Ciro Santilli @cirosantilli  40

Open source ones:

Contains the first sporadic groups discovered by far: 11 and 12 in 1861, and 22, 23 and 24 in 1973. And therefore presumably the simplest! The next sporadic ones discovered were the Janko groups, only in 1965!

Each $M_n$ is a permutation group on $n$ elements. There isn't an obvious algorithmic relationship between $n$ and the actual group.

TODO initial motivation? Why did Mathieu care about k-transitive groups?

Their; k-transitive group properties seem to be the main characterization, according to Wikipedia:Looking at the classification of k-transitive groups we see that the Mathieu groups are the only families of 4 and 5 transitive groups other than symmetric groups and alternating groups. 3-transitive is not as nice, so let's just say it is the stabilizer of $M_{23}$ and be done with it.

One nerve fiber under a scanning electron microscope: www.quora.com/Is-a-human-head-transplant-possible-in-the-future/answer/Dimitrios-Michmizos

Unlike the simple case of a matrix, in infinite dimensional vector spaces, the spectrum may be continuous.

The quintessential example of that is the spectrum of the position operator in quantum mechanics, in which any real number is a possible eigenvalue, since the particle may be found in any position. The associated eigenvectors are the corresponding Dirac delta functions.

One important quantum mechanics experiment, which using quantum effects explain the dependency of specific heat capacity on temperature, an effect which is not present in the Dulong-Petit law.

This is the solid-state analogue to the black-body radiation problem. It is also therefore a quantum mechanics-specific phenomenon.

Wikipedia mentions that it is completely analogous to Planck's law.

Published as On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether.

We can reach it by taking the rotations in three directions, e.g. a rotation around the z axis:then we derive and evaluate at 0:$L_z$ therefore represents the infinitesimal rotation.

Note that the exponential map reverses this and gives a finite rotation around the Z axis back from the infinitesimal generator $L_z$:

Repeating the same process for the other directions gives:We have now found 3 linearly independent elements of the Lie algebra, and since $SO(3)$ has dimension 3, we are done.

Has $SU(2)$ as a double cover.

A 4D gradient with some small special relativity specifics added in (the light of speed and sign change for the time).

${\mathbb{R}}^4$ with a weird dot product-like operation called the Minkowski inner product.

Because the Minkowski inner product product is not positive definite, the norm induced by an inner product is a norm, and the space is not a metric space strictly speaking.

The name given to this type of space is a pseudometric space.

Why should I care when I can calculate new x and new time with Lorentz transformation?

Answer: it can give some qualitative intuition on what is larger/smaller happens before/after based only on arguably more intuitive geometric considerations, without requiring you to do any calculations, see e.g. Figure "Spacetime diagram illustrating how faster-than-light travel implies time travel".

In the standard formulation of Maxwell's equations, the electric current is a convient but magic input.

Would it be possible to use Maxwell's equations to solve a system of pointlike particles such as electrons instead?

The following suggest no, or only for certain subcases less general than Maxwell's equations:This is the type of thing where the probability aspect of quantum mechanics seems it could "help".