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Euler's Three-body Problem
In physics and astronomy, Euler's three-body problem is to solve for the motion of a particle that is acted upon by the gravitational field of two other point masses that are fixed in space. This problem is exactly solvable, and yields an approximate solution for particles moving in the gravitational fields of prolate and oblate spheroids. This problem is named after Leonhard Euler, who discussed it in memoirs published in 1760. Important extensions and analyses were contributed subsequently by Lagrange, Liouville, Laplace, Jacobi, Darboux, Le Verrier, Velde, Hamilton, Poincaré, Birkhoff and E. T. Whittaker, among others. Euler's problem also covers the case when the particle is acted upon by other inverse-square central forces, such as the electrostatic interaction described by Coulomb's law. The classical solutions of the Euler problem have been used to study chemical bonding, using a semiclassical approximation of the energy levels of a single electron moving in the f ... [...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] |
Arnold Sommerfeld
Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretical physics. He served as doctoral supervisor for many Nobel Prize winners in physics and chemistry (only J. J. Thomson's record of mentorship is comparable to his). He introduced the second quantum number ( azimuthal quantum number) and the third quantum number ( magnetic quantum number). He also introduced the fine-structure constant and pioneered X-ray wave theory. Early life and education Sommerfeld was born in 1868 to a family with deep ancestral roots in Prussia. His mother Cäcilie Matthias (1839–1902) was the daughter of a Potsdam builder. His father Franz Sommerfeld (1820–1906) was a physician from a leading family in Königsberg, where Arnold's grandfather had resettled from the hinterland in 1822 for a career as Court Pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gravitation
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the strong interaction, 1036 times weaker than the electromagnetic force and 1029 times weaker than the weak interaction. As a result, it has no significant influence at the level of subatomic particles. However, gravity is the most significant interaction between objects at the macroscopic scale, and it determines the motion of planets, stars, galaxies, and even light. On Earth, gravity gives weight to physical objects, and the Moon's gravity is responsible for sublunar tides in the oceans (the corresponding antipodal tide is caused by the inertia of the Earth and Moon orbiting one another). Gravity also has many important biological functions, helping to guide the growth of plants through the process of gravitropism and influencing th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inverse-square Law
In science, an inverse-square law is any scientific law stating that a specified physical quantity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source of that physical quantity. The fundamental cause for this can be understood as geometric dilution corresponding to point-source radiation into three-dimensional space. Radar energy expands during both the signal transmission and the reflected return, so the inverse square for both paths means that the radar will receive energy according to the inverse fourth power of the range. To prevent dilution of energy while propagating a signal, certain methods can be used such as a waveguide, which acts like a canal does for water, or how a gun barrel restricts hot gas expansion to one dimension in order to prevent loss of energy transfer to a bullet. Formula In mathematical notation the inverse square law can be expressed as an intensity (I) varying as a function of distance (d) from some centre. The intensity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Gaston Darboux
Jean-Gaston Darboux French Academy of Sciences, FAS Institute of France, MIF Royal Society of London, FRS Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE (14 August 1842 – 23 February 1917) was a French mathematician. Life According this birth certificate he was born in Nîmes in France on 14 August 1842, at 1 am. However, probably due to the midnight birth, Darboux himself usually reported his own birthday as 13 August, ''e.g.'' ihis filled form for Légion d'Honneur His parents were François Darboux, businessman of mercery, and Alix Gourdoux. The father died when Gaston was 7. His mother undertook the mercery business with great courage, and insisted that her children receive good education. Gaston had a younger brother, Louis, who taught mathematics at the Lycée Nîmes for almost his entire life. He studied at the Nîmes Lycée and the Montpellier Lycée before being accepted as the top qualifier at the École normale supérieure in 1861, and received his PhD there in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limiting Case (mathematics)
In mathematics, a limiting case of a mathematical object is a special case that arises when one or more components of the object take on their most extreme possible values. For example: * In statistics, the limiting case of the binomial distribution is the Poisson distribution. As the number of events tends to infinity in the binomial distribution, the random variable changes from the binomial to the Poisson distribution. *A circle is a limiting case of various other figures, including the Cartesian oval, the ellipse, the superellipse, and the Cassini oval. Each type of figure is a circle for certain values of the defining parameters, and the generic figure appears more like a circle as the limiting values are approached. *Archimedes calculated an approximate value of π by treating the circle as the limiting case of a regular polygon with 3 × 2''n'' sides, as ''n'' gets large. *In electricity and magnetism, the long wavelength limit is the limiting case when the wavelength i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laplace–Runge–Lenz Vector
