From ITWire: CERN finds a boson, but not the Higgs boson
The Swiss particle physics organization European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced on Thursday, December 22, 2011, that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has discovered a boson called Chi-b(3P).
Although the discovery was not the Higgs boson, it is in the right direction for eventually finding the elusive particle.
The discovered particle is called Chi-b(3P). It is a type of boson, meaning that it is a subatomic particle that carries force (and obeys Bose-Einstein statistics) – one that is called a force carrier particle.
And, while the Higgs boson is believed to not be made of smaller particles, the Chi-b(3P) does consist of smaller particles.
Specifically, Chi-b(3P) is made of the beauty (bottom) quark and its anti-bottom quark, and these two particles are held together by the strong nuclear force.
The Chi-b(3P) was predicted to exist a quarter of a century earlier, but until now, it had never-before been observed.
For more on this exciting story, please read the BBC News article “LHC reports discovery of its first new particle.”
In part, the BBC News article states, “The LHC is designed to fill in gaps in the Standard Model…. In particular, it is using the collisions to try to pin down the famous Higgs particle, which physicists hypothesize can explain why matter has mass. Discoveries such as Chi_b (3P) are an important part of this quest because they add to the wider background knowledge….”
Thursday, December 29, 2011
"God Particle" Search Narrows
From WIBC 93.1 FM (Indiana): "God Particle" Search Narrows
While Christians observe the birth of the son of God this week, scientists in Europe appear to be closing in on what's come to be known as the "God Particle."
This week, physicists working at the giant atom smasher operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research say they reduced the window where they believe they will find the Higgs-Boson particle.
The Higgs-Boson is the particle some believe is the missing link, and would explain how the building blocks of matter fit together. Brian Murphy, a physics professor with the Holcomb Observatory at Butler University, says it's a misnomer to refer to it as the "God Particle", which actually comes from the title of a book by physicist Leon Lederman.
Murphy told Ed Wenck on Indy's Afternoon News that scientists believe Higgs-Boson is the particle that gives objects their mass by interacting with other particles. He says a good metaphor would be that the particle is the mortar as opposed to the brick.
"You have the force of gravity, but the particles actually have to have some interaction or communication between each other, and its believed the Higgs-Boson is what provides that," Murphy said.
Murphy says it is difficult to predict when the particle will actually be observed or what it will mean to humankind. He says years or decades sometimes pass before scientific discoveries pay off in observable dividends.
While Christians observe the birth of the son of God this week, scientists in Europe appear to be closing in on what's come to be known as the "God Particle."
This week, physicists working at the giant atom smasher operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research say they reduced the window where they believe they will find the Higgs-Boson particle.
The Higgs-Boson is the particle some believe is the missing link, and would explain how the building blocks of matter fit together. Brian Murphy, a physics professor with the Holcomb Observatory at Butler University, says it's a misnomer to refer to it as the "God Particle", which actually comes from the title of a book by physicist Leon Lederman.
Murphy told Ed Wenck on Indy's Afternoon News that scientists believe Higgs-Boson is the particle that gives objects their mass by interacting with other particles. He says a good metaphor would be that the particle is the mortar as opposed to the brick.
"You have the force of gravity, but the particles actually have to have some interaction or communication between each other, and its believed the Higgs-Boson is what provides that," Murphy said.
Murphy says it is difficult to predict when the particle will actually be observed or what it will mean to humankind. He says years or decades sometimes pass before scientific discoveries pay off in observable dividends.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Calcutta, India: Indian duo find neutrino fault - Scanner on faster-than-light claim
From The Telegraph (Calcutta, India): Indian duo find neutrino fault- Scanner on faster-than-light claim
New Delhi, Dec. 24: Two Indian physicists have identified a problem in the experimental observations earlier this year that appeared to show that subatomic particles called neutrinos can travel faster than light, defying Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity.
The physicists Ramnath Cowsik and Utpal Sarkar, collaborating with Shmuel Nussinov from Tel Aviv University, have used the laws of conservation of energy and momentum to show that the neutrinos claimed to be faster than light contradict the very observations that spotted them.
Scientists from the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) had reported earlier this year that neutrinos produced in high-speed proton-proton collisions in an underground laboratory near Geneva had travelled 730km to Italy about 60 billionths of a second faster than light.
Their findings had stunned the physics community because special relativity theory, which has survived every experimental test since Einstein proposed it a century ago, dictates that nothing can travel faster than light.
