Related papers: On Boltzmann's genius and thermodynamics
Year 2005 was the World Year of Physics, and it was commemorated worldwide as the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's legendary works in which the foundations of at least three areas of modern physics were laid: statistical mechanics,…
As a tribute to our teacher and mentor on the occasion of his centennial celebration, we provide a brief historical overview and a summary of sustained interest in the topic of interaction of neutrons with alpha particles.
Was Einstein wrong? This paper provides a detailed technical review of Einstein's special and general relativity from an astrophysical perspective, including the historical development of the theories, experimental tests, modern…
Boltzmann's Principle S = k ln W was repeatedly criticized by Einstein since it lacked a proper dynamical foundation in view of the thermal motion of the particles, out of which a physical system consists. This suggests, in particular, that…
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the revolutionary contributions to physics by Einstein, I am happy to respond to a problem posed by him in 1905. He said: In this paper it will be shown that according to the…
The following notes are intended to make a small digression on the topics mentioned in the title of the same, since these were not addressed in the past tribute by the Institute of Physics of the UdeA. We believe more than platitude try to…
A recent high school graduate addresses the salient question: Should individualism or collectivism be encouraged in physics students? (Physics Today, Points of View, October 2013)
The philosopher Plato is remembered even today by scientists, and his writings are still inspiring the scientific research. In the present short note (intended essentially for public outreach) two examples are briefly illustrated: 1) the…
Whoever has to learn or to teach thermodynamics is confronted with conceptual difficulties which are specific to this field of physics ([1],[2]). It seems that they can be eliminated by inserting relativity in the thermodynamic theory. The…
After a Preface written by the Editors, there follow twelve papers submitted by theoretical physicists from Asia, Europe and the USA.
Heisenberg's breakthrough in his July 1925 paper that set in motion the development of Quantum Mechanics through subsequent papers by Born, Jordan, Heisenberg and also Dirac (from 1925 to 1927) is reexamined through a modern lens. In this…
This paper aims to provide physics teachers with tools to help deepen the understanding of the laws of electromagnetism. The fundamental contributions of our proposal are: a) to use quotes from mythical characters in the history of science…
Einstein's contributions to statistical mechanics and quantum theory are reviewed. We also provide a detailed discussion of his thesis on suspensions that led to a good value of the Avogadro number.
Despite well over a century of effort, the proper expression for the classical entropy in statistical mechanics remains a subject of debate. The Boltzmann entropy (calculated from a surface in phase space) has been criticized as not being…
This short piece celebrates Haldane's seminal J. Phys. C 14, 2585 (1981) paper laying the foundations of the modern theory of Luttinger liquids in one-dimensional systems.
In a recent article we have introduced Friedmann thermodynamics, where certain geometric parameters in Friedmann models are treated like their thermodynamic counterparts (temperature, entropy, Gibbs potential etc.). This model has the…
The Tolman effect is well-known in relativistic cosmology but rarely discussed outside it. That is surprising because the effect -- that systems extended over a varying gravitational potential exhibit temperature gradients while in thermal…
The transition from the end of inflation to a hot, thermal Universe, commonly referred to as (re)heating, is a critical yet often misunderstood phase in early Universe cosmology. This short review aims to provide a comprehensive,…
This paper was written in honor of my friend Ted Geballe's 100th birthday. It concerns the physics of the superconducting Tc. Tc is a dimensional quantity, and so depends on microscopic details of a material making it a strange quantity to…
A brief remembrance of some aspects of the author's scientific interaction with Stephen Hawking. A contribution to Physics Today's March 14, 2018 web page in which Stephen Hawking is remembered by his colleagues.