTHOR INDEX 466 AUTHOR BY SUBJECT INDEX 521 PREFACE The overwhelming majority of authors have very little to say. If we suppose, rather charitably, that in a typical book of fifteen chapters there are only eight passages worthy of quotation, then simple mathematics will convince us that in short order there will be no original quotations left for chapter headings. The implication is obvious. Armand Blague How to Write The wisdom of the wise and the experience of ages may be preserved by quotations. Disraeli, Isaac Curiosities of Literature Somewhere we had read, “How often we rake in the litter of the printing press whilst a crown of gold and rubies is offered us in vain”. It has been our concern that a great amount of the gold and rubies, the wit and wisdom that is published will, after being read once, end up on the library shelf and be heard of no more. While we in no way claim to have found all of this wit and wisdom we have, at least, captured some of it so that it will not become lost. People generally buy a dictionary of quotations for one of two reasons—either to help in locating the source for wording of some half- remembered saying or else to better express themselves. Astronomically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations on Astronomy and Physics is the largest compilation of astronomy quotations published to date. There are many books of quotations. A large number of these books have small sections about astronomy and astronomy-related topics. Astronomically Speaking is a quotation book that is devoted to the topic of astronomy. With so many well-written books of quotations on the market is it necessary that another book of quotations is needed? We and our publisher agreed that there was a need since the standard dictionaries of quotations, for whatever cause, are sorely weak in providing entries xv xvi ASTRONOMICALLY SPEAKING devoted to quotations on astronomy. Astronomically Speaking fills that need. The understanding of the history, the accomplishments and failures, and the meanings of astronomy requires a knowledge of what has been said by the authoritative and the not so authoritative philosophers, novelists, playwrights, poets, scientists and laymen about astronomy.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Quantum Chaos in the Quantum Fluid
    Quantum chaos in the quantum fluid Raju Venugopalan Brookhaven Na<onal Laboratory Joe Fest, McGill, Montreal, June 12-14, 2012 Smoking Joe and Holy Indian Lone ranger: I think we are surrounded, Kemo sabe Tonto: What do you mean “we” $@!# Smoking Joe and Holy Indian Lone ranger: I think we are surrounded, Kemo sabe Tonto: Indeed, Lone Ranger – no worries – they are all here to praise you on your 60th ! Talk Mo<va<on: the unreasonable effec<veness of hydrodynamics in heavy ion collisions to paraphrase E. P. Wigner An ab ini<o weak coupling approach: Classical coherence of wee partons in nuclear wavefunc<ons Quantum fluctua<ons: Factoriza<on, Evolu<on, Decoherence Isotropizaon, Bose-Einstein Condensaon, Thermalizaon ? 4 Ab inio approach to heavy ion collisions RV, ICHEP review talk, 1012.4699 Color Glass Inial Glasma sQGP - Hadron Condensates Singularity perfect fluid! Gas t τ0 ? Compute properes of relevant degrees of freedom of wave fns. in a systema<c framework (as opposed to a “model”)? How is maer formed ? What are its non-equilibrium properes & lifeme? Can one “prove” thermalizaon or is the system “parally” thermal ? When is hydrodynamics applicable? How much jet quenching occurs in the Glasma? Are there novel topological effects (sphaleron transions?) Ab inio approach to heavy ion collisions RV, ICHEP review talk, 1012.4699 Color Glass Inial Glasma sQGP - Hadron Condensates Singularity perfect fluid! Gas t τ0 ? Compute properes of relevant degrees of freedom of wave fns. in a systema<c framework (as opposed to a “model”)? How
    [Show full text]
  • Quarks and Quantum Statistics
    Quarks and quantum statistics O.W. Greenberg∗† Center for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-4111, USA and Helsinki Institute for Physics P.O.Box 64 (Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2) FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: [email protected] I write about Héctor, his contributions to the early work in the quark model, and a general discus- sion of quantum statistics arXiv:1102.0764v1 [physics.hist-ph] 3 Feb 2011 Quarks, Strings and the Cosmos - Héctor Rubinstein Memorial Symposium August 09-11, 2010 AlbaNova )Stockholm) Sweden ∗Speaker. †University of Maryland Preprint PP-11-001 c Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence. http://pos.sissa.it/ Quarks and quantum statistics O.W. Greenberg 1. Introduction Héctor and I first met at a summer workshop in Bebek, near Istanbul, Turkey. The workshop photograph is at the end of this paper. At first sight, Héctor is nowhere to be seen. Actually, he is there, but he is turned around talking or arguing with somebody behind him. That is Héctor, too full of energy to pose passively for a photo. The tallest person above the left of the last row is Shelly Glashow, to his left is Nick Bur- goyne. One row down, from the left, are Arthur Jaffe, Joe Dothan, Sidney Coleman, Gian-Fausto Dell’Antonio, Bruria Kaufman, and Eduardo Caianiello, among others. On the left of the third row down is H.R. Mani, and on the right of that row, there is Héctor, turned facing backwards as just mentioned.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:0801.2562V2 [Hep-Ph]
