Universe Today » Physics

Large Hadron Collider Could Re-Start This Weekend

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:24:42 +0000

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could be re-started on this Saturday morning CERN officials said. Engineers are preparing to send a beam of sub-atomic particles around the 27km-long circular tunnel, which has been shut down since an accident in September 2008. Scientists hope to create conditions similar to those present moments after the Big Bang in search of the elusive Higgs particle to shed light on fundamental questions about the universe.
(...)
Read the rest of Large Hadron Collider Could Re-Start This Weekend (161 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Physicist Vitaly Ginzburg Dies at age 93

Nicholos Wethington — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:11:36 +0000

Vitaly Ginzburg, a Russian physicist and Nobel laureate, died yesterday of cardiac arrest. He was 93 years old. Ginzburg shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on superconductors, but contributed to many other fields of study, including quantum theory, astrophysics, radio-astronomy and diffusion of cosmic radiation in the Earth's atmosphere. In addition, he is known for his contributions to the development of the Russian hydrogen bomb in the 1950s, for which he received the Stalin Prize.(...)
Read the rest of Physicist Vitaly Ginzburg Dies at age 93 (316 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Bread Dropped By Bird Causes Problems for LHC

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:52:44 +0000

Yes, this headline appears to be true. A bird dropping a piece of bread onto outdoor machinery has been blamed for a technical fault at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) this week which saw significant overheating on parts of the accelerator. The LHC was not operational at the time of the incident, but the spike produced so much heat that had the beam been on, automatic safety detectors would have shut down the machine. This would put the LHC out of action for a few days while it was restarted, but there would be no repeat of the catastrophic damage suffered last September. That's when an electrical connection in the circuit itself failed violently, causing a massive liquid-helium leak and subsequent damage along hundreds of meters of magnets.

Hmm. The idea of a time-traveling Higgs boson coming back to prevent its own discovery is seeming less and less far fetched!
(...)
Read the rest of Bread Dropped By Bird Causes Problems for LHC (94 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Solving the Mystery of Cosmic Rays' Origins

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:02:37 +0000

What accelerates cosmic rays to nearly the speed of light? Astronomer have pondered that question for nearly 100 years, and now new evidence supports a theory held for two decades that cosmic rays likely are powered by exploding stars and stellar winds. "This discovery has been predicted for almost 20 years, but until now no instrument was sensitive enough to see it," said Wystan Benbow, an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory who coordinated this project for the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) collaboration.
(...)
Read the rest of Solving the Mystery of Cosmic Rays' Origins (624 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Particles Injected into Large Hadron Collider

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:39:48 +0000

The first ion beam entering point 2 of the LHC, just before the ALICE detector (23 October 2009). Credit: CERN

The Large Hadron Collider reached an important milestone last weekend as a beam of ions was injected into the clockwise beam pipe. This is the first time particles have been inside the collider since September, 2008 when physicists were forced to shut down the system because of a massive failure. According to a CERN press release, lead ions were placed in the clockwise beam pipe on Friday October 23, but did not travel along the whole circumference of the LHC. CERN officials still hope for a restart in 2009, with the first circulating beam likely to be injected in mid-November, and the first high energy collisions occurring around mid-December.
(...)
Read the rest of Particles Injected into Large Hadron Collider (81 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Your CCD Camera Just Won a Nobel Prize

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:14:23 +0000

Charged Coupled Devices (CCD) for Ultra-Violet and Visible Detection. Credit: NASA

Well, actually, the people who invented the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, called a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device), have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1969 Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith came up with the idea "from their own heads," Smith said, and CCDs revolutionized photography, as light could now be captured electronically instead of on film, and became an irreplaceable tool in astronomy, providing new possibilities to visualize the previously unseen. The device also made it possible for amateur astronomers to rival the professionals in terms of quality astrophotography. CCD technology is also used in many medical applications, e.g. imaging the inside of the human body, both for diagnostics and for microsurgery. Sharing the prize with Boyle and Smith is Charles K. Kao, who in 1966 made a discovery that led to a breakthrough in fiber optics.

Both achievements helped shape the foundations of today’s networked societies.

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

New Way to Measure Curvature of Space Could Unite Gravity Theory

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:10:10 +0000

Einstein's general theory of relativity describes gravity in terms of the geometry of both space and time. Far from a source of gravity, such as a star like our sun, space is "flat" and clocks tick at their normal rate. Closer to a source of gravity, however, clocks slow down and space is curved. But measuring this curvature of space is difficult. However, scientists have now used a continent-wide array of radio telescopes to make an extremely precise measurement of the curvature of space caused by the Sun's gravity. This new technique promises to contribute greatly in studying quantum physics.
(...)
Read the rest of New Way to Measure Curvature of Space Could Unite Gravity Theory (552 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

What If There Is Only One Universe?

