Physics

Another Search For Fourth Generation Quarks

Our present understanding of fundamental physics implies the existence of three generation of matter particles, which we consider structureless and "elementary", both in the sense that they cannot be divided into smaller entities, and in the sens ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Dec 8 2010 - 7:41pm

Smolin Vs Susskind: Part 3 Ripping On Lenny

This is PART III of the four part series about the Edge discussion between Lee Smolin and Leonard Susskind. After criticizing Smolin the last time in PART II, it is now time to turn on Susskind. Leonard Susskind is well read, certainly enough to know abou ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Dec 8 2010 - 2:59pm

The permittivity of vacuum- why?

I have been again teaching two subjects where electric and magnetic phenomena are important (atomic physics and solid state physics) and met naturally new students. I always tell about the SI system and its history, but ask the students to use "for th ...

Blog Post - Ladislav Kocbach - Dec 13 2010 - 8:28am

Fahrenheit-459 And The Sixth State Of Matter

Everyone has heard of "Fahrenheit 451", the classic novel where big government gets its agenda by increasingly taking away rights in order to mandate fairness.  This article has nothing to do with that.   Instead, it is about  measurement of the ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2010 - 4:28pm

SUSY's Apology For Not Showing Up

Teaching a subnuclear physics course is a quite refreshing experience. In general, much of the stuff that one has learned through years of sweating on books slowly degrades and becomes "fuzzy". That fuzzy stuff still give you a warm feeling that ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Dec 11 2010 - 5:15am

Energy and Intensity: Analogy Needed

In the past weeks I have been writing a piece about the Large Hadron Collider for a science popularization magazine, and I found myself squeezing my brain for a good analogy to the work of particle hunters. The idea I had was to convey the importance of en ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Dec 13 2010 - 1:34pm

Birth of the Universe from “Nothing”- Big Bang Simulation

 Birth of the Universe from the Zero Energy State 1) There was a pair creation of positive and negative energy in the early universe. 2) The total energy of universe is 0. Stephen Hawking and Alan Guth et al. argued that gravitational potential energy is ...

Blog Post - Anonymous - Dec 14 2010 - 10:56am

The Plot Of The Week- ZZ Cross Section, CDF, Circa 2010

A new result for the production cross section of Z boson pairs in proton-antiproton collisions at the 2-TeV Tevatron collider is now public, thanks to the efforts of the CDF collaboration. The measurement, in a nutshell, confirms Standard Model predictions ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Dec 14 2010 - 7:09pm

ITER fusion: Governments taking a hard look at budget overruns and delays

It's become so commonplace for large science endeavors to be over budget and long-delayed that both budgets and time frames seem almost meaningless.   The James Webb Space Telescope might as well just be issued blank checks and, in Europe, the ITER nu ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Dec 16 2010 - 5:53pm

The Verdict: Smolin Vs Susskind Final Part 4

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 li ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Dec 18 2010 - 10:33am