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spin probe | A spin probe is a molecule with stable free radical character that carries a functional group. This group can be used to couple the probe to another molecule. |
dyson series | Dyson series in scattering theory is a perturbative expansion of the time evolution operator in the interaction picture. Each term can be represented by a sum of Feynman diagrams. |
multistability | Multistability in a dynamical system is the property of having multiple stable equilibrium points in the vector space spanned by the states in the system. |
colloidal crystal | A colloidal crystal is an ordered array of colloid particles and fine grained materials analogous to a standard crystal whose repeating subunits are atoms or molecules. |
bifurcation diagram | A bifurcation diagram in mathematics, particularly in dynamical systems, shows the values visited or approached asymptotically of a system as a function of a bifurcation parameter in the system. |
birkeland current | A Birkeland current is a set of currents that flow along geomagnetic field lines connecting the Earth's magnetosphere to the Earth's high latitude ionosphere. |
holographic interferometry | Holographic interferometry (HI) is a technique which enables static and dynamic displacements of objects with optically rough surfaces to be measured to optical interferometric precision. |
higgs mechanism | The Higgs mechanism in the Standard Model of particle physics, is essential to explain the generation mechanism of the property "mass'' for gauge bosons. |
starspot | Starspots are stellar phenomena, so-named by analogy with sunspots. The commonly observed starspots are in general much larger than those on the Sun: up to about 30% of the stellar surface may be covered, corresponding to starspots 100 times larger than those on the Sun. |
gluon condensate | The gluon condensate (QCD) in quantum chromodynamics is a non-perturbative property of the QCD vacuum which could be partly responsible for giving masses to light mesons. |
acoustic impedance | Acoustic impedance and specific acoustic impedance are measures of the opposition that a system presents to the acoustic flow resulting from an acoustic pressure applied to the system. |
superbubble | A superbubble is a cavity which is hundreds of light years across and is populated with 106K hot gas atoms, less dense than the surrounding interstellar medium, blown against that medium and carved out by multiple supernovae and stellar winds. |
triple point | The triple point of a substance is the temperature and pressure at which the gas phase, liquid phase, and solid phase of that substance coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium. |
electron cyclotron resonance | Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) is a phenomenon observed in plasma physics, condensed matter physics, and accelerator physics. It happens when the frequency of incident radiation coincides with the natural frequency of rotation of electrons in magnetic fields. |
r-hadron | R-hadrons are hypothetical particles composed of a supersymmetric particle and at least one quark. |
background independence | Background independence is a condition in theoretical physics, that requires the defining equations of a theory to be independent of the actual shape of the spacetime and the value of various fields within the spacetime. |
quantum decoherence | Quantum decoherence is the loss of quantum coherence, the process in which a system's behaviour changes from that which can be explained by quantum mechanics to that which can be explained by classical mechanics. |
polaron | A polaron is a quasiparticle used in condensed matter physics to understand the interactions between electrons and atoms in a solid material. |
computational astrophysics | Computational astrophysics refers to the methods and computing tools developed and used in astrophysics research. It is both a specific branch of theoretical astrophysics and an interdisciplinary field relying on computer science, mathematics, and wider physics. |
cathodoluminescence | Cathodoluminescence is an optical and electromagnetic phenomenon in which electrons impacting on a luminescent material such as a phosphor, cause the emission of photons which may have wavelengths in the visible spectrum. |
miscibility gap | A miscibility gap is a region in a phase diagram for a mixture of components where the mixture exists as two or more phases – any region of composition of mixtures where the constituents are not completely miscible. |
fock matrix | The Fock matrix in the Hartree–Fock method of quantum mechanics, is a matrix approximating the single-electron energy operator of a given quantum system in a given set of basis vectors. |
optical coating | An optical coating is one or more thin layers of material deposited on an optical component such as a lens or mirror, which alters the way in which the optic reflects and transmits light. |
crystallinity | Crystallinity refers to the degree of structural order in a solid. The degree of crystallinity has a big influence on hardness, density, transparency and diffusion. |
