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porosity | Porosity is a measure of the void spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. |
ternary fission | Ternary fission is a comparatively rare type of nuclear fission in which three charged products are produced rather than two. |
quasistatic process | A quasi-static process is a thermodynamic process that happens slowly enough for the system to remain in internal physical thermodynamic equilibrium. |
brownian motor | Brownian motors are nanoscale or molecular machines that use chemical reactions to generate directed motion in space. |
non-abelian gauge transformation | A non-abelian gauge transformation in theoretical physics means a gauge transformation taking values in some group, the elements of which do not obey the commutative law when they are multiplied. |
solar transition region | The solar transition region is a region of the Sun's atmosphere between the upper chromosphere and corona. |
coronal seismology | Coronal seismology is a technique of studying the plasma of the Sun's corona with the use of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves and oscillations. |
topological quantum field theory | A topological quantum field theory in gauge theory and mathematical physics, is a quantum field theory which computes topological invariants. It is usually applied to curved spacetimes, such as Riemann surfaces. |
baryonic dark matter | Baryonic dark matter in astronomy and cosmology is dark matter composed of baryons. |
wilson loop | A Wilson loop in gauge theory is a gauge-invariant observable obtained from the holonomy of the gauge connection around a given loop. |
t-duality | T-duality in theoretical physics is an equivalence of two physical theories, which may be either quantum field theories or string theories. |
random sequential adsorption | Random sequential adsorption (RSA) refers to a process where particles are randomly introduced in a system, and if they do not overlap any previously adsorbed particle, they adsorb and remain fixed for the rest of the process. |
matter power spectrum | The matter power spectrum describes the density contrast of the universe or the difference between the local density and the mean density as a function of scale. |
vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser | The vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is a type of semiconductor laser diode with laser beam emission perpendicular from the top surface, contrary to conventional edge-emitting semiconductor lasers and in-plane lasers which emit from surfaces formed by cleaving the individual chip out of a wafer. |
proton conductor | A proton conductor is an electrolyte, typically a solid electrolyte, in which atomic hydrogen are the primary charge carriers. |
crab nebula | The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus. |
magnetization | Magnetization in classical electromagnetism is the vector field that expresses the density of permanent or induced magnetic dipole moments in a magnetic material. |
fermi surface | The Fermi surface in condensed matter physics is the surface in reciprocal space which separates occupied from unoccupied electron states at zero temperature. |
electron rest mass | The electron rest mass is the mass of a stationary electron, also known as the invariant mass of the electron. |
proton capture | Proton capture is a nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus and one or more protons collide and merge to form a heavier nucleus. |
ideal surface | An ideal solid surface is flat, rigid, perfectly smooth, and chemically homogeneous, and has zero contact angle hysteresis. |
ultrashort pulse | An ultrashort pulse of light in optics is an electromagnetic pulse whose time duration is of the order of a picosecond or less. |
probe tip | A probe tip is an instrument used in scanning probe microscopes (SPM) to scan the surface of a sample, and make nanoscale images of surfaces and structures. |
triangulum galaxy | The Triangulum Galaxy is a spiral galaxy 2.73 million light-years (ly) from Earth in the constellation Triangulum. |
gravity gradiometry | Gravity gradiometry is the study and measurement of variations in the Earth 's gravitational field. |
neutrino | A neutrino is a fermion that interacts only via the weak interaction and gravity. |
horizon problem | The horizon problem is a cosmological fine-tuning problem within the Big Bang model of the universe. |
ultimate tensile strength | Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate strength within equations, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. |
edge-localized mode | An edge-localized mode (ELM) is a disruptive instability occurring in the edge region of a tokamak plasma due to the quasi-periodic relaxation of a transport barrier previously formed during a transition from low to high-confinement mode. |
ferroelectricity | Ferroelectricity is a characteristic of certain materials that have a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. |
skyglow | Skyglow is the diffuse luminance of the night sky, apart from discrete light sources such as the Moon and visible individual stars. |
tsallis entropy | The Tsallis entropy in physics is a generalization of the standard Boltzmann–Gibbs entropy. |
threshold energy | The threshold energy for production of a particle in particle physics, is the minimum kinetic energy a pair of traveling particles must have when they collide. |
atomic spectroscopy | Atomic spectroscopy is the study of the electromagnetic radiation absorbed and emitted by atoms. |
quantum turbulence | Quantum turbulence is the name given to the turbulent flow – the chaotic motion of a fluid at high flow rates – of quantum fluids, such as superfluids. |
