»physics«

Some 50 years ago physicists unraveled the makings of superconductivity -- at least in a first stage for the so-called superconductors of type 1, say the ordinary superconductors. John Bardeen, Leon Cooper and Robert Schrieffer outlined the later dubbed B.C.S. theory (after their initials) in a Physical Review paper, which says, that electric current without resistance in established by the coupling of two electrons (a so-called Cooper pair) via lattice vibrations. Kenneth Chang remembers in a NY Times (8.1.2008) piece the making of. However, in 1986 a second type of superconductors were discovered, the so-called high-temperature superconductors that are still awaiting a concise explanation.

Martin Uhlir, a Czech reporter from Prague, publishes in the magazine Respekt Weekly (3.9.2007) an interview with Andrei Linde, a well-known and respected Stanford physicist and cosmologist. Linde talks about his cosmological theory of a single starting point of our cosmos, the Big Bang, "which was like a root of a cosmic tree; the tree which produces bubbles of the new Universes." He talks about God, consciousness, his life in Russia, Russian science, and the prospect of a theory of everything.

A group of researchers with the German physicist Dirk Helbing of the Technical University of Dresden studies crowd motion during mass events like the Hajj, sports events or music festivals (Physik Journal, June 2007). They have investigated the motion of pilgrims during the Hajj in the city of Mina of year 2006 and studied how - in the language of physics - the laminar flow of people change into turbulence with people possibly trampled to death. During the Hajj pilgrimage some three million people visit Mina to stone in a ritual the three jamarat walls. With the evidence of the researchers the whole site is being rebuilt, crowd flow, pilgrim access and movement changed.
Pictures and videos at
http://www.trafficforum.org/crowdturbulence

An editorial in the NY Times (17.5.2007) praises the set-up of the Large Hadron Collider at Cern (Switzerland) to probe the ultimate building blocks of matter (and the universe and so on). Physicists reach out to explain the reason for particles having mass -- when the find the so called Higgs particle. If they don't find Higgs or anything interesting, it might be confirmed what many already concluded, that "the 20th century was the Age of Physics, while the 21st, spurred by the mapping of the human genome, will be the Age of Biology."
In addition, Dennis Overbye reports for the NY Times (15.5.2007) from Cern.

When experiments start at the particle facility CERN in Switzerland later this year and the next year scientists watch out for the so-called Higgs particle. This particle is seen the origin of mass. A Nobel laureate actually praised Higgs the "god particle." But what happens, when scientists find Higgs and nothing more, asks Adrian Cho in a report for Science magazine (23.3.2007). Indeed, when physicists find and only find the Higgs boson fitting well into the standard theory that explains four out of three fundamental forces (strong, weak and electro-magnetic force) than they might have some trouble: no new physics ahead and eventually no new money for the next big collider. Anyway, most scientists hope to find out more.

Rüdiger Wehner, a scientist of Zurich university, writes in a contribution for NZZ (14.2.2007) on how the vikings navigated to new lands: They may have used polarized light patterns in the sky to determine the position of the Sun even in cloudy or foggy conditions. Wehner recently published a paper on the issue in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

The multi-billion dollar project LHC at the European particle facility Cern hasn't begun service yet, but the physicist's community is considering the collider that comes next, reports Neue Zürcher Zeitung (14.2.2007). The international linear collider might cost 6,7 billion dollars, but will depend on two things: governments willing to pay the budget and any good results of LHC that starts operation this November.

The well-covered fusion test reactor ITER (to be build in Cadarache, France) will cost 5 billion euros, the little known X-ray light source for materials research XFEL (to be build near Hamburg, Germany) will cost 1 billion euros, and is pending. Obviously, it's a mismatch in horse trading on the science policy scene, reports Christian Schwägerl in FAZ (23.1.2007): Germany voted for ITER in France, but now France is reluctant to pay for the X-ray source in Germany. An example for European cooperation? Well, Schwägerl hopes that Germanys chancellor and most senior physicist Angela Merkel will put things straight at a meeting with French president Jacques Chirac this month.

The Higgs particle in physics is called the God particle because it give matter its constituent property, the mass. Now, Jenny Hogen reports for Nature (17.1.2007) about the race between the U.S. Fermilab near Chicago and the forthcoming European particle smasher LHC at Cern in Switzerland. It is assumed that Cern will find the Higgs particle -- if it exists. But new research at the Fermilab showed that detecting Higgs could also in reach of the U.S. facility. Hence, Fermilab is pulling out all the stops to make it first for the Higgs particle. The winner will receive a Nobel award for sure.

The particle smasher LHC at Cern will start work in year, or so, and Jim Holt looks for the NY Times (14.1.2007) into what's a possible outcome of the research. The Higgs particle that may give matter mass, another particle, one more particle. Well, you cannot predict the unknown, especially in particle physics. The article has a wonderful slideshow of photographs that corresponds well with the subject: physicists try to unravel symmetries in the early universe and Simon Norfolk takes pictures of the very symmetric equipment and detectors at Cern.