ergosphere | The ergosphere is a region located outside a rotating black hole's outer event horizon. |
coordination number | The coordination number of a central atom in a molecule or crystal is the number of atoms, molecules or ions bonded to it. |
active region | An active region is a temporary region in the Sun's atmosphere characterized by a strong and complex magnetic field. |
quantum electrodynamics | Quantum electrodynamics (QED) iin particle physics is the relativistic quantum field theory of electrodynamics. In essence, it describes how light and matter interact and is the first theory where full agreement between quantum mechanics and special relativity is achieved. |
functional renormalization group | Functional renormalization group (FRG) in theoretical physics is an implementation of the renormalization group (RG) concept which is used in quantum and statistical field theory, especially when dealing with strongly interacting systems. |
viscous damping | Viscous damping force is a formulation of the damping phenomena, in which the source of damping force is modeled as a function of the volume, shape, and velocity of an object traversing through a real fluid with viscosity. |
pomeranchuk instability | The Pomeranchuk instability is an instability in the shape of the Fermi surface of a material with interacting fermions, causing Landau's Fermi liquid theory to break down. |
electrolysis | Electrolysis in chemistry and manufacturing, is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. |
neutron spin echo | Neutron spin echo is a time-of-flight technique. Concerning the neutron spins it has a strong analogy to the so-called Hahn echo. In both cases the loss of polarization or magnetization due to dephasing of the spins in time is restored by an effective time reversal operation, that leads to a restitution of polarization or rephasing. |
dyon | A dyon in physics is a hypothetical particle in 4-dimensional theories with both electric and magnetic charges. |
kundt spacetime | Kundt spacetimes in mathematical physics are Lorentzian manifolds admitting a geodesic null congruence with vanishing optical scalars. |
superluminal motion | Superluminal motion in astronomy is the apparently faster-than-light motion seen in some radio galaxies, BL Lac objects, quasars, blazars and recently also in some galactic sources called microquasars. |
intensity mapping | Intensity mapping in cosmology is an observational technique for surveying the large-scale structure of the universe by using the integrated radio emission from unresolved gas clouds. |
fermi liquid theory | Fermi liquid theory is a theoretical model of interacting fermions that describes the normal state of most metals at sufficiently low temperatures. |
taylor number | The Taylor number (Ta) in fluid dynamics is a dimensionless quantity that characterizes the importance of centrifugal "forces'' or so-called inertial forces due to rotation of a fluid about an axis, relative to viscous forces.The typical context of the Taylor number is in characterization of the Couette flow between rotating colinear cylinders or rotating concentric spheres. |
gauge gravitation theory | Gauge gravitation theory in quantum field theory is the effort to extend Yang–Mills theory, which provides a universal description of the fundamental interactions, to describe gravity. |
solar sail | Solar sails are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large mirrors. |
meissner effect | The Meissner effect is the expulsion of a magnetic field from a superconductor during its transition to the superconducting state when it is cooled below the critical temperature. |
polaritonics | Polaritonics is an intermediate regime between photonics and sub-microwave electronics. |
hexagonal phase | A hexagonal phase of lyotropic liquid crystal is formed by some amphiphilic molecules when they are mixed with water or another polar solvent. |
spectral flux density | Spectral flux density in spectroscopy is the quantity that describes the rate at which energy is transferred by electromagnetic radiation through a real or virtual surface, per unit surface area and per unit wavelength. |
operator product expansion | The operator product expansion (OPE) in quantum field theory is used as an axiom to define the product of fields as a sum over the same fields. |
canonical quantum gravity | Canonical quantum gravity in physics is an attempt to quantize the canonical formulation of general relativity or canonical gravity. It is a Hamiltonian formulation of Einstein's general theory of relativity. |
bohr model | The Bohr model is a system consisting of a small, dense nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons—similar to the structure of the Solar System, but with attraction provided by electrostatic forces in place of gravity. |
spin network | A spin network in physics is a type of diagram which can be used to represent states and interactions between particles and fields in quantum mechanics. |
hemodynamics | Hemodynamics are the dynamics of blood flow. It explains the physical laws that govern the flow of blood in the blood vessels. |
