About loneliness
In the two minutes it took to heat dinner, I recognized the loneliness behind a feeling of emptiness: a moment of learning to connect outward and find peace within.
A personal notebook · Since 2024
Life, physics,
and a few thoughts.
关于生活、物理，和一些想法。
I’m Zhiyuan Xi, a physics PhD student at Penn State. Here I write about life as it happens, things I’m trying to understand, and the occasional bit of physics.
Explore the writingA place to begin从这里读起
Three entries from the notebookThoughts on modernity: a critique
When grand narratives no longer give life meaning, how does an individual face the void? Starting from the perplexities of modernity, an attempt to find a place for life to rest.
Use the QE(Quantum Espresso) on WSL
A personal record of installing Quantum ESPRESSO on Windows with WSL, connecting VS Code, and trying the supplied test suites.
Lately最近写下的
All writingBluefors LD Trainer: follow the helium, one step at a time
An interactive introduction to dilution refrigeration, with a controller, visible gas paths, and time to stop and look.
I have published an open-source dilution refrigerator trainer. Follow the helium through six stages, inspect the components, and explore a simplified thermal model in your browser.
Some random thoughts 7
Finding a summer rhythm for research
With fewer distractions, summer is a good time to focus on learning and thinking. A note on building research habits and keeping up momentum.
Some random thoughts 6
Living, loving, and creating with all my strength
Snow on the way to dinner brought some recent thoughts into focus: stepping outside the comfort of taking things casually, bringing more passion to living, loving, and creating.
About love
Love amplifies sorrow, and happiness too. On the constructive force love brings, and feelings that words cannot quite hold.