原子构成万物是字宙结构的美——原子随笔之二

人类很早就在寻找宇宙万物的组成，古希腊最早的唯物论派从物质世界的内部寻找宇宙万物的本源，认为宇宙万物都由“种子”组成，德谟克利特在这种“种子”思想基础上，提出了宇宙万物是由原子组成的猜想．稍晚的古希腊伟大哲学家亚里士多德提出了万物皆由土、水、气和火四种元素构成，中国古人也在寻找这个问题的答案：春秋时出现的五行说，提出宇宙万物都由金、木、水、火、土5种元素组成；西汉哲学家杨雄把“玄”看作是生天生地的宇宙本体；东汉著名思想家王充认为“天地施气，自然化生万物”，认为宇宙万物本源是“气”。     

神奇的原子——原子随笔之三

人类虽然在2000多年前就预言了原子的存在，然而可以断言，世界上还没有一个人——无论这个人智商有多高，无论这个人的想象力有多强，能够预言原子的种种神奇．因为在原子的世界里不仅不同于我们熟悉的任何东西，也不同于所能想象的任何事情．物理学家费曼曾说：“它显得又古怪，又神秘．”     

漫语原子的历史——原子随笔之一

人类在宇宙中的出现，就使得世界上有些事物会有两部历史．譬如说一块稀世的钻石，它孕育在古火山的中心，在高温、高压的环境下，经亿万年岁月，渐变生成，这是大自然为它的“生命”撰写的自然史；被人们发现后，切割、磨琢、转辗人间，就有了人类为它的“传奇”撰写的漫游史．     

找到了宇宙运动最高原则的智者——“拉普拉斯妖”随笔之二

一 约在400万年前,人类的直接祖先在地球上出现了,他们一睁开迷茫的双眼,就会看到两件事:一件是看到了周围的"东西",如树木、流水,飞禽、走兽,星云、日月等;另一件是看到了这些"东西在动",如树枝的摇晃、溪水的流动,禽兽的飞奔,星移云游和日月运行等.几百万年过去了,如以今天的人们看到的世界与最早的人类看到的世界相比,也许只是在广度和深度上有所进展,看到的仍然是"东西"和"东西在动".     

“宇宙与生命”系列讲座之二——万物之数 太阳质量

我们可以把宇宙中的万事万物放入“万物图”中,但是这万事万物主要是被什么因素决定的呢？格局是被基本物理规律决定的,而相互的数量关系是被基本物理常数决定的。基本物理常数是分层次的。从比较表层的现象看,最重要的基本物理常数有5个,它们是宇宙哈勃常数H0、核子质量,mn、电磁相互作用常数α、电子质量me、     

是文化的落差,还是历史的波澜?——原子随笔之五

英国历史学家汤因比说，人类已有7000年的文化．国内的学者又把世界的文化分为四大体系，两个种类：一种是以中国文化为基础的东方文化；一种是从古希腊开始一直延续到今天的欧美文化，称为西方文化．这两种文化，是人类文明的基础，也是人类精神世界的主要内容．     

“宇宙与生命”系列讲座之一——万物之图

2002年,我在中国科学院研究生院开设了一门面向全院的公共选修新课程——“宇宙与生命”。该课本来是为了介绍一些有关宇宙与生命的基础知识和精美图片,但是数年来许多同学的提问和与我的讨论,促使我思考了更广泛和更深层次的一些问题：宇宙为何如此？宇宙与生命之间的关系是什么？我们的宇宙特殊吗？当今前沿科学怎么认识我们的宇宙和其中的生命？开课6年以来,该课深受同学们的欢迎。通过数年的备课、教学和思考,除了解到科学界对这些问题的激烈争论外,还感觉到我自己也产生了一些比较独特的看法。应《现代物理知识》的邀请,我特地对该课和我的一些独特看法加以总结,为该杂志写几篇介绍文章,以便抛砖引玉,启发读者获得更深入的见解。以下是我的各篇文章标题：万物之图,万物之数,宇宙之大,生命之难,调控万物,核之精细,质量的生成,宇宙的格局、演变与未来,从弦与膜的世界到我们的宇宙——未解之谜,我们宇宙的中心角色——高级生命。     

绵延了2000多年的证明——原子随笔之四

宇宙间存在着两种无限性：一种是物质世界在时间、空间和形态、组成上具有某种无限性；一种是人类的思维在时间、空间和能力、速度上也具有某种无限性．这两种无限性是宇宙间最完美的统一．在这种统一中，会存在两种形式的交替，从而形成了自然科学发展史上的两种情形：一种是人们先通过眼睛，观察到某种现象，然后通过脑袋去思考，建立图像和理论，比如像牛顿运动定律、X射线、放射性、卢瑟福原子模型等理论的建立，这种情形可以称之为是“从眼睛到脑袋”写出的历史；另一种情形主要是由脑袋提出一种猜想和假说，等待日后由事实去证明，     

判天地之美 析万物之理——赏析新教材“万有引力与宇宙航行”中物理学科核心素养的渗透

物理教育是科学教育的一部分,新教材在培养学生物理学科核心素养方面做出了很大的改变和尝试,如何在日常教学工作中,去发掘教材的育人功能,体会编者的匠心,提升学生的科学素养,应该是从事高中物理教学的一线教师思考的重要问题.     

