|
Gupta–Bleuler Formalism
In quantum field theory, the Gupta–Bleuler formalism is a way of quantizing the electromagnetic field. The formulation is due to theoretical physicists Suraj N. Gupta and Konrad Bleuler. Overview Firstly, consider a single photon. A basis of the one-photon vector space (it is explained why it is not a Hilbert space below) is given by the eigenstates , k,\epsilon_\mu\rangle where k, the 4- momentum is null (k^2=0) and the k_0 component, the energy, is positive and \epsilon_\mu is the unit polarization vector and the index \mu ranges from 0 to 3. So, k is uniquely determined by the spatial momentum \vec. Using the bra–ket notation, this space is equipped with a sesquilinear form defined by :\langle\vec_a;\epsilon_\mu, \vec_b;\epsilon_\nu\rangle=(-\eta_)\,2, \vec_a, \,\delta(\vec_a-\vec_b), where the 2, \vec_a, factor is to implement Lorentz covariance. The metric signature used here is +−−−. However, this sesquilinear form gives positive norms for spatial pola ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantum Field Theory
In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and in condensed matter physics to construct models of quasiparticles. QFT treats particles as excited states (also called quanta) of their underlying quantum fields, which are more fundamental than the particles. The equation of motion of the particle is determined by minimization of the Lagrangian, a functional of fields associated with the particle. Interactions between particles are described by interaction terms in the Lagrangian involving their corresponding quantum fields. Each interaction can be visually represented by Feynman diagrams according to perturbation theory in quantum mechanics. History Quantum field theory emerged from the work of generations of theoretical physicists spanning much of the 20th century. Its deve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transverse Wave
In physics, a transverse wave is a wave whose oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of the wave's advance. This is in contrast to a longitudinal wave which travels in the direction of its oscillations. Water waves are an example of transverse wave. A simple example is given by the waves that can be created on a horizontal length of string by anchoring one end and moving the other end up and down. Another example is the waves that are created on the membrane of a drum. The waves propagate in directions that are parallel to the membrane plane, but each point in the membrane itself gets displaced up and down, perpendicular to that plane. Light is another example of a transverse wave, where the oscillations are the electric and magnetic fields, which point at right angles to the ideal light rays that describe the direction of propagation. Transverse waves commonly occur in elastic solids due to the shear stress generated; the oscillations in this case are the displac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BRST Formalism
BRST may refer to: * BRST Films, a Serbian video production company * BRST algorithm, an optimization algorithm suitable for finding the global optimum of black box functions * BRST quantization in Yang-Mills theories, a way to quantize a gauge-symmetric field theory * Brasília Summer Time Time in Brazil is calculated using standard time, and the country (including its offshore islands) is divided into four standard time zones: UTC−02:00, UTC−03:00, UTC−04:00 and UTC−05:00. Time zones Fernando de Noronha time (UTC−02 ... * Burst.com, from its stock ticker, now Democrasoft {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quantum Electrodynamics
In particle physics, quantum electrodynamics (QED) is the 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 phenomena involving electrically charged particles interacting by means of exchange of photons and represents the 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 of the electromagnetic quantum vacuum. Richard Feynman called it "the jewel of physics" for its extremely accurate predictions of quantities like the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron and the Lamb shift of the energy levels of hydrogen. History The first formulation of a quantum theory describing radiation and matter interaction is attributed to British scientist Paul Dirac, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorenz Gauge
In electromagnetism, the Lorenz gauge condition or Lorenz gauge, for Ludvig Lorenz, is a partial gauge fixing of the electromagnetic vector potential by requiring \partial_\mu A^\mu = 0. The name is frequently confused with Hendrik Lorentz, who has given his name to many concepts in this field. The condition is Lorentz invariant. The condition does not completely determine the gauge: one can still make a gauge transformation A^\mu \to A^\mu + \partial^\mu f, where \partial^\mu is the four-gradient and f is a harmonic scalar function (that is, a scalar function satisfying \partial_\mu\partial^\mu f = 0, the equation of a massless scalar field). The Lorenz condition is used to eliminate the redundant spin-0 component in the representation theory of the Lorentz group. It is equally used for massive spin-1 fields where the concept of gauge transformations does not apply at all. Description In electromagnetism, the Lorenz condition is generally used in calculations of time-dependent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operator Valued Distribution