Cowsik, Sarkar, and Nussinov applied principles of conservation of energy and momentum to the neutrino production process in CERN. Their calculations, based on equations taught in masters-level physics courses, show that if the neutrinos detected in Italy had indeed travelled faster than light, they would have had much lower energies than observed. A paper pointing out this problem is published today in the journal Physical Review Letters.
“The conservation of energy and momentum laws are fundamental to physics. If we assume they apply to these neutrinos, the experiment should not be seeing the neutrino energies that it did,” Cowsik, professor of physics at the Washington University, St. Louis in the US, said.
The CERN neutrinos are produced in a step-wise process. The proton-proton collisions create subatomic particles called pions which decay into neutrinos and another type of particles called muons. The energy balance calculations show that if the neutrinos that are produced through such pion decays travelled faster than light, the neutrinos would carry a smaller fraction of energy that is shared between the neutrinos and the muons.
The calculations emerged from an informal chat about the CERN results the three physicists had when Nussinov and Sarkar, a senior physicist at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, were visiting Cowsik’s office in St Louis about a month ago.
“This is a strong paper with well-articulated arguments,” said Amitava Raychaudhuri, Palit professor of theoretical physics at Calcutta University. “Their calculations show that faster-than-light neutrinos are inconsistent with the neutrino energies seen.”
Cowsik and his colleagues checked their calculations by analysing the neutrino energies seen in an observatory called IceCube buried in Antarctic ice that has been tracking neutrinos created when cosmic rays strike the Earth’s atmosphere. These neutrinos are also produced from the decay of pions and mimic the CERN production process. “The contradictions are exacerbated in the Antarctic experiment — we see neutrinos with extreme high energies,” Cowsik said.
The scientific teams from CERN and the neutrino detector laboratory in Gran Sasso in Italy, aware of the significance of their observations first reported in September this year, have thus far declined to speculate on the theoretical interpretation of their results.
In October, two US-based physicists Andrew Cohen and Sheldon Glashow had published a paper in the journal Physical Review Letters, in which they had shown that faster-than-light neutrinos would rapidly radiate energy in pairs of electrons and positrons.
“But even very strong theoretical calculations can be questioned because they make some assumptions,” Raychaudhuri said. “The feeling within the physics community is that we need another test — we’re all waiting for a second independent experiment to see how neutrinos behave.”
Cowsik said he has “great respect” for the experimental teams in CERN and Gran Sasso. “When physicists encounter such experimental results and they don’t find any obvious errors in their observations, they are compelled to publish and report their findings.”
But, he said, the theoretical calculations suggest that the experimental details need to be reexamined.
New Delhi, Dec. 24: Two Indian physicists have identified a problem in the experimental observations earlier this year that appeared to show that subatomic particles called neutrinos can travel faster than light, defying Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity.
The physicists Ramnath Cowsik and Utpal Sarkar, collaborating with Shmuel Nussinov from Tel Aviv University, have used the laws of conservation of energy and momentum to show that the neutrinos claimed to be faster than light contradict the very observations that spotted them.
Scientists from the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) had reported earlier this year that neutrinos produced in high-speed proton-proton collisions in an underground laboratory near Geneva had travelled 730km to Italy about 60 billionths of a second faster than light.
Their findings had stunned the physics community because special relativity theory, which has survived every experimental test since Einstein proposed it a century ago, dictates that nothing can travel faster than light.
Cowsik, Sarkar, and Nussinov applied principles of conservation of energy and momentum to the neutrino production process in CERN. Their calculations, based on equations taught in masters-level physics courses, show that if the neutrinos detected in Italy had indeed travelled faster than light, they would have had much lower energies than observed. A paper pointing out this problem is published today in the journal Physical Review Letters.
“The conservation of energy and momentum laws are fundamental to physics. If we assume they apply to these neutrinos, the experiment should not be seeing the neutrino energies that it did,” Cowsik, professor of physics at the Washington University, St. Louis in the US, said.
The CERN neutrinos are produced in a step-wise process. The proton-proton collisions create subatomic particles called pions which decay into neutrinos and another type of particles called muons. The energy balance calculations show that if the neutrinos that are produced through such pion decays travelled faster than light, the neutrinos would carry a smaller fraction of energy that is shared between the neutrinos and the muons.
The calculations emerged from an informal chat about the CERN results the three physicists had when Nussinov and Sarkar, a senior physicist at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, were visiting Cowsik’s office in St Louis about a month ago.
