Quantum Theory

hello im trying to learn the fundamentals of electricity an im stuck already "questions to understand electricity #1 What is the stuff that flows through a light bulb and comes back out again through the other wire? #2 What is the stuff that flows into a light bulb and gets changed entirely into light and heat? " i can understand question 1, its electric charge... bla bla but question 2 i dont get, i can understand where the b field and e fields come from .. but the site im learning from says "THE ENERGY FLOW (POYNTING FIELD): Electromagnetic energy flows out of the battery and into the empty space around the circuit. It flows parallel to…

I've just read the Bohm Interpretation of QM on wikipedia. How commonly is this interpretation accepted by the scientific community? What exactly is wrong with it?

In contemplating what little (and I do mean little) I've learned so far about string theory, I was wondering about the harmonics of the vibrating strings. Do we know what these harmonics do? Do we even know of any specific vibration patterns that create mass? light? anything? I'm working on a science fiction piece and I'm curious about using harmonics, such as 1st, 3rd, 5th and etc.

Opinions on this would be welcomed. http://www.sflorg.com/abstracts.html I need some feedback / opinions for a follow-up article we will be doing. Thank you for your consideration in helping. Heidi-Ann Kennedy Director Scientific Frontline BTW I am not spamming I have heard good things about this forum and plan on participating.

In another thread (in speculations: http://www.scienceforums.net/showthread.php?t=23406 ), we were discussing the 0 point energy and tunnelling (well the thread was not specifically about that but it was a point to do with the topic). Now neither of us has the knowledge of Quantum Mechanics to answer this properly (and it is off topic for that particular thread), so I though I'd ask here to get some clarification on it. We were discussing electron tunnelling through a barrier. Essentially a hole in an electrically charged plate with the electrons fired at it with just enough velocity to approach the hole but not go through it so that some might tunnel through the …

Can someone with knowledge on what supersymmetry is please enlighten me. Hawkins literature on the subject has left me scratching my head. So basically: What is supersymmetry? What does it affect? Thanks

I have no idea where to look for this theory. I was watching a show on the science channel, and this theory was described. Basically, it was a theory that stated that all particles are in contact/communication with each other throughout the entire universe. The experiment described went something like this: A scientist took two particles and using what I guess is a law of quantum mechanics showed that they both must revolve in opposite directions -I believe this is common knowledge. He then completely separated them in his lab. He then reversed the spin of one of the particles. Instantly, the other particle changed direction of its spin independently. The scient…

I have a very hand wavy idea of how the consistent histories approach to QM works, and if anybody is interested I found a very clear article that describes the logic behind the theory...now, I read in 'three roads' by Lee Smolin, that if the consistent histories theory is correct, that there is a chance that dinosaurs never roamed the earth, that the universe could go from classical to a non-classical system, and all sorts of odd goings on. I like to keep an open mind, but wtf. I'm nowhere near the level to understand this mathematically (part time, first year undergrad physics student) so I only have layman books and articles to keep me going until I get to a more a…

Can someone plz tell me what the quantum zeno effect is?

At what scale do we start to see quantum phenomena? Is it picometers? Is it a femtometer?

I use the term Gate as it sounds like the gates in Sci Fi novels where you can look at and travel the universe by stepping through gates with no data loss or fully intact. These gates can be located anywhere. Taken fron the article: The elephant and the event horizon http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg19225751.200-the-elephant-and-the-event-horizon.html On Quantum Gravity: So basically because things are unpredictable or faster then light, like in a Black Hole (there are large comparisons to FTL black holes in the article), we can best predict things with an 'event horizon.' This Event Horizon can be located anywhere it states, even on ea…

How is it that the force between quarks increases as their distance increases? This is very counter intuitive. If this is the case then there must be some way of harnessing this power practically. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_confinement I am left bewildered upon reading this, with many questions. What force is the quark confinement force related to? Strong nuclear force? I thought that even this was an inverse square relationship? Any insight?

About the emission line spectrum, what factors affect the formation of the picture? My books said that helium could probably have a similar pattern as hydrogen spectrum but it didn't mention whether the case still applies for lithium and hydrogen. Moreover, it is not only the principal quantum shell which determines the wavelength of the radiation released, right?

