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Polyakov Action
In physics, the Polyakov action is an action (physics), action of the two-dimensional conformal field theory describing the worldsheet of a string in string theory. It was introduced by Stanley Deser and Bruno Zumino and independently by Lars Brink, L. Brink, Paolo Di Vecchia, P. Di Vecchia and P. S. Howe in 1976, and has become associated with Alexander Markovich Polyakov, Alexander Polyakov after he made use of it in quantizing the string in 1981. The action reads : \mathcal = \frac \int\mathrm^2\sigma\, \sqrt\,h^ g_(X) \partial_a X^\mu(\sigma) \partial_b X^\nu(\sigma), where T is the string Tension (mechanics), tension, g_ is the metric of the target manifold, h_ is the worldsheet metric, h^ its inverse, and h is the determinant of h_. The metric signature is chosen such that timelike directions are + and the spacelike directions are −. The spacelike worldsheet coordinate is called \sigma, whereas the timelike worldsheet coordinate is called \tau. This is also known as the no ...
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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 ...
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Translation (geometry)
In Euclidean geometry, a translation is a geometric transformation that moves every point of a figure, shape or space by the same distance in a given direction. A translation can also be interpreted as the addition of a constant vector to every point, or as shifting the origin of the coordinate system. In a Euclidean space, any translation is an isometry. As a function If \mathbf is a fixed vector, known as the ''translation vector'', and \mathbf is the initial position of some object, then the translation function T_ will work as T_(\mathbf)=\mathbf+\mathbf. If T is a translation, then the image of a subset A under the function T is the translate of A by T . The translate of A by T_ is often written A+\mathbf . Horizontal and vertical translations In geometry, a vertical translation (also known as vertical shift) is a translation of a geometric object in a direction parallel to the vertical axis of the Cartesian coordinate system. Often, vertical translations a ...
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Nambu–Goto Action
The Nambu–Goto action is the simplest invariant action (physics), action in bosonic string theory, and is also used in other theories that investigate string-like objects (for example, cosmic strings). It is the starting point of the analysis of zero-thickness (infinitely thin) string behavior, using the principles of Lagrangian mechanics. Just as the action for a free point particle is proportional to its proper time — ''i.e.'', the "length" of its world-line — a relativistic string's action is proportional to the area of the sheet which the string traces as it travels through spacetime. It is named after Japanese physicists Yoichiro Nambu and Tetsuo Goto (physicist), Tetsuo Goto. Background Relativistic Lagrangian mechanics The basic principle of Lagrangian mechanics, the principle of stationary action, is that an object subjected to outside influences will "choose" a path which makes a certain quantity, the ''action'', an extremum. The action is a functional ...
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Euler–Lagrange Equation
In the calculus of variations and classical mechanics, the Euler–Lagrange equations are a system of second-order ordinary differential equations whose solutions are stationary points of the given action functional. The equations were discovered in the 1750s by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler and Italian mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange. Because a differentiable functional is stationary at its local extrema, the Euler–Lagrange equation is useful for solving optimization problems in which, given some functional, one seeks the function minimizing or maximizing it. This is analogous to Fermat's theorem in calculus, stating that at any point where a differentiable function attains a local extremum its derivative is zero. In Lagrangian mechanics, according to Hamilton's principle of stationary action, the evolution of a physical system is described by the solutions to the Euler equation for the action of the system. In this context Euler equations are usually called Lagrange ...
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Functional Derivative
In the calculus of variations, a field of mathematical analysis, the functional derivative (or variational derivative) relates a change in a functional (a functional in this sense is a function that acts on functions) to a change in a function on which the functional depends. In the calculus of variations, functionals are usually expressed in terms of an integral of functions, their arguments, and their derivatives. In an integral of a functional, if a function is varied by adding to it another function that is arbitrarily small, and the resulting integrand is expanded in powers of , the coefficient of in the first order term is called the functional derivative. For example, consider the functional J = \int_a^b L( \, x, f(x), f \, '(x) \, ) \, dx \ , where . If is varied by adding to it a function , and the resulting integrand is expanded in powers of , then the change in the value of to first order in can be expressed as follows:According to , this notation is customar ...
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Weyl Symmetry
:''See also Wigner–Weyl transform, for another definition of the Weyl transform.'' In theoretical physics, the Weyl transformation, named after Hermann Weyl, is a local rescaling of the metric tensor: :g_\rightarrow e^g_ which produces another metric in the same conformal class. A theory or an expression invariant under this transformation is called conformally invariant, or is said to possess Weyl invariance or Weyl symmetry. The Weyl symmetry is an important symmetry in conformal field theory. It is, for example, a symmetry of the Polyakov action. When quantum mechanical effects break the conformal invariance of a theory, it is said to exhibit a conformal anomaly or Weyl anomaly. The ordinary Levi-Civita connection and associated spin connections are not invariant under Weyl transformations. An appropriately invariant notion is the Weyl connection, which is one way of specifying the structure of a conformal connection. Conformal weight A quantity \varphi has conformal weig ...
