/pg/ - Physics general

[Anonymous No.9132295]

/pg/ vs /phg/ vs /PhyG/ vs /physics/ edition

What are you studying/researching?
Any interesting problems/questions?
Textbook recommendations?

>resources
http://4chan-science.wikia.com/wiki/Physics_Textbook_Recommendations

[Anonymous No.9132325]

>>9132295
Currently studying differential equations before the term starts.

[Anonymous No.9132356]

modular functors and cobordism in two dimensions

[Anonymous No.9132369]

>>9132295

Studying up on electrodynamics n shiet, fall quarter starts in a few weeks.

[Anonymous No.9133101]

>>9132369
how is it so far?

[Anonymous No.9133568]

Bump

[Anonymous No.9133647]

>>9132295
>What are you studying/researching?
I'm going over pre-reqs for quantum field theory (building up to Klein-Gordon and Dirac in P&S) that starts next week. I'm also doing two research projects; finishing up one I have been working on for year to type and publish and one I'm currently in the middle of. Both are in computational astrophysics.

>Any interesting problems/questions?
Nope

>Textbook recommendations?
I was told by someone to look at Diagrammatica. It goes over the nitty gritty that P&S and Srednicki skip over.

[Anonymous No.9135104]

Currently studying thermodynamics and Axler's LADR. It's moderately interesting t b h

[Anonymous No.9135162]

>>9132295
>What are you studying/researching?
Currently studying for my first major complex variable test, frankly it's fairly easy if you're meticulous enough. Also, doing some info theory scientific poster on the side for a national physics conference. it'll be cool

>Any interesting problems/questions?
I think it's fascinating that most algebra theorems and lemma transition almost seamlessly into the complex realm.
Also, Seth Lloyd is a bossssssss

>Textbook recommendations?
Currently finishing up the theoretical minimum per a teacher recommendation, it's quite good but not as rigurous as standard textbook material... It works as an introduction to complex topics but nothing more :)

[Anonymous No.9135221]

>>9135162
Are you from UNAM?

[Anonymous No.9135315]

>>9132295
>What are you studying/researching?
Just started studying quantum mechanics with Griffiths/Shankar before the quarter starts in 4 weeks. I also learned I was accepted and got funding to attend a conference in October to present my current research in my particle physics group. I heard that David Gross will be in attendance so tha'ts pretty cool.

>Any interesting problems/questions?
Not yet, but probably once I get further in my QM studies.

>Textbook recommendations?
Any good complex variables books? My course is using pic related but I'm wondering if there are any other recommended books.

[Anonymous No.9135335]

i'm a math grad but i'm taking a grad mechanics course this semester for the fun of it. i'm hoping it goes a little heavy into functional analysis and symmetries but i'm probably getting my hopes up and will drop it in a couple weeks.

[Anonymous No.9135357]

>>9135335
I don't know about functional analysis, but I know some meme artists have applied differential geometry and Lie algebras to mechanics to create geometric mechanics.

http://wwwf.imperial.ac.uk/~dholm/classnotes/GMS-FinalMar09.pdf

[Anonymous No.9135364]

>>9135357
thanks i might read that sometime when i get bored XD. they should cover functional analysis and noether's theorem in this course but i somehow have my doubts. some of the students in the class seem like they've never seen a lagrangian before 0_o

[Anonymous No.9135369]

>>9135364
i act like a fucking weab when i talk about physics idk what's wrong with me i need more therapy

[Anonymous No.9135389]

I'm feeling a little burned out. There's so much work to be done but it doesn't feel like it's leading anywhere. Whats a field with more direct application/industry problems?

[Anonymous No.9135395]

>>9135389
engineering, obviously. probably anything.

[Anonymous No.9135691]

>>9135395
No physics fields?

[Anonymous No.9135695]

>>9135691
oh sorry i didn't understand what you meant. yeah you could go into solid state/material type physics. anything that requires you to do computational work is going to be very useful to you if you want to find a job later outside of academia.

[Anonymous No.9136525]

Figured I'd try asking here.
Does anybody know if a PDF of University physics by Bauer & Westfall exists online, or if any of you have it?
I've tried the sci wikia textbook torrent and libgen.io with no luck.

[Anonymous No.9136573]

>>9132295
please anon, no
we don't need another damn general

[Anonymous No.9136903]

>>9135221
nah i aint a femichairo

[Anonymous No.9136908]

>>9132295

Just got to the introductory cosmology bit at the end of my general relativity text and it is such a meme.

