Areas of Physics  

In General > s.a. experiments; history of physics; physics 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 physics, 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; Siegfrid 00 [information]; Jargodzki & Potter 01 [puzzles]; Azaroff 10; Aslamazov & Varlamov 12 [condensed matter emphasis].
@ III: Peierls 79; Van der Merwe ed-83; Lahti & Mittelstaedt ed-85; Kheyfets & Miller JMP(91); Zhang ht/02-fs [solid-state and fundamental physics].
@ Reference book: Anderson ed-89; Cohen ed-95.
> Online resources: see Dominic Walliman's map.

Main Open Problems, Present State
* According to Ginzburg PT(90)may:
- Macrophysics: (1) Controlled nuclear synthesis; (2) High-temperature (room Tc?) 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, neutron 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 high-energy physics, 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 γ-rays (including superhigh energy); (24) Neutrino astronomy (solar neutrino problem etc).
* Solved problems: The consensus is that the Pioneer anomalous acceleration problem has been solved (2012).
* Conceptual issues: Interpretation of quantum theory; Anthropic principle; Multiverse; Large dimensionless numbers; Role of information theory.
* Fundamental physics: Unification of the basic interactions; Unification of the universal frameworks of quantum theory and relativity.
* 2006, hot topics: In decreasing order, carbon nanotubes, nanowires, quantum dots, fullerenes, giant magnetoresistance, M-theory, quantum computation.
* S James Gates' bucket list: From a 4 June 2014 PI lecture, (1) Higgs boson, (2) Gravitational waves, (3) Superpartners, (4) Superstrings/M-theory.
* 2014, livescience: Is there order in chaos? Is string theory correct? How do measurements collapse quantum wavefunctions? What is the fate of the universe? Why is there more matter than antimatter? Are there parallel universes? Why is there an arrow of time? What is dark matter? What is dark energy?
* 2015, unexplained facts: The Axis of Evil and Cold Spot in the cmb; The seasonal pattern in the DAMA experiment data; The γ-ray excess in Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope data from the center of the galaxy; The discrepancy between electron- and muon-based measurements of the proton radius; The origin of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (Oh-My-God particles); The discrepancy in the measured values of G.
@ 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-proc [solar system anomalies]; news ns(09)oct [seven questions that keep physicists up at night]; news nat(15)oct [unexplained facts].
@ Status, trends: Ellis MPLA(93); roundtable PT(94)mar; Fitch et al ed-97; issue RMP(99)71#2; Freund ht/04-conf [spacetime + matter]; Banks phy/06 + pw(06)may [hot topic index]; Winterberg a0805 ["clouds of physics"]; Agarwal et al JMO-a1802 [tasks]; > s.a. cosmology; particle physics.
@ The future of physics: Gamow PT(49); Langenberg PT(94)dec; Gross IJMPA(05); Wilczek pbs(15)jun; collection PT(16)dec [Physics in 2116].
> Online resources: see Wikipedia list of unsolved problems in physics.

Applications > s.a. physics [relationship with other disciplines].
* Examples: Quantum mechanics – theory of light – lasers – CDs; General relativity – gravitational redshift – GPS [@ Berry pw(04)dec]; Particle physics – proton accelerators used to treat cancer, and particle detectors used for luggage screening and archaeology.
@ Fundamental vs applied: Rech(92)dec, p1410.
@ Particle physics: news PT(04)jul [restoring old recordings]; news symm(17)apr [archaeology].
@ Medical physics: Ratliff AJP(09)sep [radiation]; Hobbie & Roth AJP(09)nov [RL].
@ Econophysics: Amaral et al PRL(98), Lee et al PRL(98)-pn(98)oct; Piotrowski & Sładkowski APPB(01)qp [and quantum mechanics]; Daniel & Sornette a0802 [rev, historical].
@ Research Fields in Physics 9th ed, AIP 94 [r CP(95)#4].


main pageabbreviationsjournalscommentsother sitesacknowledgements
send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – modified 10 sep 2018