Should we have an "open problems" section in this forum?

[jonjacson]

I just found this website on machine learning:

https://www.kaggle.com/competitions

And I felt very motivated to work on any of those competitions. It would be very interesting to have a list of open physics problems so people can do research on them. Obviously if there are economic prizes it would be even more attracting but even if they are free they would allow us to learn what topics are being researched at the moment, and we could at least try to solve them.

What do you think?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Wikipedia already has one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics

 

[Klystron]

What do you think?

Wikipedia already has one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics

Good page. Need to read it in detail but noticed that the lists of pending physics problems are divided much like our Physics sub-forums which will help find related threads on the various open questions. The penultimate section on "problems solved in recent decades" also worth reading.

 

[jonjacson]

Wikipedia already has one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics

I know that website but quantum gravity is not the kind of problems I am talking about, I am thinking in problems professional physicists are finding in their real jobs on a daily basis. For example, someone working in biochemistry says he needs a molecule with some property or another guy working on solid state physics is doing reasearch on a new material, things like that, maybe are not easy but are not the nighmare of the quantum gravity.

I mean the wikipedia link provides open problems in fundamental physics that even the sharpest minds in the planet haven't been able to solve, that is too much to me and many other guys.

 

[Rive]

It would be very interesting to have a list of open physics problems so people can do research on them. ...we could at least try to solve them.

It is a bit time consuming to tell apart the solutions with scientific value and the ones without.

 

[BillTre]

Wikipedia already has one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics

Intersting list @Wrichik Basu!

The biophysics part which only had 4 questions on the subjects of (in decreasing interest level to me):

• stochasticity and noise in gene expression
• aspects of brain function
• the immune system
• enantiomers (why these and not those?).

The biological equivalent question "List of unsolved problems in biology" seemed to me less interesting to me.
Many of the 45 questions could be put into groups concerning:

• evolution of taxa and anatomical/physiological/behavioral features
• nervous system/brain functioning (including questions of consciousness and psychology)
• questions about various aspects of metabolism
• Protein folding
• only one question on ecology (why so many types of plankton in one place?)
• questions about poorly understood organisms (some rare or difficult to study); one is a larval crustacean with no known adult form; maybe a parasite as an adult; there are barnacles like this.

 

[jonjacson]

It is a bit time consuming to tell apart the solutions with scientific value and the ones without.

I think it is not that difficult, Are you working as a Physicist? What challenges are you facing today? Post them here, in the worst case scenario someone will solve the problem for you for free. What do you lose?

 

[Vanadium 50]

I think you are vastly underestimating the difficulty of solving these problems. I can think of no case where a similar problem was left unsolved for decades, only to find an amateur spotted something missed by others. The closest you can find is something like de Gray partially solving Hadwiger-Nelson, which was hardly "famous" - it is one of a few hundred or thousand unsolved problems rattling around.

 

[jonjacson]

I think you are vastly underestimating the difficulty of solving these problems. I can think of no case where a similar problem was left unsolved for decades, only to find an amateur spotted something missed by others. The closest you can find is something like de Gray partially solving Hadwiger-Nelson, which was hardly "famous" - it is one of a few hundred or thousand unsolved problems rattling around.

I think you did not read my comments.

Look the last sentence on my post number 4.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I think you did not read my comments.

I think what you are trying to ask for is unclear. If you are asking about "another guy working on solid state physics is doing reasearch [sic] on a new material" that's hardly what any professional would call an "unsolved problem" and certainly shuffling all such messages into a single section would be no improvement. Might as well replace all of PF with a single section "Help!" with all the threads having the same title.

 

[jonjacson]

I think what you are trying to ask for is unclear. If you are asking about "another guy working on solid state physics is doing reasearch [sic] on a new material" that's hardly what any professional would call an "unsolved problem" and certainly shuffling all such messages into a single section would be no improvement. Might as well replace all of PF with a single section "Help!" with all the threads having the same title.

Well I will try again to clarify what I am asking for.

There are several types of problems you can solve. For example if you buy a book on Schaum series you have the theory at the start of the chapter and then you have to apply that theory to specific examples, that is called a structured problem.
This is not the type of problem I am talking about.
When someone with a Bachelor enters a Phd programme he is assigned a research topic, he must understand a problem that no one has solved before, that is the type of problem I am talking about. Open problems, that although they are challenging they are not quantum gravity or something like that.