The approximations on top of approximations on top of exponentiated assumptions and approximations make it hard to believe these models are useful as anything more than qualitative estimates. I doubt even the order of magnitude on most of these figures matches reality.

[Anonymous No.9136910]

>>9136908

More accurate reaction pic to this borderline pseudoscience

[Anonymous No.9136914]

So, who here was a fucking disgrace when they started doing research? I can't have been the only one?

[Anonymous No.9137214]

About to start PhD in experimental particle physics, wish me luck /sci/

[Anonymous No.9137216]

>>9137214
don't kill you'reself

[Anonymous No.9137568]

I'm starting college late at 23. What groups do you guys recommend joining for friends/networking? I left after a year at my first school and made no friends and it was the worst. I skipped welcome week stuff because I figured friends would be made in classes. Wrong I guess. I sat in my dorm on my computer. Are the engineering/science sororities/co-ed fraternities any good? I've heard people mention solar vehicle clubs. Majoring in physics by the way.

[Anonymous No.9138487]

>>9137568
you don't have to join anything. Just go outside and talk to people.

[Anonymous No.9138512]

>>9137568
You're definitely still young enough to fit in with college kids, there's a guy in my classes that's 30 and has a lot of friends, so just the regular "making friends in college" advice.

You could join clubs and things like that, or just be more proactive and try to put together study groups or talk to people after classes

[Anonymous No.9139077]

>>9136914
>disgrace

What do u mean?

[Anonymous No.9139464]

What's the consensus on the finite string theory project?

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LEWc-Qph5_EU-VhcU9UGBp4vRfqhf1SQ7lUS5AGfddM/

[Anonymous No.9140298]

>>9139464
looks good desu

[Anonymous No.9140948]

>>9135315
Thats awesome dude, congrats!! What is the theme of your research?

[Anonymous No.9142148]

Bump

[Anonymous No.9142426]

starting in Oct aha x

probs couldnt have done it without 4chan tbqh

[Anonymous No.9142837]

>>9142426
congrats. Any plans to do research?

[Anonymous No.9142972]

>>9135315
How did you get into a research group for particle physics without quantum mechanics? For just complex integration look at Nearing's mathematical tools for physics. This is most of the complex analysis you'll need in physics for a while. I recommend ahlfors, conway, lang, and ash for serious complex analysis.

[Anonymous No.9142978]

>>9135335
You're going to be disappointed. Take a look at Hall, Takhatajan, Folland, Faddeev and Yakubovskii's books on quantum mechanics for mathematicians.

>>9136908
Look at a more serious book on cosmology like Dodelson. If you're really serious try Weinberg.

[Anonymous No.9142983]

>>9140948
Thanks, my theme is pretty much simulations of the detector. Specifically doing simulations of the purity monitor (particle tracing, electric field simulations, SPICE simulations, etc.) since were using a noble gas cooled to the liquid phase in the detector. It's not much but as a sophomore it was a fun experience and I got to make some cool connections already.

>>9142972
I was able to join because I wasn't doing "particle physics" or anything theoretical just simulations and stuff. Also the professors at my school are really nice, and love when us undergrads get to work in their labs, so that's a big plus. Thanks for the book recommendations as well.

[Anonymous No.9143419]

>>9132295
I know this is a very basic question, but I'd like to refresh my memory. In Hubble law V=HD, H is Hubble constant and D the distance between us and the object flying away due to the expansion of the universe, let's make the numbers easy and let's say that for every 10 meters velocity adds 1m/s. This is how we write it, okay?
V=0.1D
If an object is 1000m away from us speeding at 100m/s, what time does it take to reach 4000m away from us?
Time is distance/speed
what is the formula, is this correct?
∫H/x integral from 1000m to 4000m?

[Anonymous No.9143487]

>>9132295

Just started doing some research in neutrino oscillations and wondering how the fuck do i design an experiment that lets me measure that motherfucking complex phase that breaks CP symmetry. Maybe in 20 years some nerd will get it and he will be awarded the Nobel.

Also, doing some research on entropical magnitudes on fractal dimensions but i dont know how to integrate over fractal maps, Riemann and Lebesgue measures dont work.

