Emilio Pisanty

 The h Bar

General chat for Physics SE (physics.stackexchange.com). For M...
Apr 23 11:35
@naturallyInconsistent thanks!
Apr 23 11:28
@auden feel free to tag me when you do =)
Apr 23 11:27
47
Q: Is there oscillating charge in a hydrogen atom?

Marty GreenIn another post, I claimed that there was obviously an oscillating charge in a hydrogen atom when you took the superposition of a 1s and a 2p state. One of the respected members of this community (John Rennie) challenged me on this, saying: Why do you say there is an oscillating charge distribut...

Apr 23 11:27
@auden you may find this helpful
Apr 22 18:20
but hopefully this helps frame how to think about it
Apr 22 18:20
How you handle all that will end up involving a whole bunch of quantities, which describe the different situations involved
Apr 22 18:20
And on the third hand, the relative probabilities must all add to one (i.e. the probablility that the excited state decays)
Apr 22 18:18
On another hand, it also needs to be possible to directly calculate the relative probabilities on the theory side -- at least in terms of relevant matrix elements.
Apr 22 18:17
On one hand, the relative probabilities of those transitions must be directly related to the optical intensity that is observed on each spectral line for a gaseous sample that's fluorescing after pre-excitation to that pre-defined initial state.
Apr 22 18:16
Where it does make sense is if you have a single atom, which you know is in some pre-defined excited state, and you want to find out what happens to it. Generically, it will have multiple lower-energy bound states (incl. the ground state but also other excited states) where it is allowed by energy and selection rules to decay into. But how do you know with what probability it will go where?
Apr 22 18:14
Ultimately, if what you're trying to do is quantify how bright the different lines are on a spectrum from a glowing gas, then adding stuff to one doesn't make much sense.
Apr 22 18:13
@auden Hmmmm. If you point to specific texts where you're having trouble, I can probably offer more detailed insight. But at this level is harder.
Apr 22 09:44
@skullpatrol Is this a response to auden? (in which case, I presume you mean illustrations?). If so, note that 'oscillator strength' has nothing to do with the quantum harmonic oscillator.
Apr 22 09:41
@auden In short: the energy conservation rule (i.e. $\hbar\omega$ must match the energy difference between two energy levels) tells you what frequency the light will be emitted/absorbed at. But it doesn't tell you whether the line will be a very bright one, or a dim afterthought -- that's the role of the oscillator strength.
Jan 21 18:09
(I considered cross-posting to physics, but ultimately it's just math, so I'll keep it there at least for now.)
Jan 21 18:08
in case any of you have any pointers
Jan 21 18:08
0
Q: Definitions of cross products between tensors of rank 3 and higher

E.P.I have recently come across, in several papers, the notion of cross product between two rank-2 tensor, which I find useful for a project I am currently looking into. A useful formulation is given in L. Szabó. A note on cross product between two symmetric second-order tensors. J. Mech. Mater. Str...

Jan 21 18:08
just wanted to drop this here
Jan 21 18:08
long time no see
Jan 21 18:08
hello folks =)
May 2, 2024 10:11
any mods around -- was this deleted through an automated system, or via community flags?
May 2, 2024 10:10
(10k only)
May 2, 2024 10:10
wow, that was fast
Jan 23, 2024 17:35
For any 10k'ers around, I was quite entertained by the contents of this answer physics.stackexchange.com/a/798525/8563
Oct 4, 2023 19:00
@Loong thanks!
Oct 4, 2023 17:54
(just checking that it is indeed publicly available, and not just within my institution)
Oct 4, 2023 17:53
can I ask someone here to access the PDF of this paper?
Oct 4, 2023 17:53
quick sanity check
Oct 4, 2023 17:53
Hello folks
Oct 4, 2023 11:16
@user726941 thanks!
Oct 4, 2023 10:04
In the future, though... who knows! 🙂
Oct 4, 2023 10:04
@naturallyInconsistent for now, not really. Most nuclear transitions are at high (photon) energies that are very hard to reach optically. (There are a few exceptions, though.) There's nothing stopping you in principle, so long as it's an electromagnetic transition, but it's mostly not practical.
Oct 3, 2023 21:23
Boy, today has been a bit of a whirlwind
Oct 3, 2023 21:23
@ACuriousMind 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂
Oct 3, 2023 19:29
If you can feed the algorithm and make it work for science communication, that'd be awesome =)
Oct 3, 2023 19:27
2
Q: What is an "attosecond pulse", and what can you use it for?

Emilio PisantyThe 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics was announced today, and it was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier, for “experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter”. The documents released by the Nobel Foundation along w...

Oct 3, 2023 16:36
any requests in particular?
Oct 3, 2023 16:36
I'm about to sit down to write
Oct 3, 2023 16:36
Hello folks!
Sep 8, 2023 13:48
@JohnRennie I'm passing by your digs
Sep 8, 2023 13:48
Aug 31, 2023 08:05
(but still a good question. Hard to answer well, though.)
Aug 31, 2023 08:05
That is one big pile of misconceptions
Aug 31, 2023 08:05
hoooooooo boy
Aug 31, 2023 08:05
0
Q: What happens after decay of atoms radioctivity?

XhoniUltraviolet waves can cause many biological deseases such as cancer or tumor or even make a photosinthesis process be quicker and that can cause also genetic disorders in generations .I found an article speaking of all radiation on stratosphere many nuclear weapons and Mega Tones of dust are in t...

 

 Wolfram Mathematica

Welcome! This is the main Mathematica chat room for mathematic...
Aug 25, 2023 13:36
but that behaviour is still bizarre in its own right
Aug 25, 2023 13:36
34
A: How to deal with complicated Gaussian integrals in Mathematica?

JensWhat you have is a MultinormalDistribution. The quadratic and linear forms in the exponential can be rewritten in terms of $-\frac12(\vec{x}-\vec{\mu})^\top\Sigma^{-1}(\vec{x}-\vec{\mu})$ where $\vec{\mu}$ represents the mean and $\Sigma$ the covariance matrix, see the documentation. With this, ...

Aug 25, 2023 13:36
in the end my XY problem was solved by this thread