Areas of Physics

In General > s.a. experiments; history; teaching; theory.
* In terms of paradigms: Classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, (quantum) field theory.
* Parts: Experimental domain (object), mathematical model, conventional interpretation.
* Objects/systems: Elementary particles, fields and interactions, nuclear physics, atomic physics, solid state, astronomy and astrophysics.
* Formalisms: Few-particle and many-body dynamics, continuous media and fields, statistical mechanics.
* Methods: Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formulations.

Specific Topics > s.a. QCD phenomenology.
@ I: Rothman 91; Dyson 93; Silverman 93; Ehrlich 94; Morrison 94; Barrow 99; Azaroff 00; Siegfrid 00; Jargodzki & Potter 01 [puzzles]; Aslamazov & Varlamov 04 [condensed matter emphasis].
@ III: Peierls 79; Van der Merwe ed-83; Lahti & Mittelstaedt ed-85; Kheyfets & Miller JMP(91); Zhang ht/02-in [solid state and fundamental physics].
@ Reference book: Anderson ed-89; Cohen ed-95.

Main Open Problems, Present State
* According to Ginzburg PT(90)may:
- Macrophysics: (1) Controlled nuclear synthesis; (2) High-temperature (room T_c?) superconductivity; Superdiamagnetism; (3) New substances (metallic H and others); (4) Solid state physics (metal/dielectric transition, charge/spin-density waves, disordered semiconductors, spin glasses, quantum Hall effect, mesoscopics); (5) Second-order phase transitions and critical phenomena; (6) Surface physics; (7) Liquid crystals; very large molecules; (8) Behavior of matter in very strong magnetic fields; (9) Rasers, grasers, ultrahigh power lasers; (10) Strongly non-linear phenomena (non-linear physics); (11) Supertransuranic elements, exotic nuclei.
- Microphysics: (12) Particle mass spectrum; Quarks and gluons (QCD, number of parameters, generations); (13) Unified electroweak theory (W ^+/–, Z⁰, leptons); (14) Grand unification (proton decay, n mass, magnetic monopoles, supersymmetry, strings); (15) Quantum gravity and fundamental length, high and superhigh-energy interactions; (16) CP invariance and non-conservation; phase transitions in vacuum.
- Astrophysics: (17) Experimental verification of general relativity; (18) Detection of gravitational waves; (19) Connection between cosmology and hep, the cosmological constant problem; (20) Neutron stars and pulsars; (21) Black holes; (22) Quasars and galactic nuclei, formation of galaxies, dark matter; (23) Origin of cosmic rays; cosmic X-rays and -rays (including superhigh energy); (24) Neutrino astronomy (solar neutrino problem etc).
* Extra problems: Large dimensionless numbers; The Pioneer anomalous acceleration.
* 2006 hot topics: In decreasing order, carbon nanotubes, nanowires, quantum dots, fullerenes, giant magnetoresistance, M-theory, quantum computation.
@ General references: Ginzburg 85, PT(90)may; Leggett 88; Kundt ap/98-in [disagreements]; survey pw(99)dec; Mermin PT(01)feb; Lämmerzahl et al gq/06-in [solar system anomalies].
@ Status, trends: Ellis MPLA(93); roundtable PT(94)mar; Langenberg PT(94)dec [future]; Fitch et al ed-97; issue RMP(99)71#2; Freund ht/04-in [spacetime + matter]; Banks phy/06 + pw(06)may [hot topic index]; Winterberg a0805 ["clouds of physics"]; > s.a. cosmology, particle physics.

Applications
* Examples: Quantum mechanics – theory of light – lasers – CD's; General relativity – gravitational redshift – GPS [@ Berry pw(04)dec].
@ Fundamental vs applied: Rech(92)dec, p1410.
@ Examples: news PT(04)jul [particle physics and restoring old recordings].
@ Econophysics: Amaral et al PRL(98), Lee et al PRL(98)-pn(98)oct; Piotrowski & Sladkowski APPB(01)qp [and quantum mechanics]; Daniel & Sornette a0802 [rev, historical].
@ Research Fields in Physics 9th ed, AIP 94 [r CP(95)#4].

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Send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – Modified 27 jun 2008