    NATURALLY SPEAKING: The Naturalness Criterion and Physics at the LHC Gian Francesco GIUDICE CERN, Theoretical Physics Division Geneva, Switzerland 1 Naturalness in Scientific Thought Everything is natural: if it weren’t, it wouldn’t be. Mary Catherine Bateson [1] Almost every branch of science has its own version of the “naturalness criterion”. In environmental sciences, it refers to the degree to which an area is pristine, free from human influence, and characterized by native species [2]. In mathematics, its meaning is associated with the intuitiveness of certain fundamental concepts, viewed as an intrinsic part of our thinking [3]. One can find the use of naturalness criterions in computer science (as a measure of adaptability), in agriculture (as an acceptable level of product manipulation), in linguistics (as translation quality assessment of sentences that do not reflect the natural and idiomatic forms of the receptor language). But certainly nowhere else but in particle physics has the mutable concept of naturalness taken a form which has become so influential in the development of the field. The role of naturalness in the sense of “æsthetic beauty” is a powerful guiding principle for physicists as they try to construct new theories. This may appear surprising since the final product is often a mathematically sophisticated theory based on deep fundamental principles, arXiv:0801.2562v2 [hep-ph] 30 Mar 2008 and one could believe that subjective æsthetic arguments have no place in it. Nevertheless, this is not true and often theoretical physicists formulate their theories inspired by criteria of simplicity and beauty, i.e. by what Nelson [4] defines as “structural naturalness”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Co-Discovery of Conservation Laws and Particle Families
    The Co-Discovery of Conservation Laws and Particle Families 1, Oliver Schulte ∗ Department of Philosophy and School of Computing Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6, Canada Abstract This paper presents an epistemological analysis of the search for new conservation laws in particle physics. Discovering conservation laws has posed various challenges concerning the underdetermination of theory by evidence, to which physicists have found various responses. These responses include an appeal to a plenitude principle, a maxim for inductive inference, looking for a parsimonious system of generaliza- tions, and unifying particle ontology and particle dynamics. The connection between conservation laws and ontological categories is a major theme in my analysis: While there are infinitely many conservation law theories that are empirically equivalent to the laws physicists adopted for the fundamental Standard Model of particle physics, I show that the standard family laws are the only ones that determine and are de- termined by the simplest division of particles into families. Key words: Conservation Laws, Underdetermination, Plenitude, Simplicity, Natural Kinds, Induction 1 Introduction: Conservation Laws and Underdetermination The underdetermination of belief by evidence is a central topic in epistemology, as it is the point of departure for skeptical arguments against the possibility of knowledge. One aim of the philosophy of science is to study underdetermina- tion as it arises in scientific practice. Such case studies refine our understanding ∗ Corresponding author. Email address: [email protected] (Oliver Schulte ). 1 This research was supported by a research grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
    [Show full text]
  • Phenomenology and Astrophysics of Gravitationally-Bound Condensates of Axion-Like Particles
    Phenomenology and Astrophysics of Gravitationally-Bound Condensates of Axion-Like Particles Joshua Armstrong Eby B.S. Physics, Indiana University South Bend (2011) A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Physics of the College of Arts and Sciences Committee Chair: L.C.R. Wijewardhana, Ph.D Date: 4/24/2017 ii iii Abstract Light, spin-0 particles are ubiquitous in theories of physics beyond the Standard Model, and many of these make good candidates for the identity of dark matter. One very well-motivated candidate of this type is the axion. Due to their small mass and adherence to Bose statis- tics, axions can coalesce into heavy, gravitationally-bound condensates known as boson stars, also known as axion stars (in particular). In this work, we outline our recent progress in attempts to determine the properties of axion stars. We begin with a brief overview of the Standard Model, axions, and bosonic condensates in general. Then, in the context of axion stars, we will present our recent work, which includes: numerical estimates of the macroscopic properties (mass, radius, and particle number) of gravitationally stable axion stars; a cal- culation of their decay lifetime through number-changing interactions; an analysis of the gravitational collapse process for very heavy states; and an investigation of the implications of axion stars as dark matter. The basic conclusions of our work are that weakly-bound axion stars are only stable up to some calculable maximum mass, whereas states with larger masses collapse to a small radius, but do not form black holes.