From what I've read it seem to say that Lepton; Electron, Muon, Tau, with their respective neutrinos, and quarks: Up, Down, Top, Bottom, Charmed, Strange....*takes breath* all are split up into different generations. So my question, does that mean that they actually were created in different generations or is that just a way to express them? I know higher generations decay into smaller ones, so is that a discrete value at which they start to decay? Maybe just an example of how one changes to another and why, would help me out now.

Which interpretation do you subscribe to?

Hi, I have a question that's been bugging me for a while now. According to QM a measurement collapses the wavefunction into an eigenstate of the measured eigenvalue (projection upon measured eigenspace). If I take the Stern-Gerlach apparatus. WHEN does the wavefunction collapse? (When is the measurement made?) Is it when the electron leaves the magnetic field? Or when the electron hits the plate? Or when I look at the plate? Or otherwise? I thought (actually, just assumed) that it happened when the electron hits the plate, but I`m not sure anymore. Is there any detectable way in which we can distinguish these cases (in particular case 1 and 2).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4c/Particle_chart.jpg This is a chart of the standard model (obviously). I'm considering getting my dad to get this chart printed out in full size so I can put it on my wall. You fellows are quite knowledgable so I figured I would ask if this is a good thing. Is this a useful/accurate chart? Are there any (online or mail order) charts that would be better for a young physics major? I wont be needing it for school for at least a year, so it doesn't have to be super-accurate, just enough for general questions and the like.

I recently caught the end of a documentary where someone is actually trying to build a crude time machine, I can't quite remember all of the exact details but it went something like this, He's created a device which takes a sub-atomic particle (A photon I think) and orbits it very fast through a chamber via a system of differently angled lazers, the aim of which is to have the particle exeed the speed of light I presume, so as it can be sent back in time, to create a sort of sending and receiving device over time rather than space. He hopes that by simply turning it on that he'll receive messages from himself in the future almost straight away; provided he remeb…

Run a laser through a beam splitter which goes into two fiber optic cables. Have the resulting beams cross. What you will see is an interference pattern. Run the beams coming out of the beam splitter through a pair of down converters which generate entangled photos. Now you end up with two sets of interference patterns. Now, right next to each of the screens, place a "which path detector" on one of the fiber optic cables. Now, whenever either side turns on this device, it destroys the interference pattern on the other side by collapsing the waveform of the entangled particle and thus destroying the interference pattern. The result is two way communication via…

http://www.aip.org/pnu/2006/split/789-2.html?source=rsspnu http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=APPLAB000089000002021113000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes it takes a beam of electrons you scatter laser light off the beam, and the light picks up a lot of energy from the beam the resulting gamma can be used to create electron-positron pairs and supply useful amounts of positrons for other purposes

I have recently been becoming interested in quantum chromodynamics and have been wondering what is the future of this field? what problems are currently being worked on? what areas are "hot" in this field?

How are the probabilites derived for the outcome of electron and positron high energy collisions using the Alpha Em constant, is the same method used with Alpha S e.g to find the probability of the emission of a gluon ?

recently i have been interested in high speed particle acceleration/ quantum physics. i've just been reading sort of general articles in the area...but what are some really hot areas? what are some good scientific magazines to subscribe to? any interesting papers? i'm more interested in the experimental physics than the theoretical but anything is fine. I probably do not have enough mathematical experience but should have solid foundations in differential equations, linear algebra w/in the next year. btw i'm a high school student (11th grade) and am looking at doing research in this area. I am not asking for research topics, only guidance to hot/new areas in which …

Why are matricies used in the math behind quantum mechanics unlike the regular numbers and variables that are used in the other sciences? I know this is a loaded question and I'm probably not going to understand the answer, but please try me.

Go easy on me, it's been a while since chemistry, and our defuncto Physics "teacher" didn't teach much of anything involving quantum mechanics... Given the hydrogen energy level transitions: n=3 to n=4: 0.66eV n=2 to n=3: 1.89eV n=1 to n=2: 10.2eV Could one excite hydrogen gas from ground state to n=4 with two lasers; one of energy 10.2eV and one of 2.55eV, or would this violate conservation of angular momentum? I ask because I want to do an experiment involving excitation of a gas in the nonvisible spectrum leading to visible emission. Essentially, I need a (n "easily" available) gas that can be excited with two lasers in the non-visible spectru…