tricritical point | A tricritical point in condensed matter physics, dealing with the macroscopic physical properties of matter, is a point in the phase diagram of a system at which three-phase coexistence terminates. |
elliptical polarization | Elliptical polarization in electrodynamics is the polarization of electromagnetic radiation such that the tip of the electric field vector describes an ellipse in any fixed plane intersecting, and normal to, the direction of propagation. |
landau damping | Landau damping in physics is the effect of damping of longitudinal space charge waves in plasma or a similar environment. |
geometric phase | Geometric phase in classical and quantum mechanics, is a phase difference acquired over the course of a cycle, when a system is subjected to cyclic adiabatic processes, which results from the geometrical properties of the parameter space of the Hamiltonian. |
nucleate boiling | Nucleate boiling is a type of boiling that takes place when the surface temperature is hotter than the saturated fluid temperature by a certain amount but where the heat flux is below the critical heat flux. |
low emissivity | Low emissivity refers to a surface condition that emits low levels of radiant thermal energy. |
magnetic skyrmion | Magnetic skyrmions in physics are quasiparticles which have been predicted theoretically and observed experimentally in condensed matter systems. |
ideal chain | An ideal chain is the simplest model to describe polymers, such as nucleic acids and proteins. It assumes that the monomers in a polymer are located at the steps of a hypothetical random walker that does not remember its previous steps. |
coupling parameter | The coupling parameter of the resonator specifies the part of the energy of the laser field, which is output at each round-trip. |
mass flux | Mass flux in physics and engineering, is the rate of mass flow. |
pulsed field gradient | A pulsed field gradient is a short, timed pulse with spatial-dependent field intensity. |
thermodynamic process | Classical thermodynamics considers three main kinds of thermodynamic process : (1) changes in a system, (2) cycles in a system, and (3) flow processes. |
current crowding | Current crowding is a nonhomogenous distribution of current density through a conductor or semiconductor, especially in the vicinity of contacts and over PN junctions. |
lorentz group | The Lorentz group in physics and mathematics is the group of all Lorentz transformations of Minkowski spacetime, the classical and quantum setting for all physical phenomena. |
oscillon | An oscillon in physics is a soliton-like phenomenon that occurs in granular and other dissipative media. |
many-worlds interpretation | The many-worlds interpretation (MWI) is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that asserts that the universal wavefunction is objectively real, and that there is no wave function collapse. |
holst action | The Holst action in the field of theoretical physics, is an equivalent formulation of the Palatini action for General Relativity (GR) in terms of vierbeins by adding a part of a topological term which does not alter the classical equations of motion as long as there is no torsion. |
pulse sequence | A pulse sequence in Fourier transform NMR spectroscopy and imaging, describes a series of radio frequency pulses applied to the sample, such that the free induction decay is related to the characteristic frequencies of the desired signals. |
double-slit experiment | The double-slit experiment in modern physics is a demonstration that light and matter can display characteristics of both classically defined waves and particles, and it displays the fundamentally probabilistic nature of quantum mechanical phenomena. |
talbot effect | The Talbot effect is a diffraction effect that when a plane wave is incident upon a periodic diffraction grating, the image of the grating is repeated at regular distances away from the grating plane. |
j-coupling | J-couplings in nuclear chemistry and nuclear physics, are mediated through chemical bonds connecting two spins. |
q-switching | Q-switching is a technique by which a laser can be made to produce a pulsed output beam. |
open quantum system | An open quantum system in physics is a quantum-mechanical system that interacts with an external quantum system, which is known as the environment or a bath. |
van der pauw method | The van der Pauw Method is a technique commonly used to measure the resistivity and the Hall coefficient of a sample. |
spectrum analyzer | A spectrum analyzer measures the magnitude of an input signal versus frequency within the full frequency range of the instrument. |
lyman-alpha forest | The Lyman-alpha forest in astronomical spectroscopy, is a series of absorption lines in the spectra of distant galaxies and quasars arising from the Lyman-alpha electron transition of the neutral hydrogen atom. |
interstitial defect | An interstitial defect is a type of point crystallographic defect where an atom of the same or of a different type, occupies a normally unoccupied site in the crystal structure. |
klystron | A klystron is a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube, which is used as an amplifier for high radio frequencies, from UHF up into the microwave range. |
vacuum arc | A vacuum arc can arise when the surfaces of metal electrodes in contact with a good vacuum begin to emit electrons either through heating or in an electric field that is sufficient to cause field electron emission. |
quantum critical point | A quantum critical point is a point in the phase diagram of a material where a continuous phase transition takes place at absolute zero. |
hole argument | The hole argument in general relativity is an apparent paradox that much troubled Albert Einstein while developing his famous field equations. |
