Scientists at CERN turned the Large Hadron Collider back on and injected protons into the particle stream on Friday, resuming operations for the first time in a year.
Last year, shortly after it became operational for the first time, the LHC experienced a failure in one of the containment magnets that keeps the particles within their track and going around in circles. Because of the tremendous forces required, these magnets are extremely powerful, and if they become misaligned by even a tiny amount, they can fail catastrophically, destroying themselves.
That's what happened last year, and resulted in repairs and replacement of the magnet. It took a while to complete the repairs because the LHC is kept at a brisk -271°C and had to be warmed up slowly, repaired, and cooled back down slowly, but the work is finally done and science is once again underway at the world's most powerful particle collider.
And, in case you hadn't noticed, it still hasn't destroyed the world.
Showing posts with label physics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physics. Show all posts
Monday, November 23, 2009
Friday, August 15, 2008
The Nature of Time
You think you know something about Time? Here's your chance to prove it. Foundational Questions in Physics and Cosmology, or fq(x) for short, is having an essay contest with the topic being "The Nature of Time", including but not limited to: the arrow of time; the emergence of time in quantum gravity; time, free will and determinism; time travel; the beginning or ending of time; and timelessness.
The essays must be primarily concerned with physics, cosmology, or closely related fields. They must also be original and creative, and accessible to a diverse, highly-educated but non-specialist audience (the example they give is somewhere between Scientific American and a review article in Science or Nature). The maximum length is 5000 words of text or 10 pages, and entries must be submitted as PDF files (not sure why... that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me; I would think that Word documents would have been a better choice).
Essays will be posted for all to read and voted upon by the community. Prizes will be awarded to the judges' top picks and to the community's top picks. So even if you don't have the writer's gift, you should go to the site to read the entries and vote for your top choice. And who knows? You may even learn something about one of the fundamental topics of physics and cosmology.
The essays must be primarily concerned with physics, cosmology, or closely related fields. They must also be original and creative, and accessible to a diverse, highly-educated but non-specialist audience (the example they give is somewhere between Scientific American and a review article in Science or Nature). The maximum length is 5000 words of text or 10 pages, and entries must be submitted as PDF files (not sure why... that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me; I would think that Word documents would have been a better choice).
Essays will be posted for all to read and voted upon by the community. Prizes will be awarded to the judges' top picks and to the community's top picks. So even if you don't have the writer's gift, you should go to the site to read the entries and vote for your top choice. And who knows? You may even learn something about one of the fundamental topics of physics and cosmology.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Researchers Produce Quantum-Entangled Images
Researchers at the NIST and University of Maryland have conducted an experiment into quantum entanglement using a new simple, versatile, and efficient method of producing quantum images. The researchers separated a single image into two light beams that were entangled by emissions from rubidium gas, the second image rotated 180° and at a slightly different color.
The researchers then experimented with alterations and fluctuations to the properties—such as phase and intensity—of one beam and noted similar changes in the other beam, allowing the team to predict changes in pixels of one image by observing the other image.
This could be a step on the road to production of a working ansible.
The researchers then experimented with alterations and fluctuations to the properties—such as phase and intensity—of one beam and noted similar changes in the other beam, allowing the team to predict changes in pixels of one image by observing the other image.
This could be a step on the road to production of a working ansible.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Introducing the Tau Zero Foundation
Thanks to Paul Gilster at Centauri Dreams I stumbled this morning onto the website of the Tau Zero Foundation. The TZF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to making incremental advancements in science, technology, and education with the eventual goal of interstellar flight and colonization.
A bold goal, to be sure. Tau Zero is led by Mark Millis of the NASA Glenn Research Center (although the foundation itself is not associated with NASA in any way). Millis is best known as the coordinator of the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program for NASA between 1996 and 2002. I followed BPP closely during its existence and was disappointed when NASA was forced to terminate the program. I read all of the papers that came out of the original studies (although I didn't understand everything that was in them). If Tau Zero is going to pursue and encourage the same type of work—and it appears that they will—I will be following their work very closely, as well.
