In physics, the cross section is a measure of the probability that a specific process will take place in a collision of two particles. For example, the Rutherford cross-section is a measure of probability that an alpha particle will be deflected by a given angle during an interaction with an atomic nucleus. Cross section is typically denoted σ (sigma) and is expressed in units of area, more specifically in barns. In a way, it can be thought of as the size of the object that the excitation must hit in order for the process to occur, but more exactly, it is a parameter of a stochastic process.
In physics, specifically in electromagnetism, the Lorentz force law is the combination of electric and magnetic force on a point charge due to electromagnetic fields. The Lorentz force, on the other hand, is a physical effect that occurs in the vicinity of electrically neutral, current-carrying conductors causing moving electrical charges to experience a magnetic force.
In physics, resonance refers to a wide class of phenomena that arise as a result of matching temporal or spatial periods of oscillatory objects. For an oscillatory dynamical system driven by a time-varying external force, resonance occurs when the frequency of the external force coincides with the natural frequency of the system. Resonance can occur in various systems, such as mechanical, electrical, or acoustic systems, and it is desirable in certain applications, such as musical instruments or radio receivers. Resonance can also be undesirable, leading to excessive vibrations or even structural failure in some cases.
The Mössbauer effect, or recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence, is a physical phenomenon discovered by Rudolf Mössbauer in 1958. It involves the resonant and recoil-free emission and absorption of gamma radiation by atomic nuclei bound in a solid. Its main application is in Mössbauer spectroscopy.
Ionization is the process by which an atom or a molecule acquires a negative or positive charge by gaining or losing electrons, often in conjunction with other chemical changes. The resulting electrically charged atom or molecule is called an ion. Ionization can result from the loss of an electron after collisions with subatomic particles, collisions with other atoms, molecules, electrons, positrons, protons, antiprotons and ions, or through the interaction with electromagnetic radiation. Heterolytic bond cleavage and heterolytic substitution reactions can result in the formation of ion pairs. Ionization can occur through radioactive decay by the internal conversion process, in which an excited nucleus transfers its energy to one of the inner-shell electrons causing it to be ejected.
In physics and engineering, the quality factor or Q factor is a dimensionless parameter that describes how underdamped an oscillator or resonator is. It is defined as the ratio of the initial energy stored in the resonator to the energy lost in one radian of the cycle of oscillation. Q factor is alternatively defined as the ratio of a resonator's centre frequency to its bandwidth when subject to an oscillating driving force. These two definitions give numerically similar, but not identical, results. Higher Q indicates a lower rate of energy loss and the oscillations die out more slowly. A pendulum suspended from a high-quality bearing, oscillating in air, has a high Q, while a pendulum immersed in oil has a low one. Resonators with high quality factors have low damping, so that they ring or vibrate longer.
In condensed matter physics, scintillation is the physical process where a material, called a scintillator, emits ultraviolet or visible light under excitation from high energy photons or energetic particles. See scintillator and scintillation counter for practical applications.
In quantum physics, the scattering amplitude is the probability amplitude of the outgoing spherical wave relative to the incoming plane wave in a stationary-state scattering process. At large distances from the centrally symmetric scattering center, the plane wave is described by the wavefunction
The Voigt profile is a probability distribution given by a convolution of a Cauchy-Lorentz distribution and a Gaussian distribution. It is often used in analyzing data from spectroscopy or diffraction.
In physics, the gyromagnetic ratio of a particle or system is the ratio of its magnetic moment to its angular momentum, and it is often denoted by the symbol γ, gamma. Its SI unit is the radian per second per tesla (rad⋅s−1⋅T−1) or, equivalently, the coulomb per kilogram (C⋅kg−1).
The relativistic Breit–Wigner distribution is a continuous probability distribution with the following probability density function,
A shape resonance is a metastable state in which an electron is trapped due to the shape of a potential barrier. Altunata describes a state as being a shape resonance if, "the internal state of the system remains unchanged upon disintegration of the quasi-bound level." A more general discussion of resonances and their taxonomies in molecular system can be found in the review article by Schulz,; for the discovery of the Fano resonance line-shape and for the Majorana pioneering work in this field by Antonio Bianconi; and for a mathematical review by Combes et al.
In quantum mechanics, and in particular in scattering theory, the Feshbach–Fano method, named after Herman Feshbach and Ugo Fano, separates (partitions) the resonant and the background components of the wave function and therefore of the associated quantities like cross sections or phase shift. This approach allows us to define rigorously the concept of resonance in quantum mechanics.
In physics, the optical theorem is a general law of wave scattering theory, which relates the zero-angle scattering amplitude to the total cross section of the scatterer. It is usually written in the form
Møller scattering is the name given to electron-electron scattering in quantum field theory, named after the Danish physicist Christian Møller. The electron interaction that is idealized in Møller scattering forms the theoretical basis of many familiar phenomena such as the repulsion of electrons in the helium atom. While formerly many particle colliders were designed specifically for electron-electron collisions, more recently electron-positron colliders have become more common. Nevertheless, Møller scattering remains a paradigmatic process within the theory of particle interactions.
In quantum electrodynamics, Bhabha scattering is the electron-positron scattering process:
In spectroscopy, the Autler–Townes effect, is a dynamical Stark effect corresponding to the case when an oscillating electric field is tuned in resonance to the transition frequency of a given spectral line, and resulting in a change of the shape of the absorption/emission spectra of that spectral line. The AC Stark effect was discovered in 1955 by American physicists Stanley Autler and Charles Townes.
Electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) is a magnetic resonance technique for elucidating the molecular and electronic structure of paramagnetic species. The technique was first introduced to resolve interactions in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra. It is currently practiced in a variety of modalities, mainly in the areas of biophysics and heterogeneous catalysis.
The Touschek effect describes the scattering and loss of charged particles in a storage ring. It was discovered by Bruno Touschek.
The Elliott formula describes analytically, or with few adjustable parameters such as the dephasing constant, the light absorption or emission spectra of solids. It was originally derived by Roger James Elliott to describe linear absorption based on properties of a single electron–hole pair. The analysis can be extended to a many-body investigation with full predictive powers when all parameters are computed microscopically using, e.g., the semiconductor Bloch equations or the semiconductor luminescence equations.