[Anonymous No.9143492]

>>9143489
>>9143489
>>9143489

pls respond

[Anonymous No.9143525]

I really should choose my courses for this year. 3 major topics & 3 minor topics. Probably gonna take condensed matter stuff mostly.

No idea what I'll do after graduating, I'm a supreme sperglord and I don't know much programming.

[Anonymous No.9144080]

bmup

[Anonymous No.9144087]

If one takes the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics to the letter, in the beginning there were only probabilities.

There was no observer to "collapse" the wave functions of whatever existed, therefore there were only evolving wave functions: probabilities.

There was, technically speaking, no reality to talk about, because there was no observer to cause it to collapse to the state of reality.

Human reality depends on humans to exist and to observe it.

Then at some point, out of this giant network of probabilities a conscious observer was created.

That conscious observer was not a probability: it was a reality.

That conscious observer (the human race) is making the entire universe metamorphose from probabilities into reality.

In this story there seems to be something missing: how do probabilities create a conscious observer?

How does a state of probabilities evolve into a state of conscious observers?

Was the conscious observer merely a probability from the beginning, that turned out to exist out of sheer luck, or was it meant to exist from the beginning?

Is everything that can possibly exist eventually going to exist, given enough time, given enough trials and errors?

Is today's conscious observer still only a probability herself, and not an actual "reality"?

Relativity tells a different story, a story of pure determinism: our future is determined by the past.

If Relativity and Quantum Mechanics are both true (despite the fact that we are not capable of explaining one with the other), then the emergence of the observer must have been written in the original conditions, in the original set of probabilities.

The story of the universe may be the story of an entity that is slowly transforming itself from one kind of substance to another kind of substance, and consciousness might be just the tool that it is employing in order to achieve that transition.

[Anonymous No.9144128]

>>9144087
>If one takes the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics to the letter, in the beginning there were only probabilities.
What beginning?

>There was no observer to "collapse" the wave functions of whatever existed, therefore there were only evolving wave functions: probabilities.
"Observer" has nothing to do with humans or consciousness. An observation is simply an interaction which produces information. This can happen whenever two particles bump into each other, for example.

>Human reality depends on humans to exist and to observe it.
No, it doesn't.

[Anonymous No.9145034]

it wont be long before i get into OUTER SPACE

[Go Cougs No.9145486]

What are you studying/researching?
Constraining neutron star equation of states via the tidal deformability parameter from BH-NS merger gravitational waveforms.
Any interesting problems/questions?
Doing a crap-ton of BHNS merger simulations, rootfinding constant lambda parameters for various piecewise polytrope EOSs
Textbook recommendations?https://www.amazon.com/Numerical-Relativity-Einsteins-Equations-Computer/dp/052151407X

[Anonymous No.9145491]

Is there any reason I make a fuckton of calculation errors in physics but very few in math?

[Go Cougs No.9145497]

>>9145491

Prob too stupid.

[Anonymous No.9145516]

>What are you studying/researching?
Currently a senior undergrad doing a dual major in mech eng and physics. I'm researching into the 20Ne(p,3He) reaction and its implications in nuclear astrophysics.

>Any interesting problems/questions?
To tell the truth I don't want to do nuclear astro research. I feel like I'm still too green for nuclear experimentation I'll probably do nuclear engineering for grad school

>Textbook recommendations?
Introduction to Solid State Physics, Kittel 8th Edition

[Go Cougs No.9145522]

>>9145516

>Nuclear Physics

>Reading Kittel

How the hell do does solid state correlate with nuclear physics?

[Anonymous No.9145535]

>>9145522
scintillation/detector physics; germanium is a hell of a semiconductor

[Anonymous No.9145538]

>>9145522
>"How the hell do does"
who let the compsci in the thread

[Anonymous No.9145540]

>>9145491
Physics requires more word based problem solving skill. I had to piece together a word problem, find the valiables, apply them to equations and sometimes have to make kind of unique equations for the problem. This would also be utilizing a large amount of the math knowledge I had obtained in calc 1, 2 and 3.

Physics is a whole different beast, you just might be better sticking to math.

[Anonymous No.9145548]

Any chance someone has a .pdf copy of Differential Equations With Boundary-Value Problems, 9th Edition by Dennis Zill? I've used Google and a few repository sites, and the closest I've come is finding the 8th edition.Recommendations of any good textbook repository sites would also be appreciated.

