Soviet Physics Research Articles

The undergrowth of science: delusion, self-deception and human frailty

Introduction. Chapter 1: Blondlot and the N-Rays. Chapter 2: Paradigms Enow: Some Mirages of Biology Gurwitsch and his Mitogenic Radiation The curse of the death-ray Abderhalden and the protective enzymes The case of the amorous toad Memory transfer, or eat your mathematics. Chapter 3: Aberrations of Physics: Irving Langmuir Investigates Capturing Electrons Allison's magneto-optical effect Langmuir's rules. Chapter 4: Nor Any Drop to Drink: the tale of polywater. Chapter 5: The Wilder Shores of Credulity. Chapter 6: Energy Unlimited. Chapter 7: What the Doctor Ordered. Chapter 8: Science, Chauvinism and Bigotry. Chapter 9: A Climate of Fear The tragedy of Soviet genetics The spread of the contagion Soviet physics: idealism, pragmatism and the bomb Is there a Marxist chemistry? Chapter 10: Science in the Third Reich: Bigotry, Racism and Extinction The roots of fascist biology The Ahnenerbe: Himmler the intellectual Die. Deutsche Physik, its friends and enemies A de

Bose–Einstein condensation and superfluidity of excitons in Cu 2O

It is now well established that the remarkable superfluid properties of liquid helium below 2.17 K are intimately related to the Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) of 4 He atoms (no superfluidity is observed at the same temperature in 3 He , a liquid of fermions). Already in the 1960s, it was pointed out that excitons in semiconductors could provide another system where BEC and superfluidity could be observed. S.A. Moskalenko, Soviet Phys. Solid State 4 (1962) 199, I.M. Blatt, K.W. Boer, W. Brandt, Phys. Rev. 126 (1962) 1691, V.A. Gergel, R.F. Kazarinov, R.A. Suris, Soviet Physics JETP 27 (1968) 159. Excitonic superfluidity corresponds to a frictionless transport of electronic energy through the crystal. Motivated by experimental evidence of high Bose–Einstein quantum degeneracy (D. Snoke et al., BEC, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994), a search for excitonic superfluidity has been undertaken in Cu 2O. This paper reports on the current status in this material.

Numerical Simulation of Randomly Forced Turbulent Flows

Several authors have proposed studying randomly forced turbulent flows (e.g., E. A. Novikov,Soviet Physics JETP,20(5), 1290 1965). More recently, theoretical investigations (e.g., renormalization group) have focused on white-noise forced Navier–Stokes equations (V. Yakhot and S. A. Orszag,J. Sci. Comput.1(1), 3 1986). The present article aims to provide an appropriate numerical method for the simulation of randomly forced turbulent systems. The spatial discretization is based on the classical Fourier spectral method. The time integration is performed by a second-order Runge–Kutta scheme. The consistency of an extension of this scheme to treat additive noise stochastic differential equations is proved. The random number generator is based on lagged Fibonacci series. Results are presented for two randomly forced problems: the Burgers and the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with a white-noise in time forcing term characterized by a power-law correlation function in spectral space. A variety of statistics are computed for both problems, including the structure functions. The third-order structure functions are compared with their exact expressions in the inertial subrange. The influence of the dissipation mechanism (viscous or hyperviscous) on the inertial subrange is discussed. In particular, probability density functions of velocity increments are computed for the Navier–Stokes simulation. Finally, for both Burgers and Navier–Stokes problems, our results support the view that random sweeping is the dominant effect of the large-scale motion on the small-scales.

Systematic trends in the transport mean free path with electron energy and atomic number

Abstract The inelastic mean free path, λ i , and the transport mean free path, λ tr , hold the key to understanding the effects of elastic scattering of electrons in electron spectroscopy techniques such as Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Systematic trends in the variation of λ tr and χ = λ i / λ tr with atomic number, Z , and electron energy, E , are explored using the differential elastic scattering cross-section data of Czyzewski et al. (J. Appl. Phys., 68 (1990) 3066). At low Z , λ tr increases with energy in accord with the predictions of the Born approximation, but at higher Z , a more complex behaviour is revealed. In the first and second transition metal series, χ varies little with energy over much of the kinetic energy range probed in XPS in accord with the energy scaling ideas from the semi-classical scattering theory of Tilinin (Soviet Physics JETP, 67 (1992) 1570). In the third transition series, a pronounced minimum is found at around 200 eV, with χ for Au lower than for the corresponding transition metals. The results identify regions of the periodic table where elastic scattering effects are particularly pronounced.