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Stress–energy Tensor
The stress–energy tensor, sometimes called the stress–energy–momentum tensor or the energy–momentum tensor, is a tensor physical quantity that describes the density and flux of energy and momentum in spacetime, generalizing the stress tensor of Newtonian physics. It is an attribute of matter, radiation, and non-gravitational force fields. This density and flux of energy and momentum are the sources of the gravitational field in the Einstein field equations of general relativity, just as mass density is the source of such a field in Newtonian gravity. Definition The stress–energy tensor involves the use of superscripted variables (''not'' exponents; see tensor index notation and Einstein summation notation). If Cartesian coordinates in SI units are used, then the components of the position four-vector are given by: , , , and , where ''t'' is time in seconds, and ''x'', ''y'', and ''z'' are distances in meters. The stress–energy tensor is defined as the tensor '' ...
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Jacobian Matrix And Determinant
In vector calculus, the Jacobian matrix (, ) of a vector-valued function of several variables is the matrix of all its first-order partial derivatives. When this matrix is square, that is, when the function takes the same number of variables as input as the number of vector components of its output, its determinant is referred to as the Jacobian determinant. Both the matrix and (if applicable) the determinant are often referred to simply as the Jacobian in literature. Suppose is a function such that each of its first-order partial derivatives exist on . This function takes a point as input and produces the vector as output. Then the Jacobian matrix of is defined to be an matrix, denoted by , whose th entry is \mathbf J_ = \frac, or explicitly :\mathbf J = \begin \dfrac & \cdots & \dfrac \end = \begin \nabla^ f_1 \\ \vdots \\ \nabla^ f_m \end = \begin \dfrac & \cdots & \dfrac\\ \vdots & \ddots & \vdots\\ \dfrac & \cdots ...
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Metric Tensor
In the mathematical field of differential geometry, a metric tensor (or simply metric) is an additional structure on a manifold (such as a surface) that allows defining distances and angles, just as the inner product on a Euclidean space allows defining distances and angles there. More precisely, a metric tensor at a point of is a bilinear form defined on the tangent space at (that is, a bilinear function that maps pairs of tangent vectors to real numbers), and a metric tensor on consists of a metric tensor at each point of that varies smoothly with . A metric tensor is ''positive-definite'' if for every nonzero vector . A manifold equipped with a positive-definite metric tensor is known as a Riemannian manifold. Such a metric tensor can be thought of as specifying ''infinitesimal'' distance on the manifold. On a Riemannian manifold , the length of a smooth curve between two points and can be defined by integration, and the distance between and can be defined as ...
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Weyl Transformation
:''See also Wigner–Weyl transform, for another definition of the Weyl transform.'' In theoretical physics, the Weyl transformation, named after Hermann Weyl, is a local rescaling of the metric tensor: :g_\rightarrow e^g_ which produces another metric in the same conformal class. A theory or an expression invariant under this transformation is called conformally invariant, or is said to possess Weyl invariance or Weyl symmetry. The Weyl symmetry is an important symmetry in conformal field theory. It is, for example, a symmetry of the Polyakov action. When quantum mechanical effects break the conformal invariance of a theory, it is said to exhibit a conformal anomaly or Weyl anomaly. The ordinary Levi-Civita connection and associated spin connections are not invariant under Weyl transformations. An appropriately invariant notion is the Weyl connection, which is one way of specifying the structure of a conformal connection. Conformal weight A quantity \varphi has conformal ...
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Diffeomorphism
In mathematics, a diffeomorphism is an isomorphism of smooth manifolds. It is an invertible function that maps one differentiable manifold to another such that both the function and its inverse are differentiable. Definition Given two manifolds M and N, a differentiable map f \colon M \rightarrow N is called a diffeomorphism if it is a bijection and its inverse f^ \colon N \rightarrow M is differentiable as well. If these functions are r times continuously differentiable, f is called a C^r-diffeomorphism. Two manifolds M and N are diffeomorphic (usually denoted M \simeq N) if there is a diffeomorphism f from M to N. They are C^r-diffeomorphic if there is an r times continuously differentiable bijective map between them whose inverse is also r times continuously differentiable. Diffeomorphisms of subsets of manifolds Given a subset X of a manifold M and a subset Y of a manifold N, a function f:X\to Y is said to be smooth if for all p in X there is a neighbor ...
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Invariant (physics)
In theoretical physics, an invariant is an observable of a physical system which remains unchanged under some transformation. Invariance, as a broader term, also applies to the no change of form of physical laws under a transformation, and is closer in scope to the mathematical definition. Invariants of a system are deeply tied to the symmetries imposed by its environment. Invariance is an important concept in modern theoretical physics, and many theories are expressed in terms of their symmetries and invariants. Examples In classical and quantum mechanics, invariance of space under translation results in momentum being an invariant and the conservation of momentum, whereas invariance of the origin of time, i.e. translation in time, results in energy being an invariant and the conservation of energy. In general, by Noether's theorem, any invariance of a physical system under a continuous symmetry leads to a fundamental conservation law. In crystals, the electron density is peri ...
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