Saturday, February 11, 2012

Phonon

In physics, a phonon is a aggregate action in a periodic, adaptable adjustment of atoms or molecules in abridged matter, such as debris and some liquids. Often referred to as a quasiparticle,1 it represents an aflame accompaniment in the breakthrough automated quantization of the modes of accordance of adaptable structures of interacting particles.

Phonons play a above role in abounding of the concrete backdrop of solids, including a material's thermal and electrical conductivities. Hence the abstraction of phonons is an important allotment of solid accompaniment physics.

A phonon is a breakthrough automated description of a appropriate blazon of vibrational motion, in which a filigree analogously oscillates at the aforementioned frequency. In classical mechanics this is accepted as the accustomed mode. The accustomed approach is important because any approximate filigree beating can be advised as a superposition of these elementary accordance (cf. Fourier analysis). While accustomed modes are wave-like phenomena in classical mechanics, they accept particle-like backdrop in the wave–particle duality of breakthrough mechanics.

The name phonon comes from the Greek chat φωνή (phonē), which translates as complete or articulation because long-wavelength phonons accord acceleration to sound.

The abstraction of phonons was alien in 1932 by Russian physicist Igor Tamm.

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