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Many topics in modern physics are currently included in the curricula of the last year of high school in many countries, as for example in Italy. A consistent part of the curriculum should be devoted to the special theory of relativity. A particularly interesting phenomenon in this framework is the so-called Terrell–Penrose effect (TPE), which the students may find especially intriguing in view of its association with the name of one of the 2020 Nobel Prize winners. Although it is not possible to rigorously analyse this optical effect at the high school level, we show that is possible to tackle the topic anyway, during some of the in-depth lectures on modern physics that can be organized for high school students in our area. In particular, we found that this physical context can be useful for stimulating young students to use goniometric relations. Since trigonometry is a very important topic in mathematics, being always present in the written test for the final graduation exam, it is useful to show how it can be fruitfully used to tackle physical problems. The aim of this paper is to summarize our lecture on the TPE effect in the classroom, where we consider the case of a rod moving at high constant velocity, oriented with different angles with respect to the observer, and the case of a uniformly accelerated body (in the Newtonian approximation).

Richard P. Feynman's work on gravitation, as can be inferred from several published and unpublished sources, is reviewed. Feynman was involved with this subject at least from late 1954 to the late 1960s, giving several pivotal contributions to it. Even though he published only three papers, much more material is available, beginning with the records of his many interventions at the Chapel Hill conference in 1957, which are here analyzed in detail, and show that he had already considerably developed his ideas on gravity. In addition he expressed deep thoughts about fundamental issues in quantum mechanics which were suggested by the problem of quantum gravity, such as superpositions of the wave functions of macroscopic objects and the role of the observer. Feynman also lectured on gravity several times. Besides the famous lectures given at Caltech in 1962-63, he extensively discussed this subject in a series of lectures delivered at the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1966-67, whose focus was on astronomy and astrophysics. All this material allows to reconstruct a detailed picture of Feynman's ideas on gravity and of their evolution until the late sixties. According to him, gravity, like electromagnetism, has quantum foundations, therefore general relativity has to be regarded as the classical limit of an underlying quantum theory; this quantum theory should be investigated by computing physical processes, as if they were experimentally accessible. The same attitude is shown with respect to gravitational waves, as is evident also from an unpublished letter addressed to Victor F. Weisskopf. In addition, an original approach to gravity, which closely mimics (and probably was inspired by) the derivation of the Maxwell equations given by Feynman in that period, is sketched in the unpublished Hughes lectures., Comment: 47 pages, no figures, final version. Dedicated to the Memory of Erasmo Recami

We analyze Feynman's work on the response of an amplifier performed at Los Alamos and described in a technical report of 1946, as well as lectured on at the Cornell University in 1946-47 during his course on Mathematical Methods. The motivation for such a work was Feynman's involvement in the Manhattan Project, for which the necessity emerged of feeding the output pulses of counters into amplifiers or several other circuits, with the risk of introducing distortion at each step. In order to deal with such a problem, Feynman designed a theoretical "reference amplifier", thus enabling a characterization of the distortion by means of a benchmark relationship between phase and amplification for each frequency, and providing a standard tool for comparing the operation of real devices. A general theory was elaborated, from which he was able to deduce the basic features of an amplifier just from its response to a pulse or to a sine wave of definite frequency. Moreover, in order to apply such a theory to practical problems, a couple of remarkable examples were worked out, both for high-frequency cutoff amplifiers and for low-frequency ones. A special consideration deserves a mysteriously exceptional amplifier with best stability behavior introduced by Feynman, for which different physical interpretations are here envisaged. Feynman's earlier work then later flowed in the Hughes lectures on Mathematical Methods in Physics and Engineering of 1970-71, where he also remarked on causality properties of an amplifier, that is on certain relations between frequency and phase shift that a real amplifier has to satisfy in order not to allow output signals to appear before input ones. Quite interestingly, dispersion relations to be satisfied by the response function were introduced., 19 pages, 6 figures