Brian Ventrudo — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:28:24 +0000

When it comes to universes, perhaps one is enough after all.

Many theories in physics and cosmology require the existence of alternate, or parallel, universes. But Dr. Lee Smolin of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada, explains the flaws of theories that suggest our universe is just one of many, and which also perpetuate the notion that time does not exist. Smolin, author of the bestselling science book 'The Trouble with Physics' and a founding member of the Perimeter Institute, explains his views in the June issue of Physics World.

(...)
Read the rest of What If There Is Only One Universe? (304 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Is Everything Made of Mini Black Holes?

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:23:00 +0000

In 1971 physicist Stephen Hawking suggested that there might be "mini" black holes all around us that were created by the Big Bang. The violence of the rapid expansion following the beginning of the Universe could have squeezed concentrations of matter to form miniscule black holes, so small they can't even be seen in a regular microscope. But what if these mini black holes were everywhere, and in fact, what if they make up the fabric of the universe? A new paper from two researchers in California proposes this idea.
(...)
Read the rest of Is Everything Made of Mini Black Holes? (422 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Is a Nearby Object in Space Beaming Cosmic Rays at Earth?

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:15:05 +0000

Data from several different space and ground based observatories imply the presence of a nearby object that is beaming cosmic rays our way. Scientists with the Fermi Space Telescope say an unknown pulsar may be close by, sending electrons and positrons towards Earth. Or another more exotic explanation is that the particles could come from the annihilation of dark matter. But whatever it is, the source is relatively close, surely in our galaxy. "If these particles were emitted far away, they’d have lost a lot of their energy by the time they reached us," said Luca Baldini, a Fermi collaborator.
(...)
Read the rest of Is a Nearby Object in Space Beaming Cosmic Rays at Earth? (388 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Do We Need a New Theory of Gravitation?

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:59:33 +0000

A group of physicists say that the distribution of satellite galaxies that orbit the Milky Way, as well as the apparent dark matter within them, presents a direct challenge to Newton’s theory of gravitation, as the galaxies are not where they should be. “There is something odd about their distribution,” said Professor Pavel Kroupa from the University of Bonn in Germany. “They should be uniformly arranged around the Milky Way, but this is not what we found.” Standard cosmological models predict the presence of hundreds of these companions around most of the larger galaxies, but up to now only 30 have been observed around the Milky Way. The physicists say that Newton's theory of gravitation should be modified.
(...)
Read the rest of Do We Need a New Theory of Gravitation? (363 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Hawking Update: Condition Improved

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:12:25 +0000

Professor Stephen Hawking in 2006. Credit: Wikipedia

Physicist/mathematician Stephen Hawking has improved after spending the night at a hospital near his home in Cambridge, England, and the 67-year-old's condition was described as "comfortable." Hawking's first wife, Jane, was quoted that she believed his illness was no longer life-threatening. A spokesperson for Cambridge University, where Prof Hawking holds the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, said that he would be kept in hospital for observation. "He is comfortable and his family is looking forward to him making a full recovery," said Gregory Hayman. "He has had a good night but will be kept in at Addenbrooke's Hospital for observation. He is showing signs of improvement."
(...)
Read the rest of Hawking Update: Condition Improved (146 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Physicist Hawking Gravely Ill

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:19:15 +0000

Stephen Hawking. Credit: NASA

Famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has been rushed to a hospital and is seriously ill. Cambridge University released information today that Hawking has been fighting a chest infection for several weeks, and was taken to a hospital in Cambridge."Professor Hawking is very ill," said Gregory Hayman, the university's head of communications. "He is undergoing tests. He has been unwell for a couple of weeks." Hawking, 67, is well known for his work on black holes, and has remained active despite being diagnosed at 21 with ALS, (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), an incurable degenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
(...)
Read the rest of Physicist Hawking Gravely Ill (150 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Small Engine For the Big Job of Testing Theory of Relativity

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:09:48 +0000

The FEEP. Credit: ESA

Researchers from the European Space Agency are testing what they describe as the smallest, yet most precisely controllable engine ever built for space. Measuring 10 centimeters (4 inches) across and making a faint blue glow as it runs, the Field Emission Electric Propulsion, or FEEP, engine produces an average thrust equivalent to the force of one falling hair. But its thrust range and controllability are far superior to more potent thrusters, and will be important for a future space mission that will test Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
(...)
Read the rest of Small Engine For the Big Job of Testing Theory of Relativity (480 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Warp Drives Probably Impossible After All

Ian O'Neill — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:11:58 +0000

No warp speed ahead

Just when I was getting excited about the possibility of travelling to distant worlds, scientists have uncovered a deep flaw with faster-than-light-speed travel. There appears to be a quantum limit on how fast an object can travel through space-time, regardless of whether we are able to create a bubble in space-time or not…
(...)
Read the rest of Warp Drives Probably Impossible After All (745 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Astrophysics Satellite Detects Dark Matter Clue?

