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Cluster Decomposition Theorem
In physics, the cluster decomposition property states that experiments carried out far from each other cannot influence each other. Usually applied to quantum field theory, it requires that vacuum expectation values of operators localized in bounded regions factorize whenever these regions becomes sufficiently distant from each other. First formulated by Eyvind H. Wichmann and James H. Crichton in 1963 in the context of the S-matrix, it was conjectured by Steven Weinberg that in the low energy limit the cluster decomposition property, together with Lorentz invariance and quantum mechanics, inevitably lead to quantum field theory. String theory satisfies all three of the conditions and so provides a counter-example against this being true at all energy scales. Formulation The S-matrix S_ describes the amplitude for a process with an initial state \alpha evolving into a final state \beta. If the initial and final states consist of two clusters, with \alpha_1 and \beta_1 close to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its 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." Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines, with its main goal being to understand how the universe behaves. "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 physic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fourier Transform
A Fourier transform (FT) is a mathematical transform that decomposes functions into frequency components, which are represented by the output of the transform as a function of frequency. Most commonly functions of time or space are transformed, which will output a function depending on temporal frequency or spatial frequency respectively. That process is also called ''analysis''. An example application would be decomposing the waveform of a musical chord into terms of the intensity of its constituent pitches. The term ''Fourier transform'' refers to both the frequency domain representation and the mathematical operation that associates the frequency domain representation to a function of space or time. The Fourier transform of a function is a complex-valued function representing the complex sinusoids that comprise the original function. For each frequency, the magnitude (absolute value) of the complex value represents the amplitude of a constituent complex sinusoid with that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euler Characteristic
In mathematics, and more specifically in algebraic topology and polyhedral combinatorics, the Euler characteristic (or Euler number, or Euler–Poincaré characteristic) is a topological invariant, a number that describes a topological space's shape or structure regardless of the way it is bent. It is commonly denoted by \chi ( Greek lower-case letter chi). The Euler characteristic was originally defined for polyhedra and used to prove various theorems about them, including the classification of the Platonic solids. It was stated for Platonic solids in 1537 in an unpublished manuscript by Francesco Maurolico. Leonhard Euler, for whom the concept is named, introduced it for convex polyhedra more generally but failed to rigorously prove that it is an invariant. In modern mathematics, the Euler characteristic arises from homology and, more abstractly, homological algebra. Polyhedra The Euler characteristic \chi was classically defined for the surfaces of polyhedra, acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connectivity (graph Theory)
In mathematics and computer science, connectivity is one of the basic concepts of graph theory: it asks for the minimum number of elements (nodes or edges) that need to be removed to separate the remaining nodes into two or more isolated subgraphs. It is closely related to the theory of network flow problems. The connectivity of a graph is an important measure of its resilience as a network. Connected vertices and graphs In an undirected graph , two '' vertices'' and are called connected if contains a path from to . Otherwise, they are called disconnected. If the two vertices are additionally connected by a path of length , i.e. by a single edge, the vertices are called adjacent. A graph is said to be connected if every pair of vertices in the graph is connected. This means that there is a path between every pair of vertices. An undirected graph that is not connected is called disconnected. An undirected graph ''G'' is therefore disconnected if there exist two vertices ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vertex (graph Theory)
In discrete mathematics, and more specifically in graph theory, a vertex (plural vertices) or node is the fundamental unit of which graphs are formed: an undirected graph consists of a set of vertices and a set of edges (unordered pairs of vertices), while a directed graph consists of a set of vertices and a set of arcs (ordered pairs of vertices). In a diagram of a graph, a vertex is usually represented by a circle with a label, and an edge is represented by a line or arrow extending from one vertex to another. From the point of view of graph theory, vertices are treated as featureless and indivisible objects, although they may have additional structure depending on the application from which the graph arises; for instance, a semantic network is a graph in which the vertices represent concepts or classes of objects. The two vertices forming an edge are said to be the endpoints of this edge, and the edge is said to be incident to the vertices. A vertex ''w'' is said to be ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creation And Annihilation Operators
Creation operators and annihilation operators are mathematical operators that have widespread applications in quantum mechanics, notably in the study of quantum harmonic oscillators and many-particle systems. An annihilation operator (usually denoted \hat) lowers the number of particles in a given state by one. A creation operator (usually denoted \hat^\dagger) increases the number of particles in a given state by one, and it is the adjoint of the annihilation operator. In many subfields of physics and chemistry, the use of these operators instead of wavefunctions is known as second quantization. They were introduced by Paul Dirac. Creation and annihilation operators can act on states of various types of particles. For example, in quantum chemistry and many-body theory the creation and annihilation operators often act on electron states. They can also refer specifically to the ladder operators for the quantum harmonic oscillator. In the latter case, the raising operator is in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axiom