Introducing some fundamental concepts of quantum physics to high school students, and to their teachers, is a timely challenge. In this paper we describe ongoing research, in which a teaching–learning sequence for teaching quantum physics, whose inspiration comes from some of the fundamental papers about the quantum theory of radiation by Albert Einstein, is being developed. The reason for this choice goes back essentially to the fact that the roots of many subtle physical concepts, namely quanta, wave–particle duality and probability, were introduced for the first time in one of these papers, hence their study may represent a useful intermediate step towards tackling the final incarnation of these concepts in the full theory of quantum mechanics. An extended discussion of some elementary tools of statistical physics, mainly Boltzmann’s formula for entropy and statistical distributions, which are necessary but may be unfamiliar to the students, is included. This discussion can also be used independently to introduce some rudiments of statistical physics. In this case, part of the inspiration came from some of Einstein’s papers. We present preliminary, qualitative results obtained with both teachers and selected pupils from various high schools in southern Italy, in the course of several outreach activities. Although the proposal was only tested in this limited context for now, the preliminary results are very promising and they indicate that this proposal can be fruitfully employed for the task.

We formulate a didactic proposal for introducing some fundamental concepts of quantum physics to advanced high school students, and to their teachers. The inspiration comes from some of the fundamental papers about the subject by Albert Einstein, in which many of these concepts, for example light quanta, wave-particle duality, and probability, were introduced for the first time, in a characteristically illuminating way. The proposal can be supplemented by a discussion of elementary tools of statistical physics, which are needed at some point. Preliminary results, both with students and teachers, are very promising.

We retrace an ab initio relativistic derivation of Maxwell's equations that was developed by Feynman in unpublished notes, clarifying the analogies and the differences with analogous treatments present in the literature. Unlike the latter, Feynman's approach stands out because it considers electromagnetic potentials as primary, reflecting his ideas about the quantum foundations of electromagnetism. Some considerations about the foundations of special relativity, which are naturally suggested by this approach, are given in appendix., 17 pages, no figures, submitted for publication

We study the analog of Snell's law for particles moving across the interface of two regions with two different potential energies, from two different points of view. First, a simple demonstration involving marbles and a potential step is shown. Then, from a theoretical point of view, this law describing mechanical refraction is derived from the Maupertuis and Jacobi variational principles, in close analogy with the well known derivation of Snell's law for refraction from Fermat's least time principle. Finally, the relativistic version of mechanical refraction is obtained by the Maupertuis principle, by trading the Newtonian dispersion relation with the relativistic one. The pedagogical significance of this treatment is discussed.

Observing the bouncing of a marble on a table is a rather common experience. The tic-tac sound of the rigid ball, nevertheless, carries quite a pleasant surprise. In fact, by measuring the total time of bouncing Δt, the coefficient of restitution can be estimated. As is well known, in an inelastic collision the kinetic energy is not conserved, and therefore the speed decreases. The speeds vi and vf, before and after the collision occurs, respectively, are related as follows: νf=eνi,(1) where e < 1. By measuring the initial height h0 from which the marble is released, we find that e=T−2h0gT+2h0g,(2) where g is the acceleration due to gravity and T is the total time from initial release until the ball stops bouncing.

An important issue within the present economic crisis is understanding the dynamics of the public debt of a given country, and how the behavior of average consumers and tax payers in that country affects it. Starting from a model of the average consumer behavior introduced earlier by the authors, we propose a simple model to quantitatively address this issue. The model is then studied and analytically solved under some reasonable simplifying assumptions. In this way we obtain a condition under which the public debt steadily decreases., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figures, submitted for publication to Physica A

