# Tagged Questions

Use this tag for questions seeking a single specific paper or a short, non-open-ended list of references, like "What paper first discovered X?", "Where can I find the original derivation of X?", or "What is the canonical source for X?" etc.

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### What are the justifying foundations of statistical mechanics without appealing to the ergodic hypothesis?

This question was listed as one of the questions in the proposal (see here), and I didn't know the answer. I don't know the ethics on blatantly stealing such a question, so if it should be deleted or ...
8answers
2k views

### Comprehensive book on group theory for physicists?

I am looking for a good source on group theory aimed at physicists. I'd prefer one with a good general introduction to group theory, not just focusing on Lie groups or crystal groups but one that ...
3answers
93 views

### Paper listing known Seiberg-dual pairs of N=1 gauge theories

Is there a nice list of known Seiberg-dual pairs somewhere? There are so many papers from the middle 1990s but I do not find comprehensive review. Could you suggest a reference? Seiberg's original ...
1answer
368 views

### Minimum viscosity of liquids

In a lecture by Purcell he mentions that he notices that there aren't any liquids with viscosities much less than that of water, even though they go up seemingly unbounded. In an endnote (endnote 1 in ...
6answers
306 views

### Classic Literature in Quantum Gravity?

I've seen it said in various places that a major reason people like string theory as a theory of quantum gravity is that it does a good job of matching our prejudices about how a quantum gravity ...
3answers
1k views

### Good reading on the Keldysh formalism

I'd like some suggestions for good reading materials on the Keldysh formalism in a condmat context. I'm familiar with the imaginary time, coherent state, path integral formalism, but lately I've been ...
2answers
174 views

### Possible research implications of proof of John Cardy's a-theorem in QFT

According to this recent article in Nature magazine, John Cardy's a-theorem may have found a proof. Question: What would the possible implications be in relation to further research in QFT? ...
6answers
1k views

### Where should a physicist go to learn chemistry?

I took an introductory chemistry course long ago, but the rules seemed arbitrary, and I've forgotten most of what I learned. Now that I have an undergraduate education in physics, I should be able to ...
2answers
50 views

### Numerical Analysis of Elliptic PDEs

I am looking for an elementary reference regarding issues of stability in numerical analysis of non-linear elliptic PDEs, particularly using the finite difference method (but something more ...
1answer
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### 6d Massive Gravity

Massive gravity (with a Fierz-Pauli mass) in 4 dimensions is very well-studied, involving exotic phenomena like the vDVZ discontinuity and the Vainshtein effect that all have an elegant and physically ...
1answer
383 views

### A reading list to build up to the spin statistics theorem

Wikipedia's article on the spin-statistics theorem sums it up thusly: In quantum mechanics, the spin-statistics theorem relates the spin of a particle to the particle statistics it obeys. The spin ...
2answers
128 views

### Literature on fractal properties of quasicrystals

At the seminar where the talk was about quasicrystals, I mentioned that some results on their properties remind the fractals. The person who gave the talk was not too fluent in a rigor mathematics ...
2answers
234 views

### Searching books and papers with equations

Sometimes I may come up with an equation in mind, so I want to search for the related material. It may be the case that I learn it before but forget the name, or, there is no name for the equation ...
2answers
141 views

### Gauge invariance for electromagnetic potential observables in test function form

This is a reference request for a relationship in quantum field theory between the electromagnetic potential and the electromagnetic field when they are presented in test function form. $U(1)$ gauge ...
2answers
70 views

### Discussions of the axioms of AQFT

The most recent discussion of what axioms one might drop from the Wightman axioms to allow the construction of realistic models that I'm aware of is Streater, Rep. Prog. Phys. 1975 38 771-846, ...
2answers
607 views

### Treatment of boundary terms when applying the variational principle

One of the main sources of subtlety in the AdS/CFT correspondence is the role played by boundary terms in the action. For example, for a scalar field in AdS there is range of masses just above the ...
1answer
452 views