In classical mechanics, the Laplace–Runge–Lenz (LRL) vector is a vector used chiefly to describe the shape and orientation of the orbit of one astronomical body around another, such as a binary star or a planet revolving around a star. For two bodies interacting by Newtonian gravity, the LRL vector is a constant of motion, meaning that it is the same no matter where it is calculated on the orbit; equivalently, the LRL vector is said to be '' conserved''. More generally, the LRL vector is conserved in all problems in which two bodies interact by a central force that varies as the inverse square of the distance between them; such problems are called Kepler problems. The hydrogen atom is a Kepler problem, since it comprises two charged particles interacting by Coulomb's law of electrostatics, another inverse-square central force. The LRL vector was essential in the first quantum mechanical derivation of the spectrum of the hydrogen atom, before the development of the Schrö ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angular Momentum
In physics, angular momentum (rarely, moment of momentum or rotational momentum) is the rotational analog of linear momentum. It is an important physical quantity because it is a conserved quantity—the total angular momentum of a closed system remains constant. Angular momentum has both a direction and a magnitude, and both are conserved. Bicycles and motorcycles, frisbees, rifled bullets, and gyroscopes owe their useful properties to conservation of angular momentum. Conservation of angular momentum is also why hurricanes form spirals and neutron stars have high rotational rates. In general, conservation limits the possible motion of a system, but it does not uniquely determine it. The three-dimensional angular momentum for a point particle is classically represented as a pseudovector , the cross product of the particle's position vector (relative to some origin) and its momentum vector; the latter is in Newtonian mechanics. Unlike linear momentum, angular m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Momentum
In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass and is its velocity (also a vector quantity), then the object's momentum is : \mathbf = m \mathbf. In the International System of Units (SI), the unit of measurement of momentum is the kilogram metre per second (kg⋅m/s), which is equivalent to the newton-second. Newton's second law of motion states that the rate of change of a body's momentum is equal to the net force acting on it. Momentum depends on the frame of reference, but in any inertial frame it is a ''conserved'' quantity, meaning that if a closed system is not affected by external forces, its total linear momentum does not change. Momentum is also conserved in special relativity (with a modified formula) and, in a modified form, in electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, quantum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Runge–Kutta Methods
In numerical analysis, the Runge–Kutta methods ( ) are a family of implicit and explicit iterative methods, which include the Euler method, used in temporal discretization for the approximate solutions of simultaneous nonlinear equations. These methods were developed around 1900 by the German mathematicians Carl Runge and Wilhelm Kutta. The Runge–Kutta method The most widely known member of the Runge–Kutta family is generally referred to as "RK4", the "classic Runge–Kutta method" or simply as "the Runge–Kutta method". Let an initial value problem be specified as follows: : \frac = f(t, y), \quad y(t_0) = y_0. Here y is an unknown function (scalar or vector) of time t, which we would like to approximate; we are told that \frac, the rate at which y changes, is a function of t and of y itself. At the initial time t_0 the corresponding y value is y_0. The function f and the initial conditions t_0, y_0 are given. Now we pick a step-size ''h'' > 0 and define: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weierstrass's Elliptic Functions
In mathematics, the Weierstrass elliptic functions are elliptic functions that take a particularly simple form. They are named for Karl Weierstrass. This class of functions are also referred to as ℘-functions and they are usually denoted by the symbol ℘, a uniquely fancy script ''p''. They play an important role in the theory of elliptic functions. A ℘-function together with its derivative can be used to parameterize elliptic curves and they generate the field of elliptic functions with respect to a given period lattice. Symbol for Weierstrass \wp-function Definition Let \omega_1,\omega_2\in\mathbb be two complex numbers that are linearly independent over \mathbb and let \Lambda:=\mathbb\omega_1+\mathbb\omega_2:=\ be the lattice generated by those numbers. Then the \wp-function is defined as follows: \weierp(z,\omega_1,\omega_2):=\weierp(z,\Lambda) := \frac + \sum_\left(\frac 1 - \frac 1 \right). This series converges locally uniformly absolutely in \ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lambert W Function
In mathematics, the Lambert function, also called the omega function or product logarithm, is a multivalued function, namely the branches of the converse relation of the function , where is any complex number and is the exponential function. For each integer there is one branch, denoted by , which is a complex-valued function of one complex argument. is known as the principal branch. These functions have the following property: if and are any complex numbers, then :w e^ = z holds if and only if :w=W_k(z) \ \ \text k. When dealing with real numbers only, the two branches and suffice: for real numbers and the equation :y e^ = x can be solved for only if ; we get if and the two values and if . The Lambert relation cannot be expressed in terms of elementary functions. It is useful in combinatorics, for instance, in the enumeration of trees. It can be used to solve various equations involving exponentials (e.g. the maxima of the Planck, Bose–Einstein, and Fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