carbon detonation | Carbon detonation is the violent reignition of thermonuclear fusion in a white dwarf star that was previously slowly cooling. |
fine-structure constant | The fine-structure constant is a fundamental physical constant which quantifies the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between elementary charged particles. |
equivalence principle | The equivalence principle in the theory of general relativity is the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass, and Albert Einstein's observation that the gravitational "force" as experienced locally while standing on a massive body such as the Earth is the same as the pseudo-force experienced by an observer in a non-inertial or accelerated frame of reference. |
cold fusion | Cold fusion is a hypothesized type of nuclear reaction that would occur at, or near, room temperature. |
dirac operator | A Dirac operator in mathematics and quantum mechanics, is a differential operator that is a formal square root, or half-iterate, of a second-order operator such as a Laplacian. |
cavity ring-down spectroscopy | Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) is a highly sensitive optical spectroscopic technique that enables measurement of absolute optical extinction by samples that scatter and absorb light. |
potential gradient | A potential gradient in physics, chemistry and biology, is the local rate of change of the potential with respect to displacement. |
backscatter | Backscatter in physics is the reflection of waves, particles, or signals back to the direction from which they came. |
remanence | Remanence is the magnetization left behind in a ferromagnetic material such as iron after an external magnetic field is removed. |
particle filter | Particle filters are a set of Monte Carlo algorithms used to solve filtering problems arising in signal processing and Bayesian statistical inference. The objective is to compute the posterior distributions of the states of a Markov process, given the noisy and partial observations. |
conservative force | A conservative force is a force with the property that the total work done in moving a particle between two points is independent of the path taken. |
brillouin scattering | Brillouin scattering refers to the interaction of light with the material waves in a medium. It is mediated by the refractive index dependence on the material properties of the medium |
effective diffusion coefficient | The effective diffusion coefficient of a diffusant in atomic diffusion of solid polycrystalline materials like metal alloys is often represented as a weighted average of the grain boundary diffusion coefficient and the lattice diffusion coefficient. |
ettingshausen effect | The Ettingshausen effect is a thermoelectric or thermomagnetic phenomenon that affects the electric current in a conductor when a magnetic field is present. |
quark star | A quark star is a hypothetical type of compact, exotic star, where extremely high core temperature and pressure has forced nuclear particles to form quark matter, a continuous state of matter consisting of free quarks. |
sunspot | Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the Sun's photosphere that appear as spots darker than the surrounding areas. |
hohlraum | A hohlraum in radiation thermodynamics is a cavity whose walls are in radiative equilibrium with the radiant energy within the cavity. |
galactic halo | A galactic halo is an extended, roughly spherical component of a galaxy which extends beyond the main, visible component. |
lorentz factor | The Lorentz factor is a quantity expressing how much the measurements of time, length, and other physical properties change for an object while that object is moving. |
ansatz | An ansatz in physics and mathematics is an educated guess or an additional assumption made to help solve a problem, and which may later be verified to be part of the solution by its results. |
ion trap | An ion trap is a combination of electric or magnetic fields used to capture charged particles (known as ions) often in a system isolated from an external environment. |
extended x-ray absorption fine structure | Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), along with X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), is a subset of X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). its spectra are displayed as plots of the absorption coefficient of a given material versus energy, typically in a 500 – 1000 eV range beginning before an absorption edge of an element in the sample. |
secondary flow | Secondary flow in fluid dynamics is a relatively weaker flow pattern superimposed on the stronger primary flow pattern. |
de sitter space | de Sitter space (dSn) in mathematical physics is a maximally symmetric Lorentzian manifold with constant positive scalar curvature. When used in general relativity, it serves as one of the simplest mathematical models of the universe consistent with the observed accelerating expansion of the universe. |
