says that "in general, the refractive index of a glass increases with its density." And the refraction index of water vapor is less than ice, and even less than liquid water. Is there any simple explanation to that?
I know that if we solve the Maxwell equation, we will end up with the phase velocity of light being related to the permeability and the permittivity of the material. But this is not what I'm interested in - I want to go deeper than that. We know that the real speed of light is actually not changing, the decrease in speed is just apparent. Material is mostly empty, the light will still travel with $c$ in the spacing. The rare atoms will disturb the light in some way. So I am interested in how the atoms affect the light. Photon absorption-emission theory Some textbooks that I read explain it in a way kind of like this: In a material the photons are absorbed by atom and then re-emitted a short time later, then they travel a short distance to the next atom and get absorbed&amp;emitted again and so on. How quickly the atoms in a material can absorb and re-emit the photon and how dense the atoms decides the apparent speed of light in that material. So the light appears slower because it has a smaller “drift speed”. Interference theory But recently I realize an alternative explanation: Atoms respond to the light by radiating electromagnetic wave. This “new light” interferes with the “old light” in some way that results in delayed light (advanced in phase), this can easily be shown by using simple phasor diagram. Consequently effectively the light covers a smaller phase each second, which gives the impression of a lower phase velocity. However the group velocity is changing in a complicated way. I think that the first explanation does not explain the change in phase velocity of light. if we consider light travelling into a slab of negative refractive index non-dispersive material, let’s say the light is directed perpendicular to the slab. The phase velocity’s direction will be flipped, but group velocity’s direction in the material will not change. Only the second explanation can explain the flipped phase velocity direction. I guess that the velocity that we get in the first explanation is actually belongs to the group velocity. It makes sense to me that the front most of the photon stream determines the first information that the light delivers. So the question is What really cause the phase velocity of light to be decreased?  &quot;drift velocity&quot; of photons (they aren't the same photons, they are re-emitted all the time) phase difference between absorbed and emitted light something else  And also, I still don't really understand detailed explanation of the absorption-emission process for small light's wavelength (for large lambda compare to the atoms spacing, the photons will be absorbed by the phonons). The dispersion relation that we know is continuous and also some material is non-dispersive, therefore the absorption process must occur in all frequency for a certain range. So definitely it doesn't involve the atomic transition, otherwise it will be quantized. My guess is that the relevant absorption process gets smooth out by the dipole moment. What makes the spectrum continuous? EDIT: link for dispersion relation:
How can I get a complete list of fields for a standard object? Why does $PSL(2,\mathbb C)\cong PGL(2,\mathbb C)$ but $PSL(2,\mathbb R) \not\cong PGL(2,\mathbb R)$? Why does $PSL(2,\mathbb C)\cong PGL(2,\mathbb C)$ but $PSL(2,\mathbb R) \not\cong PGL(2,\mathbb R)$? $ \frac{1}{a^{2} + b^{2} + 1} + \frac{1}{b^{2}+c^{2}+1} + \frac{1}{c^{2} + a^{2} + 1} \ge 1 $, prove $ab + bc + ca \le 3$ If $a,b,c$ real numbers such that $$ \frac{1}{a^{2} + b^{2} + 1} + \frac{1}{b^{2}+c^{2}+1} + \frac{1}{c^{2} + a^{2} + 1} \ge 1 $$,  prove that $ab + bc + ca \le 3$.     Attempt:  Assume that $a,b,c &gt; 0$.   $$ \frac{1}{a^{2} + b^{2} + 1} + \frac{1}{b^{2}+c^{2}+1} + \frac{1}{c^{2} + a^{2} + 1} \ge 1  $$ $$ \implies  (a^{2} + b^{2} + 1)(b^{2}+c^{2}+1) + (a^{2} + b^{2} + 1)(a^{2}+c^{2}+1) +  (a^{2} + c^{2} + 1)(b^{2}+c^{2}+1) \ge (a^{2} + b^{2} + 1)(b^{2}+c^{2}+1)(c^{2} + a^{2} + 1)$$  $$ \implies  ((ab)^{2} + (ac)^{2} + (bc)^{2} + a^{2} + 2 b^{2} + c^{2} + b^{4} + 1) + ((ab)^{2} + (ac)^{2} + (bc)^{2} + b^{2} + 2 a^{2} + c^{2} + a^{4} + 1) + ((ab)^{2} + (ac)^{2} + (bc)^{2} + a^{2} + 2 c^{2} + b^{2} + c^{4} + 1) \ge (a^{2} + b^{2} + 1)(b^{2}+c^{2}+1)(c^{2} + a^{2} + 1)$$  $$ \implies  3((ab)^{2} + (ac)^{2} + (bc)^{2}) + 4(a^{2} + b^{2} + c^{2}) + (a^{4}+b^{4}+c^{4}) + 3  \ge (a^{2} + b^{2} + 1)(b^{2}+c^{2}+1)(c^{2} + a^{2} + 1)$$  Next, notice  $$(a^{2} + b^{2} + 1)(b^{2}+c^{2}+1)(c^{2} + a^{2} + 1) = ((ab)^{2} + (ac)^{2} + (bc)^{2} + a^{2} + 2 b^{2} + c^{2} + b^{4} + 1)(c^{2} + a^{2} + 1) $$ $$ = (abc)^{2} + a^{2}c^{4} + b^{2}c^{4} + (ac)^{2} + 2(bc)^{2} + c^{4} + b^{4}c^{2} + c^{2} + a^{4} b^{2} + a^{4}c^{2} + (abc)^{2} + a^{4}  + 2(ab)^{2} + (ac)^{2} + b^{4}a^{2} + a^{2} +  (ab)^{2} + (ac)^{2} + (bc)^{2} + a^{2} + 2 b^{2} + c^{2} + b^{4} + 1 $$ $$ = 2(abc)^{2} + 3(ac)^{2} + 3(bc)^{2} + 3(ab)^{2} + c^{4}a^{2} + c^{4} b^{2} + b^{4}a^{2} + b^{4} c^{2} + a^{4}b^{2} + a^{4} c^{2} + a^{4} + b^{4} + c^{4} + 2(a^{2} + b^{2} + c^{2}) + 1  $$  So we have  $$ \frac{1}{a^{2} + b^{2} + 1} + \frac{1}{b^{2}+c^{2}+1} + \frac{1}{c^{2} + a^{2} + 1} \ge 1 $$ $$ \implies  2(a^{2} + b^{2} + c^{2}) +  3  \ge 2(abc)^{2}  + c^{4}a^{2} + c^{4} b^{2} + b^{4}a^{2} + b^{4} c^{2} + a^{4}b^{2} + a^{4} c^{2} + 1 $$ If I roll two fair dice, the probability that I would get at least one 6 would be.... Including a relative path to a class file How can I account for a nonlinear variable in a logistic regression? How can I account for a nonlinear independent variable in a logistic regression?  For example, consider this data set:  b1  b2  b3  b4  b5 1   1   0   0   20 0   1   0   0   20 1   0   0   0   13 1   1   1   0   8 1   1   0   1   5 0   1   0   1   4 1   1   0   1   5 0   0   0   0   8 0   0   1   0   13 1   0   0   1   20 1   0   0   0   29 1   1   0   1   40 1   0   0   0   53 0   1   1   0   68   Suppose I gathered some data like the above (suppose I had 10,000 rows) and I want to use them to predict future sets of similar data with an equation generated by a logistic regression. I get the above data. My independent variables are b1 through b5. By looking at the data, I can clearly see that independent variables b1 through b4 are binary (maybe they are male/female, rent/own, etc).   However I see that b5 is clearly not binary. Upon graphing it and looking at the numbers I determine that the b5 variable has a bathtub shaped U curve with an equation of b5=(x-4)^2+4.   I understand that using the b5 variable as it is would screw up my logistic regression - since any interval independent variables must have a linear relationship with the dependent variable.   Yet, I must account for the variable b5 in my data set while doing a logistic regression for it to be accurate and predict well (right?).  Given the above data, how would I go about making a predictive model with a logistic regression? Any references online or in books would greatly be appreciated as I am having trouble finding a good explanation of the above.  Cheers =)  EDIT:  Sorry if my question is unclear.  Consider this: Suppose we had the following data on many people:  Y: Whether they had a stroke before the age of 50 or not 1. Whether they own a pet or not. 2. Whether they graduated college or not. 3. Whether they are male or female. 4. The number of hours they exercise every week.  We want to train a logistic regression model based on historical data to predict if someone in the future with the same data will be more apt or not to have a stroke before the age of 50.  The problem I am having is with the last variable. A continuous ratio variable like "number of hours exercised each week."  Exercising more each week may have diminishing returns on health and thus having a stroke. For example decreasing an increasing rate. Or maybe (totally made up) exercising a little bit is really good for you, exercising a moderate amount is really bad for you, and exercising a lot is really good for you again. We might have a U shaped curve like (x-4)^2+4 for example when plotting health to exercise.   