Measure the absolute spectral radiance over a range of frequencies and fit the Planck spectrum
For example, the COBE FIRAS blackbody spectrum experiment used a differential Michelson interferometer to compare the sky with an internal blackbody; an external calibrated blackbody could cover the sky entrance. Cold bolometers measured the difference spectrum, and foreground separation distinguished Milky Way emission from the nearly isotropic background. The fitted background temperature is approximately .[ref] The result relies on an absolute spectral comparison, rather than merely measuring a map's hot-to-cold contrast.
Thermal interstellar dust produces a bright galactic foreground concentrated toward the Milky Way plane, with additional cloud structure. Its emission spectrum differs from the approximately blackbody spectrum of the cosmic microwave background, so comparisons across frequencies help separate it. In the sketch below this is the bright equatorial band.
Blackbody radiation defeated classical equipartition because it predicts excessive short-wavelength emission. Quantized oscillator energy exchange , and ultimately the photon occupation law, gives the Planck spectrum. In the photoelectric effect, electron energy follows light frequency with a threshold, rather than simply increasing with beam intensity; individual photons supply and the maximum kinetic energy is . Intensity chiefly changes the event rate at a fixed frequency. These explain two distinct failures of a purely continuous classical wave-plus-matter model, while retaining wave propagation and interference.
The separability of the printed Lagrangian is important. Every is an independent oscillator of the same frequency, irrespective of mass. Define , . Then the complete constant matrix , and angular quantities , include each oscillator energy and the rotational symmetries of this mass-weighted oscillator space. Alternatively its explicitly time-dependent constants are and .
Translations in all give conserved . Translation of together gives ; is free and gives . Their center-of-mass positions minus the associated constant velocities times are boost constants. The decoupled relative motion conserves , where . In mass-weighted versions, the three free center coordinates also have conserved mutual angular momenta. These families are not all functionally independent.
The relative subsystem alone is driven through . For generic nonzero its energy, and hence the total energy, is not conserved. Omitting the mass-weighted oscillator symmetries simply because the physical masses differ would miss genuine symmetries of this particular model.
The ion density is and double ionization gives m. Therefore eV. The photon energy loss gives eV, while momentum conservation gives
Inverting the stipulated dispersion law gives
An angular frequency expressed “in eV” means , not the frequency itself. The temperature is a formal inference conditional on the dispersion model, whose validity is tested next.
A simpler physical coordinate is . For eigenvalue , the equation becomes an oscillator of mass , frequency , and auxiliary energy
If the source's variable is used literally, , then the same canonical oscillator form has and the same . Because is an inverse length, this auxiliary is not a physical particle mass with ordinary mass dimensions; the rescaling must be carried through both kinetic and potential terms.
For a fixed propagation direction and spatial mode, a photon has two independent transverse polarization amplitudes. Orthogonal horizontal and vertical states span its two-dimensional Hilbert space: , with . Polarization analyzers measure bases in this space, and phase plates implement transformations of its relative amplitudes. Additional spatial or frequency modes enlarge the space and must not be silently discarded.
Expand about . Then and conservation of energy gives
Here can be signed, but the physical oscillation frequency and amplitude are nonnegative. The small-energy condition ensures that this local expansion samples only a narrow range about , provided the field varies smoothly there.
Put and . Its equation is . If both effective stiffnesses are positive, the sum and product of roots are positive and , so both roots are positive. They can coincide in a degenerate zero-rotation isotropic case; “two” need not mean distinct.
If , the product is negative, so one root is negative. Its imaginary frequency gives a growing exponential displacement: centrifugal softening has overwhelmed one elastic restoring direction, making the central configuration unstable. Coriolis coupling mixes the two coordinates but does not remove this negative-product instability.