### Entanglement in time

Quantum entanglement links particles through time, according to this study that received some publicity last year: New Type Of Entanglement Allows 'Teleportation in Time,' Say Physicists at The ...
4answers
292 views

### Applications of Geometric Topology to Theoretical Physics

Geometric topology is the study of manifolds, maps between manifolds, and embeddings of manifolds in one another. Included in this sub-branch of Pure Mathematics; knot theory, homotopy, manifold ...
2answers
304 views

### What is the current state of research in quantum gravity?

I was browsing through this and was wondering what progress in quantum gravity research has taken place since the (preprint) publication. If anyone can provide some helpful feedback I would be ...
1answer
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### Introduction to neutron star physics

I enjoy thinking about theoretical astrophysics because I want to understand black holes. Given that no one understands black holes, I like to ponder the nearest thing to a black hole: a neutron star! ...
4answers
317 views

### The Schwinger model

The Schwinger model is the 2d QED with massless fermions. An important result about it (which I would like to understand) is that this is a gauge invariant theory which contains a free massive vector ...
1answer
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### “Blue Bumper” Stars

I was recently overviewing various massive compact halo object studies (the Anglo-Australian MACHO collaboration and the French I/II EROS collaboration), and they frequently reference "blue bumper ...
3answers
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### Hilbert-Schmidt basis for many qubits - reference

Every density matrix of $n$ qubits can be written in the following way \hat{\rho}=\frac{1}{2^n}\sum_{i_1,i_2,\ldots,i_n=0}^3 t_{i_1i_2\ldots i_n} ...
1answer
40 views

### Functional relations for Kochen-Specker proofs

Many proofs of the Kochen-Specker theorem use some form of the following argument (from Mermin's "Simple Unified Form for the major No-Hidden-Variables Theorems" ) [I]f some functional relation ...
2answers
336 views

### What Hermitian operators can be observables?

We can construct a Hermitian operator $O$ in the following general way: find a complete set of projectors $P_\lambda$ which commute, assign to each projector a unique real number \$\lambda\in\mathbb ...
3answers
184 views

### References on the physics of anyons

Anyone know some good introductory references on the physics of anyons?
6answers
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### Papers and preprints worth reading, Jan-midFeb 2012 [closed]

Which recent (i.e. Jan-midFeb 2012) papers and preprint do you consider really worth reading? References should be followed by a summary saying what is the result and (implicitly or explicitly) why ...
1answer
73 views

### Many body quantum states analyzed as probabilistic sequences

Measurements of consecutive sites in a many body qudit system (e.q. a spin chain) can be interpreted as generating a probabilistic sequence of numbers $X_1 X_2 X_3 \ldots$, where \$X_i\in ...
0answers
120 views

### Intuitive sketch of the correspondence of a string theory to its limiting quantum field theory

I'm looking for an intuitive sketch of how one shows the correspondence of string theory to a certain QFT. My best guess is that one calculates the scattering amplitudes in the string theory as a ...
0answers
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### Minimal strings and topological strings

In http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0206255 Dijkgraaf and Vafa showed that the closed string partition function of the topological B-model on a Calabi-Yau of the form $uv-H(x,y)=0$ coincides with the free ...
6answers
847 views

### What is a tensor?

I have a pretty good knowledge of physics but couldn't understand what a tensor is. I just couldn't understand it, and the wiki page is very hard to understand as well. Can someone refer me to a good ...
3answers
405 views

### Noether theorem with semigroup of symmetry instead of group

Suppose You have semigroup instead of typical group construction in Noether theorem. Is this interesting? In fact there is no time-reversal symmetry in the nature, right? At least not in the same ...
2answers
658 views

### Modern and complete references for the $k\cdot p$ method?

I've recently started studying the $k\cdot p$ method for describing electronic bandstructures near the centre of the Brillouin zone and I've been finding it hard to find any pedagogical references on ...
2answers
51 views