Robert T. Beyer’s interaction with foreign acoustical scientists.

The very essence of a scientific society is the promotion of cooperation and the exchange of information among scientists. Bob’s contribution to acoustics in this field is twofold. First, he is deeply involved in the publication of acoustics literature, particularly the Russian Acoustical Journal (previously Soviet Physics—Acoustics, now Acoustical Physics). Perfect knowledge of the languages, a deep interest in the creative work, a wide range of interests, and an extensive outlook help him in this activity. Second, being openhearted and having a friendly nature, with a live interest in his colleagues, he does a lot to develop scientific links and contacts. When he visited USSR in 1958, he immediately switched on acoustical community activity, participated in the Ph.D. thesis defense of Lev Zarembo, and started a long‐lived cooperation with Russian colleagues. He has educated Ph.D. and postdoctoral students from China, Norway, Russia, etc. All of them are grateful to Bob and keep a lot of good recollections. Each meeting with him leaves you with a feeling of cordial warmth and friendly concern.

How the Bomb Saved Soviet Physics

(1994). How the Bomb Saved Soviet Physics. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Vol. 50, No. 6, pp. 46-55.

Acoustic emission in low-cyclic fatigue: Soviet Physics Doklady, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 517–518 (Jun. 1986)

Acoustic emission in low-cyclic fatigue: Soviet Physics Doklady, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 517–518 (Jun. 1986)

Physics and politics in revolutionary Russia

Aided by personal documents and institutional archives that were closed for decades, this book recounts the development of physics - or, more aptly, science under stress - in Soviet Russia up to World War II. Focusing on Leningrad, center of Soviet physics until the late 1930s, Josephson discusses the impact of scientific, cultural, and political revolution on physicists' research and professional aspirations. Political and social revolution in Russia threatened to confound the scientific revolution. Physicists eager to investigate new concepts of space, energy, light, and motion were forced to accommodate dialectical materialism and subordinate their interests to those of the state. They ultimately faced Stalinist purges and the shift of physics leadership to Moscow. This account of scientists cut off from their Western colleagues reveals a little-known part of the history of modern physics.

Computerized microtomography in x-ray and optical scanning microscopy: 37119 Tikhonov, A.N.; Goncharskii, A.V.; Kochikov, I.V.; Rau, E.I.; Savin, D.O.; Spivak, G.V.; Stepanov, V.V. Soviet Physics Doklady, Vol. 31, No. 8, pp. 625–626 (Aug. 1986)

Computerized microtomography in x-ray and optical scanning microscopy: 37119 Tikhonov, A.N.; Goncharskii, A.V.; Kochikov, I.V.; Rau, E.I.; Savin, D.O.; Spivak, G.V.; Stepanov, V.V. Soviet Physics Doklady, Vol. 31, No. 8, pp. 625–626 (Aug. 1986)

Acoustic emission in low-cyclic fatigue : Ivanov, V.I.; Kuranov, V.N.; Ryabov, A.N. Soviet Physics Doklady, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 517–518 (Jun. 1986)

Acoustic emission in low-cyclic fatigue : Ivanov, V.I.; Kuranov, V.N.; Ryabov, A.N. Soviet Physics Doklady, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 517–518 (Jun. 1986)

Viktor Robertovich Bursian (1886–1945)

This article gives a portrait of a pioneer of Soviet physics, who played a large role in building up theoretical physics in the USSR. At the beginning of this century V. R. Bursian carried out research on the physics of currents in gases and in a vacuum, on dispersion and gyration, on the electron theory of matter, and on the kinetics of chain reactions. Electrophysical methods for geological exploration were first developed by him.

High-temple of Soviet physics

High-temple of Soviet physics

Glasnost Comes to Soviet Physics

<i>Glasnost</i> Comes to Soviet Physics

The Socio-political Roots of Boris Hessen: Soviet Marxism and the History of Science

One of the most famous papers ever presented at a history of science meeting was `The Socio-Economic Roots of Newton's Principia', given by the Soviet physicist Boris Hessen at the Second International Congress of the History of Science, held in London in 1931. Although many scholars at the congress were impressed by Hessen's thesis that intellectual achievements such as Newton's are best explained by examining the social context out of which they arose, oddly enough no one thought to apply this sort of analysis to Hessen's achievement. An examination of Soviet Russia in 1931, a time of great political and economic stress, shows that both Soviet physics and Hessen personally were under very unusual pressures. Hessen's main concern in previous months had been to protect Einstein's relativity theory from attacks by vulgar Marxist ideologists. Hessen's paper on Newton was carefully crafted to support this defensive effort and simultaneously was aimed at strengthening Hessen's own political situation.

