Watch a constellation for science!

October 20, 2008 | 6:31 am

Last year's observations

As Amber Dance explained in the March/April 08 issue of symmetry,  it’s nearly impossible for an outsider to make significant contributions to particle physics–although that doesn’t stop people from trying! But amateurs can make significant contributions to other fields of science, and starting tonight, you can do that just by walking outside and looking up.

The Great World Wide Star Count is recruiting volunteers to gaze at constellations, determine how bright their stars are and report that information online. The results tell astronomers how much light pollution from cities, brightly lit prison yards, and other sources is dimming our view of the stars. Last year’s count–you can find a report on the results here–gathered more than 6000 observations from all over the world and all 50 states.

Folks in the Northern Hemisphere will be looking at the constellation Cygnus, the Swan; folks in the South, at Sagittarius, the Archer. You can observe on just one night or on lots of them. The count ends Nov. 3.

Glennda Chui

1 Comment »

The first science fiction story featuring antimatter

October 17, 2008 | 12:57 pm

Writer Scott Edelman stands in the doorway of the shack where Jack Williamson wrote the first science fiction story to feature antimatter. Photo courtesy of Scott Edelman.

Fermilab’s Bill Higgins is an avid science fiction fan and an equally avid researcher. One result is a fascinating pair of articles in the current issue of symmetry: An essay explaining how the concept of antimatter–then known as “contraterrene matter”–made its way into science fiction, and a logbook featuring a yellowed page from the manuscript of a story by Jack Williamson.

His story, “Collision Orbit,” appeared in the July 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction under the pen name Will Stewart. In it, engineer Jim Drake struggles to exploit the energy of contraterrene asteroids by finding a way to manipulate them without touching them, using magnetic fields. (Read the logbook from this issue for more information.)

Williamson followed “Collision Orbit” with three sequels for Astounding that firmly established contraterrene matter—more commonly known as “antimatter”—in the toy box of science fiction, alongside spaceships, ray guns, and time machines.

The accompanying logbook tells how Williamson wrote the story on a secondhand typewriter in a small, unpainted shack he had built on his family’s ranch in New Mexico.

Jack Williamson, then 95, poses with Edelman and a copy of the December 1928 Amazing Stories magazine, which contains his first published story. Photo courtesy of Scott Edelman.

For those who want to see just how small that shack was, here are photos from a 2003 tour of the Williamson homestead, part of the 27th annual  Jack Williamson Lectureship at Eastern New Mexico University.   Williamson had been a professor of English there. The 2003 event celebrated not only his long career in writing and teaching, but also the 75th anniversary of the sale of his first short science-fiction story. Williamson kept on writing and publishing stories until his death at 98. Here we see him at the age of 95, schmoozing with fans and recalling the early days. Thanks to writer and editor Scott Edelman for this photographic trip back in time.

Glennda Chui

3 Comments »

First gamma-ray-only pulsar observation opens new window on stellar evolution

October 16, 2008 | 1:00 pm

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope discovered the first pulsar that beams only in gamma rays. The pulsar (illustrated, inset) lies in the CTA 1 supernova remnant in Cepheus. Credit: NASA/S. Pineault, DRAO

About three times a second, a 10,000-year-old stellar corpse sweeps a beam of gamma-rays toward Earth. This object, known as a pulsar, is the first one known to “blink” only in gamma rays, and was discovered by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, a collaboration with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and international partners.

“This is the first example of a new class of pulsars that will give us fundamental insights into how stars work,” says Stanford University’s Peter Michelson, principal investigator for the LAT. The LAT data is processed by the DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and analyzed by the International LAT Collaboration.

The gamma-ray-only pulsar lies within a supernova remnant known as CTA 1, which is located about 4600 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. Its lighthouse-like beam sweeps Earth’s way every 316.86 milliseconds and emits 1000 times the energy of our sun. These results appear in the Oct. 16 edition of Science Express.

A pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star, the crushed core left behind when a massive sun explodes. Astronomers have cataloged nearly 1800 pulsars. Although most were found through their pulses at radio wavelengths, some of these objects also beam energy in other forms, including visible light and X-rays.

Unlike previously discovered pulsars, the source in CTA 1 appears to blink only in gamma-ray energies, offering researchers a new way to study the stars in our universe. Scientists think CTA 1 is only the first of a large population of similar objects. “The LAT provides us with a unique probe of the galaxy’s pulsar population, revealing objects we would not otherwise even know exist,” says Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Project Scientist Steve Ritz, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

Read the rest of this entry »

David Harris

2 Comments »

CERN releases analysis of LHC incident

October 16, 2008 | 11:21 am

Investigations have shown that a faulty electrical connection between two magnets (shown in red) was the cause of the incident in sector 3-4 of the LHC on 19 September.

From a CERN press release

Geneva, 16 October 2008–Investigations at CERN following a large helium leak into sector 3-4 of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) tunnel have confirmed that cause of the incident was a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator’s magnets. This resulted in mechanical damage and release of helium from the magnet cold mass into the tunnel.