    [Show full text]
  • Pos(HRMS)024 † ∗ [email protected] Speaker
    Quarks and quantum statistics PoS(HRMS)024 O.W. Greenberg∗† Center for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-4111, USA and Helsinki Institute for Physics P.O.Box 64 (Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2) FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: [email protected] I write about Héctor, his contributions to the early work in the quark model, and a general discus- sion of quantum statistics Quarks, Strings and the Cosmos - Héctor Rubinstein Memorial Symposium August 09-11, 2010 AlbaNova )Stockholm) Sweden ∗Speaker. †University of Maryland Preprint PP-11-001 c Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence. http://pos.sissa.it/ Quarks and quantum statistics O.W. Greenberg 1. Introduction Héctor and I first met at a summer workshop in Bebek, near Istanbul, Turkey. The workshop photograph is at the end of this paper. At first sight, Héctor is nowhere to be seen. Actually, he is there, but he is turned around talking or arguing with somebody behind him. That is Héctor, too full of energy to pose passively for a photo. The tallest person above the left of the last row is Shelly Glashow, to his left is Nick Bur- goyne. One row down, from the left, are Arthur Jaffe, Joe Dothan, Sidney Coleman, Gian-Fausto Dell’Antonio, Bruria Kaufman, and Eduardo Caianiello, among others. On the left of the third row PoS(HRMS)024 down is H.R. Mani, and on the right of that row, there is Héctor, turned facing backwards as just mentioned.
    [Show full text]
  • Physics Beyond the Standard Model
    2014 BUSSTEPP LECTURES Physics Beyond the Standard Model Ben Gripaios Cavendish Laboratory, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, United Kingdom. November 11, 2014 E-mail: [email protected] Contents 1 Avant propos2 2 Notation and conventions2 3 The Standard Model4 3.1 The gauge sector5 3.2 The flavour sector5 3.3 The Higgs sector6 4 Miracles of the SM6 4.1 Flavour6 4.2 CP -violation8 4.3 Electroweak precision tests and custodial symmetry8 4.4 Accidental symmetries and proton decay 10 4.5 What isn’t explained 11 5 Beyond the SM - Effective field theory 12 5.1 Effective field theory 13 5.2 D = 0: the cosmological constant 15 5.3 D = 2: the Higgs mass parameter 15 5.4 D = 4: marginal operators 15 5.5 D = 5: neutrino masses and mixings 16 5.6 D = 6: trouble at t’mill 16 6 Grand Unification 16 7 Approaches to the hierarchy problem 19 7.1 SUSY 20 7.2 Large Extra Dimensions 21 7.3 Composite Higgs 21 8 The axion 26 9 Afterword 28 – 1 – Acknowledgments I thank my collaborators and many lecturers who have provided inspiration over the years; some of their excellent notes can be found in the references. The references are intended to provide an entry point into the literature, and so are necessarily incomplete; I apologize to those left out. For errors and comments, please contact me by e-mail at the address on the front page. 1 Avant propos On the one hand, giving 4 lectures on physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) is an impossible task, because there is so much that one could cover.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyrighted Material
