Waves in an Impossible Sea

Chapter 10 —Resonance

Endnotes

Note 3: When amplitude affects frequency
  • Quote: In a sense, frequency and amplitude keep out of each other’s way. This carries over to our perceptions: frequency determines pitch without affecting loudness, while amplitude determines loudness without affecting pitch.

  • Endnote: These statements are true as long as the amplitude is small enough. When the amplitude is very large, the independence of frequency and amplitude may fail. For instance, overblowing a flute or a recorder pushes the frequency (and the pitch) up slightly.

  • Discussion (coming soon)

Note 6: String theory and string fields
  • Quote: The universe’s fields, from the electric and magnetic fields to the Higgs field, have been extensively studied in experiments, and we know a great deal about them. String theory, sitting at the next level of potential knowledge, represents an attempt to explain where the fields come from.

  • Endnote: According to string theory, many types of elementary particles may actually be one type of string vibrating in different ways, and the universe’s many fields may be different aspects of a single string field.

  • Discussion
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A decay of a Higgs boson, as reconstructed by the CMS experiment at the LHC