An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or fit' or 'that which commends itself as evident'. The term has subtle differences in definition when used in the context of different fields of study. As defined in classic philosophy, an axiom is a statement that is so evident or well-established, that it is accepted without controversy or question. As used in modern logic, an axiom is a premise or starting point for reasoning. As used in mathematics, the term ''axiom'' is used in two related but distinguishable senses: "logical axioms" and "non-logical axioms". Logical axioms are usually statements that are taken to be true within the system of logic they define and are often shown in symbolic form (e.g., (''A'' and ''B'') implies ''A''), while non-logical axioms (e.g., ) are actually ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constructive Quantum Field Theory
In mathematical physics, constructive quantum field theory is the field devoted to showing that quantum field theory can be defined in terms of precise mathematical structures. This demonstration requires new mathematics, in a sense analogous to classical real analysis, putting calculus on a mathematically rigorous foundation. Weak, strong, and electromagnetic forces of nature are believed to have their natural description in terms of quantum fields. Attempts to put quantum field theory on a basis of completely defined concepts have involved most branches of mathematics, including functional analysis, differential equations, probability theory, representation theory, geometry, and topology. It is known that a ''quantum field'' is inherently hard to handle using conventional mathematical techniques like explicit estimates. This is because a quantum field has the general nature of an '' operator-valued distribution'', a type of object from mathematical analysis. The existe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory
Axiomatic quantum field theory is a mathematical discipline which aims to describe quantum field theory in terms of rigorous axioms. It is strongly associated with functional analysis and operator algebras, but has also been studied in recent years from a more geometric and functorial perspective. There are two main challenges in this discipline. First, one must propose a set of axioms which describe the general properties of any mathematical object that deserves to be called a "quantum field theory". Then, one gives rigorous mathematical constructions of examples satisfying these axioms. Analytic approaches Wightman axioms The first set of axioms for quantum field theories, known as the Wightman axioms, were proposed by Arthur Wightman in the early 1950s. These axioms attempt to describe QFTs on flat Minkowski spacetime by regarding quantum fields as operator-valued distributions acting on a Hilbert space. In practice, one often uses the Wightman reconstruction theorem, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wightman Axioms
In mathematical physics, the Wightman axioms (also called Gårding–Wightman axioms), named after Arthur Wightman, are an attempt at a mathematically rigorous formulation of quantum field theory. Arthur Wightman formulated the axioms in the early 1950s, but they were first published only in 1964 after Haag–Ruelle scattering theory affirmed their significance. The axioms exist in the context of constructive quantum field theory and are meant to provide a basis for rigorous treatment of quantum fields and strict foundation for the perturbative methods used. One of the Millennium Prize Problems, Millennium Problems is to realize the Yang–Mills existence and mass gap, Wightman axioms in the case of Yang–Mills fields. Rationale One basic idea of the Wightman axioms is that there is a Hilbert space, upon which the Poincaré group acts unitary representation, unitarily. In this way, the concepts of energy, momentum, angular momentum and center of mass (corresponding to boosts) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conformal Field Theory
A conformal field theory (CFT) is a quantum field theory that is invariant under conformal transformations. In two dimensions, there is an infinite-dimensional algebra of local conformal transformations, and conformal field theories can sometimes be exactly solved or classified. Conformal field theory has important applications to condensed matter physics, statistical mechanics, quantum statistical mechanics, and string theory. Statistical and condensed matter systems are indeed often conformally invariant at their thermodynamic or quantum critical points. Scale invariance vs conformal invariance In quantum field theory, scale invariance is a common and natural symmetry, because any fixed point of the renormalization group is by definition scale invariant. Conformal symmetry is stronger than scale invariance, and one needs additional assumptions to argue that it should appear in nature. The basic idea behind its plausibility is that ''local'' scale invariant theories have their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Correlation Function (quantum Field Theory)
In quantum field theory, correlation functions, often referred to as correlators or Green's functions, are vacuum expectation values of time-ordered products of field operators. They are a key object of study in quantum field theory where they can be used to calculate various observables such as S-matrix elements. Definition For a scalar field theory with a single field \phi(x) and a vacuum state , \Omega\rangle at every event (x) in spacetime, the n-point correlation function is the vacuum expectation value of the time-ordered products of n field operators in the Heisenberg picture G_n(x_1,\dots, x_n) = \langle \Omega, T\, \Omega\rangle. Here T\ is the time-ordering operator for which orders the field operators so that earlier time field operators appear to the right of later time field operators. By transforming the fields and states into the interaction picture, this is rewritten as G_n(x_1, \dots, x_n) = \frac, where , 0\rangle is the ground state of the free theo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
