Luis Medrano Navarro, Luis Martin-Moreno, Sergio G Rodrigo
{"title":"Solving differential equations with Deep Learning: a beginner's guide","authors":"Luis Medrano Navarro, Luis Martin-Moreno, Sergio G Rodrigo","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/ad0a9f","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ad0a9f","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The research in Artificial Intelligence methods with potential applications in science has become an essential task in the scientific community in recent years. Physics Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) is one of these methods and represents a contemporary technique based on neural network fundamentals to solve differential equations. These networks can potentially improve or complement classical numerical methods in computational physics, making them an exciting area of study. In this paper, we introduce PINNs at an elementary level, mainly oriented to physics education, making them suitable for educational purposes at both undergraduate and graduate levels. PINNs can be used to create virtual simulations and educational tools that aid in understating complex physical concepts and processes involving differential equations. By combining the power of neural networks with physics principles, PINNs can provide an interactive and engaging learning experience that can improve students' understanding and retention of physics concepts in higher education.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135340954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pekka Pirinen, Pascal Klein, Simon Zacharias Lahme, Antti Lehtinen, Lucija Rončević, Ana Susac
{"title":"Exploring digital signal processing using an interactive Jupyter notebook and smartphone accelerometer data","authors":"Pekka Pirinen, Pascal Klein, Simon Zacharias Lahme, Antti Lehtinen, Lucija Rončević, Ana Susac","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/ad0790","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ad0790","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Digital signal processing is a valuable practical skill for the contemporary
physicist, yet in physics curricula, its central concepts are often introduced either
in method courses in a highly abstract and mathematics-oriented manner or in lab
work with little explicit attention. In this paper, we present an experimental task in
which we focus on a practical implementation of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT)
in an everyday context of vibration analysis using data collected by a smartphone
accelerometer. Students are accompanied in the experiment by a Jupyter notebook
companion, which serves as an interactive instruction sheet and a tool for data analysis.
The task is suitable for beyond-first-year university physics students with some prior
experience in uncertainty analysis, data representation, and data analysis. Based on
our observations the experiment is very engaging. Students have consistently reported
interest in the experiment and they have found it a good demonstration of the DFT
method.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136234973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An elementary approach to simulating the perihelion of Mercury","authors":"Hollis Williams","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/ad0188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ad0188","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The relativistic correction to the precession of the perihelion of Mercury provided key evidence for the accuracy of general relativity as a theory of gravity. This example still has a large amount of potential to introduce students to the power of numerical simulations in theoretical physics, but existing approaches may be too detailed for many students and involve them beginning to learn a programming language at the same time. In this article, we take a simpler approach which uses as little coding as possible. The equation for the orbit of a planet is solved with and without relativistic corrections. It is shown that there is precession of the perihelion in the relativistic case, whereas in the Newtonian case, the orbit does not rotate about the origin. Quantitative information is extracted on the precession of the perihelion of Mercury and shown to match with observations.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136233036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Matteo Zaegel, Mathis Vehils-Vinals, Hugo Guastalla, Benjamin Benabou, Auguste Gires
{"title":"Should you walk, run or sprint in the rain to get less wet?","authors":"Matteo Zaegel, Mathis Vehils-Vinals, Hugo Guastalla, Benjamin Benabou, Auguste Gires","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/ad06bf","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ad06bf","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We have all wondered once whether we should walk, run or sprint under the rain in order to stay as dry as possible. Previous publications already addressed this subject using simple models, as for the shape of the body and the description of the rain and wind. This paper presents a detailed approach which relies on a more realistic 'human body' shape and accounts of the variability in time of both the wind and the rain drop size and velocity distributions. It appears that in some seldom cases with tailwind and light rain, there is an optimum velocity, but in general it is better to run as fast as possible. While 'running' instead of 'walking' yields significant gain, the extra effort required to 'sprint' is not always worth it.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134973479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Francesco Bernardini, Abhijit Chakraborty, Carlos R Ordonez
{"title":"Quantum computing with trapped ions: a beginner's guide","authors":"Francesco Bernardini, Abhijit Chakraborty, Carlos R Ordonez","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/ad06be","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ad06be","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This pedagogical article elucidates the fundamentals of trapped-ion quantum computing, which is one of the potential platforms for constructing a scalable quantum computer. The evaluation of a trapped-ion system's viability for quantum computing is conducted in accordance with DiVincenzo's criteria.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134973345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Study on the Magnetic Levitation of a Magnetic Flea","authors":"Yuchen Jiang, Jin Wang, Xiaojie Wang","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/acfd23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/acfd23","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We investigated the problem of ‘magnetic levitation’ originating from the <?CDATA $33mathrm{rd}$?> <mml:math xmlns:mml=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\" overflow=\"scroll\"> <mml:mn>33</mml:mn> <mml:mi>rd</mml:mi> </mml:math> International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT). The problem was first investigated by a PRL paper (Baldwin et al. ) in 2018, which states that the flea of a magnetic stirrer spinning fast enough in a liquid with a high viscosity coefficient can jump from the bottom and levitate stably. The magnetic force and gravity balance periodically. This phenomenon includes several concepts: magnetic dipoles, rigid-body rotation, fluid mechanics and magnetic levitation. They are more or less unfamiliar to undergraduate students. However, the movement of the flea could be described with a concise forced vibration equation, which is familiar in textbooks. The phenomenon could be divided into two stages: synchronous movement and levitation state. The transition is the jumping of the flea. We demonstrated this process and presented several equations to build this physical model. The progression of the phenomenon is due to the increase in the drive magnet angular velocity called the drive velocity. We verified our theory by simulation and experiments. Several parameters are experimentally verified to influence the phenomenon. We also discussed the origin of dynamic stabilization, which would be slightly complicated but worthy for students. In short, we introduce an interesting problem originating from the PRL paper that can be easily achieved under laboratory conditions. We extend some content in a pedagogical way that would be helpful for students to understand the related physical concepts, such as the influence of the viscosity coefficient of the liquid on the flea’s motion, which is not discussed in the PRL paper.