Anne Minard — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:26:56 +0000

The PAMELA satellite may have uncovered a new clue indicating dark matter annihilation.

An international collaboration of astronomers is reporting an unusual spike of atmospheric particles that could be a long-sought signature of dark matter.

The orbiting PAMELA satellite, an astrophysics mission operated by Italy, Russia, Germany and Sweden, has detected a glut of positrons — antimatter counterparts to electrons — in the energy range theorized to be associated with the decay of dark matter. The results appear in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

(...)
Read the rest of Astrophysics Satellite Detects Dark Matter Clue? (308 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

New Particle Throws Monkeywrench in Particle Physics

Anne Minard — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:58:47 +0000

The hits just keep on coming from Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. So far this month, the lab has announced the discovery of a rare single top quark, and then narrowed the gap — twice, actually — for the mass of the elusive Higgs Boson particle, or "God particle," thought to give all other particles their mass.

Now, scientists have detected a new, completely untheorized particle that challenges what physicists thought they knew about how quarks combine to form matter. They're calling it Y(4140), reflecting its measured mass of 4140 Mega-electron volts.

“It must be trying to tell us something,” said Jacobo Konigsberg of the University of Florida, a spokesman for Fermilab's collider detector team. “So far, we’re not sure what that is, but rest assured we’ll keep on listening.”

(...)
Read the rest of New Particle Throws Monkeywrench in Particle Physics (480 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Fermilab Putting the Squeeze on Higgs Boson

Anne Minard — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:49:45 +0000

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have achieved the world’s most precise measurement of the mass of the W boson by a single experiment. Combined with other measurements, a tighter understanding of the W boson mass will also lead researchers closer to the mass of the elusive Higgs boson particle.

The Higgs boson is a theoretical but as yet unseen particle, also called the "God particle," that is believed to give other particles their mass. The W boson, which is about 85 times heavier than a proton, enables radioactive beta decay and makes the sun shine.

Today's announcement marks the second major discovery in a week for the international DZero collaboration at Fermilab. Earlier this week, the group announced the production of a single top quark at Fermilab's Tevatron collider.

(...)
Read the rest of Fermilab Putting the Squeeze on Higgs Boson (436 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Fermilab Scientists Discover Rare Single Top Quark

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:07:42 +0000

Scientists at Fermilab have observed particle collisions that produce single top quarks, a 1 in 20 billion find. This discovery confirms important parameters of particle physics, including the total number of quarks. Previously, top quarks had only been observed when produced by the strong nuclear force. That interaction leads to the production of pairs of top quarks. The production of single top quarks involves the weak nuclear force and is harder to identify experimentally. This observation occurred almost 14 years to the day of the top quark discovery in 1995.
(...)
Read the rest of Fermilab Scientists Discover Rare Single Top Quark (483 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Is There a Mysterious Black Hole Constant?

Ian O'Neill — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:37:37 +0000

If you found yourself in the unfortunate situation of orbiting a black hole, you may be in for a rather dizzying and unpredictable ride. If the black hole is spinning, it will flatten out under centrifugal forces, much like the Earth bulges slightly at the equator, but the black hole's bulge will be radically greater. As the shape of the black hole changes, so does its gravitational profile.

As you are not orbiting a spherical black hole, you can no longer expect to have a boring, predictable orbit; your orbit will become wild and chaotic, seemingly random. However, it would appear that there is an underlying constant to the mayhem, and what's more, it seems this constant has also been observed in a more pedestrian system: a three-body Newtonian system. So what's the link? Physicists aren't quite sure…
(...)
Read the rest of Is There a Mysterious Black Hole Constant? (416 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Powerful Fusion Laser to Recreate Conditions Inside Exoplanets

Ian O'Neill — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:01:54 +0000

We've all heard that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will collide particles together at previously unimaginable energies. In doing so, the LHC will recreate the conditions immediately after the Big Bang, thereby allowing us to catch a glimpse of what particles the Universe would have been filled with at this time. In a way, the LHC will be a particle time machine, allowing us to see the high energy conditions last seen immediately after the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago.