love wave | Love waves in elastodynamics are horizontally polarized surface waves. It is a result of the interference of many S-waves guided by an elastic layer, which is welded to an elastic half space on one side while bordering a vacuum on the other side. |
verdet constant | The Verdet constant is an optical property which describes the strength of the Faraday effect for a particular material. |
plate theory | Plate theories in continuum mechanics are mathematical descriptions of the mechanics of flat plates that draws on the theory of beams. |
cross-phase modulation | Cross-phase modulation (XPM) is a nonlinear optical effect where one wavelength of light can affect the phase of another wavelength of light through the optical Kerr effect. |
antisymmetric tensor | A tensor is antisymmetric on or with respect to an index subset if it alternates sign when any two indices of the subset are interchanged. |
magnetic refrigeration | Magnetic refrigeration is a cooling technology based on the magnetocaloric effect. |
drag coefficient | The drag coefficient in fluid dynamics is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. |
nernst heat theorem | The Nernst heat theorem says that as absolute zero is approached, the entropy change for a chemical or physical transformation approaches 0. |
sommerfeld parameter | The Sommerfeld parameter is a dimensionless quantity used in nuclear astrophysics in the calculation of reaction rates between two nuclei and also appears in the definition of the astrophysical S-factor. |
nanomechanical resonator | A nanomechanical resonator is a nanoelectromechanical systems ultra-small resonator that oscillates at a specific frequency depending on its mass and stiffness. |
reference beam | A reference beam is a laser beam used to read and write holograms. |
x-ray crystallography | X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. |
electron tomography | Electron tomography (ET) is a tomography technique for obtaining detailed 3D structures of sub-cellular, macro-molecular, or materials specimens. |
twin paradox | The twin paradox in physics is a thought experiment in special relativity involving identical twins, one of whom makes a journey into space in a high-speed rocket and returns home to find that the twin who remained on Earth has aged more. |
kepler problem | The Kepler problem in classical mechanics is a special case of the two-body problem, in which the two bodies interact by a central force that varies in strength as the inverse square of the distance between them. |
glide reflection | A glide reflection or transflection is a symmetry operation that consists of a reflection over a line and then translation along that line, combined into a single operation. |
reflectance | The reflectance of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in reflecting radiant energy. |
intergalactic star | An intergalactic star is a star not gravitationally bound to any galaxy. |
cyclotron radiation | Cyclotron radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted by non-relativistic accelerating charged particles deflected by a magnetic field. |
chiral color | Chiral color in particle physics phenomenology is a speculative model which extends quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the generally accepted theory for the strong interactions of quarks. |
fermi arc | A Fermi arc in the field of unconventional superconductivity, is a phenomenon visible in the pseudogap state of a superconductor. |
gravitational coupling constant | A gravitational coupling constant in physics is a constant characterizing the gravitational attraction between a given pair of elementary particles. |
magnetoreception | Magnetoreception is a sense which allows an organism to detect a magnetic field to perceive direction, altitude or location. |
phase velocity | The phase velocity of a wave is the rate at which the wave propagates in any medium. |
internal tide | Internal tides are generated as the surface tides move stratified water up and down sloping topography, which produces a wave in the ocean interior. |
passive cooling | Passive cooling is a building design approach that focuses on heat gain control and heat dissipation in a building in order to improve the indoor thermal comfort with low or no energy consumption. |
magnetism | Magnetism is a class of physical attributes that are mediated by magnetic fields. |
eigenstate thermalization hypothesis | The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis (ETH) is a set of ideas which purports to explain when and why an isolated quantum mechanical system can be accurately described using equilibrium statistical mechanics. |
two-state vector formalism | The two-state vector formalism (TSVF) is a description of quantum mechanics in terms of a causal relation in which the present is caused by quantum states of the past and of the future taken in combination. |
inductor | An inductor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that stores energy in a magnetic field when electric current flows through it. |
cooling flow | A cooling flow occurs according to the theory that the intracluster medium (ICM) in the centres of galaxy clusters should be rapidly cooling at the rate of tens to thousands of solar masses per year. |
superconformal algebra | The superconformal algebra in theoretical physics is a graded Lie algebra or superalgebra that combines the conformal algebra and supersymmetry. |
conformal anomaly | Conformal anomaly is an anomaly where quantum phenomena that break the conformal symmetry of classical theory. |
spheromak | A spheromak is an arrangement of plasma formed into a toroidal shape similar to a smoke ring. |