Physics

Have you ever looked at a histogram with the data displayed as counts per bin in the form of points with error bars, and wondered whether those fluctuations and departures from the underlying…

Have you ever looked at a histogram with the data displayed as counts per bin in the form of points with error bars, and wondered whether those fluctuations and departures from the underlying…

Every year since 1990, I have made a holiday card sending it to friends and family (a list of ~ 50). They have always been nerdy. I try and feature something about the physics I figured out in the…

In the previous blog post we familiarized ourselves with a most remarkable device. A device resulting from 20th century science: Albert's chest of drawers. This chest, although presented as a…

"[...] practically nobody took very seriously the CDF claim (not even mostmembers of the collaboration, and I know several of them), while practically everybody isnow convinced that the Higgs boson…

At the outset, let me  begin with some preliminaries: Consider an evolving spherically symmetrical fluid and divide it into concentric spheres in such a manner that, despite evolution, the…

Particle physics experiments usually invest a considerable part of the time used to produce a measurement in the task of determining the corresponding uncertainty on the estimate, or -when a new…

Another confirmation of correct evaluation of controversial HEP measurements awaited me just after the Higgs evidence was presented at CERN. I am sort of embarassed by this compulsory self-promotion…

So much sound and fury over the Higgs Boson, signifying what? A complete understanding of the fundamental constituents of the world in which we live? Of the universe of which we are an integral part…

Quantum physics describes a universe that is profoundly mysterious. Einstein, arguably the most revolutionary thinker of modern times, struggled greatly with quantum theory. This groundbreaking new…