In the present paper we investigate the paramagnetic susceptibility and the short-range order correlation functions of a d -dimensional classical isotropic ferromagnetic Heisenberg model with short-range exchange interactions by employing the two-time Green function method in classical statistical mechanics. Here we use Tyablikov–Callen-like decouplings for higher order Green functions and a formula for magnetization recently obtained by extension of the well known Callen method developed many years ago for the quantum isotropic Heisenberg model. Although our analysis is true for any temperature and dimensionality, we focus on one-, and some two- and three-dimensional lattices of experimental interest and derive asymptotic expressions for susceptibility and correlation functions within the paramagnetic phase close to the phase boundary and in the high-temperature regime. Besides, we present a Fourier series expansion method for deriving the high-temperature behaviors of the correlation functions. Our predictions, as obtained from a genuine classical many-body framework, may constitute a good reference point for the quantum counterparts emerging in the classical limit at the same level of approximation. Of course, although the classical spin models have unrealistic properties at sufficiently low temperatures, our classical analysis provides, in a relatively simple way as compared to a quantum treatment, an experimentally interesting scenario at finite temperature and dimensionalities d ≥ 1 .

We discuss a previously unpublished description of electromagnetism outlined by Richard P. Feynman in the 1960s in five handwritten pages, recently uncovered among his papers, and partly developed in later lectures. Though similar to the existing approaches deriving electromagnetism from special relativity, the present one extends a long way towards the derivation of Maxwell's equations with minimal physical assumptions. In particular, without postulating Coulomb's law, homogeneous Maxwell's equations are written down by following a route different from the standard one, i.e. first introducing electromagnetic potentials in order to write down a relativistic invariant action, which is just the inverse approach to the usual one. Also, Feynman's derivation of the Lorentz force exclusively follows from its linearity in the charge velocity and from relativistic invariance. Going further, i.e. adding the inhomogeneous Maxwell's equations, requires some more physical input, and can be done by just following conventional lines, hence this task was not pursued here. Despite its incompleteness, this way of proceeding is of great historical and epistemological significance. We also comment about its possible relevance to didactics, as an interesting supplement to usual treatments., Comment: 17 pages, no figures

The quest for a microscopic foundation of Thermodynamics is addressed within the Nonunitary Newtonian Gravity model through the study of a specific closed system, namely a three-dimensional harmonic nanocrystal. A numerical calculation of the nanocrystal von Neumann entropy as a function of time is performed, showing a sharp monotonic increase, followed by a stabilization at late times. This behavior is consistent with the emergence of a micro-canonical ensemble within the initial energy levels, signaling, in this way, the establishment of a non-unitary gravity-induced thermal equilibrium., Comment: 2 figures, 8 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1801.02500

The coefficient of restitution of the bounces of a marble on a table is here studied and measured in terms of the total bouncing time. Interesting links arise with mathematics (geometric series) as well as philosophy (Zeno’s paradox), which make our proposal appealing for an interdisciplinary teaching-learning sequence. The relevance of this work for high school and undergraduate students is discussed with emphasis on students’ misconceptions when dealing with infinite processes.

It is explicitly shown that a one-family parameter model reproducing the nonlinear Newton-Schr\"odinger equation as the parameter goes to infinity is free from any causality violation problem for any finite value of it. This circumstance arises from the intrinsic mechanism of spontaneous state reduction of the model, absent in the Newton-Schr\"odinger limit. A specific ideal EPR experiment involving a superposition of two distinct CM's position states of a massive lump is analyzed, showing recovered compatibility with QM. Besides, the new framework suggests a soft version of the Many Worlds Interpretation, in which the typical indiscriminate proliferation of Everett branches, together with the bizarre inter-branches communications made possible by nonlinearity, are strongly suppressed in the macroscopic world by the same mechanism of state reduction., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures

The optical properties of a compact disc (CD) under “skimming” light rays have been analyzed. We have noticed that a clear green line can be detected when the disc is irradiated with light rays coming from a lamp in such a way that only those skimming the CD, held horizontally, are selected. We provide a physical interpretation of this phenomenon on the basis of elementary optics concepts. Extension of these concepts to digital versatile discs (DVDs) is given.

