Physics Stack Exchange
Physics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [software]

616 questions
91
votes
20 answers

What software programs are used to draw physics diagrams, and what are their relative merits?

Undoubtedly, people use a variety of programs to draw diagrams for physics, but I am not familiar with many of them. I usually hand-draw things in GIMP which is powerful in some regards, but it is time consuming to do things like draw circles or…
Mark Eichenlaub
  • 53,961
32
votes
1 answer

Software for calculating Feynman Diagrams

Is there a software (open source preferred) where I would input something like "Ingoing: a fermion $(p1, s1)$ and a photon $(p2, s2)$. Output: A fermion $(k1, r1)$ and a photon $(k2, r2)$" and I would could then get each diagram (that is, each term…
PPR
  • 2,234
23
votes
3 answers

Is there a nice tool to plot graphs of paper citations?

I would like a tool which allows me to enter some paper citation, and then will begin drawing a graph, where each paper is linked to other papers that cite the original paper or are cited by it. It seems like this would be a handy way to identify…
nibot
  • 9,691
21
votes
4 answers

Where can I find simulation software for electricity and magnets?

Is there easily-available* software to simulate coils, solenoids, and other magnetic and electromagnetic devices? I'd like to play around with some design ideas, such as Halbach arrays, but physics simulators like SketchyPhysics don't seem to have…
oosterwal
  • 333
19
votes
7 answers

Free Optics Simulation Programs

I'm having an extremely difficult time finding an optics program that is easy to use and offers accurate physics simulations. I'm not asking for much, I just want to be able to simulate a laser going through a beam splitter and then be able to drag…
QEntanglement
  • 3,941
19
votes
3 answers

What open-source n-body codes are available and what are their features?

I'm interested in doing simulations with large numbers of particles and need a good n-body code. Are there any out there in the public domain that are open-source and what are their strengths and weaknesses. I'm interested in all types of codes,…
dagorym
  • 6,477
19
votes
6 answers

Does there exist a free good molecule / atom simulation software?

I'm looking for a software or software package (for example C/C++) that can simulate a lot (say thousands at least) of molecules in action (ie. in movement or attached to say static walls). I have found several but they seems to be either 'gas…
Valmond
  • 193
  • 1
  • 5
18
votes
8 answers

Software for physics calculations

What is some good free software for doing physics calculations? I'm mainly interested in symbolic computation (something like Mathematica, but free).
grizzly adam
  • 2,285
16
votes
6 answers

Software for geometrical optics

Is there any good software for construction optical path's in geometrical optics. More specifically I want features like: draw $k \in \mathbb{N}$ objects $K_1,\dots,K_n$ with indices of refraction $n_1,\dots,n_k$ and light sources $l \in…
student
  • 2,155
  • 5
  • 23
  • 42
15
votes
3 answers

Simulating solar system with Newton's law

I made a simulation in C++ with Newtons law and test it comparing the planets positions with the position from Solar system Calculator Don Cross (which I converted from JavaScript to C++) http://cosinekitty.com/solar_system.html What I do is every…
Luis ALberto
  • 327
15
votes
3 answers

Does quantum mechanics allow you to simulate chemical reactions in software?

I'm a software developer interested in learning quantum mechanics to simulate chemistry. I know it's a very difficult topic, so I consider it a long term "someday/maybe" goal, and I’m not sure it's even possible. I've listened to some video lectures…
Rob N
  • 473
15
votes
2 answers

Searching books and papers with equations

Sometimes I may come up with an equation in mind, so I want to search for the related material. It may be the case that I learn it before but forget the name, or, there is no name for the equation yet. In this case, I may be able to recall a…
unsym
  • 4,951
13
votes
5 answers

Online physics collaboration tools

I.e. online discussion with your friends. A forum is probably too overkill in this case. Yet so far nothing can beat direct communication. Important feature: the ability to archive discussions. We don't want to retell our story to people who just…
pcr
  • 1,103
13
votes
6 answers

How is computer science and physics related?

Not sure if this is a 'real' question, but what is the relationship between physics and computer science? A lot of physicists are also computer scientists and vice versa. My professor has a PhD in Physics but is a Computer Scienctist. What's the…
Snowman
  • 1,168
13
votes
3 answers

LED Thermal Modeling (How to solve heat equation with constant heat source)

I have a mechanical design with LEDs that generate heat. I want to estimate the temperature at the LED junction vs. time, but especially at steady state. Knowing the LED voltage drop and current, I can estimate the power dissipated via heat (some…
Patrick
  • 231
  • 2
  • 5
1
2 3
…
40 41