Use positive angular frequencies and abbreviate , . The left-handed index is . It is negative below its positive zero,
For the right-handed mode, . Below the cyclotron resonance its denominator is negative and the index square is positive. Just above the resonance it is negative until
This is the lossless electron-only cold-plasma model. Ions, collisions and resonance absorption matter outside its applicable range.
For a whistler with and ,
The travel time through a uniform slab is . In terms of ordinary frequency,
An arbitrary emission time changes the intercept, not the slope. The original figure labels a dispersion constant : it is the reciprocal of the plotted slope, not the slope itself. Therefore
For nT and m this gives , , and
The resulting forbidden right-handed frequency width is
The lower edge is about kHz and the upper edge about kHz. In the real nonuniform plasma, the travel-time coefficient measures a path integral proportional to . The inferred density is consequently an effective uniform-slab estimate, not a unique local density at the spacecraft. Uncertainty in the path and magnetic field likely exceeds the formal error in .
Put . Then . For it increases from zero at the north pole to infinity as and has no interior minimum. The vertical orientation is stable. Near zero,
For , away from the marginal case , this gives
The locally signed tilt oscillates at angular frequency , while the azimuth precesses approximately at . The nonnegative polar coordinate is , so its successive pole-to-pole excursions have period and angular repetition frequency . Stating this convention avoids confusing a signed small displacement with the polar-angle magnitude. The full axis direction combines that excursion with precession.
Figure 1.
The vertical spinning top changes from a stable minimum to an unstable maximum
. Dimensionless effective potentials are shown for alpha equal to 0.5 and 2. The second panel marks the off-axis minimum and the zero-energy turning angle approached by a near-separatrix excursion. Details.
A viscoelastic material stores part of the work of deformation and dissipates part. In the linear regime its stress depends on the strain history, not just the instantaneous strain or shear strain rate. For simple shear, a causal relaxation modulus gives . A sudden strain then probes stress relaxation, while a constant imposed stress probes material creep; these are different experiments.
For steady sinusoidal strain use the convention and complex amplitudes. The complex viscoelastic modulus is
so . The storage modulus is the in-phase elastic component. The loss modulus multiplies the component in phase with shear strain rate; stress leads strain by . The loss tangent is when .
Multiplying stress by shear strain rate and averaging gives . Hence the dissipated energy per oscillatory shear cycle is
The elastic contribution returns its work over the cycle. A passive material has nonnegative dissipation, which fixes the sign of the loss term in the chosen Fourier convention. This complex viscoelastic modulus is a response function, not the mathematical absolute value of a complex number.
A Maxwell model places a spring of shear modulus in series with a dashpot of viscosity , so the strains add at common stress:
The Maxwell fluid dynamic modulus is
At the response is predominantly viscous, and . At it approaches the elastic plateau . The two moduli cross, and reaches its maximum, at . A Kelvin-Voigt model instead has the spring and dashpot in parallel, giving and no fluid-like zero-frequency terminal flow. Real materials often need a spectrum of relaxation times rather than one Maxwell time.
Figure 1.
Original Maxwell storage and loss moduli, with a stress–strain cycle whose enclosed area measures dissipated work
. Details.
Oscillatory rheometry measures stress amplitude and phase while imposing a small strain. An oscillatory-shear amplitude sweep first identifies a linear regime; an oscillatory-shear frequency sweep then measures and . Repeat at controlled temperature, suppress evaporation, check wall slip and sample aging, and correct instrument inertia at high frequency. Frequency-dependent structure and a nonlinear response cannot be inferred reliably by fitting one spring and dashpot to one point.
The requested model is the standard linear solid model: a spring of modulus in parallel with a Maxwell branch consisting of a spring in series with a dashpot of viscosity . Both parallel branches have the same strain; their stresses add. In the Maxwell branch the spring and dashpot have the same stress and their strains add. The equilibrium spring prevents indefinite flow at long times.
For harmonic strain , define the dynamic modulus by . The Maxwell branch has compliance . Defining therefore gives
The same mechanical model can represent a shear modulus if the appropriate shear stresses and strains are used consistently.