We discuss a less known aspect of Feynman's multifaceted scientific work, centered about his interest in molecular biology, which came out around 1959 and lasted for several years. After a quick historical reconstruction about the birth of molecular biology, we focus on Feynman's work on genetics with Robert S. Edgar in the laboratory of Max Delbruck, which was later quoted by Francis Crick and others in relevant papers, as well as in Feynman's lectures given at the Hughes Aircraft Company on biology, organic chemistry and microbiology, whose notes taken by the attendee John Neer are available. An intriguing perspective comes out about one of the most interesting scientists of the XX century., On the centenary of the birth of Richard P. Feynman (May 11, 1918 - February 15, 1988)

The result of a numerical simulation of two interacting particles in the framework of Nonunitary Newtonian Gravity is presented here. Particles are held close together by a 3-d harmonic trap and interact with each other via an `electrical' delta-like potential and via the ordinary Newtonian term, together with a fluctuational nonunitary counterpart of the latter. Fundamental nonunitarity can be seen as arising from the interaction of the physical degrees of freedom with (gravitational) hidden copies of them. Starting from an energy eigenstate within the ordinary setting, it is shown that, while energy expectation remains constant, a slow net variation of the von Neumann entropy for the system as a whole takes place, with a small modulation induced on the relative entanglement entropy of the two particles. Besides, the simulation shows explicitly how fundamental gravity-induced entropy can be clearly distinguished from the subjective notion of coarse-grained entropy, i.e. from the entropy of one particle with respect to the `environment' of the other., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures

Nonlocal electrodynamics is a formalism developed to include nonlocal effects in the measurement process in order to account for the impossibility of instantaneous measurement of physical fields. This theory modifies Maxwell's electrodynamics by eliminating the hypothesis of locality that assumes an accelerated observer simultaneously equivalent to a comoving inertial frame of reference. In this scenario, the transformation between an inertial and accelerated observer is generalized which affects the properties of physical fields. In particular, we analyze how an uniformly accelerated observer perceives a homogeneous and isotropic black body radiation. We show that all nonlocal effects are transient and most relevant in the first period of acceleration.

The goal of international trade theories is to explain the exchange of goods and services between different countries, aiming to benefit from it. Albeit the idea is very simple and known since ancient history, smart policy and business strategies need to be implemented by each subject, resulting in a complex as well as not obvious interplay. In order to understand such a complexity, different theories have been developed since the sixteenth century and today new ideas still continue to enter the game. Among them, the so called classical theories are country-based and range from Absolute and Comparative Advantage theories by A. Smith and D. Ricardo to Factor Proportions theory by E. Heckscher and B. Ohlin. In this work we build a simple hydrodynamic model, able to reproduce the main conclusions of Comparative Advantage theory in its simplest setup, i.e. a two-country world with country A and country B exchanging two goods within a genuine exchange-based economy and a trade flow ruled only by market forces. The model is further generalized by introducing money in order to discuss its role in shaping trade patterns. Advantages and drawbacks of the model are also discussed together with perspectives for its improvement., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures

Understanding consumption dynamics and its impact on the whole economy and welfare within the present economic crisis is not an easy task. Indeed the level of consumer demand for different goods varies with the prices, consumer incomes and demographic factors. Furthermore crisis may trigger different behaviors which result in distortions and amplification effects. In the present work we propose a simple model to quantitatively describe the time evolution over a brief period of the amount of money an average consumer decides to spend, depending on his/her available budget. A simple hydrodynamical analog of the model is discussed. Finally, perspectives of this work are briefly outlined., Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures

We study the unconventional transmission properties of a wave-packet through a PT-symmetric potential region, as describing actual electromagnetic wave propagation along a waveguide filled with gain and loss media. The non-trivial behavior of the transmission probability manifests in the giant amplification of the incident electromagnetic signal of given wavelengths for well-defined configurations, depending on the gain/loss contrast. Maximum transmission peaks are related to spectral singularities and a strict correlation exists between the "resonant" wavelengths and the gain/loss contrast. The transit times are as well calculated, showing their surprising vanishing in the opaque barrier limit, independently of the gain/loss contrast, which is reminiscent of some sort of Hartman effect. Also, non-local effects manifest in the presence of negative delay times for given configurations, while a correlation is apparent between maximum delay times and transmission probability peaks, though appreciably depending on the gain/loss contrast., Latex, 8 pages, 5 figures

