December 2016 issue of the American Journal of Physics

AAPT announces that Richard Price, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will assume the position of Editor for the  American Journal of Physics in 2017, following the term of David P. Jackson.
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December 2016 Issue, Volume 84, No. 12

 

Calculation of 2D electronic band structure using matrix mechanics by R. L. Pavelich, and F. Marsiglio. DOI: 10.1119/1.4964353

In this month's feature article the authors extend previous work, applying elementary matrix mechanics to one-dimensional periodic arrays (to generate energy bands), to two-dimensional arrays. They generate band structures for the square-lattice "2D Kronig-Penney model" (square wells), the "muffin-tin" potential (circular wells), and Gaussian wells. They then apply the method to periodic arrays of more than one atomic site in a unit cell, specifically to the case of materials with hexagonal lattices like graphene. These straightforward extensions of undergraduate-level calculations allow students to readily determine band structures of current research interest..

 

Papers

Is the tautochrone curve unique? by Pedro Terra, Reinaldo de Melo e Souza and C. Farina. DOI: 10.1119/1.4963770

Calculation of 2D electronic band structure using matrix mechanics by R. L. Pavelich and F. Marsiglio. DOI: 10.1119/1.4964353

The physics of juggling a spinning ping-pong ball by Ralf Widenhorn. DOI: 10.1119/1.4964104

Visualization of gravitational potential wells using 3D printing technology by Jun Su, Weiguo Wang, Meishu Lu, Xinran Xu, Qi Fan Yan and Jianlong Lu. DOI: 10.1119/1.4963910

Quantum thermodynamics and work fluctuations with applications to magnetic resonance by Wellington L. Ribeiro, Gabriel T. Landi and Fernando L. Semião. DOI: 10.1119/1.4964111

 

EDITORIAL
AJP Reviewers by David P. Jackson. DOI: 10.1119/1.4966631

AWARDS
2016 AAPT Award Citations at the Summer Meeting, Sacramento, California by Mary Mogge. DOI: 10.1119/1.4965290

RESOURCE LETTER
Resource Letter ANP-1: Advances in Neutrino Physics by Maury C. Goodman. DOI: 10.1119/1.4962228

COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS
Lifting—A nonreversible Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. by Marija Vucelja. DOI: 10.1119/1.4961596

PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH
Secondary analysis of teaching methods in introductory physics: A 50 k-student study by Joshua Von Korff, Benjamin Archibeque, K. Alison Gomez, Tyrel Heckendorf, Sarah B. McKagan, Eleanor C. Sayre, Edward W. Schenk, Chase Shepherd and Lane Sorell.  Doi: 10.1119/1.4964354

BOOK REVIEWS
Essential Radio Astronomy by Gordon McIntosh. DOI:10.1119/1.4964904

Additional Resources