Physics

A little known fact about quantum mechanics is that it disproves God's omniscience. Now, we all know that a watched pot never boils. What does this have to do with God's omniscience? Well, did you also know that an unwatched electron doesn't really exist? (Maybe we should call the universe "the vast unwatched"?) Before I lose you, let me say that I promise all of this will be tied together by the end of this post. I just finished reading the clearest explanation of quantum physics I've ever read, in the book Quantum Enigma, by Rosenblum and Kuttner, and I almost think I understand it - the…

Newtonian mechanics has marked the beginning of a new era for physics. Indeed the newtonian formulation of the gravitational force has allowed to prove the heliocentric theory developped by Copernicus and defended by Galileo. It is a very interesting story that deserve a full post (maybe one day, if I have enough time...). I'm writing this post because I had to teach to freshmen the foundations of newtonian mechanics. The point is I never liked how formulas were dropped from nowhere when I was a freshman myself. First there was a speach about inertia principle (or newtonian first law of…

Today, having little inspiration to write anything original myself, I decided to have a look at what other sites held by colleagues or friends are dealing with. I offer below a few interesting links, with minimal commentary. Peter Woit is always more informed than anybody else, with more precise data available earlier than anywhere else, on the status of the LHC project. I advise you to keep an eye on his blog in the near future. Jester reports on the closing of an important low-mass gap in the parameter space of the Higgs boson, this time made possible by digging out of its burial site the…

A good part of basic research in fundamental physics focuses on the definition, the prediction, and the measurement of quantities which put the current theory -the standard model- to the test in the most stringent way possible. The choice of the quantities on which to base our comparisons between theory prediction and measurement is critical: it entails understanding what may make the comparison imprecise (i.e. experimental systematics affecting the measurement) or fruitless (i.e. theoretical assumptions or a bad definition of the quantity to measure). One clear example, which I used last…

Measurements matter in global climate affairs. "IBUKI" is the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) that has been circling the Earth since January 23, 2009.   IBUKI ('breath' in Japanese) will assist in precise monitoring of the global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations when its observation data sent from space are combined with data obtained on land and used with simulation models. Methane is also observed. Onboard Instruments   GOSAT carries two instruments which are the main and auxiliary sensors. Thermal And…

A Rotation with Translation Movement is standalone natural phenomenon For this experiment, two identically thin cylinders which are initially static to the observer are taken. These cylinders are attached with internal mechanical springs that induce a repulsive action between them. Two experiments are to be conducted. The first experiment. An action that repels the two cylinders is initiated. This action is induced from their center of mass. Now the cylinders are observed to move in directions opposite to each other. Based on the law of conservation of momentum, the linear…

Will the $ 1,000,000 Randi Challenge Prize soon be awarded? The prize, administered by the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), is offered to anyone who can prove in scientifically controlled tests some form of paranormal power. So far, Randi's prize has not been claimed, but rumour has it that under supervision of the JREF an elaborate telepathy test is being conducted with shocking results.A JREF staff member, who wishes to remain anonymous, commented on the ongoing tests with the words “I have never witnessed anything like this, this is deeply disturbing”. I subsequently spoke with…

Will the $ 1,000,000 Randi Challenge Prize[http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html] soon beawarded? The prize, administered by the James RandiEducational Foundation (JREF), is offered to anyone who can provein scientifically controlled tests some form of paranormal power.So far, Randi's prize has not been claimed, but rumour has it thatunder supervision of the JREF an elaborate telepathy test is beingconducted with shocking results. A JREF staff member, who whishes to remain anonymous, commented onthe ongoing tests with the words “Ihave never witnessed anything like this, this…

"The yield of muon pairs decreased rapidly from 1 GeV to the kinematic limit of nearly 6 GeV with the exception of a curious shoulder near 3GeV. The measurement of muons was by range as determined by liquid and plastic scintillation counters interspersed with steel shielding. Each angular bin (there were 18) had four range bins, and for two muons this made a total of only 5000 mass bins into which to sort the data. Multiple scattering in the minimum of 10 feet of steelmade finer binning useless. Thus we could only note that "Indeed, in the mass region near 3.5 GeV, the observed spectrum may…

I am presently into the second week of my lessons of Subnuclear Physics for the 2nd year of specialization in Physics, and I have just finished a lesson discussing the current searches for the Higgs boson at the Tevatron collider. Since the course has a focus on experimental techniques, I found it useful today to give as an exercise the determination of an order-of-magnitude estimate of cross section limits that the CDF experiments can set on a 160 GeV Higgs boson, with the data so far analyzed. It is an exercise I worked out by heart during my walk to the Physics Department: this should tell…