Figure 1.
A spring parallel to a Maxwell element gives finite low- and high-frequency storage moduli and one loss-modulus peak
. Details.
Writing , its storage modulus and loss modulus are
With this time convention the physical stress is and leads the strain by the loss angle. The dissipated energy per unit volume per cycle is . Thus describes elastic storage and describes dissipation.
At low frequency, , the dashpot flows during a cycle and relaxes the Maxwell spring, leaving , . At high frequency, , the dashpot hardly deforms within a cycle, so both springs carry elastic load: , while . The loss modulus is maximal at , with peak value .
The equivalent constitutive equation is
After a sudden strain is imposed and held, the stress relaxes as . It falls from the instantaneous modulus to the nonzero relaxed modulus . This single-time relaxation is the simplest improvement over a purely elastic solid or a Maxwell fluid with zero long-time modulus.
The loss tangent is . Its maximum need not coincide with the loss-modulus maximum: the peak frequencies in a standard linear solid give for the loss tangent. The model captures one viscoelastic crossover between two finite elastic plateaux, with dissipation concentrated near the relaxation frequency.
TODO: biomolecular force assays are user-deferred. The following notes cover the generic physical apparatus, calibrated dielectric handles and synthetic attachments only.
In optical tweezers, a tightly focused laser produces a restoring gradient force on a suitable transparent bead. Scattering also transfers momentum along propagation, so a stable three-dimensional trap needs axial as well as lateral restoration. An objective with high numerical aperture, correctly filled entrance pupil, controlled beam polarization and low-aberration sample chamber are practical design elements. Collect transmitted/scattered light with a condenser and measure bead displacement with calibrated imaging or back-focal-plane photodetection. A steerable beam or translation stage sets relative positions; the force signal comes from bead displacement, not commanded stage displacement alone.
Near a stable operating point, use a harmonic optical trap with . For a slowly changing external force, in that coordinate; the optical restoring force is . Calibrate each axis and the range over which its response is linear. Detector sensitivity must also be known: write , with measured detector voltage , offset and position sensitivity in . A spring constant in arbitrary detector units is not a force calibration.
Three complementary physical calibrations are useful. At thermal equilibrium the equipartition theorem gives
This needs an independently calibrated position scale and a variance corrected for drift, detector noise and exposure averaging. In an overdamped Newtonian medium, the optical trap Langevin calibration obeys
Using a one-sided position power spectral density per hertz,
The corner frequency and spectral amplitude test both relaxation and fluctuation size. If drag is known, . The isolated-sphere value must be corrected near boundaries; otherwise measured height dependence can be mistaken for a changed trap stiffness. An independent steady optical trap drag calibration moves fluid past the trapped sphere: . Use small positive and negative speeds to verify slope, offset and force range.
One can also determine position sensitivity without assuming the bulk drag. In a low-frequency sinusoidal-stage optical trap calibration, let the known local fluid velocity amplitude be at drive angular frequency . The coherent bead displacement amplitude is
If the corresponding detector amplitude is , then
After removing the coherent drive line from the thermal record, combine this sensitivity with equipartition theorem to recover , and then infer from . A published calibration combines thermal spectra and stage-driven motion without taking bead drag as an input.[ref]
Controls determine whether these formulas measure the apparatus rather than its noise. Record blocked-light offsets and independent fixed-bead noise; calibrate length with known motion; keep sampling and electronics bandwidth adequate around ; and include exposure filtering and aliasing in a spectral fit. motion blur reduces measured variance and therefore makes naive equipartition theorem overestimate stiffness; additive position noise has the opposite bias. Changing exposure time provides a direct diagnostic.[ref] Check temperature and laser heating, wall separation, bead size and refractive index, alignment and power stability. Repeat after changing power or optical geometry and compare thermal, spectral and drag estimates. For a synthetic force handle, also measure the attachment's compliance and geometry so that bead motion is not automatically identified with its extension.
