Notes & Preprints

A Note on the Running of the QED Coupling

QED
renormalization
pedagogy

One-loop \(\beta\)-function, the Landau pole, and a plot of \(\alpha(\mu)\) from the electron mass to the TeV scale.

Jun 12, 2014
Chuck Walla Institute, M. Yucca
4 min

The Calico Tanks Barrier, Re-examined: A Transfer-Matrix Sequel

quantum mechanics
computational
pedagogy

We revisit the WKB calculation of Ocotillo (2011) with a transfer-matrix method, vindicating M. Yucca’s correction and recovering an exact transmission coefficient that differs from the WKB estimate by a factor of two.

Feb 18, 2012
Chuck Walla Institute, A. Ocotillo, J. Saguaro
7 min

Quantum Tunneling Through Sandstone: A WKB Toy Model

quantum mechanics
WKB
pedagogy
computational

On a small computational exercise in which the potential barrier is taken from a topographic profile of the Calico Hills at Red Rock Canyon, with a brief note from M. Yucca on the validity of the approximation.

May 22, 2011
Chuck Walla Institute, A. Ocotillo
6 min

Eternal Inflation, Boltzmann Brains, and the Difficulty of Trusting One’s Own Conclusions

cosmology
foundations
philosophy of physics

On a cosmological measure problem, on the proposition that one is more likely a fluctuation than a person, and on what one is to do about an argument that would undermine its own premises.

Dec 29, 2007
Chuck Walla Institute, D. R. Caldera
8 min

The Unruh Effect, with Reference to the Institute’s Pickup

QFT
accelerated observers
pedagogy

On the thermal bath seen by an accelerating observer, and on the smallness of the effect for terrestrial accelerations.

Apr 9, 2007
Chuck Walla Institute, M. Yucca
5 min

On the Force Between Two Parallel Plates: A Casimir Calculation, Patiently

Casimir effect
vacuum energy
regularization

A first-principles derivation of the attraction between two perfectly conducting parallel plates, with attention to the regularization scheme and the geometry that motivates it.

Oct 12, 1998
Chuck Walla Institute, R. Cholla
6 min

A Note on the Page–Wootters Construction, with Reference to the Salecker–Wigner Bound

foundations
quantum measurement
problem of time

A short technical objection to the proposal that time emerges from the correlation between two clocks: namely, that the clocks themselves cannot be ideal.

Nov 8, 1994
Chuck Walla Institute, M. Yucca
6 min

Zodiacal Light from Last Chance Road

observational
solar system
cosmology

On the cone of light that precedes the desert dawn, on the dust that scatters it, and on what one is in fact looking at.

Mar 8, 1992
Chuck Walla Institute, E. Mesquite
5 min

Olbers’ Paradox at Three a.m. at Six Mile Spring

cosmology
observational
pedagogy

On why the night sky is dark — even in the desert, where the case against the dark night sky is at its strongest.

Aug 17, 1988
Chuck Walla Institute, E. Mesquite
5 min

The Wheeler–DeWitt Equation and the Disappearance of \(t\)

quantum gravity
foundations
problem of time

On a fundamental equation that contains no time, on the Page–Wootters proposal that time emerges from correlation, and on what one keeps clocks for.

Sep 30, 1986
Chuck Walla Institute, D. R. Caldera
7 min

On the Apparent Passage of Time at Six Mile Spring

relativity
philosophy of physics
block universe

A note, occasioned by a long evening, on the relativity of simultaneity, the Putnam–Rietdijk argument, and the block universe.

Sep 21, 1983
Chuck Walla Institute, D. R. Caldera
6 min

Schwinger’s \(\alpha/2\pi\): A Re-derivation in Slow Motion

QED
anomalous moments
pedagogy

The leading anomalous magnetic moment of the electron, derived deliberately, with attention to the infrared.

Nov 4, 1979
Chuck Walla Institute, A. Ocotillo
2 min
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References

Ocotillo, A. 2011. “Quantum Tunneling Through Sandstone: A WKB Toy Model.” Notes & Preprints, Chuck Walla Institute.