Physics

If physicists lived in Flatland—the fictional two-dimensional world invented by Edwin Abbott in his 1884 novel—some of their quantum physics experiments would turn out differently (not just thinner) than those in our world. The distinction has taken another step from speculative fiction to real-world puzzle with a paper from the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) reporting on a Flatland arrangement of ultracold gas atoms. The new results, which don’t quite jibe with earlier Flatland experiments in Paris, might help clarify a strange property: “superfluidity.” In three dimensions, cooling a gas of…

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--New research findings at MIT could lead to microchips that operate at much higher speeds than is possible with today's standard silicon chips, leading to cell phones and other communications systems that can transmit data much faster. The key to the superfast chips is the use of a material called graphene, a form of pure carbon that was first identified in 2004. Researchers at other institutions have already used the one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms to make prototype transistors and other simple devices, but the latest MIT results could open up a range of new…

A Theory of Time - Part One The problem of time is recognised as a problem in physics. What is Time? I submit that the notion of time that is used in modern science is rooted in the notion of time used by scientists such as Galileo and Newton. Although the mathematical notion of time as a dimension of multi-dimensional spacetime has led to great advances, I have noticed that there are discrepancies in the model that can only be addressed by postulating ever more dimensions. I believe that the problem lies in the meld of epistemological and heuristic knowledge that is mathematics. Just because…

What is Time ? " ... none of the parts of time has an abidingexistence, and that which does not abide can hardly have position.   Itwould be better to say that such parts had a relative order, in virtueof one being prior to another." Aristotle, in Categories. I am in process of writing a blog on this.   The purpose of the current  'Random Noise' blog is to discuss ideas about the nature of time.  My own theory of time embraces these notions: Time is an artifact of human cognition, which is not quite the same as an artifact of perception.  We are not born…

Scientists say they have detected giant twisting waves in the lower atmosphere of the Sun, shedding light on the mystery of the Sun's corona, the region around the Sun, extending more than one million kilometres from its surface, which has a vastly higher temperature than its surface. The findings of this investigation could help us understand more about the turbulent solar weather and its affect on our planet. The massive solar twists, known as Alfvén waves, were discovered in the lower atmosphere with the Swedish Solar Telescope in the Canary Islands by scientists from Queen's University…

You are  in a First Floor apartment  and the guy who lives below you,  is watering the lawn.  He  is adjusting the water pressure,  but cannot get it quite right.  There are two parameters here,  one is the  water sprinkler  loop  diameter,  and another  is the  water sprinkler loop pitch,   ie.  the   vertical spacing between each  sprinkler loop.  Both are adjustable via the water pressure, and this  effects,  precisely  how far each water loop  is,…

WASHINGTON, March 17—The world's largest international conference on optical communications begins next week and continues from March 22-26 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. The Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC) is the premier meeting where experts from industry and academia intersect and share their results, experiences, and insights on the future of electronic and wireless communication and the optical technologies that will enable it. Journalists are invited to attend the meeting, where more than 15,…

This is a   " bolt on  blog  "  to my  earlier Jan 15  2009  blog, on Spiral Sunspots   The  bolt  on,    is prompted  by my locating  an early NOAO   (National  Optical Astronomy Observatory )    picture  imaging   a rare  Spiral Sunspot.    (  noao.edu   Image Gallery  /  Sun.   ).   when the images will appear when clicked }.   This is quite an old image ,  and was …

If the Higgs boson, whatever that will turn out to be, is hiding, wherever it may be found continues to shrink. The latest analysis of data from the CDF and DZero collider experiments at Fermilab has now excluded a significant fraction of the allowed Higgs mass range established by earlier measurements. Those experiments predict that the Higgs particle should have a mass between 114 and 185 GeV/c2. Now the CDF and DZero results carve out a section in the middle of this range and establish that it cannot have a mass in between 160 and 170 GeV/c2. According to the Standard Model of particles…

Question;  What do you see when you look at a Spiral Galaxy.  ?    Answer;   A Galaxy with a Spiral.  Sorry, wrong answer.  The   correct answer  is :    A Galaxy with Twin Interlaced Spirals.  The reason for this answer,   is that  Galactic   Architecture,  is   an effect  of Galactic Core Jetting.   In the case of the Home Galaxy,  the Milky Way, the progenitor jetting body, is  Sagittarius  A*  ( pronounced Sagittarius a Star) and …