 

[Rive]

I think it is not that difficult

If you do that on an open forum in your free time for free (as the Mentors are doing their part here) then it is.

It is indeed a kind of limitation of content here that Mentors are not expected to provide peer-review level assistance, but I think we should be still thankful for their work and it would be too much to demand even more.

 

[jonjacson]

If you do that on an open forum in your free time for free (as the Mentors are doing their part here) then it is.

It is indeed a kind of limitation of content here that Mentors are not expected to provide peer-review level assistance, but I think we should be still thankful for their work and it would be too much to demand even more.

I am thankful for all the help I have received in this forum, what I am proposing is an idea that could be useful for a lot of users, but that doesn't mean I am not thankfull. You are mixing things that are unrelated.

Too much? Come on it is just an idea that may benefit the person posting the challenge and the people trying to solve the problem. I can't see what I am doing wrong quite honestly.

 

[f95toli]

When someone with a Bachelor enters a Phd programme he is assigned a research topic, he must understand a problem that no one has solved before, that is the type of problem I am talking about. Open problems, that although they are challenging they are not quantum gravity or something like that.

I don't think this happens very often in physics. At least not in reality. PhD project tend to be a bit more fuzzy than that; and it is frequently the case that it is not clear
what the actual problem you were trying to solve was until you have solved it!
Formulating PhD projects -or indeed any project- typically comes down to a feeling/idea that there is some interesting work that can be done in a particular area that is not well understood. Alternatively, you might be in a position where you have some new knowledge( or new equipment) and you think it might be used to gain more information that might eventually be used to solve some "grand" problem; i.e. a problem that can only be solved by the community as a whole.

 

[Rive]

Too much? Come on it is just an idea that may benefit the person posting the challenge and the people trying to solve the problem. I can't see what I am doing wrong quite honestly.

Two things.
First, your idea effects three party, not just two. The forum (and the staff making it working) are also affected, so you should consider their viewpoint, interests and limitations too.
Second is, that you yet again mixed the person you are discussing the thing with into your business.

 

[pinball1970]

Wikipedia already has one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics

One of problems.
The "shape of the universe" is also the "flatness problem?"
Is this a is problem because the odds of there being just the correct amount of mass in the universe to make it flat are infinitesimally small?
So it may not be flat just very big and only a small part has been measured?

 

[jonjacson]

I don't think this happens very often in physics. At least not in reality. PhD project tend to be a bit more fuzzy than that; and it is frequently the case that it is not clear
what the actual problem you were trying to solve was until you have solved it!
Formulating PhD projects -or indeed any project- typically comes down to a feeling/idea that there is some interesting work that can be done in a particular area that is not well understood. Alternatively, you might be in a position where you have some new knowledge( or new equipment) and you think it might be used to gain more information that might eventually be used to solve some "grand" problem; i.e. a problem that can only be solved by the community as a whole.

This post was interesting, it would be great if you tell us your experience on this with a particular case.

I know, I know, I may be asking for too much but eh, I AM CURIOUS.

 

[jonjacson]

Two things.
First, your idea effects three party, not just two. The forum (and the staff making it working) are also affected, so you should consider their viewpoint, interests and limitations too.
Second is, that you yet again mixed the person you are discussing the thing with into your business.

If you don't like my idea you can just ignore it, I don't force anybody to do anything they don't want.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

It would be very interesting to have a list of open physics problems so people can do research on them.

It's a good idea, but not practical. I once tried brainstorming if such an area could exist here, but @Vanadium 50 hits the nail on the head that these are problems that have been or will be worked on for many years with help from machines and in teams. We don't practically have the resources, no our members the time, nor is this forum format a good way to collaborate on such complex problems. @fresh_42, @StoneTemplePython, and @QuantumQuest put on a monthly math challenge that is awesome fun and maybe sometime they will add a bonus super tough problem that requires many member's efforts to solve.

 

[StoneTemplePython]

We don't practically have the resources, no our members the time, nor is this forum format a good way to collaborate on such complex problems. @fresh_42, [S]@StoneTemplePython[/S] @Infrared and @QuantumQuest put on a monthly math challenge that is awesome fun and maybe sometime they will add a bonus super tough problem that requires many member's efforts to solve.

It actually takes a surprisingly large amount of time for the math challenges and I had to drop due to time constraints. @Infrared is there helping hold down the fort though.