Bound stateIn quantum physics, a bound state is a quantum state of a particle subject to a potential such that the particle has a tendency to remain localized in one or more regions of space. The potential may be external or it may be the result of the presence of another particle; in the latter case, one can equivalently define a bound state as a state representing two or more particles whose interaction energy exceeds the total energy of each separate particle. One consequence is that, given a potential vanishing at infinity, negative-energy states must be bound.
Renormalization groupIn theoretical physics, the term renormalization group (RG) refers to a formal apparatus that allows systematic investigation of the changes of a physical system as viewed at different scales. In particle physics, it reflects the changes in the underlying force laws (codified in a quantum field theory) as the energy scale at which physical processes occur varies, energy/momentum and resolution distance scales being effectively conjugate under the uncertainty principle. A change in scale is called a scale transformation.
Magnetic momentIn electromagnetism, the magnetic moment is the magnetic strength and orientation of a magnet or other object that produces a magnetic field. Examples of objects that have magnetic moments include loops of electric current (such as electromagnets), permanent magnets, elementary particles (such as electrons), composite particles (such as protons and neutrons), various molecules, and many astronomical objects (such as many planets, some moons, stars, etc).
PlateauIn geology and physical geography, a plateau (pləˈtoʊ,_plæˈtoʊ,_ˈplætoʊ; plato; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides have deep hills or escarpments. Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes, including upwelling of volcanic magma, extrusion of lava, and erosion by water and glaciers.
Interplanetary magnetic fieldThe interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), now more commonly referred to as the heliospheric magnetic field (HMF), is the component of the solar magnetic field that is dragged out from the solar corona by the solar wind flow to fill the Solar System. The coronal and solar wind plasmas are highly electrically conductive, meaning the magnetic field lines and the plasma flows are effectively "frozen" together and the magnetic field cannot diffuse through the plasma on time scales of interest.
Perturbation theory (quantum mechanics)In quantum mechanics, perturbation theory is a set of approximation schemes directly related to mathematical perturbation for describing a complicated quantum system in terms of a simpler one. The idea is to start with a simple system for which a mathematical solution is known, and add an additional "perturbing" Hamiltonian representing a weak disturbance to the system. If the disturbance is not too large, the various physical quantities associated with the perturbed system (e.g.
Exact sequenceAn exact sequence is a sequence of morphisms between objects (for example, groups, rings, modules, and, more generally, objects of an ) such that the of one morphism equals the kernel of the next. In the context of group theory, a sequence of groups and group homomorphisms is said to be exact at if . The sequence is called exact if it is exact at each for all , i.e., if the image of each homomorphism is equal to the kernel of the next. The sequence of groups and homomorphisms may be either finite or infinite.
Percolation theoryIn statistical physics and mathematics, percolation theory describes the behavior of a network when nodes or links are added. This is a geometric type of phase transition, since at a critical fraction of addition the network of small, disconnected clusters merge into significantly larger connected, so-called spanning clusters. The applications of percolation theory to materials science and in many other disciplines are discussed here and in the articles Network theory and Percolation (cognitive psychology).
Electromagnetic fieldAn electromagnetic field (also EM field or EMF) is a classical (i.e. non-quantum) field produced by moving electric charges. It is the field described by classical electrodynamics (a classical field theory) and is the classical counterpart to the quantized electromagnetic field tensor in quantum electrodynamics (a quantum field theory). The electromagnetic field propagates at the speed of light (in fact, this field can be identified as light) and interacts with charges and currents.
Magnetic pressureIn physics, magnetic pressure is an energy density associated with a magnetic field. In SI units, the energy density of a magnetic field with strength can be expressed as where is the vacuum permeability. Any magnetic field has an associated magnetic pressure contained by the boundary conditions on the field. It is identical to any other physical pressure except that it is carried by the magnetic field rather than (in the case of a gas) by the kinetic energy of gas molecules.