Proper safety procedures were in force, the safety systems performed as expected, and no one was put at risk. Sufficient spare components are in hand to ensure that the LHC is able to restart in 2009, and measures to prevent a similar incident in the future are being put in place.

“This incident was unforeseen,” said CERN Director General Robert Aymar, “but I am now confident that we can make the necessary repairs, ensure that a similar incident can not happen in the future and move forward to achieving our research objectives.”

The summary report follows:

Read the rest of this entry »

Guest author

No Comments »

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center renamed SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

October 15, 2008 | 2:45 pm

New SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory logo

New Name Honors Successful Past, Launches a Future of Scientific Expansion

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has renamed Stanford Linear Accelerator Center the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

What’s in a name? Great past, great future, great science. . . .

“The new laboratory name acknowledges the distinguished accomplishments SLAC has achieved over the years, and its exciting future as a multi-program Department of Energy National Laboratory,” said Under Secretary for Science Dr. Raymond L. Orbach. “The Laboratory’s world-leading set of core capabilities makes it a key member of the Department’s National Laboratory complex, and fuels the Office of Science research capabilities for the future.”

In recent years, SLAC’s research program has broadened from its original focus on high-energy physics to include strong photon science and particle astrophysics programs. The lab’s current science programs are expanding to explore the ultimate structure and dynamics of matter and the properties of energy, space and time at the smallest and largest scales. This includes the study of ultra-fast processes in materials with a new state-of-the-art X-ray free electron laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS).

“Stanford University is extremely excited with the future of discovery that SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will enable,” said Stanford University President John Hennessy. “Its broadening scientific portfolio builds upon our core competencies, and the new name signifies the continued strength of our DOE collaboration.”

Laboratory Director Persis Drell said, “Our new name, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is a strong bridge that connects our successful past with our tremendously exciting future. We look forward to keeping this laboratory at the forefront of innovating, building and operating accelerator-based facilities as a Department of Energy National Accelerator Laboratory.”

SLAC National Accelerator Lab’s multi-purpose mission covers a wide range of science. The upcoming startup of the LCLS-planned for 2009-along with the existing SPEAR3 synchrotron X-ray light source, will position the lab as a world-leader in X-ray science. Using these facilities as microscopes on the nanoworld, the lab’s scientists and the national-user communities are working out the structures of proteins and characterizing the quantum workings of new materials. The ability to make the first stop-motion movies of atoms and molecules in action with the LCLS will open new frontiers of research in materials, chemistry, and biology.

The lab’s programs in particle astrophysics, such as the recently launched Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and the planned Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, are allowing us to see how the universe has evolved, and will provide a key to understanding the mysteries of dark matter and energy.

In addition, DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Lab will continue to participate in accelerator-based particle physics experiments such as the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is operated by Stanford University for the US Department of Energy. The laboratory’s mission is to explore the frontiers of photon science, astrophysics, and accelerator and particle physics in service to the nation and the world.

See the animated SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory logo.

Text from a SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory press release.

Guest author

2 Comments »

Crunch time for Joint Dark Energy Mission

October 14, 2008 | 7:30 am

Last month’s surprise cancellation of the competition to develop the Joint Dark Energy Mission left researchers stunned.  Now the former competitors have less than two months to come together and redefine what the mission should accomplish–a mission that will be developed and overseen not by a single, winning team but by JDEM’s government sponsors, NASA and the US Department of Energy.

The two agencies have appointed a committee that meets for the first time on Wednesday in Washington, DC.  Called the Science Coordination Group, it includes representatives of each of the formerly competing teams and has the delicate task of determining broad science goals and observational requirements for the mission’s new incarnation. They must include observations of at least three types of phenomena–supernovae, weak gravitational lensing, and baryon acoustic oscillation.

The group will also contribute to the design of an initial Reference Mission, to be delivered by the end of 2008. At that point the agencies will call for proposals for science investigations, with science teams to be selected next year.

“They’ve hit the reset button. It’s a start anew,” Michael Levi of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory told me. The Science Coordination Group “has six weeks to come up with a new mission, to take several lumps of clay and mush them together.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Glennda Chui

1 Comment »

Oak Ridge opens "big bang beamline" to probe the neutron

October 13, 2008 | 12:05 pm

The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee has opened a neutron beamline dedicated to the study of the neutron itself.  This close neighbor of the proton may hold clues to the nature of the early universe, matter’s triumph over antimatter and other compelling questions; the new  Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline is dedicated to digging them out.

An article in Physics World neatly sums it up:

Neutrons are, of course, neutral. But the FNBP will be able to examine whether, for example, the charged quarks inside neutrons give the particle a slight dipole. Such a dipole could help explain why the universe is almost solely made from matter and not antimatter. The FNBP will also look into the decay of free neutrons — which bound in nuclei are normally quite stable — to clarify the distribution of elements shortly after the Big Bang. Finally, the the FNBP will measure the interactions between neutrons and nuclei, hopefully to shed light on so-called symmetry violation — a concept that was first outlined theoretically by Yoichiro Nambu, joint winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics.

