Theoretical Physics in Sonenvir
Research
In the department of theoretical physics of the Karl-Franzens university in Graz, we work in the field of elementary particle physics.
In theoretical physics it is quite common to use graphical methods for data analysis. Audible data analysis is so far basically unknown; there have been examples, where sonification was used in experimental physics, but without refering to the term explicitely. We aimed at testing sonification in different fields of theoretical physics.
Different sonifications were realized in the course of the project SonEnvir: (you can find detailed descriptions of these sonifications in the Data Collection)
- At first we were interested in the study of baryons, particles that are composed of three quarks. Applying a so-called relativistic constituent-quark model physicists investigate the mass spectra with different types of interaction between the quarks. They also study the electromagnetic structure of the baryon ground states and the decay widths of the baryon resonances.
- The second topic we developed sonification tools for were spin model: the Ising and the Potts model are computational simulations, e.g. describing the microscopic behavior of ferromagnets. These models allow to study phase transitions.
- Finally we worked on current research data of quantum chromodynamics. These are big simulations of quantum systems, running on super computers. We studied the topological structures of basic configurations, modelling the Gauge fields.