“This is a strong paper with well-articulated arguments,” said Amitava Raychaudhuri, Palit professor of theoretical physics at Calcutta University. “Their calculations show that faster-than-light neutrinos are inconsistent with the neutrino energies seen.”
Cowsik and his colleagues checked their calculations by analysing the neutrino energies seen in an observatory called IceCube buried in Antarctic ice that has been tracking neutrinos created when cosmic rays strike the Earth’s atmosphere. These neutrinos are also produced from the decay of pions and mimic the CERN production process. “The contradictions are exacerbated in the Antarctic experiment — we see neutrinos with extreme high energies,” Cowsik said.
The scientific teams from CERN and the neutrino detector laboratory in Gran Sasso in Italy, aware of the significance of their observations first reported in September this year, have thus far declined to speculate on the theoretical interpretation of their results.
In October, two US-based physicists Andrew Cohen and Sheldon Glashow had published a paper in the journal Physical Review Letters, in which they had shown that faster-than-light neutrinos would rapidly radiate energy in pairs of electrons and positrons.
“But even very strong theoretical calculations can be questioned because they make some assumptions,” Raychaudhuri said. “The feeling within the physics community is that we need another test — we’re all waiting for a second independent experiment to see how neutrinos behave.”
Cowsik said he has “great respect” for the experimental teams in CERN and Gran Sasso. “When physicists encounter such experimental results and they don’t find any obvious errors in their observations, they are compelled to publish and report their findings.”
But, he said, the theoretical calculations suggest that the experimental details need to be reexamined.
Pakistan: BB’s nuclear, missile programmes make country’s defence impregnable
From Associated Press of Pakistan: BB’s nuclear, missile programmes make country’s defence impregnable
By Muhammad Asghar
ISLAMABAD, Dec 26 (APP): In a bid to make country’s defence impregnable, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto took aggressive steps and decisions to modernize and expand the integrated nuclear weapons programme founded and started by her father in 1972. During her first time, Benazir Bhutto established the separate but integrated nuclear testing programme while in her second term, she continued to modernize the programme into new heights despite the embargo imposed by Western world particularly the United States.
It was during her regime that Pressler amendment came in effect in an attempt to freeze the programme but she refused to compromise on the nuclear weapons programme and continued it under her watch.
Under her regime, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) had conducted series of improvised designs of nuclear weapons designed by Theoretical Physics Group (TPG) at PAEC.
Bhutto had appointed Munir Ahmad Khan as her Science Adviser who kept her informed about the development of the programme.
In all, the nuclear weapons and energy program remained Benazir Bhutto’s top priority as with the country’s economy.
During her first term, Benazir Bhutto had approved and launched the Shaheen programme as she had advocated for this programme strongly.
A vocal and avid supporter of the program, Benazir Bhutto also allotted funds for the programme, and strategic programs were launched under her premiership.
In January 1996, Bhutto publicly announced that if India conducts a nuclear test, Pakistan could be forced to “follow suit”.
Benazir Bhutto also continued her policy to modernize and expand the space programme and as part of this policy, she launched and supervised the clandestine project, Integrated Research Programme (IRP)- a missile programme which remained under her watch and successfully ended in 1996.
As part of her policy, Benazir Bhutto constituted the establishment of National Development Complex and the University Observatory in Karachi University and expanded the facilities for the space research.
Pakistan’s first military satellite, Badr-I was also launched under her government through China, while the second military satellite Badr-II was completed during her second democratic government term.
With launching of Badr-I, Pakistan under Benazir Bhutto leadership, became the first Muslim country to have launched and placed the satellite in Earth’s orbit, second only after India.
She declared the “1990”, an year of space in Pakistan and conferred national awards to scientists and engineers who took participation in the development of this satellite.
In 1988, Benazir Bhutto started aerospace projects such as Project Sabre II, Project PAC, Ghauri project under Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan in 1990 and the Shaheen programme in 1995 under Dr. Samar Mubarakmand.
During her second term, Benazir Bhutto declared “1996”, a year of “information technology”, and envisioned her policy of making Pakistan a “global player” in the information technology.
During her first and second term, Benazir Bhutto issued funding of many projects entirely devoted to country’s national defence and security.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
BACKGROUND: Elite school shows Kim's nuclear legacy
M&C: BACKGROUND: Elite school shows Kim's nuclear legacy
Beijing - Kim Jong Il's old high school is often visited by the few tourists and even fewer journalists allowed to visit North Korea, giving them a rare peek into elite society in the secretive, Stalinist nation.
