German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld died #OTD in 1951.
In 1916, he introduced the idea of elliptical orbits for electrons, and he also introduced additional quantum numbers which included the azimuthal quantum number and magnetic quantum number. He also introduced a dimensionless physical constant known as the fine-structure constant. This constant characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between elementary charged particles.
Abstract (full text in link): Although David Bohm’s interpretation of quantum mechanics is sometimes thought to be a kind of regression towards classical thinking, it is in fact an extremely radical metaphysics of nature. The view goes far beyond the familiar but perennially peculiar non-locality and entanglement of quantum...
German physicist Max Planck was born #OTD in 1858.
Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical physics, specially as the originator of quantum theory, which revolutionized understanding of atomic and subatomic processes. He is known for Planck's constant, which is of foundational importance for quantum physics, and which he used to derive a set of units (Planck units) expressed only in terms of fundamental physical constants.
It was 100 years ago when Max Planck published a paper that gave birth to quantum mechanics – or so the story goes. History reveals, however, that Planck did not immediately realize the consequences of his work and became a revolutionary against his will. via @PhysicsWorld
April 14 has been designated World Quantum Day in honour of Planck’s Constant which can be rounded to h~ 4.14×10−15 eV·s (and some folks write April 14 as 4/14*). Planck’s constant comes up a lot in quantum mechanics; for instance a photon’s energy is h times its frequency). So I thought I would share Feynman Bauhaus.
🧵1/n
It’s now thought that they could illuminate fundamental questions in #physics, settle questions about #Einstein’s theories, & even help explain the #universe.
…In recent yrs, the amt of data that scientists have discovered about black holes has grown exponentially.
It’s in these simple, outlandish objects, Broderick explained,“that 20th-cen #physics breaks down.”…Basically, there’s #Einstein’s theory of general #relativity (which made a tiny but far-reaching correction to #Newton’s concept of #gravity), & there’s #QuantumMechanics. “General relativity is thought of as the theory of the very large & massive, & quantum mechanics is the theory of the very small or very cold,” Broderick said. #BlackHoles are massive(gen relativity), & cold (quantum mechanics).
Interesting fact of the day: Since a photon is its own anti-particle both matter and antimatter emit the exact same kind of light. They can still annihilate each other, they are just so weakly interacting such annihilation has never been experimentally observed, and we dont expect it ever will be, at least not anytime soon.
#PhysicsFactlet
A quantum simple pendulum.
The pendulum position is spread out, with opacity here being proportional to the probability that the pendulum is at that position at a given time. The average position of the quantum dynamics is the same as the classical pendulum dynamics (Ehrenfest theorem).
Technicalities: I used the Crank-Nicholson method to evolve the system in time. This is a 1D problem, and the only variable I considered was the angle, with the initial state being a Gaussian.
@soc_i_ety
Keeping in mind, macro level is pretty much everything above the quantum level. No idea what conflict even means at the quantum level. Is there competition between quanta? Any #Science or #quantumMechanics followers have a take on that? As they pop in and out of the foam, what sort of interaction is there? Is there any interaction at all, even? Asking for a friend. 🤣
The Philosophical and Scientific Metaphysics of David Bohm (www.mdpi.com)
Abstract (full text in link): Although David Bohm’s interpretation of quantum mechanics is sometimes thought to be a kind of regression towards classical thinking, it is in fact an extremely radical metaphysics of nature. The view goes far beyond the familiar but perennially peculiar non-locality and entanglement of quantum...