Talk:Hot spot effect in subatomic physics

Largely incomprehensible
All together, there is some room for improvement here. --Lambiam 10:11, 22 April 2018 (UTC)
 * 1) The lead defines the term "hot spot", but the title and the later text discusses the hot spot effect. What is the "effect" here? Generally, an effect is some phenomenon occurring under certain circumstances, but neither the circumstances nor the phenomenon are identified further.
 * 2) Hot spots are "regions of high energy density or temperature". Is the meaning of "or" here that of synonymy ("regions of high energy density, or, in other words, high temperature") or are some hot spots regions of high energy density while others are regions of high temperature?
 * 3) "Hot spots are a manifestation of the finite size of the system". What does that mean? There is no earlier reference to a "system", so what is "the" system here? Our solar system also has a finite size. Is in that case the Sun, a macroscopic hot spot in the solar system, a manifestation of that finite size? Or is the meaning of "finite" here that "the system", whatever that may be, is not confined to a single point in space that has no positive size. That is not the usual meaning, as made clear in List of mathematical jargon. If this is the intention, it should be made clearer. And also, what could be hotter than energy packed into a single point? So what is the idea here that is struggling to get out?
 * 4) "The use of statistical methods assumes a large number of degrees of freedom. In macroscopic physics this number usually refers to the number of atoms or molecules, ...". I don't think this is correct. A system of N monatomic gas molecules has 3N degrees of freedom.
 * 5) "..., while in nuclear and particle physics it refers to the energy level density". Is the "energy level density" the same as the "energy density" from the lead? Or is it simply the number of possible energy levels? In that case the use of the term "density" is confusing.
 * 6) "Local equilibrium is the precursor of global equilibrium". What does "precursor" mean in this sentence? Harbinger?
 * 7) It is rather unusual that almost all of the many citations do not give the title of the referenced publications. It is also striking that almost all are from before 1985 and are primary research articles, not textbooks or overview articles. Is the subject dead?