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Inversion Transformations
In mathematical physics, inversion transformations are a natural extension of Poincaré transformations to include all conformal one-to-one transformations on coordinate space-time. They are less studied in physics because unlike the rotations and translations of Poincaré symmetry an object cannot be physically transformed by the inversion symmetry. Some physical theories are invariant under this symmetry, in these cases it is what is known as a 'hidden symmetry'. Other hidden symmetries of physics include gauge symmetry and general covariance. Early use In 1831 the mathematician Ludwig Immanuel Magnus began to publish on transformations of the plane generated by inversion in a circle of radius ''R''. His work initiated a large body of publications, now called inversive geometry. The most prominently named mathematician became August Ferdinand Möbius once he reduced the planar transformations to complex number arithmetic. In the company of physicists employing the inversion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poincaré Transformation
Poincaré is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), French physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science * Henriette Poincaré (1858-1943), wife of Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré * Lucien Poincaré (1862–1920), physicist, brother of Raymond and cousin of Henri * Raymond Poincaré (1860–1934), French Prime Minister or President ''inter alia'' from 1913 to 1920, cousin of Henri See also *List of things named after Henri Poincaré In physics and mathematics, a number of ideas are named after Henri Poincaré: * Euler–Poincaré characteristic * Hilbert–Poincaré series * Poincaré–Bendixson theorem * Poincaré–Birkhoff theorem * Poincaré–Birkhoff–Witt theorem, us .... * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poincare French-language surnames ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Möbius Transformation
In geometry and complex analysis, a Möbius transformation of the complex plane is a rational function of the form f(z) = \frac of one complex variable ''z''; here the coefficients ''a'', ''b'', ''c'', ''d'' are complex numbers satisfying ''ad'' − ''bc'' ≠ 0. Geometrically, a Möbius transformation can be obtained by first performing stereographic projection from the plane to the unit two-sphere, rotating and moving the sphere to a new location and orientation in space, and then performing stereographic projection (from the new position of the sphere) to the plane. These transformations preserve angles, map every straight line to a line or circle, and map every circle to a line or circle. The Möbius transformations are the projective transformations of the complex projective line. They form a group called the Möbius group, which is the projective linear group PGL(2,C). Together with its subgroups, it has numerous applications in mathematics and physics. Möbius tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symmetry
Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definition, and is usually used to refer to an object that is invariant under some transformations; including translation, reflection, rotation or scaling. Although these two meanings of "symmetry" can sometimes be told apart, they are intricately related, and hence are discussed together in this article. Mathematical symmetry may be observed with respect to the passage of time; as a spatial relationship; through geometric transformations; through other kinds of functional transformations; and as an aspect of abstract objects, including theoretic models, language, and music. This article describes symmetry from three perspectives: in mathematics, including geometry, the most familiar type of symmetry for many people; in science and natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Superstrings
Superstring theory is an attempt to explain all of the particles and fundamental forces of nature in one theory by modeling them as vibrations of tiny supersymmetric strings. 'Superstring theory' is a shorthand for supersymmetric string theory because unlike bosonic string theory, it is the version of string theory that accounts for both fermions and bosons and incorporates supersymmetry to model gravity. Since the second superstring revolution, the five superstring theories are regarded as different limits of a single theory tentatively called M-theory. Background The deepest problem in theoretical physics is harmonizing the theory of general relativity, which describes gravitation and applies to large-scale structures (stars, galaxies, super clusters), with quantum mechanics, which describes the other three fundamental forces acting on the atomic scale. The development of a quantum field theory of a force invariably results in infinite possibilities. Physicists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field (physics)
In physics, a field is a physical quantity, represented by a scalar, vector, or tensor, that has a value for each point in space and time. For example, on a weather map, the surface temperature is described by assigning a number to each point on the map; the temperature can be considered at a certain point in time or over some interval of time, to study the dynamics of temperature change. A surface wind map, assigning an arrow to each point on a map that describes the wind speed and direction at that point, is an example of a vector field, i.e. a 1-dimensional (rank-1) tensor field. Field theories, mathematical descriptions of how field values change in space and time, are ubiquitous in physics. For instance, the electric field is another rank-1 tensor field, while electrodynamics can be formulated in terms of two interacting vector fields at each point in spacetime, or as a single-rank 2-tensor field. In the modern framework of the quantum theory of fields, even without ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CPT Symmetry
