Physics

The question of what will the next discovery at Fermilab be was asked in the thread of a recent article, and I initially answered it there, but then thought that expanding my answer makes excellent material for an independent article. Therefore, below I have tried to put together my own personal list of the places from where a unexpected new Tevatron discovery may come and hit us, in the near future. One word of warning is needed: beware, the list is incomplete, its order is little less than random, and the items do not necessarily correspond to signals of new physics that are giving hints…

I am spending my time in the CDF Control Room this week (seven days, from 4PM to midnight), as a Scientific Coordinator. My job is to work with my crew to ensure that the experiment collects good data as efficiently as possible. The data I am talking about is, of course, provided by our glorious accelerator, the Tevatron collider. Today I will tell you how the Tevatron is doing these days, and doing that will prepare the ground to my suggestion that you should become a fan of this wonderful machine. A short introduction For those of you who need a short introduction on the matter, I offer…

I was notified today that within three weeks I am due to write a proceedings article for the "Physics in Collision" conference I attended in Kobe two weeks ago. The task is not too stimulating for me, given that the material it has to cover just consists in projections of the discovery reach of the Higgs boson, based on simulated data; but to add unexcitement to the whole thing, I found out that I am bound to stay within the limit of two pages of text. Two pages! I have seen author lists taking three times as much space, and even Abstracts sometimes are longer than that. I am definitely less…

In order to be able to perform unescorted access to areas where ionizing radiations are present, and to work with and use radioactive materials, workers at Fermilab have to pass a specific training which enables them to recognize the dangers and work safely, minimizing the radiation dose they get by performing their activities, and reducing the spread of contamination to the environment. The training is not very hard -it involves the study of a 50-page document and the attendance of a 1-hour briefing, followed by a 40-question test. Every user or employee who may need to make a controlled…

"There is, in my opinion, no doubt that by the time we are ready to announce the discovery of the Higgs boson, the whole world will know it". James Gillies, Head of Communications at CERN, interviewed by Physics World's Matin Durrani - video available here.

The universe is in a continuous change. A change n gets transformed into a change n+1, the change n+1 into a change n+2 and so on. Clocks measure a frequency, velocity and numerical order of change. Experimentaldate confirms that changes and clocks do not run time; they run in quantum space only. Time is not a part of quantum space. Quantum space itself is timeless. Physical time that is clocks run is man created physical reality. Space-time is a math model merely. Fundamental arena of the universe is timeless quantum space. In the timeless quantum space into which massive bodies and…

FROM SPACE-TIME TO TIMELESS QUANTUM SPACE   Amrit S. Sorli sorli.bistra@gmail.com, Scientific Research Centre BISTRA, Ptuj, Slovenia   Abstract   The universe is in a continuous change. A change n gets transformed into a change n+1, the change n+1 into a change n+2 and so on. Clocks measure a frequency, velocity and numerical order of change. Experimental date confirms that changes and clocks do not run time; they run in quantum space only. Time is not a part of quantum space. Quantum space itself is timeless. Physical time that is clocks run is man created physical reality.…

Fermilab is a wonderful place to travel to in the late summer or fall. The site of the laboratory is a wide chunk of land just east of the Fox river, 30 miles west of Chicago. It is home to not just physicists and engineers, but to a wide variety of animals. Geese on their way South stop yearly in the lake in front of Fermilab's Wilson Hall, and many of them decide to spend the winter there, to benefit from the warm waters; deer are copious, but will not be easily seen around, save for the occasional one at times seen standing in the middle of the road at night; buffalos roam within large…

What happened to all the enthusiasm?  Perhaps new astronomy will shed light on the matter.In 2005 the anniversary of Einstein's miracle year there was much talk of "new Einstien"s and why there have been no new ones.   Carlo Rovelli published a very good book on the subject.  String theory and M theory were as hot as the surface of the sun.  In a heated exchange on Wikipedia I made the acquaintance of Lubos Motl.   There was much excitement 4 years ago.  So what happened?  Why no accepted theory of quantum gravity?   String theory, planck scale…

Today I wish to bring to your attention a figure recently obtained by the CDF collaboration, one which really tells a thousand words. Before I describe it to you, however, I would like to discuss at an elementary level a few basic concepts of particle theory which the figure well summarizes. A Crash Course on Feynman Graphs Let us start with a few elements on Feynman graphs -the diagrams that physicists use to draw on their blackboards to picture what really happens when particles react, and that actually enable the computation of the probability of those processes. All particle reactions at…