Author Archives: Aronno Mirdha
So what are tensors, really?
I want to start with a confession. When I first heard the word “tensor,” I assumed it was one of those words that exists to make physicists sound clever. Something you learn in graduate school, surrounded by people who already … Continue reading
Posted in Expository
Tagged classical mechanics, general relativity, Mathematical Physics, Tensors
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On physics, visibility, and why I stayed
I remember being in high school and telling people I wanted to study physics. The response was almost always the same. Not discouragement exactly, more like mild concern, the kind adults give you when they think you are about to … Continue reading
Posted in Diary, Reviews
Tagged academia, career, philosophy of science, science, science writing
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The mathematics behind a “wormhole”
Let me tell you something that will sound ridiculous at first. Take a piece of paper. Draw a dot on the left and a dot on the right. The shortest path between them, if you are a little ant walking … Continue reading
How many solutions of Einstein’s equations are there?
How many solutions does the most beautiful equation in physics have? More than you’d think… probably infinitely many, and most of them will never have names. Continue reading
Posted in Expository, Notes
Tagged Astrophysics, Black holes, differential geometry, Einstein equation, general relativity, Kerr spacetime, Lorentzian Geometry, manifolds, Mathematical Physics, riemannian geometry, Schwarzschild spacetime, Tensor Calculus, theoretical physics, Wormholes
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On the Consistency of Published M87* Mass Measurements
A useful way to test a black hole spacetime is not only to ask whether one observational method agrees with Kerr, but to ask whether several independent methods agree with each other. In the case of M87*, this question is … Continue reading
Some remarks on quasinormal modes for Euler–Heisenberg black holes in a PFDM background
One of the recurring themes in black hole perturbation theory is that many apparently complicated dynamical questions eventually reduce to a rather geometric spectral problem. One begins with a black hole spacetime, perturbs it slightly, separates variables, and discovers that … Continue reading
Posted in Expository
Tagged Black holes, general relativity, Mathematical Physics, theoretical physics
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Aristotle on Motion
Aristotle divided motion into two classes: natural motion and violent motion. These ideas are not really part of modern physics anymore, but they are important because they were among the first serious attempts to explain motion logically rather than through … Continue reading
Posted in Diary, Scratch essays
Tagged classical mechanics, philosophy of science, science writing
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Recent notes on covariance-weighted consistency tests for Kerr parameter estimates
A recurring issue in strong-field tests of General Relativity is the question of how one should compare parameter estimates inferred from genuinely independent observational sectors. In the case of stationary black hole spacetimes, the Kerr hypothesis predicts that all sufficiently … Continue reading
Vega Through 600 Frames of Starlight
Tonight I pointed the Seestar S50 toward Vega and let it run for a while. Vega is one of those stars that almost feels too bright to photograph properly. It dominates the frame immediately, and after only a few exposures … Continue reading
Letter to the crew of Artemis II
Dear Artemis II crew, Good luck on your mission. What you are about to do is more than a flight. It is a step further into a place that, for most of us, only exists in equations and thought experiments. … Continue reading
Posted in Statements
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