5,012 research outputs found
Subtleties on energy calculations in the image method
In this pedagogical work we point out a subtle mistake that can be done by
undergraduate or graduate students in the computation of the electrostatic
energy of a system containing charges and perfect conductors if they naively
use the image method. Specifically, we show that the naive expressions for the
electrostatic energy for these systems obtained directly from the image method
are wrong by a factor 1/2. We start our discussion with well known examples,
namely, point charge-perfectly conducting wall and point charge-perfectly
conducting sphere and then proceed to the demonstration of general results,
valid for conductors of arbitrary shapes.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures; Major change in this version: subsection added to
Sect.4 (theorem generalization). Minor changes: title replaced; corrections
to the English; some explanatory comments adde
Effective action in DSR1 quantum field theory
We present the one-loop effective action of a quantum scalar field with DSR1
space-time symmetry as a sum over field modes. The effective action has real
and imaginary parts and manifest charge conjugation asymmetry, which provides
an alternative theoretical setting to the study of the particle-antiparticle
asymmetry in nature.Comment: 8 page
A modified Schwinger's formula for the Casimir effect
After briefly reviewing how the (proper-time) Schwinger's formula works for
computing the Casimir energy in the case of "scalar electrodynamics" where the
boundary conditions are dictated by two perfectly conducting parallel plates
with separation "a" in the Z-axis, we propose a slightly modification in the
previous approach based on an analytical continuation method. As we will see,
for the case at hand our formula does not need the use of Poisson summation to
get a (renormalized) finite result.Comment: 6 pages, DFTUZ/93/14 (a short version will appear in the Letters in
Math. Phys.
Advances in surface EMG signal simulation with analytical and numerical descriptions of the volume conductor
Surface electromyographic (EMG) signal modeling is important for signal interpretation, testing of processing algorithms, detection system design, and didactic purposes. Various surface EMG signal models have been proposed in the literature. In this study we focus on 1) the proposal of a method for modeling surface EMG signals by either analytical or numerical descriptions of the volume conductor for space-invariant systems, and 2) the development of advanced models of the volume conductor by numerical approaches, accurately describing not only the volume conductor geometry, as mainly done in the past, but also the conductivity tensor of the muscle tissue. For volume conductors that are space-invariant in the direction of source propagation, the surface potentials generated by any source can be computed by one-dimensional convolutions, once the volume conductor transfer function is derived (analytically or numerically). Conversely, more complex volume conductors require a complete numerical approach. In a numerical approach, the conductivity tensor of the muscle tissue should be matched with the fiber orientation. In some cases (e.g., multi-pinnate muscles) accurate description of the conductivity tensor may be very complex. A method for relating the conductivity tensor of the muscle tissue, to be used in a numerical approach, to the curve describing the muscle fibers is presented and applied to representatively investigate a bi-pinnate muscle with rectilinear and curvilinear fibers. The study thus propose an approach for surface EMG signal simulation in space invariant systems as well as new models of the volume conductor using numerical methods
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