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: 10.1119/1.4966631AWARDS
2016 AAPT Award Citations at the Summer Meeting, Sacramento, California by Mary Mogge. DOI: 10.1119/1.4965290RESOURCE LETTER
Resource Letter ANP-1: Advances in Neutrino Physics by Maury C. Goodman. DOI: 10.1119/1.4962228COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS
Lifting—A nonreversible Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. by Marija Vucelja. DOI: 10.1119/1.4961596PHYSICS 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: 10.1119/1.4964354BOOK REVIEWS
Essential Radio Astronomy by Gordon McIntosh. DOI:10.1119/1.4964904Additional Resources
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