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 Problems is to realize the 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 unitarily. In this way, the concepts of energy, momentum, angular momentum and center of mass (corresponding to boosts) are implemented. There is also a stability assumption, which restricts the spectrum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector Potential
In vector calculus, a vector potential is a vector field whose curl is a given vector field. This is analogous to a ''scalar potential'', which is a scalar field whose gradient is a given vector field. Formally, given a vector field v, a ''vector potential'' is a C^2 vector field A such that \mathbf = \nabla \times \mathbf. Consequence If a vector field v admits a vector potential A, then from the equality \nabla \cdot (\nabla \times \mathbf) = 0 (divergence of the curl is zero) one obtains \nabla \cdot \mathbf = \nabla \cdot (\nabla \times \mathbf) = 0, which implies that v must be a solenoidal vector field. Theorem Let \mathbf : \R^3 \to \R^3 be a solenoidal vector field which is twice continuously differentiable. Assume that decreases at least as fast as 1/\, \mathbf\, for \, \mathbf\, \to \infty . Define \mathbf (\mathbf) = \frac \int_ \frac \, d^3\mathbf. Then, A is a vector potential for , that is, \nabla \times \mathbf =\mathbf. Here, \nabla_y \time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free Field
In physics a free field is a field without interactions, which is described by the terms of motion and mass. Description In classical physics, a free field is a field whose equations of motion are given by linear partial differential equations. Such linear PDE's have a unique solution for a given initial condition. In quantum field theory, an operator valued distribution is a free field if it satisfies some linear partial differential equations such that the corresponding case of the same linear PDEs for a classical field (i.e. not an operator) would be the Euler–Lagrange equation for some quadratic Lagrangian. We can differentiate distributions by defining their derivatives via differentiated test functions. See Schwartz distribution for more details. Since we are dealing not with ordinary distributions but operator valued distributions, it is understood these PDEs aren't constraints on states but instead a description of the relations among the smeared fields. Besid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Annihilation Operator
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Creation Operator
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fock Space
The Fock space is an algebraic construction used in quantum mechanics to construct the quantum states space of a variable or unknown number of identical particles from a single particle Hilbert space . It is named after V. A. Fock who first introduced it in his 1932 paper "Konfigurationsraum und zweite Quantelung" (" Configuration space and second quantization"). M.C. Reed, B. Simon, "Methods of Modern Mathematical Physics, Volume II", Academic Press 1975. Page 328. Informally, a Fock space is the sum of a set of Hilbert spaces representing zero particle states, one particle states, two particle states, and so on. If the identical particles are bosons, the -particle states are vectors in a symmetrized tensor product of single-particle Hilbert spaces . If the identical particles are fermions, the -particle states are vectors in an antisymmetrized tensor product of single-particle Hilbert spaces (see symmetric algebra and exterior algebra respectively). A general state in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Definite Bilinear Form
In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical definite noun phrase picks out a unique, familiar, specific referent such as ''the sun'' or ''Australia'', as opposed to indefinite examples like ''an idea'' or ''some fish''. There is considerable variation in the expression of definiteness across languages, and some languages such as Japanese do not generally mark it so that the same expression could be definite in some contexts and indefinite in others. In other languages, such as English, it is usually marked by the selection of determiner (e.g., ''the'' vs ''a''). In still other languages, such as Danish, definiteness is marked morphologically. Definiteness as a grammatical category There are times when a grammatically marked definite NP is not in fact identifiable. For example, ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