    bindex_derman.qxd 7/21/04 12:18 PM Page 273 Index A American Stock Exchange, A Programming Language (APL), 114 options conference,Amex, 154 Academic jobs, scarcity, 51 warrants, 217 Academics, isolation, 87–88 Analytics (company), 119 Achyuthuni, Rao, 219 Anderson, P.W., 27 Adams, Scott, 103 Animorphic (company), 182 Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) Anthroposophists, 89 ARM-based structures, 196 APL. See A Programming Language idiosyncrasies, 192 Applied mathematics 21 pools, 196–198 Applied physics, employment, 92 prepayment rates, regression model, Arab oil embargo (1973), 4 201 Arb group. See Meriwether research group, 190 Area 10. See Bell Laboratories Adler, Dennis, 141 Area 90 (Network Systems). See Bell Adler, Margot, 96 Laboratories AI. See Artificial intelligence ARM. See Adjustable Rate Mortgage Akers, Karen, 96 Aron, J., 205 Algorithmics (financial software Art of Computer Programming,The company), 179 (Knuth), 114 Allen, Paul, 115 Arthur D. Little and Co., 144 Allstate (company), 6 Artificial intelligence (AI), Goldman Amazon.com, 108 approach, 208 American Express Asian call option, purpose, 222 merger, 179COPYRIGHTEDAspen MATERIAL Center for Physics, 57, 81 American Finance Association, 241 Asymetrix (company), 115 American Mathematical Society, 78 Atomic physics, 21, 38, 82 American mortgage market, size, AT&T. See Bell Laboratories 192 advanced switching systems, 4 American Physical Society, 76 business uniform, 126 meeting (1969), 94 employment, view of, 105 American put value, closed-form penal colony, experienced as, 95
    [Show full text]
  • Memories of Murray and the Quark Model∗
    Memories of Murray and the Quark Model∗ George Zweig 26-169, Research Laboratory of Electronics Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA [email protected] August 10, 2010 Abstract Life at Caltech with Murray Gell-Mann in the early 1960's is remem- bered. Our different paths to quarks, leading to different views of their reality, are described. Prologue: In 1964 Dan Kevles arrived at Caltech from Princeton as a young assistant professor of history, specializing in the history of science. As an undergraduate he had majored in physics. Shortly after his arrival I barged into his office, told him that Elementary Particle Physics was in great flux, tremendously exciting; history was in the making, just waiting for him to record. And much of it involved Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann, whose offices were just 600 feet away! My excitement was not contagious. Dan lectured me, saying that no one can recognize what is historically important while it is happening. One must wait many years to understand the historical significance of events. What he could have added is that it is convenient for historical figures to be unavailable ∗Talk presented at the \Conference in Honor of Murray Gell-Mann's 80th Birthday," Nanyang Technical University, Singapore, February 24, 2010. 1 to contradict historians who document their actions, and sometimes even their motives.1 Well, I'm going to risk it. Today I'm going to tell you about the Murray Gell-Mann I saw in action, and a little bit about the history of the quark model.