### “tmf(n) is the space of supersymmetric conformal field theories of central charge -n”

I read this intriguing statement in John Baez' week 197 the other day, and I've been giving it some thought. The post in question is from 2003, so I was wondering if there has been any progress in ...
2answers
116 views

### Simulation of QED

Can anyone point me to a paper dealing with simulation of QED or the Standard Model in general? I will particularly appreciate a review paper.
2answers
445 views

### Majorana zero mode in quantum field theory

Recently, Majorana zero mode becomes very hot in condensed matter physics. I remember there was a lot of study of fermion zero mode in quantum field theory, where advanced math, such as index ...
4answers
347 views

### Hamiltonian and the space-time structure

I'm reading Arnold's "Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics" but I failed to find rigorous development for the allowed forms of Hamiltonian. Space-time structure dictates the form of ...
1answer
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### Fourier Methods in General Relativity

I am looking for some references which discuss Fourier transform methods in GR. Specifically supposing you have a metric $g_{\mu \nu}(x)$ and its Fourier transform $\tilde{g}_{\mu \nu}(k)$, what does ...
1answer
49 views

### Canonical averages in a Fermi gas aka generalized Fermi-Dirac distribution

I am in the process of applying Beenakker's tunneling master equation theory of quantum dots (with some generalizations) to some problems of non-adiabatic charge pumping. As a part of this work I ...
3answers
451 views

### Boundary layer theory in fluids learning resources

I'm trying to understand boundary layer theory in fluids. All I've found are dimensional arguments, order of magnitude arguments, etc... What I'm looking for is more mathematically sound arguments. ...
1answer
164 views

### Are Born-Oppenheimer energies analytic functions of nuclear positions?

I am looking for references to bibliography that explores the smoothness and analyticity of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions (and matrix elements in general) of a hamiltonian that depends on some ...
1answer
78 views

### Characters of $\widehat{\mathfrak{su}}(2)_k$ and WZW coset construction

I am currently studying affine Lie algebras and the WZW coset construction. I have a minor technical problem in calculating the (specialized) character of $\widehat{\mathfrak{su}}(2)_k$ for an affine ...
0answers
205 views

### Lower bounds on spectral gaps of ferromagnetic spin-1/2 XXX Hamiltonians?

Question. Are there any references or techniques which can be applied to obtain energy gaps for ferromagnetic XXX spin-1/2 Hamitlonians, on general interaction graphs, or tree-graphs? I'm interested ...
10answers
2k views

### Physics for mathematicians

How and from where does a mathematician learn physics from a mathematical stand point? I am reading the book by Spivak Elementary Mechanics from a mathematicians view point. The first couple of pages ...
8answers
4k views

### Which Mechanics book is the best for beginner in math major?

I'm a bachelor student majoring in math, and pretty interested in physics. I would like a book to study for classical mechanics, that will prepare me to work through Goldstein's Classical Mechanics. ...
2answers
277 views

### Wilson/Polyakov loops in Weinberg's QFT books

I wanted to know if the discussion on Wilson loops and Polyakov loops (and their relationship to confinement and asymptotic freedom) is present in the three volumes of Weinberg's QFT books but in some ...
1answer
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### Quantum mechanics as a Markov process

I am currently involved in some understanding on this matter with a colleague of mine. I know all the literature about but I do not know the state of art. Please, could you provide some relevant ...
1answer
105 views

### Request for Reference: BRST formalism/transformations

Could anyone please suggest a very basic paper/reference/literature on BRST symmetry/formalism that requires rudimentary knowledge of Dirac's method for dealing with constrained systems and generation ...
2answers
352 views

### What's a good reference for the electrodynamics of moving media?

The answer to a previous question suggests that a moving, permanently magnetized material has an effective electric polarization $\vec{v}\times\vec{M}$. This is easy to check in the case of ...
2answers
282 views

### Is there a published upper limit on the electron's electric quadrupole moment?

I understand an electric quadrupole moment is forbidden in the standard electron theory. In this paper considering general relativistic corrections (Kerr-Newman metric around the electron), however, ...
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