Physics
Betting a grand on the existence or not of new physics is cool, but one does not need to be that daring (or to be that daring every other day) to enjoy the game of making predictions for what the fundamental research in experimental particle physics will discover or measure in a future close enough that we can reasonably expect to experience ourselves. So here I am, at the end of this eventful 2010, to look forward rather than backward, with no additional grand to invest but some insight to use, some reputation to waste, and a bit of humour to stuff between the lines.
2011 to me means the…
Some unforeseen Christmas-vigil blog activity bringing here a few visitors more than average was traced today back to BBC News, who discussed the 2010 science highlights here.
The incoming link is in this paragraph:
The evolving role of the blogosphere in science came to the fore as
particle physicists were preparing to gather in Paris for their annual
conference. Internet rumours suggested that the US Tevatron particle
smasher had seen hints of the elusive Higgs boson.
The rumours were quickly scotched, but scientists later announced they had narrowed the range of masses where the Higgs…
A reader of this blog asked in the comments thread of a recent piece the following interesting question:
"Assuming mH = 201 GeV/c2, how many Higgses shoud have been produced atthe Tevatron by now with an integated luminosity of 10 inversefemtobarns? And how many H -> ZZ -> µµµµ would one expect to see?"
The question was triggered by two facts, if I read correctly between the lines. The first is the observation, by the CMS collaboration, of a quite spectacular event with two Z bosons decaying to muon pairs (you can read about the event, and see several event displays, at this link).…
As sure as death and taxes, and as timely as a Swiss watch, the Tevatron collider never ceases to awe us. Well into its twentysixth year of life, the aged and celebrated proton-antiproton collider sitting just a few meters underground in the west Chicago suburbs hit the mark of 10 inverse femtobarns of collisions delivered to the core of the CDF and DZERO detectors.
10 inverse femtobarns! Ten inverse femtobarns of proton-antiproton collisions is a HELL of a lot of them. Plus, you should multiply that number by two, since the same number of collisions happened inside two different collision…
Ten years ago the trilobite molecule came into the Physics media, like Physics News, Physical Review focus etc. It reappeared about a year ago, in fact in Nature. I am planning to demonstrate here that the trilobite molecule is not at all trilobite-like, it is much more pine-cone like.
This is all quite nice story - but what it will be really about? There are many cousins of the trilobite molecule. There are chaperon molecules, and there are much more heavy weight relatives. Like the quantum numbers of the quarks - the color and flavor (or was it candy we talk about?) - or Heisenberg's…
An expert is a man who has made all of the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.
Niels Bohr
You haven't seen any new hardcore physics posts entering this blog in recent weeks. Reason is a new role in my professional life, combined with a new science project that I have started in my spare time (if successful, you will definitely read more about the latter here). Both activities currently consume a lot of my time, and as there are only 1015 inches in a day, something has to give.
However, with more free time in view around year end, I promise you some physics coming out of the hammock soon. In the meantime, you might want to read the recent interview with me at Philosophy-…
A faithful reader of this blog has been asking me for answers to some of the 42 questions which were given at an exam for particle physics researcher wannabes in Italy in 2005. I already provided some answers in a separate post a few months back, but the reader asked for an answer to some specific exercises which I had not bothered to deal with here. I will do so now.
Here is exercise 2.3 in the original list:
A beam of protons with energy E1=20 GeV is brought to collide head-on with another beam of protons of energy E2=5 GeV. Determine:a) The CM energy;b) the CM boost in the lab frame;c) the…
There exists a tendency in nature to reduce complexity via modularization. This tendency grows when more modules become available. Finally this tendency enables nature to create intelligent and very sophisticated creatures.
I encountered relations in several areas of physics and in human interactions.
Physics is based on relations. Quantum logic is a set of axioms that restrict the relations that exist between quantum logical propositions. Via its isomorphism with Hilbert spaces quantum logic forms a fundament for quantum physics. However, quantum logic only describes static relations.…
vongehr |
This is the last of the four part series about the Edge discussion between Lee Smolin and Leonard Susskind.
I previously discussed the physics and the philosophical issues. You will have by now understood who won the battle in my eyes. However, I would like to use this final opportunity to stress that we have yet again a clear showcasing of that it is, as so often, sufficient to merely analyze the style of argumentation in order to figure out who is not to be trusted.
What is maybe the most revealing is Susskind’s constant avoidance of the actual issues and distortion of his opponent, then…