As North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes reflect its technological and military strength, alarming its neighbours and drawing international criticism, the Pyongyang school nurtures students aspiring to be top scientists.
'The students have learned how to clone a rabbit,' Kim Jong Hyun, the vice principal of the Number One Middle School in Pyongyang, said during a tour of a biology laboratory at the school in 2009.
The school focuses mainly on mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics, with most students going on to attend science universities, Kim Jong Hyun said through a government interpreter.
On the wall of a physics classroom were drawings and diagrams explaining surface-to-air missiles, planes, rockets and a magnetic levitation train.
Another diagram showed the basic principles of splitting the atom.
Nearby was a cutaway model of a submarine while other laboratories held high-technology equipment, such as an electron microscope.
'These were donated by Kim Jong Il,' the vice principal said as he showed off new machines in a chemistry laboratory.
'This school is a model school for our country,' he said. 'General Kim Jong Il studied here in this school.'
According to an official biography, the late North Korean leader attended the school from 1954 to 1960.
Kim Jong Il is said to have set out the idea for turning the school into a centre for excellence focusing on science after an April 1984 visit there.
'He decided that the school should be for very talented students, and they should concentrate on things like physics and biology,' Kim Jong Hyun said.
Portraits of Kim and his father, Kim Il Sung, were hung above the blackboards at the front of each classroom.
Kim Jong Hyun said about 1,000 children attended the school, with another 700 enrolled at the attached primary school.
Reports from Seoul said the school and 12 similar ones in North Korea were comparable to South Korean science high schools.
A guide for the dpa correspondent, who also acted as an interpreter and minder and identified himself only as Mr O, arranged the visit as part of a trip to report on a North Korean Asian regional qualifying match in the 2010 football World Cup.
Foreign journalists covering the World Cup qualifiers in North Korea were required to sign an undertaking only to report sports-related news.
But Mr O and the other officials made no attempt to hide the military and nuclear pictures at Kim's old school.
Mr O seemed most concerned about reports taking photographs of poor people and of the small-scale stallholders selling their goods in Pyongyang's streets and public parks.
He also fretted over pictures of North Korean police scuffling with Iranian football fans, probably from Iran's official delegation, as they stood on seats, beat large drums and hoisted huge national flags.
The most revealing warning came as Mr O followed the dpa correspondent around the stadium while he zoomed in on uniformed Public Security officers patrolling the 30,000-strong crowd in Pyongyang's Yanggakdo Stadium.
'Don't shoot them,' Mr O said with a grave look on his face. 'They might shoot us.'
Beijing - Kim Jong Il's old high school is often visited by the few tourists and even fewer journalists allowed to visit North Korea, giving them a rare peek into elite society in the secretive, Stalinist nation.
As North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes reflect its technological and military strength, alarming its neighbours and drawing international criticism, the Pyongyang school nurtures students aspiring to be top scientists.
'The students have learned how to clone a rabbit,' Kim Jong Hyun, the vice principal of the Number One Middle School in Pyongyang, said during a tour of a biology laboratory at the school in 2009.
The school focuses mainly on mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics, with most students going on to attend science universities, Kim Jong Hyun said through a government interpreter.
On the wall of a physics classroom were drawings and diagrams explaining surface-to-air missiles, planes, rockets and a magnetic levitation train.
Another diagram showed the basic principles of splitting the atom.
Nearby was a cutaway model of a submarine while other laboratories held high-technology equipment, such as an electron microscope.
'These were donated by Kim Jong Il,' the vice principal said as he showed off new machines in a chemistry laboratory.
'This school is a model school for our country,' he said. 'General Kim Jong Il studied here in this school.'
According to an official biography, the late North Korean leader attended the school from 1954 to 1960.
Kim Jong Il is said to have set out the idea for turning the school into a centre for excellence focusing on science after an April 1984 visit there.
'He decided that the school should be for very talented students, and they should concentrate on things like physics and biology,' Kim Jong Hyun said.
Portraits of Kim and his father, Kim Il Sung, were hung above the blackboards at the front of each classroom.
Kim Jong Hyun said about 1,000 children attended the school, with another 700 enrolled at the attached primary school.
Reports from Seoul said the school and 12 similar ones in North Korea were comparable to South Korean science high schools.
