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Fermion Doubling
In lattice field theory, fermion doubling occurs when naively putting fermionic fields on a lattice, resulting in more fermionic states than expected. For the naively discretized Dirac fermions in d Euclidean dimensions, each fermionic field results in 2^d identical fermion species, referred to as different tastes of the fermion. The fermion doubling problem is intractably linked to chiral invariance by the Nielsen–Ninomiya theorem. Most strategies used to solve the problem require using modified fermions which reduce to the Dirac fermion only in the continuum limit. Naive fermion discretization For simplicity we will consider a four-dimensional theory of a free fermion, although the fermion doubling problem remains in arbitrary dimensions and even if interactions are included. Lattice field theory is usually carried out in Euclidean spacetime arrived at from Minkowski spacetime after a Wick rotation, where the continuum Dirac action takes the form : S_F psi, \bar \psi= \in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lattice Field Theory
In physics, lattice field theory is the study of lattice models of quantum field theory, that is, of field theory on a space or spacetime that has been discretised onto a lattice. Details Although most lattice field theories are not exactly solvable, they are of tremendous appeal because they can be studied by simulation on a computer, often using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. One hopes that, by performing simulations on larger and larger lattices, while making the lattice spacing smaller and smaller, one will be able to recover the behavior of the continuum theory as the continuum limit is approached. Just as in all lattice models, numerical simulation gives access to field configurations that are not accessible to perturbation theory, such as solitons. Likewise, non-trivial vacuum states can be discovered and probed. The method is particularly appealing for the quantization of a gauge theory. Most quantization methods keep Poincaré invariance manifest but sacrifice mani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finite Difference
A finite difference is a mathematical expression of the form . If a finite difference is divided by , one gets a difference quotient. The approximation of derivatives by finite differences plays a central role in finite difference methods for the numerical solution of differential equations, especially boundary value problems. The difference operator, commonly denoted \Delta is the operator that maps a function to the function \Delta /math> defined by :\Delta x)= f(x+1)-f(x). A difference equation is a functional equation that involves the finite difference operator in the same way as a differential equation involves derivatives. There are many similarities between difference equations and differential equations, specially in the solving methods. Certain recurrence relations can be written as difference equations by replacing iteration notation with finite differences. In numerical analysis, finite differences are widely used for approximating derivatives, and the term " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wave Function
A wave function in quantum physics is a mathematical description of the quantum state of an isolated quantum system. The wave function is a complex-valued probability amplitude, and the probabilities for the possible results of measurements made on the system can be derived from it. The most common symbols for a wave function are the Greek letters and (lower-case and capital psi, respectively). The wave function is a function of the degrees of freedom corresponding to some maximal set of commuting observables. Once such a representation is chosen, the wave function can be derived from the quantum state. For a given system, the choice of which commuting degrees of freedom to use is not unique, and correspondingly the domain of the wave function is also not unique. For instance, it may be taken to be a function of all the position coordinates of the particles over position space, or the momenta of all the particles over momentum space; the two are related by a Fourier tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirac Algebra
In mathematical physics, the Dirac algebra is the Clifford algebra \text_(\mathbb). This was introduced by the mathematical physicist P. A. M. Dirac in 1928 in developing the Dirac equation for spin-½ particles with a matrix representation of the gamma matrices, which represent the generators of the algebra. The gamma matrices are a set of four 4\times 4 matrices \ = \ with entries in \mathbb, that is, elements of \text_(\mathbb), satisfying :\displaystyle\ = \gamma^\mu \gamma^\nu + \gamma^\nu \gamma^\mu = 2 \eta^, where by convention, an identity matrix has been suppressed on the right-hand side. The numbers \eta^ \, are the components of the Minkowski metric. For this article we fix the signature to be ''mostly minus'', that is, (+,-,-,-). The Dirac algebra is then the linear span of the identity, the gamma matrices \gamma^\mu as well as any linearly independent products of the gamma matrices. This forms a finite-dimensional algebra over the field \mathbb or \mathbb, with d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Group Representation
In the mathematical field of representation theory, group representations describe abstract groups in terms of bijective linear transformations of a vector space to itself (i.e. vector space automorphisms); in particular, they can be used to represent group elements as invertible matrices so that the group operation can be represented by matrix multiplication. In chemistry, a group representation can relate mathematical group elements to symmetric rotations and reflections of molecules. Representations of groups are important because they allow many group-theoretic problems to be reduced to problems in linear algebra, which is well understood. They are also important in physics because, for example, they describe how the symmetry group of a physical system affects the solutions of equations describing that system. The term ''representation of a group'' is also used in a more general sense to mean any "description" of a group as a group of transformations of some mathematical o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantum Number
In quantum physics and chemistry, quantum numbers describe values of conserved quantities in the dynamics of a quantum system. Quantum numbers correspond to eigenvalues of operators that commute with the Hamiltonian—quantities that can be known with precision at the same time as the system's energyspecifically, observables \widehat that commute with the Hamiltonian are simultaneously diagonalizable with it and so the eigenvalues a and the energy (eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian) are not limited by an uncertainty relation arising from non-commutativity.—and their corresponding eigenspaces. Together, a specification of all of the quantum numbers of a quantum system fully characterize a basis state of the system, and can in principle be measured together. An important aspect of quantum mechanics is the quantization of many observable quantities of interest.Many observables have discrete spectra (sets of eigenvalues) in quantum mechanics, so the quantities can only be measure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brillouin Zone
In mathematics and solid state physics, the first Brillouin zone is a uniquely defined primitive cell in reciprocal space. In the same way the Bravais lattice is divided up into Wigner–Seitz cells in the real lattice, the reciprocal lattice is broken up into Brillouin zones. The boundaries of this cell are given by planes related to points on the reciprocal lattice. The importance of the Brillouin zone stems from the description of waves in a periodic medium given by Bloch's theorem, in which it is found that the solutions can be completely characterized by their behavior in a single Brillouin zone. The first Brillouin zone is the locus of points in reciprocal space that are closer to the origin of the reciprocal lattice than they are to any other reciprocal lattice points (see the derivation of the Wigner–Seitz cell). Another definition is as the set of points in ''k''-space that can be reached from the origin without crossing any Bragg plane. Equivalently, this is the Vor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, quan ... [...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] |
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 Cl1,3(\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 spin- particles. In Dirac representation, the four contravariant gamma matrices are :\begin \gamma^0 &= \begin 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & -1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & -1 \en ... [...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] |
Symmetry (physics)
In physics, a symmetry of a physical system is a physical or mathematical feature of the system (observed or intrinsic) that is preserved or remains unchanged under some transformation. A family of particular transformations may be ''continuous'' (such as rotation of a circle) or ''discrete'' (e.g., reflection of a bilaterally symmetric figure, or rotation of a regular polygon). Continuous and discrete transformations give rise to corresponding types of symmetries. Continuous symmetries can be described by Lie groups while discrete symmetries are described by finite groups (see '' Symmetry group''). These two concepts, Lie and finite groups, are the foundation for the fundamental theories of modern physics. Symmetries are frequently amenable to mathematical formulations such as group representations and can, in addition, be exploited to simplify many problems. Arguably the most important example of a symmetry in physics is that the speed of light has the same value in all fra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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