I have long critized space-themed organizations whose only function seems to be to tell other people what to do ("advocacy"). I feel that if you want something done, you should do it, not advocate for someone else to do it. And Tau Zero seems to be focused on doing things. The foundation's plan is to start with educational and informative projects, including one or more books and possibly videos. TZF will also organize researchers to work together and share information. Eventually, once the foundation has the funds, they will sponsor research and possibly open an institute where researchers can collaborate and share ideas in person.
Check back here and, better yet, read Paul's blog, to get updates on this fascinating organization. I wish them the best and, when I can afford it, I'll be supporting them.
A bold goal, to be sure. Tau Zero is led by Mark Millis of the NASA Glenn Research Center (although the foundation itself is not associated with NASA in any way). Millis is best known as the coordinator of the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program for NASA between 1996 and 2002. I followed BPP closely during its existence and was disappointed when NASA was forced to terminate the program. I read all of the papers that came out of the original studies (although I didn't understand everything that was in them). If Tau Zero is going to pursue and encourage the same type of work—and it appears that they will—I will be following their work very closely, as well.
I have long critized space-themed organizations whose only function seems to be to tell other people what to do ("advocacy"). I feel that if you want something done, you should do it, not advocate for someone else to do it. And Tau Zero seems to be focused on doing things. The foundation's plan is to start with educational and informative projects, including one or more books and possibly videos. TZF will also organize researchers to work together and share information. Eventually, once the foundation has the funds, they will sponsor research and possibly open an institute where researchers can collaborate and share ideas in person.
Check back here and, better yet, read Paul's blog, to get updates on this fascinating organization. I wish them the best and, when I can afford it, I'll be supporting them.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Perimiter Institute Gets $50M Donation
Mike Lazaridis, founder and co-chairman of Research in Motion (the maker of the Blackberry devices) announced last night that he is giving an additional $50 million to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, bringing his total contribution to $150 million. The Perimeter Institute is dedicated to addressing foundational issues in current theoretical physics research by concentrating on cross-discipline research areas such as:
In their short existence (since 1999) the Perimeter Institute and its staff have won a number of awards for their research. Lazaridis' contributions will only help the Institute in its goal of a better understanding of the rules of the universe around us.
- Cosmology
- Particle Physics
- Quantum Foundations
- Quantum Gravity
- Quantum Information Theory
- Superstring Theory
In their short existence (since 1999) the Perimeter Institute and its staff have won a number of awards for their research. Lazaridis' contributions will only help the Institute in its goal of a better understanding of the rules of the universe around us.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
A Test for String Theory?
Researchers at University of California, San Diego, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Texas at Austin have developed what they believe will be a means of testing String Theory, the leading candidate for unifying the laws of physics into a single theory.
The process involves testing one of the three underlying mathematical assumptions used by String Theory, that there is a smoothness criteria for the scattering of high-energy particles after a collision. They propose to test this assumption by using the Large Hadron Collider to investigate the scattering of W bosons. If the W bosons do not scatter according to the predictions made by String Theory, physicists will know that there is a flaw in the theory.
“If the bounds are satisfied, we would still not know that string theory is correct,” said Jacques Distler, a professor of physics at The University of Texas at Austin.
One of the main criticisms of String Theory has been that it is largely untestable. And while this test is not a perfect test, it will allow researchers to test at least a part of the theory, and that's at least progress toward a better understanding of our universe.
The process involves testing one of the three underlying mathematical assumptions used by String Theory, that there is a smoothness criteria for the scattering of high-energy particles after a collision. They propose to test this assumption by using the Large Hadron Collider to investigate the scattering of W bosons. If the W bosons do not scatter according to the predictions made by String Theory, physicists will know that there is a flaw in the theory.
“If the bounds are satisfied, we would still not know that string theory is correct,” said Jacques Distler, a professor of physics at The University of Texas at Austin.
One of the main criticisms of String Theory has been that it is largely untestable. And while this test is not a perfect test, it will allow researchers to test at least a part of the theory, and that's at least progress toward a better understanding of our universe.
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