delayed neutron | A delayed neutron in nuclear engineering is a neutron emitted after a nuclear fission event, by one of the fission products or a fission product daughter after beta decay, any time from a few milliseconds to a few minutes after the fission event. |
electropolishing | Electropolishing is an electrochemical process that removes material from a metallic workpiece, reducing the surface roughness by levelling micro-peaks and valleys, improving the surface finish. |
giant resonance | Giant resonance is a high-frequency collective excitation of atomic nuclei, as a property of many-body quantum systems. |
electron bubble | An electron bubble is the empty space created around a free electron in a cryogenic gas or liquid, such as neon or helium. |
pink noise | Pink noise is a signal or process with a frequency spectrum such that the power spectral density is inversely proportional to the frequency of the signal. |
stress field | A stress field is the distribution of internal forces in a body that balance a given set of external forces. It is widely used in fluid dynamics and materials science. |
czochralski method | The Czochralski method is a method of crystal growth used to obtain single crystals of semiconductors metals, salts and synthetic gemstones. |
proper velocity | Proper velocity of an object relative to an observer is the ratio between observer-measured displacement vector and proper time elapsed on the clocks of the traveling object. It is an alternative to ordinary velocity, the distance per unit time where both distance and time are measured by the observer. |
plasma torch | A plasma torch is a device for generating a directed flow of plasma. The plasma jet can be used for applications including plasma cutting, plasma arc welding, plasma spraying, and plasma gasification for waste disposal. |
smoluchowski coagulation equation | The Smoluchowski coagulation equation in statistical physics, is a population balance equation, describing the time evolution of the number density of particles as they coagulate. |
oscillator strength | Oscillator strength in spectroscopy is a dimensionless quantity that expresses the probability of absorption or emission of electromagnetic radiation in transitions between energy levels of an atom or molecule. |
short-channel effect | Short-channel effects in electronics occur in MOSFETs in which the channel length is comparable to the depletion layer widths of the source and drain junctions. |
polyamorphism | Polyamorphism is the ability of a substance to exist in several different amorphous modifications. |
cryostat | A cryostat is a device used to maintain low cryogenic temperatures of samples or devices mounted within the cryostat. |
planck unit | Planck units in particle physics and physical cosmology, are a set of units of measurement defined exclusively in terms of four universal physical constants, in such a manner that these physical constants take on the numerical value of 1 when expressed in terms of these units. |
helimagnetism | Helimagnetism is a form of magnetic ordering where spins of neighbouring magnetic moments arrange themselves in a spiral or helical pattern, with a characteristic turn angle of somewhere between 0 and 180 degrees. |
internal conversion | Internal conversion is a non-radioactive decay process wherein an excited nucleus interacts electromagnetically with one of the orbital electrons of the atom. |
low surface brightness galaxy | A low-surface-brightness galaxy is a diffuse galaxy with a surface brightness that, when viewed from Earth, is at least one magnitude lower than the ambient night sky. |
positronium | Positronium (Ps) is a system consisting of an electron and its anti-particle, a positron, bound together into an exotic atom, specifically an onium. |
chargino | The chargino in particle physics is a hypothetical particle which refers to the mass eigenstates of a charged superpartner. |
spontaneous emission | Spontaneous emission is the process in which a quantum mechanical system such as a molecule, an atom or a subatomic particle, transits from an excited energy state to a lower energy state and emits a quantized amount of energy in the form of a photon. |
quantum yield | The quantum yield of a radiation-induced process is the number of times a specific event occurs per photon absorbed by the system. |
michelson interferometer | The Michelson interferometer is a common configuration for optical interferometry. It consists minimally of two mirrors and a beam splitter, and is employed in many scientific experiments. |
effective field theory | An effective field theory in physics is a type of approximation, or effective theory, for an underlying physical theory, such as a quantum field theory or a statistical mechanics model. |
sea surface temperature | Sea surface temperature (SST), is the water temperature close to the ocean 's surface. |
directed percolation | Directed percolation (DP) in statistical physics refers to a class of models that mimic filtering of fluids through porous materials along a given direction, due to the effect of gravity. |
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