We revisit quantum criticality of d -dimensional n -vector transverse Ising-like models by means of a conventional one-loop renormalization group (RG) approach with temperature scaling. Focusing on dimensionalities d ≤ 3 , a careful analysis of the quantum regime allows us to explore the low-temperature phase diagram and to derive new features which occur close to but below the quantum critical point within the disordered phase. In particular, for d 3 a crossover of the shift exponent from the value ψ = d − 1 (as for d > 3 ) to ψ = 2 is found by decreasing the temperature to zero. Besides we provide information about the low-temperature physics within the thermally disordered region usually ignored in the literature. A similar scenario takes place for d = 3 , but now logarithmic corrections to the mean-field power-law behavior are involved.

Relevant contributions by Majorana regarding Compton scattering off free or bound electrons are considered in detail, where a (full quantum) generalization of the Kramers-Heisenberg dispersion formula is derived. The role of intermediate electronic states is appropriately pointed out in recovering the standard Klein-Nishina formula (for free electron scattering) by making recourse to a limpid physical scheme alternative to the (then unknown) Feynman diagram approach. For bound electron scattering, a quantitative description of the broadening of the Compton line was obtained for the first time by introducing a finite mean life for the excited state of the electron system. Finally, a generalization aimed to describe Compton scattering assisted by a non-vanishing applied magnetic field is as well considered, revealing its relevance for present day research., Comment: latex, amsart, 10 pages, 1 figure

Complex phenomena occurring in natural sciences are usually characterized by a non trivial interplay between microscopic and macroscopic dynamics, which can be successfully captured by the cellular automata (CA) computational paradigm [1] . In this paper we show that some approximation of the classical CA paradigm is needed in order to properly deal with complex dynamical systems. Real phenomena can be efficiently modeled and simulated by introducing a modified CA approach, the CANv2 [2] . In this way one takes into account multiscale dynamics, through approximate infinite and/or infinitesimal dynamical stages, by means of a hybrid network of standard CA components and global operators. The power of the CANv2 approach is fully exploited by discussing three examples borrowed from the realm of natural science: debris flows after a landslide [3] , [4] , [5] , superconductive devices [2] and forest fires spread [6] , [7] . Advantages and limitations of our computational model explicitly arise when examples are discussed.

We explore the low-temperature thermodynamic properties and crossovers of ad-dimensional classical planar Heisenberg ferromagnet in a longitudinal magnetic field close to its field-induced zero-temperature critical point by employing the two-time Green’s function formalism in classical statistical mechanics. By means of a classical Callen-like method for the magnetization and the Tyablikov-like decoupling procedure, we obtain, for anyd, a low-temperature critical scenario which is quite similar to the one found for the quantum counterpart. Remarkably, ford>2the discrimination between the two cases is found to be related to the different values of the shift exponent which governs the behavior of the critical line in the vicinity of the zero-temperature critical point. The observation of different values of the shift-exponent and of the related critical exponents along thermodynamic paths within the typical V-shaped region in the phase diagram may be interpreted as a signature of emerging quantum critical fluctuations.

In this paper we study the small oscillations of a charged pendulum in the electric field generated by a couple of point charges. The complexity of the system makes the use of the Lagrangian formalism very convenient. The effect of an oscillating pivot in the spirit of Kapitza is discussed by introducing a rapidly oscillating forcing term and computing the resulting effective potential. The level of the discussion is suitable for advanced undergraduate students in physics.

