Recent content by Dr Transport

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_energy_levels

I don't understand your response. The conduction bands are degenerate at the gamma point because they coalesce. The valence bands cross at the gamma point, because they cross. the conduction and valance bands are not degenerate in this case because they are completely separated by the band gap...

Where the bands cross or touch at the gamma point, they are degenerate.

My boss at work is working on a Masters in Math education and he is a huge proponent of the visualization layering. Give the kids plenty of Lego's and the start with a point, then a line, then a plane etc. Build up the visualization skills one step at a time then get to FEM and facet modeling...

Getting a STEM teacher with an actual degree in the discipline is difficult and even when they are available, the pay is so low that they go elsewhere. I've been a proponent of mandating that at the high school level, the pay be increased and the teachers have a degree in their subject matter...

If your priorities do not line up with the national labs priorities, I wouldn't apply there. I'd apply someplace else.

It can be fun, but there needs to be a balance. As my PhD advisor always told me, "right is right and wrong is wrong." There is a right way to teach it and a wrong way. I find every semester that there is another aspect that I need to emphasize and maybe this coming semester I'll add to my intro...

This semester I had a student in class, he claimed to be a math major with a physics minor (we don't have a physics major where I teach) who couldn't do a basic freshman lab without immense amounts of help, he couldn't handle the math nor the physics. We did an acceleration with an inclined...

Why do you need the gradients? Your plot doesn't really make any sense to me.

Something I've seen since I went back into the classroom as an adjunct is many students do not have a well defined sense of visualization which is key to setting up problems and analyzing data. Another major shortcoming that I can add is that the manual dexterity just isn't there. My students in...

Yes, but they were hired for other roles, not a theoretical physics role.

To survive in industry, you need what are called soft skills (people, etc.). I had the chance to hire a very good, intelligent theorist on my team years ago. We didn't extend an offer because there was no way they would fit in with the existing team, the personal dynamic just wasn't there. The...

The anisotropy of the hole bands is due to the interaction of the various hole bands (light, heavy and spin orbit). The electron effective mass is isotropic because the band effectively does not interact with other bands.

Wangsness....

As is his Electrodynamics book....