Basic HTML version of Foils prepared 10 November 1995

Foil 4 Four Descriptions of Matter -- Quantum,Particle,Statistical, Continuum

From Fox Presentation Fall 1995 CPS615 Basic Simulation Track for Computational Science -- Fall Semester 95. by Geoffrey C. Fox


Quantum Physics
Particle Dynamics
Statistical Physics
Continuum Physics
  • These give rise to different algorithms and in some cases, one will mix these different descriptions. We will briefly describe these with a pointer to types of algorithms used.
  • These descriptions underly several different fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, environmental modeling, climatology.
  • - indeed any field that studies physical world from a reasonably fundamental point of view.
  • For instance, they directly underly weather prediction as this is phrased in terms of properties of atmosphere.
  • However, if you simulate a chemical plant, you would not phrase this directly in terms of atomic properties but rather in terms of phenomenological macroscopic artifacts - "pipes", "valves", "machines", "people" etc.
General Relativity and Quantum Gravity
  • These describe space-time at the ultimate level but are not needed in practical real world calculations. There are important academic computations studying these descriptions of matter.



© on Tue Oct 7 1997