By exploiting the notion of Morita equivalence for field theories on noncommutative tori and choosing rational values of the noncommutativity parameter theta (in appropriate units), a one-to-one correspondence between an abelian noncommutative field theory (NCFT) and a non-abelian theory of twisted fields on ordinary space can be established. Starting from this general result, we focus on the conformal field theory (CFT) describing a quantum Hall fluid (QHF) at paired states fillings nu =m/pm+2, recently obtained by means of m-reduction procedure, and show that it is the Morita equivalent of a NCFT. In this way we extend the construction proposed in a previous work (V. Marotta, A. Naddeo, Nucl. Phys. B 810(2009) 575) for the Jain series nu =m/2pm+1. The case m=2 is explicitly discussed and the role of noncommutativity in the physics of quantum Hall bilayers is emphasized. Our results represent a step forward the construction of a new effective low energy description of certain condensed matter phenomena and help to clarify the relationship between noncommutativity and quantum Hall fluids., Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure; Nuclear Physics B (2010), in print

Recently a one-dimensional closed ladder of Josephson junctions has been studied (G. Cristofano et al., Phys. Lett. A 372 (2008) 2464) within a twisted conformal field theory (CFT) approach (G. Cristofano et al., Mod. Phys. Lett. A 15 (2000) 1679; Nucl. Phys. B 641 (2002) 547) and shown to develop the phenomenon of flux fractionalization (G. Cristofano et al., Eur. Phys. J. B 49 (2006) 83). That led us to predict the emergence of a topological order in such a system (G. Cristofano et al., JSTAT (2005) P03006). In this letter we analyze the ground states and the topological properties of fully frustrated Josephson junction arrays (JJA) arranged in a Corbino disk geometry for a variety of boundary conditions. In particular minimal configurations of fully frustrated JJA are considered and shown to exhibit the properties needed in order to build up a solid state qubit, protected from decoherence. The stability and transformation properties of the ground states of the JJA under adiabatic magnetic flux changes are analyzed in detail in order to provide a tool for the manipulation of the proposed qubit., Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures

We consider the extended Hubbard model in the atomic limit on a Bethe lattice with coordination number z. By using the equations of motion formalism, the model is exactly solved for both attractive and repulsive intersite potential V. By focusing on the case of negative V, i.e., attractive intersite interaction, we study the phase diagram at finite temperature and find, for various values of the filling and of the on-site coupling U, a phase transition towards a state with phase separation. We determine the critical temperature as a function of the relevant parameters, U/|V|, n and z and we find a reentrant behavior in the plane (U/|V|,T). Finally, several thermodynamic properties are investigated near criticality., 7 pages, 7 figures. EPJB Topical Issue on Novel Quantum Phases and Mesoscopic Physics in Quantum Gases

We study the quantum dynamics of a spin-orbit (SO) coupled Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a double-well potential inspired by the experimental protocol recently developed by NIST group. We focus on the regime where the number of atoms is very large and perform a two-mode approximation. An analytical solution of the two-site Bose-Hubbard-like Hamiltonian is found for several limiting cases, which range from a strong Raman coupling to a strong Josephson coupling, ending with the complete model in the presence of weak nonlinear interactions. Depending on the particular limit, different approaches are chosen: a mapping onto an SU(2) spin problem together with a Holstein-Primakoff transformation in the first two cases and a rotating wave approximation (RWA) when dealing with the complete model. The quantum evolution of the number difference of bosons with equal or different spin between the two wells is investigated in a wide range of parameters; finally the corresponding total atomic current and the spin current are computed. We show a spin Josephson effect which could be detected in experiments and employed to build up realistic devices., Comment: 18 pages

Reversibility is a concept widely studied in physics and computer science. Quantum systems evolution is described by the time evolution operator U, which is unitary and then invertible. Likewise, reversible computation is characterized by means of invertible properties. Reversible/ invertible cellular automata (CA) are one of the most relevant reversible computational models. Here we introduce a model for a Josephson junction ladder (JJL) device which turns out to be reversible: it is based on a hybrid cellular automata network (CAN), the CAN2 one.