magnetic field
Why does the Earth, as well as other planets and stars, have a magnetic field?
We'll start our series of articles with a look at the force of electromagnetism.
In the first part of this article we explored Landau's theory of phase transitions in materials such as magnets. We now go on to see how this theory formed the basis of the Higgs mechanism, which postulates the existence of the mysterious Higgs boson and explains how the particles that make up our Universe came to have mass.
What happens when magnetic fields get tangled up in knots? This does happen in the Sun's atmosphere and mathematical models predict that once the magnetic field becomes tangled, it must retain some vestige of this complexity for a long time. This enables the storage of vast quantities of energy. In this article I will outline how the notion of magnetic topology helps us to understand the physical situation and draw such conclusions.
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Want facts and want them fast? Our Maths in a minute series explores key mathematical concepts in just a few words.
How is frequency related to pitch? Hear the music we love emerge from pure mathematical beats.
We talk to Stuart Johnston who uses mathematics to find out how noise pollution in the oceans impacts whales.
Generating electricity without the use of fossil fuels is not just an engineering and industrial challenge, it is also a huge mathematical challenge.
In this podcast author Coralie Colmez shares insights into her novel The irrational diary of Clara Valentine.
We talk to early career mathematicians who spent some of their summer holiday solving problems posed by industry — such as how to blend a perfect smoothie!