Figure 1.
Optical trap calibration
. Details.
The electron-phonon interaction can produce a retarded attraction. A carrier distorts the ionic lattice; a second carrier can lower its energy in that distortion. Integrating out a phonon gives a frequency-dependent interaction with an attractive low-frequency region. A schematic Matsubara-frequency contribution is . It must be combined with the screened Coulomb repulsion, not treated as a statement that the bare electron-electron force is attractive.
Retardation separates the electronic and phonon energy scales and reduces the repulsive contribution in the pairing channel to a Coulomb pseudopotential. In the simplest weak-coupling approximation, a positive net dimensionless pairing strength gives
The formula assumes a phonon cutoff and simplified coupling; strong-coupling calculations need the spectral interaction rather than this one-number replacement. The phonon frequency's dependence on ionic mass motivates an isotope effect, whose actual exponent can be modified by other physics.
An interaction need not be attractive in every momentum channel to support pairing. Spin fluctuations or other electronic correlations can favor a sign-changing gap: in the gap equation, repulsive scattering between two regions can contribute constructively when their gap signs differ. Such mechanisms are candidates for unconventional superconductivity. Observing a d-wave gap identifies symmetry information but does not, by itself, establish a unique microscopic pairing mechanism in a cuprate.
A Josephson junction weakly couples two superconducting condensates. Its coupling energy is , with a gauge-invariant phase difference across the junction. Choose current and voltage orientations consistently so that
The DC Josephson effect permits a stationary zero-voltage supercurrent up to . A constant nonzero voltage produces the AC Josephson effect, with frequency . Resistive and capacitive currents are additional circuit contributions, not part of the ideal sinusoidal supercurrent alone.
In a symmetric DC SQUID with negligible loop self-inductance, the two junction phases differ by . Adding their currents and maximizing over the common phase gives
Flux changes therefore modulate the critical current or a suitably biased output voltage. This converts phase interference into sensitive flux measurement. Finite loop inductance, unequal junctions, noise and readout conditions alter the simple modulation; the loop flux then includes screening currents. A SQUID is useful in magnetometry, but achieving sensitivity requires both a suitable circuit and controlled environmental noise.
Use a complex pair order parameter with signed charge , . A local isotropic Ginzburg-Landau theory of superconductivity has free energy
For , , the uniform amplitude is . Variation gives the static field equation and supercurrent
The vector potential obeys Maxwell's equations, including and , with and . The static approximation drops the displacement current. A common dissipative near-transition dynamical extension is the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation
It is a phenomenological relaxation law in its applicable regime, not a universal microscopic Schrödinger equation for every superconductor. Its covariant time derivative and the covariant spatial derivative ensure consistent phase and electromagnetic gauge transformations.
The amplitude and screening lengths are
For the ideal model is type II. An Abrikosov vortex has a phase winding, a core with suppressed of size , and circulating screening currents over . Single-valuedness implies fluxoid and flux quantization in a superconductor:
The sign of depends on the chosen circulation and charge convention. Far from the core, where the contour current term is negligible, each singly wound vortex carries one flux quantum in magnitude.
The equilibrium lower critical magnetic field marks favorable entry of the first vortex; for , with an order-one core correction . The upper critical magnetic field follows by linearizing the order-parameter equation in the field:
Between these fields lies the superconducting mixed state, often with an Abrikosov vortex lattice. The ideal equilibrium entry and exit fields need not yield large irreversible loops. Flux pinning and surface barriers impede vortex motion; field sweeps then retain history-dependent flux and produce magnetic hysteresis and dissipative losses.