Piotr Leonidovich Kapitza, 9 July 1894 - 8 April 1984

Peter Kapitza was a legendary figure both in Rutherford’s Cambridge of the 1920s and 1930s and subsequently in Moscow to the end of his long life and the legends serve to illustrate his colourful personality. In his scientific work he showed great versatility and brought the skills of an engineer and mathematician to bear on important problems in physics and technology in an entirely original way. He also had broad cultural and social interests and his original ideas on scientific education and organization have had a profound influence, particularly on the development of Soviet physics.

Soviet physics

Soviet Scientific Reviews. Section A: Physics Reviews Vol.1. By I.M. Khalatnikov. Pp.305. (Harwood: Chur, Switzerland, 1979.) Dfl.125, $67.75.

Leonid Isaakovich Mandel'shtam

Keynote paper at the May 30, 1979 joint scientific session of the Division of General Physics and Astronomy and the Division of Nuclear Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which was devoted to the 100TH anniversary of the birth of Academician L. I. Mandel'shtam. The paper discusses the three main periods in Mandel'shtam's life and work: the Strasbourg period (1899-1914), the time from his education in Russia to his final move to Moscow (1914-1925), and the last, Moscow period (1925-1944), which was the most productive from the standpoint of both scientific and teaching activity. Mandel'shtam was (together with Academician A. F. Ioffe) the founder of Soviet physics, the creator of a physical school exceptional for breadth of its interests and the depth of its research, several of whose representatives went on to form widely known schools of their own, both theoretical (I. E. Tamm, A. A. Andronov, M. A. Leontovich) and experimental (G. S. Landsberg). His coverage of physics, the organic fusion of theoretical and experimental and mathematical and technical physics in Mandel'shtam's creativity, place him among the classics of science. The most important of Mandel'shtam's outstanding scientific and technical achievements are indicated, including the discovery of combination [Raman] and selective scattering of light, establishment of the role of fluctuations in scattering and prediction of the fine structure of Rayleigh scattering, his advancement of the theory of oscillations to the level of an independent scientific discipline and the creation of a theory of oscillations, the invention of radiointerferometry, the discovery of the tunnel effect in quantum mechanics, etc. Also outlined are a number of general guiding concepts that Mandel'shtam developed, such as nonlinear physical thinking, classification of phenomena on the basis of commonality (isomorphism) of the describing relationships, and application of oscillatory mutual aid between various fields of physics and engineering. These general ideas unified and directed all of his creative work and have by now thoroughly permeated modem physics.

Correspondence principle in the self-energy problem

It has been shown by Fomin and the author [ Soviet Physics JETP 40 (1975), 6] that in the classical limit, h ̷ → 0 , there is a correspondence between the quantum and classical electron self-energies in spinor electrodynamics. In the present work this result is extended to the cases of scalar electrodynamics and scalar meson theory. The apparent violation of the correspondence principle in the self-energy problem, noted in the literature, can be ascribed to the inadequacy of the usual expansion procedure in terms of the parameters e 2 h ̷ c and mc Λ = mcr 0 h ̷ as h ̷ → 0 (here Λ is the usual cutoff parameter, r 0 is the cutoff radius).

Publication output of Soviet physics

Publication output of Soviet physics

On the centenary of the birth of D.S. Rozhdestvenskii: Scientific legacy of D.S. Rozhdestvenskii

This paper reviews the scientific work of Academician D.S. Rozhdestvenskii who was born 100 years ago. The origin and development of his work on the anomalous dispersion of light are discussed, and his researches are evaluated and compared with the results of other authors. A brief description is given of the work of Rozhdestvenskii's pupils, who used his method of hooks in their researches. An analysis is also given of his work on the theory of spectra and the structure of atoms, and of its influence on the subsequent development of Soviet physics in these fields. The review concludes with a brief survey of his work in applied optics and, especially, on the theory of the microscope. His views on the relationship between science and technology are summarized