physics

Ray Streater

Ray Streater is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ray Streater rather than just read about it. In short: Raymond Frederick Streater (born 21 April 1936) is a British physicist, and professor emeritus of Applied Mathematics at King's College London. He is best known for co-authoring a text on quantum field theory, the 1964 PCT, Spin and Statistics and All That.

Key takeaways

Ray Streater belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ray Streater to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ray Streater from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Raymond Frederick Streater (born 21 April 1936) is a British physicist, and professor emeritus of Applied Mathematics at King's College London. He is best known for co-authoring a text on quantum field theory, the 1964 PCT, Spin and Statistics and All That.

Life Ray Streater was born on 21 April 1936 in Three Bridges, Worth, Sussex, England. He married Mary Patricia née Palmer in 1962, and they had three children, including Stephen Bernard. Streater's career may be summarised as follows .

Jan.-Sep. 1960 – Research Fellow, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland 1960-1961 – Instructor in Physics, Princeton University, NJ, USA 1961-1964 – Assistant Lecturer in Physics, Imperial College, London 1964-1967 – Lecturer in Physics, Imperial College, London 1967-1969 – Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, Imperial College, London 1969-1984 – Professor of Applied Mathematics, Bedford College, London 1984-2001 – Professor of Applied Mathematics, King's College London Oct. 2001 on – Emeritus Professor, King's College London

Works Streater co-authored a classic text on mathematical quantum field theory, reprinted as

PCT, Spin and Statistics and All That (written jointly with Wightman, A. S.), 2000, Princeton University Press, Landmarks in Mathematics and Physics (ISBN 0-691-07062-8 paperback); first published in 1964 by W. A. Benjamin. The title is an homage to 1066 and All That. He has also become interested in the dynamics of quantum systems that are not in a pure state, but are large. This is expressed in

Statistical Dynamics: A Stochastic Approach to Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics, 1995, Imperial College Press (ISBN 1-86094-002-1 hardback, ISBN 1-86094-004-8 paperback). This work was simplified and extended in the second edition, published in 2009.

References

External links Streater's page at King's College, London (Archived May 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ray Streater

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ray Streater claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ray Streater before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ray Streater ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ray Streater

In research: Ray Streater appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ray Streater in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ray Streater is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 births, Academics of Imperial College London, British mathematical physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ray Streater outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ray Streater in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ray Streater means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ray Streater out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ray Streater in simple terms?

Why does Ray Streater matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ray Streater?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ray Streater.