A superconducting weak link, such as a tunnel junction or narrow constriction, couples the phases of two superconductors. With consistent choices of phase and voltage orientation, the Josephson effect gives
The Gauge-invariant Josephson phase includes the line integral of across the link. A zero voltage can sustain a phase-dependent steady current; a constant nonzero voltage makes that contribution oscillate. Microwave irradiation can lock this oscillation to an applied frequency, giving voltage steps at , an experimental test of coherent pair transport rather than an ordinary resistive current law.
A DC SQUID places two weak links in a loop. For identical junction critical currents and negligible self-inductance, flux quantization fixes their relative phase difference to . Adding the two sinusoidal currents and maximizing over their common phase gives
The flux-periodic response provides sensitive magnetic measurements. Junction asymmetry or appreciable loop inductance changes the ideal contrast and can introduce additional hysteresis; the phase-coherent interference principle remains. The Jaklevic Josephson interference experiment is a motivating experimental realization of this link between a superconducting loop, weak links and magnetic flux.
A Josephson junction converts a relative condensate phase into a measurable current. For superconductors the relevant coherent object is a Cooper pair, with electric charge . Its Gauge-invariant Josephson phase is
With a consistent directed-current convention, the weak-link relation is . A voltage gives , so a constant voltage produces the AC Josephson effect at frequency . For neutral atom reservoirs the phase evolution instead follows their chemical-potential difference, with the displayed phase labeling. The current transfers atoms rather than electric charge, but still probes coherent matter-wave amplitudes.
A DC SQUID provides two coherent paths around a superconducting loop. Neglect loop self-inductance, take equal junction critical currents , and let be the enclosed flux. The relative junction phase differs by , with superconducting flux quantum . Adding the two sinusoidal currents and maximizing over their common phase gives
For unequal junctions the corresponding result is . Finite inductance and junction asymmetry alter the ideal modulation, so a measured minimum need not be zero. Flux changes a phase difference between the paths; the detector reads the resulting critical-current or voltage modulation. The Jaklevic Josephson interference experiment established superconducting interference experimentally.[ref]
A bosonic Josephson junction uses two weakly linked Bose-Einstein condensates. In the Albiez double-well Josephson experiment, the population distribution was measured in situ and the relative phase inferred from interference fringes. The apparatus therefore tests both number transfer and phase coherence, rather than interpreting a density oscillation alone as a phase measurement. Interactions make the dynamics nonlinear: large imbalance can produce self-trapping instead of simple tunneling oscillations.[ref]
The usefulness is interferometric sensitivity: a small phase perturbation can change a measurable current. It requires a coherent weak link, controlled phase noise and the appropriate particle's phase evolution; a generic insulating barrier between incoherent reservoirs is not already a matter-wave interferometer.
A shorter radiation flash has a broader Fourier transform. From iii, its characteristic angular-frequency bandwidth is
At fixed bending radius this scales as as . The standard synchrotron critical angular frequency makes the same scaling explicit:
A periodically circulating electron produces harmonics of its revolution frequency. The very large harmonic range, of order , forms the familiar effectively continuous broad synchrotron spectrum at ordinary detector resolution. The result concerns the intrinsic spectrum of the radiation, not merely the slow envelope imposed by a long incoherent bunch. Ordinary frequency is ; mixing cycles per second with radians per second would introduce a spurious factor of into photon-energy estimates.[ref]
Using the conventional critical scale rather than guessing a precise Fourier-width coefficient,
This is extreme ultraviolet and the very soft X-ray boundary, with a broad spectrum extending on either side; it is not a hard, multi-keV X-ray source at the stated large bending radius. The characteristic energy is not a sharp upper cutoff. For orientation, the standard angle-integrated spectral power per unit frequency peaks near eV, also in the extreme ultraviolet; a particular angular acceptance weights that spectrum differently.
The crucial scale follows from both the GeV energy and the m radius. Using only the fact that synchrotron sources can make X-rays, or replacing the bending radius by a much smaller unstated value, would misidentify the characteristic photon energies here. The critical-energy convention and the broadband character are described by the primary radiation model.[ref]