A guide for the dpa correspondent, who also acted as an interpreter and minder and identified himself only as Mr O, arranged the visit as part of a trip to report on a North Korean Asian regional qualifying match in the 2010 football World Cup.
Foreign journalists covering the World Cup qualifiers in North Korea were required to sign an undertaking only to report sports-related news.
But Mr O and the other officials made no attempt to hide the military and nuclear pictures at Kim's old school.
Mr O seemed most concerned about reports taking photographs of poor people and of the small-scale stallholders selling their goods in Pyongyang's streets and public parks.
He also fretted over pictures of North Korean police scuffling with Iranian football fans, probably from Iran's official delegation, as they stood on seats, beat large drums and hoisted huge national flags.
The most revealing warning came as Mr O followed the dpa correspondent around the stadium while he zoomed in on uniformed Public Security officers patrolling the 30,000-strong crowd in Pyongyang's Yanggakdo Stadium.
'Don't shoot them,' Mr O said with a grave look on his face. 'They might shoot us.'
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Scientists ‘trigger’ high energy physics at CERN in India-UK collaboration
From PhysOrg.com: Scientists ‘trigger’ high energy physics at CERN in India-UK collaboration
The University of Birmingham is working with partners at Jammu University on particle physics experiments, including those at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research – CERN.
The project focuses on analysing collision data and the real-time selection or 'triggering' of the most interesting events from amongst very large backgrounds using state-of-the-art fast electronics. The researchers will analyse collisions between pairs of lead ions in the ALICE experiment at the LHC recreating the particle densities and temperatures which existed a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang. In addition, they are aiming to make improvements to the ALICE trigger capability, in preparation for the next, higher intensity, phase of the running of the LHC.
A further key area of focus for the collaboration will be the development of an optimised trigger for the new NA62 fixed target experiment, which will study very rare effects involving strange quarks which are highly sensitive to new physics.
This work will build on previous successful collaboration between University of Birmingham physicists and Professor Anju Bhasin from Jammu University, and her group, in the context of ALICE and earlier heavy ion collision experiments. It will widen the connections to NA62 which has no previous Indian involvement and will extend the ALICE work into the period of LHC operation where discoveries of previously unknown physics are to be expected.
Professor Paul Newman, Professor of Particle Physics, at the University of Birmingham, said: “We are delighted by this opportunity to build further on our collaboration with our Indian colleagues in Jammu. On top of all the recent talk surrounding the Higgs Boson question, this is such an exciting time for all of us involved in high energy physics at CERN.”
The project is funded by the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) as part of the Innovation Partnerships strand. This initiative aims to provide opportunities for UK and Indian universities and institutions to collaborate on thematic partnerships to enhance the innovation capacity of both India and the UK. It promotes partnerships between higher education institutions which focus on innovation and new areas of development in research, in areas relevant to both countries.
Provided by University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is working with partners at Jammu University on particle physics experiments, including those at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research – CERN.
The project focuses on analysing collision data and the real-time selection or 'triggering' of the most interesting events from amongst very large backgrounds using state-of-the-art fast electronics. The researchers will analyse collisions between pairs of lead ions in the ALICE experiment at the LHC recreating the particle densities and temperatures which existed a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang. In addition, they are aiming to make improvements to the ALICE trigger capability, in preparation for the next, higher intensity, phase of the running of the LHC.
A further key area of focus for the collaboration will be the development of an optimised trigger for the new NA62 fixed target experiment, which will study very rare effects involving strange quarks which are highly sensitive to new physics.
This work will build on previous successful collaboration between University of Birmingham physicists and Professor Anju Bhasin from Jammu University, and her group, in the context of ALICE and earlier heavy ion collision experiments. It will widen the connections to NA62 which has no previous Indian involvement and will extend the ALICE work into the period of LHC operation where discoveries of previously unknown physics are to be expected.
Professor Paul Newman, Professor of Particle Physics, at the University of Birmingham, said: “We are delighted by this opportunity to build further on our collaboration with our Indian colleagues in Jammu. On top of all the recent talk surrounding the Higgs Boson question, this is such an exciting time for all of us involved in high energy physics at CERN.”
The project is funded by the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) as part of the Innovation Partnerships strand. This initiative aims to provide opportunities for UK and Indian universities and institutions to collaborate on thematic partnerships to enhance the innovation capacity of both India and the UK. It promotes partnerships between higher education institutions which focus on innovation and new areas of development in research, in areas relevant to both countries.
Provided by University of Birmingham
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