Installing LaTeX style files (Ubuntu)

Occasionally you will want to use a style file which doesn’t come in the standard TeX distribution that you may be using and so you will have to manually “install” the style file. For example, let’s say that we want to use a style file called shading.sty.

Step 1:

Download the file and place it in its own folder with the same name as the file, i.e. if the file is called shading.sty then the file should be placed in a folder called shading.

Step 2:

We now need to move the folder to its appropriate location. If you are using the TeXLive distribution for linux then the appropriate directory is

/usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/latex

However if you are using TeTeX, the directory is

/usr/share/texmf-tetex/tex/latex

Assuming that you placed your folder on the desktop, as I did, you can now copy that directory to the proper location by going into your terminal and typing

sudo cp -r ~/Desktop/shading /usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/latex

or

sudo cp -r ~/Desktop/shading /usr/share/texmf/tetex/tex/latex

depending on whether you are using TeXLive or TeTeX.

Step 3:

Finally, you simply need to have latex re-examine all of your style files by going to the terminal again and typing.

sudo mktexlsr

Aphex Twin [Equation] Spectrogram

This video shows a spectrogram analysis of a song from the Aphex Twin album “Windowlicker”. The song is commonly simply referred to as [Equation] but its actual title  is

Around time 5:30 you will be able to see an image of the face of Richard D James in the spectrogram. There are a couple similar videos on youtube but most of them are relatively low quality. In this video I am using a lossless version of the song and a high-definition recording of the spectrogram.

FREE MIT Lecture Notes

MIT is offering to give out free copies of the lecture notes from both undergraduate and graduate courses HERE.

Including:

• Physics
• Mathematics
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences
• Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

How fantastic is that? I personally think it is awesome that I can see how a school like MIT operates and compare it to my own education. What is even better, is that these would serve as a fantastic preview to any course you may be taking or even a supplement. One of the best things I have learned when it comes to physics, is never restrict yourself to one text, and if at all possible, consult 2 or more sources for everything you do. Typically, if I read something from one source and it doesn’t make sense, the second one will either help to clarify or put things in such a way that I understand what the first source failed to convey. These would serve this purpose quite spectacularly, and it doesn’t require purchasing extra text books or a trip to the library.

Buy 3 Quarks Get 1 FREE!

Researchers at the KEKB electron-positron collider in Japan have discovered extremely compelling evidence of a meson made up of 4 quarks, known as a tetraquark. It looks like I might need to change my blog graphic to include an additional quark.

What is a Meson, you ask? Well in particle physics there exist a lot of different classifications of particles, likely more than we need, but one of the major ones is the hadrons. Hadrons are particles which are not fundamental, but are made up of fundamental particles called quarks. Under the category of Hadron there then exist 3 different types of hadrons: Baryons, Antibaryons and Mesons. Baryons are composed of 3 quarks , antibaryons are composed of 3 antiquarks and a meson is composed of a quark and an anti-quark .

Previously there were claims that a particle had been discovered called the and the standard model, the theory which describes particles and their interactions, in fact allowed for mesons with quark layouts of and . Unfortunately, the has mostly been discredited at this point and the existence of a tetraquark or other meson oddity was looking unlikely.

However, This new meson the researchers have found, dubbed , can only really be understood in terms of a 4 quark system. The particle has a mass of 4.43 GeV, approximately 4.5 times more massive than that of a proton.

References

B Schwarzschild, “Collider data show evidence for a meson made of four quarks,” Physics Today, 18-19 (June 2008)

Jeebus can has domain name?

I am proud to say that I am a member of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) and more specifically a member of the American Physical Society (APS). What is really great about the APS is that they offer free memberships to students which gives you access to a large number of physical journals as well as a free monthly copy of Physics Today mailed to your door. You even get this snazzy laminated membership card.

On top of all of this you get the option to pay a relatively nominal fee (typically less than $10) for subscriptions to other journals that specialize in specific areas (Particle and Field Theory, Quantum Theory, Statistical Mechanics etc). Suffice to say it is a wonderful source of information both for some casual reading and for academic work.

I visit their website quite a bit which caused me to stumble on something very obnoxious. The American Institute of Physics can be located at their website aip.org. However if you happen to use the standard dot com, it takes you to a very different site. aip.com (Adventures in Prophecy) is an evangelical christian ministry in which you will

learn exciting topics like:

• Can the Bible really predict the future?
• What is the real truth about the rapture?
• Who is the beast of Revelation 13?
• What is his Mark? and…
• Where will the Battle of Armageddon be held?

I’ll be honest, when I typed AIP into my search bar, those questions weren’t on my mind. At the time I was looking up more information on the recent possible discovery of a tetraquark.

I have to wonder whether this was really coincidental. AIP is merely an acronym and there are a lot of different possible phrases or titles it could stand for. Then again, if you are trying to reach a wide audience with your site, wouldn’t something like “BiblicalProphecy.com”,“PropheticAdventures.net” or even “PastorRicsSuperFantasticJesusEmporium.org” be a more marketable site?

It really wouldn’t suprise me in the least if this group was merely trying to convert all those people who accidentally filter through their site while attempting to get some real answers from an online physics journal. After all, who needs jeebus more than those heathen scientists with their test tubes, their particle accelerators and other such blasphemous tools of Satan.

Physics GRE Practice Exams

Physics GRE Exams

Physics GRE (gr0177)

Physics GRE (gr8677)

Physics GRE (gr9277)

Physics GRE (gr9677)

Physics GRE Sample Answer Sheet

Or they can be found in the downloads section for anyone interested in it.