tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post7681075694512591200..comments2024-03-28T04:15:44.459-05:00Comments on nanoscale views: Math, beauty, and condensed matter physicsDouglas Natelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13340091255404229559noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-75781524425713915662018-07-30T13:36:14.119-05:002018-07-30T13:36:14.119-05:00Suomynona, Doug in fact did (indirectly) mention t...Suomynona, Doug in fact did (indirectly) mention the fractional quantum hall effect, via the link in his last sentence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-73281390560449854412018-07-29T15:12:23.270-05:002018-07-29T15:12:23.270-05:00Surprised there's no mention of topological ma...Surprised there's no mention of topological matter in this post. The modern field of topological condensed matter is extremely rich in exotic mathematics, including much of the same mathematical tools used in string theory. I think a lot of what drives physics students towards high energy physics is that the notion of reductionism still very much forms the core of a physicst's education, despite it being now over 45 years since Anderson's <i>More is Different</i> paper. I agree on the point that there is some preconceived notion that condensed matter is "messy" and particle physics is "clean". A counterexample might be to compare the calculation of the quantum Hall conductivity versus calculating the mass of the proton.suomynonanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-26959593220484229992018-07-28T18:09:22.740-05:002018-07-28T18:09:22.740-05:00In regards to gilroy0’s comment, I recommend the f...In regards to gilroy0’s comment, I recommend the following TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_for_changing_math_education/up-nextAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-6608764685493735662018-07-28T07:13:53.679-05:002018-07-28T07:13:53.679-05:00Maybe we need to approach math education different...Maybe we need to approach math education differently. Instead of spending so much time on increasingly remote exactness, students should get used to "messy" (or at least, numerical and approximate) math. With cheap computing, you could allow kids to explore numerics while learning the basics. In addition, the beauty and rarity of the exact results then pop out. Right now we get a lot of "why can't I just use my calculator?" and not a lot of great replies.gilroy0https://www.blogger.com/profile/13586592076460054599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-85340900811075552952018-07-26T17:22:54.189-05:002018-07-26T17:22:54.189-05:00Yes, that's an odd one. It would be exciting ...Yes, that's an odd one. It would be exciting if correct, but there is a long history of reports of superconductivity that don't hold up - see <a href="http://nanoscale.blogspot.com/2016/03/unidentified-superconducting-objects.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://condensedconcepts.blogspot.com/2017/04/is-it-unidentified-superconducting.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. As far as we know, neither Ag nor Au superconduct down to sub-mK temperatures. That makes it extraordinarily unlikely that a Au/Ag nanoparticle composite would do so near (or above) room temperature....Douglas Natelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13340091255404229559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-48696477417500467422018-07-26T17:08:07.441-05:002018-07-26T17:08:07.441-05:00My bad, didn't search enough. Here is the link...My bad, didn't search enough. Here is the link, https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.08572Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-74829180900143024612018-07-26T13:34:32.202-05:002018-07-26T13:34:32.202-05:00Anon@12:17, I deleted your comment b/c it looked a...Anon@12:17, I deleted your comment b/c it looked a lot like spam. Though I'm not 100% certain, I'm not going to encourage people to click on a mysterious download link.Douglas Natelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13340091255404229559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-55241403781071241892018-07-26T12:17:33.105-05:002018-07-26T12:17:33.105-05:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-24964886958347649842018-07-25T15:01:14.326-05:002018-07-25T15:01:14.326-05:00I think most physicists really misjudge the role o...I think most physicists really misjudge the role of mathematics in physics. Yes, things should look rigorous mathematically but unless you can explain your results without any equations you do not understand what you are doing. That is what Feynman said decades ago and it is still very much true. I sometimes think that the reason why physicists are relying more and more on advanced mathematics is simply obfuscation. In other words, there aren't that many fundamental problems left to be solved anymore in physics. That means you have to invent new methods to solve the same problems over and over. It then requires new mathematical tools. I come across that type of papers every day. "A new method to solve the blah blah problem..." The results are already known so what is the point other than generating more papers that nobody reads? <br />sylownoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13869903.post-8218675953414328882018-07-25T14:20:30.911-05:002018-07-25T14:20:30.911-05:00""... condensed matter ... emergent exac...""... condensed matter ... emergent exactitude ..." Are many of the mathematical techniques involved in quantum gravity also applicable to condensed matter? If there is a string landscape, is the mathematics of the landscape's structure related to the mathematics of impurity-induced scattering?<br /><a href="https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/PT.3.3964?journalCode=pto" rel="nofollow">"A Bose-Einstein condensate in an atom" by Ashley G. Smart, July 2018 Physics Today</a><br /><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.11122" rel="nofollow">Rätzel, Dennis, Richard Howl, Joel Lindkvist, and Ivette Fuentes. "Dynamical response of Bose-Einstein condensates to oscillating gravitational fields." arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.11122 (2018).</a>David Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10537922851243581921noreply@blogger.com