Charge, parity, and time reversal symmetry is a fundamental symmetry of physical laws under the simultaneous transformations of charge conjugation (C), parity transformation (P), and time reversal (T). CPT is the only combination of C, P, and T that is observed to be an exact symmetry of nature at the fundamental level. The CPT theorem says that CPT symmetry holds for all physical phenomena, or more precisely, that any Lorentz invariant local quantum field theory with a Hermitian Hamiltonian must have CPT symmetry. History The CPT theorem appeared for the first time, implicitly, in the work of Julian Schwinger in 1951 to prove the connection between spin and statistics. In 1954, Gerhart Lüders and Wolfgang Pauli derived more explicit proofs, so this theorem is sometimes known as the Lüders–Pauli theorem. At about the same time, and independently, this theorem was also proved by John Stewart Bell. These proofs are based on the principle of Lorentz invariance and the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spacetime Symmetries
Spacetime symmetries are features of spacetime that can be described as exhibiting some form of symmetry. The role of symmetry in physics is important in simplifying solutions to many problems. Spacetime symmetries are used in the study of exact solutions of Einstein's field equations of general relativity. Spacetime symmetries are distinguished from internal symmetries. Physical motivation Physical problems are often investigated and solved by noticing features which have some form of symmetry. For example, in the Schwarzschild solution, the role of spherical symmetry is important in deriving the Schwarzschild solution and deducing the physical consequences of this symmetry (such as the nonexistence of gravitational radiation in a spherically pulsating star). In cosmological problems, symmetry plays a role in the cosmological principle, which restricts the type of universes that are consistent with large-scale observations (e.g. the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coordinate Rotations And Reflections
In geometry, two-dimensional rotations and reflections are two kinds of Euclidean plane isometries which are related to one another. A rotation in the plane can be formed by composing a pair of reflections. First reflect a point ''P'' to its image ''P''′ on the other side of line ''L''1. Then reflect ''P''′ to its image ''P''′′ on the other side of line ''L2''. If lines ''L''1 and ''L''2 make an angle ''θ'' with one another, then points ''P'' and ''P''′′ will make an angle ''2θ'' around point ''O'', the intersection of ''L''1 and ''L2''. I.e., angle ''POP′′'' will measure 2''θ''. A pair of rotations about the same point ''O'' will be equivalent to another rotation about point ''O''. On the other hand, the composition of a reflection and a rotation, or of a rotation and a reflection (composition is not commutative), will be equivalent to a reflection. The statements above can be expressed more mathematically. Let a rotation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotation Group SO(3)
In mechanics and geometry, the 3D rotation group, often denoted SO(3), is the group of all rotations about the origin of three-dimensional Euclidean space \R^3 under the operation of composition. By definition, a rotation about the origin is a transformation that preserves the origin, Euclidean distance (so it is an isometry), and orientation (i.e., ''handedness'' of space). Composing two rotations results in another rotation, every rotation has a unique inverse rotation, and the identity map satisfies the definition of a rotation. Owing to the above properties (along composite rotations' associative property), the set of all rotations is a group under composition. Every non-trivial rotation is determined by its axis of rotation (a line through the origin) and its angle of rotation. Rotations are not commutative (for example, rotating ''R'' 90° in the x-y plane followed by ''S'' 90° in the y-z plane is not the same as ''S'' followed by ''R''), making the 3D rotation grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broken Symmetry
In physics, symmetry breaking is a phenomenon in which (infinitesimally) small fluctuations acting on a system crossing a critical point decide the system's fate, by determining which branch of a bifurcation is taken. To an outside observer unaware of the fluctuations (or "noise"), the choice will appear arbitrary. This process is called symmetry "breaking", because such transitions usually bring the system from a symmetric but disorderly state into one or more definite states. The phenomenon is part of most theories of everything. Symmetry breaking is thought to play a major role in pattern formation. In his 1972 ''Science'' paper titled "More is different" Nobel laureate P.W. Anderson used the idea of symmetry breaking to show that even if reductionism is true, its converse, constructionism, which is the idea that scientists can easily predict complex phenomena given theories describing their components, is not. Symmetry breaking can be distinguished into two types ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High-energy Physics
Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) and bosons (force-carrying particles). There are three generations of fermions, but ordinary matter is made only from the first fermion generation. The first generation consists of up and down quarks which form protons and neutrons, and electrons and electron neutrinos. The three fundamental interactions known to be mediated by bosons are electromagnetism, the weak interaction, and the strong interaction. Quarks cannot exist on their own but form hadrons. Hadrons that contain an odd number of quarks are called baryons and those that contain an even number are called mesons. Two baryons, the proton and the neutron, make up most of the mass of ordinary matter. Mesons are unstable and the longest-lived last for only a few hundredths o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symmetries
Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definition, and is usually used to refer to an object that is invariant under some transformations; including translation, reflection, rotation or scaling. Although these two meanings of "symmetry" can sometimes be told apart, they are intricately related, and hence are discussed together in this article. Mathematical symmetry may be observed with respect to the passage of time; as a spatial relationship; through geometric transformations; through other kinds of functional transformations; and as an aspect of abstract objects, including theoretic models, language, and music. This article describes symmetry from three perspectives: in mathematics, including geometry, the most familiar type of symmetry for many people; in science and nature; a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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