宇宙处处都是叙说新故事的地方——“拉普拉斯妖”随笔之七

一 拉普拉斯妖消失了.从前一篇文章中我们看到,他消失在微观的量子世界里,消失在宏观的混乱世界里.     

Near-Origin Structure of the Hooke's Atoms

The Hooke's atoms with two or more than two electrons give rise to an interesting quantum mechanical model with valuable practical applications. In this work, we study the electronic properties near the origin of the harmonic potential. It is seen that the spherically averaged density, ρ, exhibits an interesting character — it has only even order terms in its small r expansion. The spherical average of the Hartree potential, v_H, and the spherical average of the Kohn-Sham exchange-correlation potential, v_xc, are also shown to have the same property — all odd order terms in their expansions vanish. Furthermore, the analysis and results extend also to the case of two-dimensional models. While only models interacting via. the Coulomb potential are primarily considered in the article, the results also extend to models interacting via. other potentials (viz. Van der Waals potential).     

Near-Origin Structure of the Hooke's Atoms

The Hooke's atoms with two or more than two electrons give rise to an interesting quantum mechanical model with valuable practical applications. In this work, we study the electronic properties near the origin of the harmonic potential. It is seen that the spherically averaged density, ρˉ, exhibits an interesting character - it has only even order terms in its small r expansion. The spherical average of the Hartree potential, vˉ H , and the spherical average of the Kohn-Sham exchange-correlation potential, vˉ xc , are also shown to have the same property - all odd order terms in their expansions vanish. Furthermore, the analysis and results extend also to the case of two-dimensional models. While only models interacting via. the Coulomb potential are primarily considered in the article, the results also extend to models interacting via. other potentials (viz. Van der Waals potential).     

Emergent Universe with Exotic Matter in Brane World Scenario

In this work, we have examined the emergent scenario in brane world model for phantom and tachyonic matter. For tachyonic matter field we have obtained emergent scenario is possible for closed, open and flat model of the universe with some restriction of potential. For normal scalar field the emergent scenario is possible only for closed model and the result is identical with the work of Ellis et al. (Class. Quantum Gravity 21:223, 2004), but for phantom field the emergent scenario is possible for closed, open and flat model of the universe with some restriction of potential.     

Effects on the Structure of the Universe of an Accelerating Expansion

Recent experimental results from supernovae Ia observations have been interpreted to show that the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing. Other recent experimental results find strong indications that the universe is flat. In this paper, I investigate some solutions of Einstein's field equations which go smoothly between Schwarzschild's relativistic gravitational solution near a mass concentration to the Friedmann-Lemaître expanding universe solution. In particular, the static, curved-space extension of the Lemaître-Schwarzschild solution in vacuum is given. Uniqueness conditions are discussed. One of these metrics preserves the cosmological equation. We find that when the rate of expansion of the universe is increasing, space is broken up into domains of attraction. Outside a domain of attraction, the expansion of the universe is strong enough to accelerate a test particle away from the domain boundary. I give a domain-size–mass relationship. This relationship may very well be important to our understanding of the large scale structure of the universe.     

Asymptotic Structure in the Classically Forbidden Region of the Hooke’s Atoms

The two-electron Hooke's atom - a quantum mechanical system with two electrons bound in a harmonic potential - is well known for its exact analytical properties at certain oscillator strengths. The Hooke's atoms with more than two electrons offer more scope for valuable practical applications. In this work, we study the asymptotic structure of these Hooke's atoms in the classically forbidden region. The leading-order term of the long-range expression for the KS exchange-correlation potential v xc (r) is shown to be-1/r. The second and third higher order terms are also exactly obtained. Various components of v xc (r) are also studied. It is shown that the leading term of O(1/r) in vxc (r) is due to the pure Pauli correlation, while the leading contribution of the Coulomb correlation is of O(1/r3 ). Neither of them makes contribution to the term of O(1/r2 ), which is shown to be solely due to the kinetic correlation effect. Results for the two-electron Hooke's atom were obtained before in the literature. Our results reduce to those of the two-electron Hooke's atom as a special case.     

Making Sense of a World of Clicks

In a recent article, O. Ulfbeck and A. Bohr [Found. Phys. 31, 757 (2001)] have stressed the genuine fortuitousness of detector clicks, which has also been pointed out, in different terms, by the present author [Am. J. Phys. 68, 728 (2000)]. In spite of this basic agreement, the present article raises objections to the presuppositions and conclusions of Ulfbeck and Bohr, in particular their rejection of the terminology of indefinite variables, their identification of reality with the world of experience, their identification of experience with what takes place on the spacetime scene, and the claim that their interpretation of quantum mechanics is entirely liberated from classical notions. An alternative way of making sense of a world of uncaused clicks is presented. This does not invoke experience but deals with a free-standing reality, is not fettered by classical conceptions of space and time but introduces adequate ways of thinking about the spatiotemporal aspects of the quantum world, and does not reject indefinite variables but clarifies the implications of their existence.     

The Hyperfine Structure of the Ground State in the Muonic Helium Atoms

Non-relativistic ionization energies ³He²⁺μ^?e^? and ⁴He²⁺μ^?e^? of helium-muonic atoms are calculated for ground states. The calculations are based on the variational method of the exponential expansion. Convergence of the variational energies is studied by an increasing of a number of the basis functions N. This allows to claim that the obtained energy values have 26 significant digits for ground states. With the obtained results we calculate hyperfine splitting of the muonic helium atoms.