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Ehrenfest Theorem
The Ehrenfest theorem, named after Austrian theoretical physicist Paul Ehrenfest, relates the time derivative of the expectation values of the position and momentum operators ''x'' and ''p'' to the expectation value of the force F=-V'(x) on a massive particle moving in a scalar potential V(x), The Ehrenfest theorem is a special case of a more general relation between the expectation of any quantum mechanical operator and the expectation of the commutator of that operator with the Hamiltonian of the system where is some quantum mechanical operator and is its expectation value. It is most apparent in the Heisenberg picture of quantum mechanics, where it amounts to just the expectation value of the Heisenberg equation of motion. It provides mathematical support to the correspondence principle. The reason is that Ehrenfest's theorem is closely related to Liouville's theorem of Hamiltonian mechanics, which involves the Poisson bracket instead of a commutator. Dirac's r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Ehrenfest
Paul Ehrenfest (; 18 January 1880 – 25 September 1933) was an Austrian Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who made major contributions to statistical mechanics and its relation to quantum physics, quantum mechanics, including the theory of phase transition and the Ehrenfest theorem. He befriended Albert Einstein on a visit to Prague in 1912 and became a professor in Leiden, where he frequently hosted Einstein. Suffering from depression, in 1933 Ehrenfest killed his disabled son, Wassik, and then himself. Biography Paul Ehrenfest was born on 18 January 1880 in Vienna to Ashkenazi Jews, Jewish parents, who were originally from Loštice in Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic). His parents, Sigmund Ehrenfest and Johanna Jellinek, managed a grocery store. Although the family was not overly religious, Paul studied Hebrew language, Hebrew and Jewish history. Later, he always emphasized his Jewish ancestry. Ehrenfest excelled in grade school but did not do well at the Akad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bra–ket Notation
Bra–ket notation, also called Dirac notation, is a notation for linear algebra and linear operators on complex vector spaces together with their dual space both in the finite-dimensional and infinite-dimensional case. It is specifically designed to ease the types of calculations that frequently come up in quantum mechanics. Its use in quantum mechanics is quite widespread. Bra–ket notation was created by Paul Dirac in his 1939 publication ''A New Notation for Quantum Mechanics''. The notation was introduced as an easier way to write quantum mechanical expressions. The name comes from the English word "bracket". Quantum mechanics In quantum mechanics and quantum computing, bra–ket notation is used ubiquitously to denote quantum states. The notation uses angle brackets, and , and a vertical bar , to construct "bras" and "kets". A ket is of the form , v \rangle. Mathematically it denotes a vector, \boldsymbol v, in an abstract (complex) vector space V, and physicall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koopman–von Neumann Classical Mechanics
The Koopman–von Neumann (KvN) theory is a description of classical mechanics as an operatorial theory similar to quantum mechanics, based on a Hilbert space of complex, square-integrable wavefunctions. As its name suggests, the KvN theory is related to work by Bernard Koopman and John von Neumann. History Statistical mechanics describes macroscopic systems in terms of statistical ensembles, such as the macroscopic properties of an ideal gas. Ergodic theory is a branch of mathematics arising from the study of statistical mechanics. The origins of the Koopman–von Neumann theory are tightly connected with the rise of ergodic theory as an independent branch of mathematics, in particular with Ludwig Boltzmann's ergodic hypothesis. In 1931, Koopman observed that the phase space of the classical system can be converted into a Hilbert space. According to this formulation, functions representing physical observables become vectors, with an inner product defined in terms of a natu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canonical Commutation Relation
In quantum mechanics, the canonical commutation relation is the fundamental relation between canonical conjugate quantities (quantities which are related by definition such that one is the Fourier transform of another). For example, hat x,\hat p_x= i\hbar \mathbb between the position operator and momentum operator in the direction of a point particle in one dimension, where is the commutator of and , is the imaginary unit, and is the reduced Planck constant , and \mathbb is the unit operator. In general, position and momentum are vectors of operators and their commutation relation between different components of position and momentum can be expressed as hat x_i,\hat p_j= i\hbar \delta_, where \delta_ is the Kronecker delta. This relation is attributed to Werner Heisenberg, Max Born and Pascual Jordan (1925), who called it a "quantum condition" serving as a postulate of the theory; it was noted by E. Kennard (1927) to imply the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stone's Theorem On One-parameter Unitary Groups
In mathematics, Stone's theorem on one-parameter unitary groups is a basic theorem of functional analysis that establishes a one-to-one correspondence between self-adjoint operators on a Hilbert space \mathcal and one-parameter families :(U_)_ of unitary operators that are strongly continuous, i.e., :\forall t_0 \in \R, \psi \in \mathcal: \qquad \lim_ U_t(\psi) = U_(\psi), and are homomorphisms, i.e., :\forall s,t \in \R : \qquad U_ = U_t U_s. Such one-parameter families are ordinarily referred to as strongly continuous one-parameter unitary groups. The theorem was proved by , and showed that the requirement that (U_t)_ be strongly continuous can be relaxed to say that it is merely weakly measurable, at least when the Hilbert space is separable. This is an impressive result, as it allows one to define the derivative of the mapping t \mapsto U_t, which is only supposed to be continuous. It is also related to the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras. Formal statem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newton's Second Law
Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting on it. These laws, which provide the basis for Newtonian mechanics, can be paraphrased as follows: # A body remains at rest, or in motion at a constant speed in a straight line, unless it is acted upon by a force. # At any instant of time, the net force on a body is equal to the body's acceleration multiplied by its mass or, equivalently, the rate at which the body's momentum is changing with time. # If two bodies exert forces on each other, these forces have the same magnitude but opposite directions. The three laws of motion were first stated by Isaac Newton in his ''Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica'' (''Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy''), originally published in 1687. Newton used them to investigate and explain the motion of many physical objects and systems. In the time since Newton, new insights, especially around t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Product Rule
In calculus, the product rule (or Leibniz rule or Leibniz product rule) is a formula used to find the derivatives of products of two or more functions. For two functions, it may be stated in Lagrange's notation as (u \cdot v)' = u ' \cdot v + u \cdot v' or in Leibniz's notation as \frac (u\cdot v) = \frac \cdot v + u \cdot \frac. The rule may be extended or generalized to products of three or more functions, to a rule for higher-order derivatives of a product, and to other contexts. Discovery Discovery of this rule is credited to Gottfried Leibniz, who demonstrated it using "infinitesimals" (a precursor to the modern differential). (However, J. M. Child, a translator of Leibniz's papers, argues that it is due to Isaac Barrow.) Here is Leibniz's argument: Let ''u'' and ''v'' be functions. Then ''d(uv)'' is the same thing as the difference between two successive ''uvs; let one of these be ''uv'', and the other ''u+du'' times ''v+dv''; then: \begin d(u\cdot v) & = (u + d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ad Hoc
''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances (compare with ''a priori and a posteriori, a priori''). Common examples include ad hoc committees and commissions created at the national or international level for a specific task, and the term is often used to describe arbitration (ad hoc arbitration). In other fields, the term could refer to a military unit created under special circumstances (see ''task force''), a handcrafted network protocol (e.g., ad hoc network), a temporary collaboration among geographically-linked franchise locations (of a given national brand) to issue advertising coupons, or a purpose-specific equation in mathematics or science. Ad hoc can also function as an adjective describing temporary, provisional, or improvised methods ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Time Evolution
Time evolution is the change of state brought about by the passage of time, applicable to systems with internal state (also called ''stateful systems''). In this formulation, ''time'' is not required to be a continuous parameter, but may be discrete or even finite. In classical physics, time evolution of a collection of rigid bodies is governed by the principles of classical mechanics. In their most rudimentary form, these principles express the relationship between forces acting on the bodies and their acceleration given by Newton's laws of motion. These principles can be equivalently expressed more abstractly by Hamiltonian mechanics or Lagrangian mechanics. The concept of time evolution may be applicable to other stateful systems as well. For instance, the operation of a Turing machine can be regarded as the time evolution of the machine's control state together with the state of the tape (or possibly multiple tapes) including the position of the machine's read-write head (or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hilbert Space
In mathematics, a Hilbert space is a real number, real or complex number, complex inner product space that is also a complete metric space with respect to the metric induced by the inner product. It generalizes the notion of Euclidean space. The inner product allows lengths and angles to be defined. Furthermore, Complete metric space, completeness means that there are enough limit (mathematics), limits in the space to allow the techniques of calculus to be used. A Hilbert space is a special case of a Banach space. Hilbert spaces were studied beginning in the first decade of the 20th century by David Hilbert, Erhard Schmidt, and Frigyes Riesz. They are indispensable tools in the theories of partial differential equations, mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics, quantum mechanics, Fourier analysis (which includes applications to signal processing and heat transfer), and ergodic theory (which forms the mathematical underpinning of thermodynamics). John von Neumann coined the ... [...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] |
Real Number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one- dimensional quantity such as a duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every real number can be almost uniquely represented by an infinite decimal expansion. The real numbers are fundamental in calculus (and in many other branches of mathematics), in particular by their role in the classical definitions of limits, continuity and derivatives. The set of real numbers, sometimes called "the reals", is traditionally denoted by a bold , often using blackboard bold, . The adjective ''real'', used in the 17th century by René Descartes, distinguishes real numbers from imaginary numbers such as the square roots of . The real numbers include the rational numbers, such as the integer and the fraction . The rest of the real numbers are called irrational numbers. Some irrational numbers (as well as all the rationals) a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
