arXiv:physics/0310126physics.hist-ph
Analyzing shell structure from Babylonian and modern times
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Abstract
We investigate ``shell structure'' from Babylonian times: periodicities and beats in computer-simulated lunar data corresponding to those observed by Babylonian scribes some 2500 years ago. We discuss the mathematical similarity between the Babylonians' recently reconstructed method of determining one of the periods of the moon with modern Fourier analysis and the interpretation of shell structure in finite fermion systems (nuclei, metal clusters, quantum dots) in terms of classical closed or periodic orbits.
https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0310126 is an interesting walkthrough of how they might have computed some lunar calendars.
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