And from the Oak Ridge press release:

Read the rest of this entry »

Glennda Chui

No Comments »

Springer Publishing to acquire BioMedCentral

October 9, 2008 | 6:04 am

“Springer to acquire BioMedCentral.” Those of us in physics may well wonder what this headline has to do with us. “BioMed” is not usually associated with high-energy physics (HEP), and Springer is, to most physicists, a big publisher that we occasionally deal with when submitting to Eur.Phys.J. or similar journals.

However, it is worth remembering that BioMedCentral (BMC) has a physics journal as well. The recently launched PhysMathCentral (an arm of BMC) journal PMC Physics A is an exciting new Open Access journal in HEP, so the sale does affect physics literature. I certainly hope that PhysMathCentral will continue to be a leading Open Access journal in the field, paving the way for broader Open Access in the future of HEP publishing. BMC has, since its founding in 2000, been a leader in Open Access, becoming the world’s first for-profit Open Access publisher and the world’s largest Open Access publisher of any kind. In light of this, Springer’s acquisition carries with it some interesting questions.

Will Springer begin to adopt BMC’s commitment to Open Access?

Read the rest of this entry »

Travis Brooks

1 Comment »

Brookhaven National Lab and the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics

October 8, 2008 | 12:43 pm

Yesterday we reported on the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics. Here is an article that connects Tuesday’s Nobel Prize with the work done at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, NY. See our other stories for information about SLAC and Fermilab connections to the Nobel Prize.

In the 1950s, interpreting experiments conducted at Brookhaven Lab, physicists T.D. Lee and C.N. Yang (bottom left and bottom right, respectively) discovered that parity was not invariant. In 1964, also at Brookhaven, James Cronin (top left) and Val Fitch (top right)discovered that the decay of K mesons also violated the combined symmetry of C and P, or CP.

One American and two Japanese physicists have won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on symmetry breaking. The prize is shared by Yoichiro Nambu of the University of Chicago, Makoto Kobayashi of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (Japan), and Toshihide Maskawa of Kyoto University. Nambu will receive half the prize for this work on the general mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking, while Kobayashi and Maskawa are being recognized for their theoretical work that ties symmetry breaking to the existence of three families of quarks.

Symmetry plays an important role in physics. The three new physics laureates studied how symmetries are preserved or violated in various ways. Their work builds in part on earlier theoretical and experimental studies at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, which also received Nobel recognition in 1957 and 1980.

What is symmetry? The geometrical symmetry of the two sides of the human face is an example of something being the same or equivalent. Rotate a sixfold-symmetric snowflake through one-sixth of a circle and it will look the same.

In physics, symmetry is a more general concept and applies to the idea that a physical situation will be the same even if a certain transformation occurs. Three of the most fundamental symmetries bear the name of time reversal invariance (symbolized by the letter T), charge conjugation invariance (C), and parity invariance (P).

Read the rest of this entry »

David Harris

2 Comments »

Fermilab and symmetry breaking

October 8, 2008 | 11:01 am

Yesterday we reported on the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics. Here is an article that connects Tuesday’s Nobel Prize with the work done at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill. See this story for information about SLAC’s connection to the Nobel Prize.

Fermilab and symmetry breaking

Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on symmetry breaking in the world of elementary particles and forces. The prize recognizes the pioneering development of a picture of nature that has had a major impact on physics at Fermilab and at other laboratories around the world. Nambu’s formulation of symmetry breaking allows physicists to explain why there is matter in the universe, while the work of Kobayashi and Maskawa provides the theoretical tools to explain why the universe contains no antimatter.

When physicists discuss symmetries, they refer to things that appear identical. Symmetry breaking is a way of explaining why things look different from each other. An example is gravity. Skaters have no problem gliding in any direction on an ice rink. But if they jump up, gravity pulls them back down. Gravity breaks the symmetry between left and right motion and up and down motion. Every time you jump up, you rediscover gravity through symmetry breaking.

Yoichiro Nambu incorporated what is known as spontaneous symmetry breaking into the theory of elementary particles to explain why different particles have different masses–why nature allows massive quarks and electrons and massless photons. When Weinberg, Glashow, and Salam earned the Nobel Prize in 1979 for unifying the electromagnetic and weak forces into the electroweak force, they needed to explain why the force carrier of the electromagnetic force, the photon, was massless, while the force carriers of the weak force were very heavy. The concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking allowed them to overcome this difficulty. Without this broken symmetry, matter as we know it would not exist. All particles would be massless and moving at the speed of light.

From the combination of  spontaneous symmetry breaking and electroweak unification comes an exciting prediction: a new particle called the Higgs boson. The Higgs is the hammer that breaks the symmetry and gives different particles different masses.  Currently, close to a thousand physicists from around the world are searching for the Higgs boson in collisions produced by the Tevatron accelerator at Fermilab.

Read the rest of this entry »

Guest author

6 Comments »