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135667264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pressure Gradient in an Incompressible Fluid as a Reaction Force and the Preservation of the Principle of `Cause and Effect`","authors":"Lachezar Slavchev Simeonov","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/acfdd9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/acfdd9","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract When considering the motion of an incompressible fluid, it is common practice to take the curl on both sides of the Navier–Stokes (or Euler) equations and cancel the pressure force. The governing equations are sufficient to derive the velocity field of the fluid without any knowledge of the pressure. In fact, the pressure is only calculated after obtaining the velocity field. This raises a number of conceptual problems. For instance, why is the pressure unnecessary for obtaining the velocity field? Traditionally, forces have been considered as the ‘causes’ of motion, and the resulting acceleration as the ‘effect’. However, the acceleration (the effect) and the resulting velocity field can be obtained without any recourse to the pressure (the cause), seemingly violating the principle of ‘cause’ and ‘effect’. We address these questions by deriving the pressure force of an incompressible fluid, starting from d’Alembert’s principle of virtual work, as a ‘reaction force’ that maintains the incompressibility condition. Next, we show that taking the curl on both sides of the Navier–Stokes (or Euler) equations is equivalent to using d’Alembert’s principle of virtual work, which cancels out the virtual work of the pressure gradient. This shows that abstract procedures, such as taking the curl on both sides of an equation, can actually be tacit applications of rich physical principles, without one realizing it. This can be quite instructive in a classroom of undergraduate students.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135945122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Percolation of 'Civilisation' in a Homogeneous Isotropic Universe","authors":"Allan Lambit Alinea, Cedrix Jadrin","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/acfbc5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/acfbc5","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this work, we consider the spread of a ‘civilisation’ in an idealised homogeneous isotropic universe where all the planets of interest are habitable. Following a framework that goes beyond the usual idea of percolation in common undergraduate computational physics textbooks, we investigate the behaviour of the number of colonised planets with time, and the total colonisation time for three types of universes. These include static, dark energy-dominated, and matter-dominated universes. For all these types of universes, we find a remarkable fit with the Logistic Growth Function for the number of colonised planets with time. This is in spite of the fact that for the matter- and dark-energy dominated universes, the space itself is expanding. For the total colonisation time, T , the case for a dark energy-dominated universe is marked with divergence beyond the linear regime characterised by small values of the Hubble parameter, H . Not all planets in a spherical section of this universe can be ‘colonised’ due to the presence of a shrinking Hubble sphere. In other words, the recession speeds of other planets go beyond the speed of light making them impossible to reach. On the other hand, for a matter-dominated universe, while there is an apparent horizon, the Hubble sphere is growing instead of shrinking. This leads to a finite total colonisation time that depends on the Hubble parameter characterising the Universe; in particular, we find T ∼ H for small H and T ∼ H 2 for large H .","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135944288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"(Avoided) crossings in the spectra of matrices with globally degenerate eigenvalues","authors":"Sam Silliman, Mishkatul Bhattacharya","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/acfbc4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/acfbc4","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract (Avoided) crossings are ubiquitous in physics and are connected to many physical phenomena such as hidden symmetries, the Berry phase, entanglement, Landau–Zener processes, the onset of chaos, etc. A pedagogical approach to cataloging (avoided) crossings has been proposed in the past, using matrices whose eigenvalues avoid or cross as a function of some parameter. The approach relies on the mathematical tool of the discriminant, which can be calculated from the characteristic polynomial of the matrix, and whose roots as a function of the parameter being varied yield the locations as well as degeneracies of the (avoided) crossings. In this article we consider matrices whose symmetries force two or more eigenvalues to be degenerate across the entire range of variation of the parameter of interest, thus leading to an identically vanishing discriminant. To show how this case can be handled systematically, we introduce a perturbation to the matrix and calculate the roots of the discriminant in the limit as the perturbation vanishes. We show that this approach correctly generates a nonzero ‘reduced’ discriminant that yields the locations and degeneracies of the (avoided) crossings. We illustrate our technique using the matrix Hamiltonian for benzene in Hückel theory, which has recently been discussed in the context of (avoided) crossings in its spectrum.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135944289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Radioactivity in a bucket","authors":"Luis Peralta","doi":"10.1088/1361-6404/ad0346","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ad0346","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In Radiation Physics classes, point sources are typically used, for which it is relatively easy to describe the signal obtained by a radiation detector, such as the NaI(Tl) scintillation detector. The use of large extended radiation sources is generally avoided due to the mathematical complexity that their description may involve. However, the use of Monte Carlo simulation methods allows this limitation to be overcome. Potassium chloride, containing the 40K isotope, is an ideal candidate for carrying out this type of experiment. The source activity is obtained through the detection of the 1460.8 keV gamma- photon emitted in the 40K decay. In the first experiment, a cylindrical container is used, placing the NaI(Tl) detector in its center and filling the remaining space with potassium chloride. In a second, more complex case, a large radioactive source consisting of a container filled with a mixture of sand and potassium chloride, with the NaI(Tl) detector placed in the center of the mixture, is used. In this case, the mass of potassium chloride is approximately 1/5 of the sand mass. In both experiments, the detection efficiency is obtained by Monte Carlo simulation. A careful analysis of the experimental data allows to obtain a good agreement between the measured and calculated value of the activity.","PeriodicalId":50480,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Physics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135853737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}