I would image that having a curved, non-linear independent variable in a logistic regression like the one I described above would cause problems. Am I right? And if so, what kinds of things can you do to still include the variable in the logistic regression. Perhaps a transformation? Is that all? This is my last homework problem and I've been looking at it for a while. I cannot nail down what is wrong with this proof even though its obvious it is wrong based on its conclusion. Here it is:     Find the flaw in the following bogus proof by strong induction that   for all $n \in \Bbb N$, $7n = 0$.      Let $P(n)$ denote the statement that $7n = 0$.      Base case: Show $P(0)$ holds.      Since $7 \cdot 0 = 0$, $P(0)$ holds.      Inductive step: Assume $7·j = 0$ for all natural numbers $j$ where $0 \le j \le k$ (induction hypothesis). Show $P(k + 1)$: $7(k + 1) = 0$.      Write $k + 1 = i + j$, where $i$ and $j$ are natural numbers less than $k + 1$.  Then, using the induction hypothesis, we get $7(k + 1) = 7(i + j) = 7i + 7j = 0 + 0 = 0$. So $P(k + 1)$ holds.      Therefore by strong induction, $P(n)$ holds for all $n \in \Bbb N$.   So the base case is true and I would be surprised if that's where the issue is.  The inductive step is likely where the flaw is. I don't see anything wrong with the strong induction declaration and hypothesis though and the math adds up! I feel like its so obvious that I'm just jumping over it in my head. Autofilling fields based on another field If $f$ is continuous and $f'(x)\ge 0$, outside of a countable set, then $f$ is increasing I was about to add an extra signal handler to an app we have here and I noticed that the author had used sigaction() to set up the other signal handlers. I was going to use signal(). To follow convention I should use sigaction() but if I was writing from scratch, which should I choose? How do I get an up/parent button in Nautilus, without using breadcrumbs? How to split a very long equation (using AMSMATH package)? How to get the CPU cycle count in x86_64 from C++? I have a custom script and I want to send a desktop notification (the one that appears in the top right corner of the screen) with a custom message. How do I do that? Can Yahoo! Messenger be used with Ubuntu? A standard document (e.g. scrreprt) uses roman font family for text and Sansserif font family for titles etc. It is the other way round in beamer. How can I switch the two font families? Or why do beamer define the font families in this way?  For the background: I think this is my problem when using formulas, because they use the Sansserif font instead of the roman version. Formulas using the euler package look really poor.  P.S.: I compile with LuaLaTeX using TeXlive 2013. New UI encourages askers to confirm or dispute duplicate votes How to set Oracle's Java as the default Java in Ubuntu? I am looking for an animated series, shown in the 90s. I remember an episode where the boy went into VR and fought a medusa-like monster.  It may be that this was the premise for the whole series: That the children heroes go into VR every time to fight the evil guys.   I am not sure if the whole series were computer-animated but surely there were such elements together with classic animation.  The style of the series was quite dark and cool for teenage boys. Regex for splitting a string using space when not surrounded by single or double quotes I'm new to regular expressions and would appreciate your help.  I'm trying to put together an expression that will split the example string using all spaces that are not surrounded by single or double quotes. My last attempt looks like this: (?!") and isn't quite working. It's splitting on the space before the quote.  Example input:   This is a string that "will be" highlighted when your 'regular expression' matches something.   Desired output:  This is a string that will be highlighted when your regular expression matches something.   Note that "will be" and 'regular expression' retain the space between the words.