So, if we wanted to understand the conditions inside a giant exoplanet, how could we do it? We can't directly measure it ourselves, we have to create a laboratory experiment that could recreate the conditions in the core of one of these huge exoplanet gas giants. Much like the LHC will recreate the conditions of the Big Bang, a powerful laser intended to kick-start fusion reactions will be used in an effort to help scientists have a very brief look into the cores of these distant worlds…
(...)
Read the rest of Powerful Fusion Laser to Recreate Conditions Inside Exoplanets (340 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Repaired too Late? Tevatron May Beat LHC in Hunt for Higgs Boson

Ian O'Neill — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:22:45 +0000

The CDF detector at Fermilab's Tevatron accelerator (Fermilab)

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is billed as the next great particle accelerator that will give us our best chance yet at discovering the illusive exchange particle (or boson) of the Higgs field. The discovery (or not) of the Higgs boson will answer so many questions about our universe, and our understanding of the quantum world could be revolutionized.

But there's a problem. The LHC isn't scheduled for restart until September 2009 (a full year after the last attempt) and particle collisions aren't expected until October. Even then, high energy collisions won't be likely until 2010, leaving the field wide open for competing accelerator facilities to redouble their efforts at making this historic discovery before the LHC goes online.

The Tevatron, at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Illinois, is currently the most powerful accelerator in the world and has refined high energy particle collisions so much, that scientists are estimating there is a 50% chance of a Higgs boson discovery by the end of 2009…
(...)
Read the rest of Repaired too Late? Tevatron May Beat LHC in Hunt for Higgs Boson (428 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Stellar Jets are Born Knotted

Ian O'Neill — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:43:30 +0000

Some of the most beautiful structures observed in the Universe are the intricate jets of supersonic material speeding away from accreting stars, such as young proto-stars and stellar mass black holes. These jets are composed of highly collimated gas, rapidly accelerated and ejected from circumstellar accretion disks. The in-falling gas from the disks, usually feeding the black hole or hungry young star, is somehow redirected and blown into the interstellar medium (ISM).

Much work is being done to understand how accretion disk material is turned into a rapid outflow, forming an often knotted, clumpy cloud of outflowing gas. The general idea was that the stellar jet is ejected in a steady flow (like a fire hose), only for it to interact with the surrounding ISM, breaking up as it does so. However, a unique collaboration between plasma physicists, astronomers and computational scientists may have uncovered the true nature behind these knotted structures. They didn't become knotted, they were born that way…
(...)
Read the rest of Stellar Jets are Born Knotted (452 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The Journey of Space Exploration: Ex-Astronaut Views on NASA

Ian O'Neill — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:10:43 +0000

Why has "one small step for man" turned into "one giant leap backward" for NASA? (NASA)

It reads like the annual progress report from my first year in university. He lacks direction, he's not motivated and he has filled his time with extra-curricular activities, causing a lack of concentration in lectures. However, it shouldn't read like an 18 year-old's passage through the first year of freedom; it should read like a successful, optimistic and inspirational prediction about NASA's future in space.

What am I referring to? It turns out that the Houston university where President John F. Kennedy gave his historic "We go to the Moon" speech back in 1962 has commissioned a report, recommending that NASA should give up its quest for returning to the Moon and focus more on environmental and energy projects. The reactions of several astronauts from the Mercury, Apollo and Shuttle eras have now been published. The conclusions in the Rice University report may have been controversial, but the reactions of the six ex-astronauts went well beyond that. They summed up the concern and frustration they feel for a space agency they once risked their lives for.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to how we interpret the importance of space exploration. Is it an unnecessary expense, or is it part of scientific endeavour where the technological spin-offs are more important than we think?
(...)
Read the rest of The Journey of Space Exploration: Ex-Astronaut Views on NASA (1,208 words)

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Universe Today » Physics

Large Hadron Collider Could Re-Start This Weekend

Physicist Vitaly Ginzburg Dies at age 93

Bread Dropped By Bird Causes Problems for LHC

Solving the Mystery of Cosmic Rays' Origins

Particles Injected into Large Hadron Collider

Top Questions That Keep Physicists Awake at Night

Your CCD Camera Just Won a Nobel Prize

New Way to Measure Curvature of Space Could Unite Gravity Theory

What If There Is Only One Universe?

Is Everything Made of Mini Black Holes?

Is a Nearby Object in Space Beaming Cosmic Rays at Earth?

Do We Need a New Theory of Gravitation?

Hawking Update: Condition Improved

Physicist Hawking Gravely Ill

Small Engine For the Big Job of Testing Theory of Relativity

Warp Drives Probably Impossible After All

Astrophysics Satellite Detects Dark Matter Clue?

New Particle Throws Monkeywrench in Particle Physics

Fermilab Putting the Squeeze on Higgs Boson

Fermilab Scientists Discover Rare Single Top Quark

Is There a Mysterious Black Hole Constant?

Powerful Fusion Laser to Recreate Conditions Inside Exoplanets

Repaired too Late? Tevatron May Beat LHC in Hunt for Higgs Boson

Stellar Jets are Born Knotted

The Journey of Space Exploration: Ex-Astronaut Views on NASA