Questions tagged [specific-reference]
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. Also for requests for hard-to-find electronic copies of resources when the exact reference is known. NOT TO BE USED for generic requests for resources (use [resource-recommendation] for that).
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Why are pear-shaped nuclei possible?
In a recent question, Ben Crowell raised an observation which really puzzled me. I obtained a partial answer by looking in the literature, but I would like to know if it's on the right track, and a ...
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"Dear radioactive ladies and gentlemen" - Letter by Wolfgang Pauli
In 1930, Wolfgang Pauli wrote a letter to Lise Meitner for a convention in Tübingen, considering the problem of beta decay.
Does anybody know, where to find the original letter online ?
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Earth-Centered Inertial (ECI) reference frame as approximate inertial frame of reference
In many practical applications, one can consider the Earth-Centered Inertial (ECI) reference frame approximately as an inertial reference system, though strictly speaking, it is non-inertial.
Is ...
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Reading the Feynman lectures in 2012
The Feynman lectures are universally admired, it seems, but also a half-century old.
Taking them as a source for self-study, what compensation for their age, if any, should today's reader undertake? ...
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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 ...
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Origin of Ladder Operator methods
Ladder operators are found in various contexts (such as calculating the spectra of the harmonic oscillator and angular momentum) in almost all introductory Quantum Mechanics textbooks. And every book ...
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Books that every physicist should read
Inspired by How should a physics student study mathematics? and in the same vein as Best books for mathematical background?, although in a more general fashion, I'd like to know if anyone is ...
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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 ...
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The equipartition theorem in momentum space
Motivated by the answers to this question on turbulence, I'm interested in an explanation and/or derivation/reference of the equipartition theorem in momentum space. To formulate it as a question:
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Recently publicized experiment on destructive interference between two laser beams
Recently I've had several non-physicist friends ask me, independently of each other, about an experiment where two collinear laser beams destructively interfere along a certain length. Everybody wants ...
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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 ...
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Lorentz' Derivation of Lorentz force
I have one simple question: Can someone point me to the paper where H.A. Lorentz published Lorentz force? I was digging through the usual literature in electromagnetics (Jackson, Griffiths, Thide, ...
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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 ...
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What is known about quantum electrodynamics at finite times?
I'm aware that we can describe the time evolution of states/operators (choose your favourite picture) of non interacting quantum fields and that perturbation theory is very effective in computing S ...
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Is microcausality *necessary* for no-signaling?
There are proofs in the literature that QFT including microcausality is sufficient for it not to be possible to send signals by making quantum mechanical measurements associated with regions of space-...
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