    [Show full text]
  • NON-HERMITIAN QUANTUM MECHANICS by KATHERINE
    NON-HERMITIAN QUANTUM MECHANICS by KATHERINE JONES-SMITH Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Thesis Advisor: Dr. Harsh Mathur Department of Physics CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY May, 2010 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of Katherine Jones-Smith, candidate for the Ph.D degree. (signed) Harsh Mathur (chair of the committee) Idit Zehavi Tanmay Vachaspati Phil Taylor 3/31/10 We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. To Fema The Far Flung Correspondent Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Todd PT Quantum Mechanics 5 2.1 Time-Reversal in Quantum Mechanics . .5 2.2 Teven PT Quantum Mechanics . .7 2.2.1 Properties of the Inner Product . .9 2.2.2 PT Inner Product . 11 2.2.3 Observables . 12 2.2.4 Criteria for Teven Hamiltonians . 15 2.3 Todd PT Quantum Mechanics . 19 2.3.1 Construction and Implications of Criteria . 21 2.4 New Hamiltonians . 30 2.4.1 Teven Hamiltonians . 31 2.4.2 Todd Hamiltonians . 32 3 Relativistic Non-Hermitian Quantum Mechanics and the Non-Hermitian Dirac Equation 35 3.1 Dirac Hamiltonian . 36 3.1.1 Properties of the Dirac Algebra . 37 3.1.2 Fundamental Representation . 43 3.1.3 Dirac quartet . 45 3.2 PT Dirac Equation . 50 3.2.1 Construction and Conditions . 51 3.3 Model 4 . 59 3.4 Model 8 . 66 3.4.1 Construction . 67 3.4.2 CPT Inner Product . 78 4 Potential Applications within Condensed Matter 84 4.1 Magnets .
    [Show full text]
  • Hadron Spectroscopy with Kaon Beam
    Hadron Spectroscopy with Kaon Beam Boris Grube Institute for Hadronic Structure and Fundamental Symmetries Technische Universität München Garching, Germany Workshop on Dilepton Productions with Meson and Antiproton Beams ECT*, Trento, 09. Nov 2017 E COMPASS 1 8 α Hadrons and Strong Interaction Binding of quarks and gluons into hadrons governed by low-energy (long-distance) regime of QCD Least understood aspect of QCD Perturbation expansion in αs not applicable Revert to models or numerical simulation of QCD (lattice QCD) Details of binding related to hadron masses Only small fraction of proton mass explained by Higgs mechanism ⇒ most generated dynamically Hadrons reflect workings of QCD at low energies Measurement of hadron spectra and hadron decays gives valuable input to theory and phenomenology 2 Boris Grube, TU München Hadron Spectroscopy with Kaon Beam Hadrons and Strong Interaction Binding of quarks and gluons into 0.5 hadrons governed by low-energy July 2009 α s(Q) (long-distance) regime of QCD Deep Inelastic Scattering + – 0.4 e e Annihilation Least understood aspect of QCD Heavy Quarkonia Perturbation expansion in αs not 0.3 applicable Revert to models or numerical simulation of QCD (lattice QCD) 0.2 Details of binding related to hadron masses 0.1 QCD α s (Μ Z ) = 0.1184 ± 0.0007 1 10 100 Only small fraction of proton mass Q [GeV] explained by Higgs mechanism ⇒ most generated dynamically Hadrons reflect workings of QCD at low energies Measurement of hadron spectra and hadron decays gives valuable input to theory and phenomenology
    [Show full text]
  • Plenitude Philosophy and Chemical Elements
    Plenitude Philosophy and Chemical Elements Helge Kragh Abstract: According to the principle of plenitude, or what in a different ver- sion is also known as the totalitarian principle, what can possibly exist does ac- tually exist. This metaphysical idea has in the past played an important heuris- tic role in the life sciences and can still be found in some areas of modern sci- ence. The paper critically examines how chemical ideas about elements and their compounds have on occasions been inspired by plenitude reasoning if mostly implicitly. The emergence and interpretation of the periodic table is one case and the existence of exotic forms of matter, such as muonium and superheavy elements, is another. Generally the principle of plenitude problem- atizes the fundamental ontological notion of what it means for a chemical en- tity to exist in nature. Keywords : Plenitude, totalitarian principle, elements, periodic table, potential ex- istence. 1. Introduction Scientific arguments are usually based on a disciplined dialectical interplay between theories and relevant experiments or observations. But in addition to these standard elements there often enter, in a few cases explicitly but more often implicitly, elements of a less rational and well-defined nature in the form of regulative methodological or ontological principles. The best known and most widely used of these principles is the principle of simplicity or par- simony, an entirely metaphysical assumption that nonetheless has played and still plays a considerable role in the world of science (Baker 2016, Hoffmann et al . 1997). In the version of Occam’s razor the simplicity assumption en- tered Principia Mathematica , where Newton (1999, p.
    [Show full text]