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Discrete Spectrum
A physical quantity is said to have a discrete spectrum if it takes only distinct values, with gaps between one value and the next. The classical example of discrete spectrum (for which the term was first used) is the characteristic set of discrete spectral lines seen in the emission spectrum and absorption spectrum of isolated atoms of a chemical element, which only absorb and emit light at particular wavelengths. The technique of spectroscopy is based on this phenomenon. Discrete spectra are contrasted with the continuous spectra also seen in such experiments, for example in thermal emission, in synchrotron radiation, and many other light-producing phenomena. Discrete spectra are seen in many other phenomena, such as vibrating strings, microwaves in a metal cavity, sound waves in a pulsating star, and resonances in high-energy particle physics. The general phenomenon of discrete spectra in physical systems can be mathematically modeled with tools of functional an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrogen Spectrum
The emission spectrum of atomic hydrogen has been divided into a number of spectral series, with wavelengths given by the Rydberg formula. These observed spectral lines are due to the electron making transitions between two energy levels in an atom. The classification of the series by the Rydberg formula was important in the development of quantum mechanics. The spectral series are important in astronomical spectroscopy for detecting the presence of hydrogen and calculating red shifts. Physics A hydrogen atom consists of an electron orbiting its nucleus. The electromagnetic force between the electron and the nuclear proton leads to a set of quantum states for the electron, each with its own energy. These states were visualized by the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom as being distinct orbits around the nucleus. Each energy level, or electron shell, or orbit, is designated by an integer, as shown in the figure. The Bohr model was later replaced by quantum mechanics in which t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound Wave
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the brain. Only acoustic waves that have frequencies lying between about 20 Hz and 20 kHz, the audio frequency range, elicit an auditory percept in humans. In air at atmospheric pressure, these represent sound waves with wavelengths of to . Sound waves above 20 kHz are known as ultrasound and are not audible to humans. Sound waves below 20 Hz are known as infrasound. Different animal species have varying hearing ranges. Acoustics Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gasses, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound, and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an ''acoustician'', while someone working in the field of acoustical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deformation (mechanics)
In physics, deformation is the continuum mechanics transformation of a body from a ''reference'' configuration to a ''current'' configuration. A configuration is a set containing the positions of all particles of the body. A deformation can occur because of external loads, intrinsic activity (e.g. muscle contraction), body forces (such as gravity or electromagnetic forces), or changes in temperature, moisture content, or chemical reactions, etc. Strain is related to deformation in terms of ''relative'' displacement of particles in the body that excludes rigid-body motions. Different equivalent choices may be made for the expression of a strain field depending on whether it is defined with respect to the initial or the final configuration of the body and on whether the metric tensor or its dual is considered. In a continuous body, a deformation field results from a stress field due to applied forces or because of some changes in the temperature field of the body. The rel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differential Operator
In mathematics, a differential operator is an operator defined as a function of the differentiation operator. It is helpful, as a matter of notation first, to consider differentiation as an abstract operation that accepts a function and returns another function (in the style of a higher-order function in computer science). This article considers mainly linear differential operators, which are the most common type. However, non-linear differential operators also exist, such as the Schwarzian derivative. Definition An order-m linear differential operator is a map A from a function space \mathcal_1 to another function space \mathcal_2 that can be written as: A = \sum_a_\alpha(x) D^\alpha\ , where \alpha = (\alpha_1,\alpha_2,\cdots,\alpha_n) is a multi-index of non-negative integers, , \alpha, = \alpha_1 + \alpha_2 + \cdots + \alpha_n, and for each \alpha, a_\alpha(x) is a function on some open domain in ''n''-dimensional space. The operator D^\alpha is interpreted as D^\alp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eigenvalue
In linear algebra, an eigenvector () or characteristic vector of a linear transformation is a nonzero vector that changes at most by a scalar factor when that linear transformation is applied to it. The corresponding eigenvalue, often denoted by \lambda, is the factor by which the eigenvector is scaled. Geometrically, an eigenvector, corresponding to a real nonzero eigenvalue, points in a direction in which it is stretched by the transformation and the eigenvalue is the factor by which it is stretched. If the eigenvalue is negative, the direction is reversed. Loosely speaking, in a multidimensional vector space, the eigenvector is not rotated. Formal definition If is a linear transformation from a vector space over a field into itself and is a nonzero vector in , then is an eigenvector of if is a scalar multiple of . This can be written as T(\mathbf) = \lambda \mathbf, where is a scalar in , known as the eigenvalue, characteristic value, or characteristic root ass ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscillation
Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum and alternating current. Oscillations can be used in physics to approximate complex interactions, such as those between atoms. Oscillations occur not only in mechanical systems but also in dynamic systems in virtually every area of science: for example the beating of the human heart (for circulation), business cycles in economics, predator–prey population cycles in ecology, geothermal geysers in geology, vibration of strings in guitar and other string instruments, periodic firing of nerve cells in the brain, and the periodic swelling of Cepheid variable stars in astronomy. The term ''vibration'' is precisely used to describe a mechanical oscillation. Oscillation, especially rapid oscillation, may be an undesirable phenomenon in proc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wave
In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (resting) value at some frequency. When the entire waveform moves in one direction, it is said to be a ''traveling wave''; by contrast, a pair of superimposed periodic waves traveling in opposite directions makes a '' standing wave''. In a standing wave, the amplitude of vibration has nulls at some positions where the wave amplitude appears smaller or even zero. Waves are often described by a ''wave equation'' (standing wave field of two opposite waves) or a one-way wave equation for single wave propagation in a defined direction. Two types of waves are most commonly studied in classical physics. In a ''mechanical wave'', stress and strain fields oscillate about a mechanical equilibrium. A mechanical wave is a local deformation (strain) in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classical Mechanics
Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classical mechanics, if the present state is known, it is possible to predict how it will move in the future (determinism), and how it has moved in the past (reversibility). The earliest development of classical mechanics is often referred to as Newtonian mechanics. It consists of the physical concepts based on foundational works of Sir Isaac Newton, and the mathematical methods invented by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Leonhard Euler, and other contemporaries, in the 17th century to describe the motion of bodies under the influence of a system of forces. Later, more abstract methods were developed, leading to the reformulations of classical mechanics known as Lagrangian mechanics and Hamiltonian mechanics. These advances, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Functional Space
In mathematics, a function space is a set of functions between two fixed sets. Often, the domain and/or codomain will have additional structure which is inherited by the function space. For example, the set of functions from any set into a vector space has a natural vector space structure given by pointwise addition and scalar multiplication. In other scenarios, the function space might inherit a topological or metric structure, hence the name function ''space''. In linear algebra Let be a vector space over a field and let be any set. The functions → can be given the structure of a vector space over where the operations are defined pointwise, that is, for any , : → , any in , and any in , define \begin (f+g)(x) &= f(x)+g(x) \\ (c\cdot f)(x) &= c\cdot f(x) \end When the domain has additional structure, one might consider instead the subset (or subspace) of all such functions which respect that structure. For example, if is also a vector space over , the se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linear Operator
In mathematics, and more specifically in linear algebra, a linear map (also called a linear mapping, linear transformation, vector space homomorphism, or in some contexts linear function) is a mapping V \to W between two vector spaces that preserves the operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication. The same names and the same definition are also used for the more general case of modules over a ring; see Module homomorphism. If a linear map is a bijection then it is called a . In the case where V = W, a linear map is called a (linear) ''endomorphism''. Sometimes the term refers to this case, but the term "linear operator" can have different meanings for different conventions: for example, it can be used to emphasize that V and W are real vector spaces (not necessarily with V = W), or it can be used to emphasize that V is a function space, which is a common convention in functional analysis. Sometimes the term ''linear function'' has the same meaning as ''linear map' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decomposition Of Spectrum (functional Analysis)
The spectrum of a linear operator T that operates on a Banach space X (a fundamental concept of functional analysis) consists of all scalars \lambda such that the operator T-\lambda does not have a bounded inverse on X. The spectrum has a standard decomposition into three parts: * a point spectrum, consisting of the eigenvalues of T; * a continuous spectrum, consisting of the scalars that are not eigenvalues but make the range of T-\lambda a proper dense subset of the space; * a residual spectrum, consisting of all other scalars in the spectrum. This decomposition is relevant to the study of differential equations, and has applications to many branches of science and engineering. A well-known example from quantum mechanics is the explanation for the discrete spectral lines and the continuous band in the light emitted by excited atoms of hydrogen. Decomposition into point spectrum, continuous spectrum, and residual spectrum For bounded Banach space operators Let ''X'' be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Functional Analysis
Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics)#Definition, norm, Topological space#Definition, topology, etc.) and the linear transformation, linear functions defined on these spaces and respecting these structures in a suitable sense. The historical roots of functional analysis lie in the study of function space, spaces of functions and the formulation of properties of transformations of functions such as the Fourier transform as transformations defining continuous function, continuous, unitary operator, unitary etc. operators between function spaces. This point of view turned out to be particularly useful for the study of differential equations, differential and integral equations. The usage of the word ''functional (mathematics), functional'' as a noun goes back to the calculus of variati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