Also, suggestions for a second year physics major? Extra things to read and to look out for if I'm interested in a research career, or would devotion to my coursework be sufficient for now?

[Anonymous No.9147103]

Bump

[Anonymous No.9147719]

Can I get a masters or a PhD in astrophysics if I have a degree in mathematics? I'm from the uk ?

[Anonymous No.9147722]

>>9147719
>Reminder: /sci/ is for discussing topics pertaining to science and mathematics, not for helping you with your homework or helping you figure out your career path.
>If you want advice regarding college/university or your career path, go to /adv/ - Advice.

[Anonymous No.9147759]

>>9147719
I don't know about the UK but in the US it's possible. As long as your coursework is solid you always have a chance. Astrophysics is also much less intensive in strict prerequisites compared to other fields of physics.

[Anonymous No.9148186]

Chemist here, doing my Bachelor's thesis in solid-state physics (IPE measurements on silicon nanoribbons). Supervisor is on a conference, so plenty of time to fuck around, any recommendations on introductory books for surface science?
Also, deadline is approaching, wish me luck, famalams!

[Anonymous No.9148447]

>>9148186
Goodluck anon!
t. engineering topkek

[Anonymous No.9148460]

>>9139464
how old are you?

[Anonymous No.9148466]

>>9143492
natural units. just saves loads of tedious writing out. use charge on an electron as a unit of charge instead of coulombs.

[Anonymous No.9148716]

>>9148460
>how old are you?
24

[Anonymous No.9149423]

>>9135162
>>9135315
Mexifags, I see. Where do you study at?

[Anonymous No.9149491]

>>9135315
Stein and Shakarchi is good, Schaum's Outline is another good one, and finally Ahlfors is great

[Anonymous No.9149531]

Failed my PhD qual because I suck, so now I'm doing a Masters Research project on developing CNT Gas sensors and radios. It doesn't seem super exciting but i'm just hoping for a job at this point.

[Anonymous No.9149631]

>>9132295
>What are you studying/researching?
Algebraic geometry on Riemann surfaces for gauge symmetry in CFTs and some quantization schemes. I couldn't find a book on TQFTs in the library of the new uni so my quest for a unifying picture of CFT/TQFT will have to wait.
For my actual job, I've already finished studying some specific aspects of topological superconductors that caught my PhD supervisor's eye. I'll be pitching ideas to her later this week.
>Any interesting problems/questions?
For an analytic family [math]\pi: R \rightarrow C[/math] of Riemann surfaces there is a map [math]\rho: \Theta_C \rightarrow R^1 \pi_* \Theta_{R/C}[/math] from the sheaf of germs of holomorphic functions on the Riemann surface [math]R[/math] to that of the Cech 1-classes, called the Kodaira-Spencer map. This map is isomorphic if and only if the family [math]\pi[/math] is "nice" under deformations (reparameterizations) of the base space [math]C[/math].
An interesting fact I've found is that the Schwinger-Keldysh contour in nonequilibrium quantum dynamics under physical assumptions can be thought of as the boundary of a Möbius band embedded within the Riemann sphere [math]S^2[/math], and can therefore be thought of as an elliptic curve on which the Dyson equations for the self-energy can be considered as a constraint in the corresponding Cech 1-cohomology class as long as we generalize the notion of sheafs of germs to include holomorphic distributions. This may allow us to use the Kodaira-Spencer map to investigate which class of Green functions behave nicely under reparameterizations of the contour, and will hopefully let us find anomalies relating to renormalizability.
>Textbook recommendations?
Ueno.

[Anonymous No.9149689]

>>9149531
isnt a masters in physics good enough to get job offers

[Anonymous No.9149703]

>>9149631
Why are you still here?

[Anonymous No.9149704]

>>9149689
I hope so. I just want to do something still science related and not just CS heavy. I'm hoping this research gets me enough experience to land any sort of fabrication or R&D job.

[Anonymous No.9149817]

>>9149703
>Why are you still here?
Why wouldn't she be?

[Anonymous No.9150287]

>>9149689
Depends what you do your master's in. It's much easier getting a job with a masters in soft matter than cosmology.

[Anonymous No.9150324]

>>9132295
Why are most physics teachers bald?

[Anonymous No.9150468]

>>9144087
>If one takes the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics to the letter
Shut up and calculate, fool.

[Anonymous No.9150513]

>>9150324
Too much smarts for hair.