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Simple applications of Noether's first theorem in quantum mechanics and electromagnetism
Internal global symmetries exist for the free non-relativistic
Schr\"{o}dinger particle, whose associated Noether charges--the space integrals
of the wavefunction and the wavefunction multiplied by the spatial
coordinate--are exhibited. Analogous symmetries in classical electromagnetism
are also demonstrated.Comment: 12 page
Variable ratio beam splitter for laser applications
Beam splitter employing birefringent optics provides either widely different or precisely equal beam ratios, it can be used with laser light source systems for interferometry of lossy media, holography, scattering measurements, and precise beam ratio applications
The origins of length contraction: I. The FitzGerald-Lorentz deformation hypothesis
One of the widespread confusions concerning the history of the 1887
Michelson-Morley experiment has to do with the initial explanation of this
celebrated null result due independently to FitzGerald and Lorentz. In neither
case was a strict, longitudinal length contraction hypothesis invoked, as is
commonly supposed. Lorentz postulated, particularly in 1895, any one of a
certain family of possible deformation effects for rigid bodies in motion,
including purely transverse alteration, and expansion as well as contraction;
FitzGerald may well have had the same family in mind. A careful analysis of the
Michelson-Morley experiment (which reveals a number of serious inadequacies in
many text-book treatments) indeed shows that strict contraction is not
required.Comment: 29 pages; accepted April 2001 for publication in American Journal of
Physic
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