Showing posts with label Particle physics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Particle physics. Show all posts
Sunday, March 3, 2013
The Higgs Particle And The Apparent Instability of Our Universe
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| Image credit: Cern -simulated data modeled for the CMS particle detector |
According to Dr Lykken, via BBC News:
"It turns out there's a calculation you can do in our Standard Model of particle physics, once you know the mass of the Higgs boson," - "If you use all the physics we know now, and you do this straightforward calculation - it's bad news." - "What happens is you get just a quantum fluctuation that makes a tiny bubble of the vacuum the Universe really wants to be in. And because it's a lower-energy state, this bubble will then expand, basically at the speed of light, and sweep everything before it,"
As best as I understand all of this. One of the debated physical properties of the universe in which we all live, is that the vacuum in which said universe exists, is not as stable as it could be. The notion that this instability is one of the physical properties of our current universe, isn't a new one. But determining weather or not this theory is true, is all based on a calculation involving the frequency of the higgs' own mass, versus that of the top quark's pole mass, amongst other things. If our current understandings of those measurements and calculations hold true, then it's possible that at some point in the distant future - as in, an incomprehensibly long time from now- a fluctuation within the field which maintains said vacuum, could cause it to re-align itself into a more stable state. Meaning; The universe in which we currently live, will be no more. Which sounds bad. But, again, you're gonna be dead anyway. So don't worry too much about that. Besides which, the calculations described by DR. Lykken also bring with them another possibility: What if the end, is really just the beginning?
"It's much easier to explain a lot of things if what we see is a cycle. If I were to bet my own money on it, I'd bet the cyclic idea is right," - Dr.Joseph Lykken [BBC]
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| Potential evidence of successive big bangs/Gurzadyan and R. Penrose |
Source: BBC News
Image Credit: Cern , Gurzadyan and R. Penrose
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Neutrinos, Still Not Faster Than Light, For Reals This Time
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| The first use of a hydrogen bubble chamber to detect neutrinos, on November 13, 1970. VIA: Wikimedia commons |
The results in question were first published in September of 2011, after an experiment in which beams of neutrinos repeatedly fired (1500 times to be exact) from an accelerator in Geneva, managed to reach their destination in Italy a full 60 nanoseconds faster than should have been physically possible.
Not surprisingly, these results were met with skepticism from the vast majority of physicists, who presumed they were likely due to an experimental error of some form, and would almost certainly not stand up to further analysis. Which wasn't a particularly surprising stance for them to take, given that actually confirming it to be possible for anything to violate the physical limits set by special relativity- yes, even by as little as 60 nanoseconds (60 billionths of a second)- would literally have redefined one of the fundamental rules of our reality as we now understand it. And sure enough, in February of this year an initial examination of the equipment used in the experiments, found that a combination of a faulty fiber optic connection and GPS unit, were most likely responsible for the result.
On June 8th, at the International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics in Kyoto, CERN research director Sergio Bertolucci announced that the results of four new experiments designed to test the original findings. All of which, after correcting for the apparent timing errors in the original experiment, recorded a time of flight for their neutrinos that was under that of the speed of light. Thus making it official: Like every other known bit of matter in the universe, neutrinos, STILL can't travel faster than light.
-CAINE-
VIA: Wired Science
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Higgs Boson And The Research Surrounding it Explained, in Cartoon Form
In all seriousness. I've written about the Higgs and particle physics in general, several times before. But the Higgs Boson, and the quantum world in which it exists, is without question, such a complex subject, that it's always worth revisiting.
-CAINE-
Source: Camels with Hammers -VIA: Left Hemispheres
Chinese Researchers Set New Distance Record For "Teleporting" Qubits
One of the most astonishing and confusing properties of the quantum world is the phenomena of quantum entanglement. Through this effect, it's possible for two individual particles to become linked to one another and act as single system, regardless of the distance between them.
Say, for instance, you managed to entangle a couple of particles, A and B. Even if particle A were residing quietly inside an accelerator here on Earth, while particle B was busy floating along through space on the other side of the galaxy, this entangled pair would still act as a single system. If one were to then try and observe particle A - thus causing a shift in it's quantum state through the mere act of observation, and the joy of the uncertainty principal, quantum superposition, and all that - particle B, would instantaneously adopt the same quantum state.
Now, I'm not going to pretend to understand exactly how quantum entanglement manages to happen in the first place, or how scientists manage to deliberately produce the effect for experimentation, because, I don't- in my defense, neither does anyone else. But the phenomena of quantum entanglement is one that's been known to, and studied by, quantum physicists, for quite some time. And while it's easy to imagine a whole host of spectacular Sci-fi applications for the effect (some of which might also become a reality someday), currently, one of the most promising, real world application for entanglement, is in the field of data transfer, processing, and communications.
Enter, the Qubit. Which is the quantum analog to the the digital bit.
Now then, if I've done a fair job of explaining the concept of entanglement to you, you'll understand why the word teleporting appears in quotation marks in the title of this entry. Because when a group of scientists from China recently managed to set a new record for quantum "teleportation" by successfully transferring information between 1100 photons, across 97 km of free-space, they didn't actually teleport anything. Rather, they managed to successfully entangle and effect one group of particles, by manipulating another, across a previously unachievable distance. In other words, they were able to transfer data (qubits), from one place to another, without actually transferring anything at all. Which is kind of what makes Quantum entanglement such an attractive means of communication and data transfer in the first place. Since there's literally nothing to intercept, eaves dropping on this form of quantum communication, would be nearly impossible. I say nearly, because, I can easily imagine some clever person finding a way to entangle a set of particles of their own, in order to intercept transmissions. But that too is just my own bit of speculative science fiction, at this point.
One of the (many) current problems and limitations of this particular method of quantum transfer, and why this groups achievement is a significant one - aside from just being cool as hell- is that entangling particles is understandably difficult. So the entanglements currently being created, are easily broken and interfered with. Which is why the previous record for such a transfer, which was also set by a group from China, in 2010, was just 16 km,.Which still seems an impressive feat, by my standards. But if the results of experiments like these can be reproduced, and the entanglements themselves can be made more stable. I think communications through quantum "telepotation", might actually be a reality, someday. Though certainly not anytime soon.
As for actual the actual teleportation of complex matter, which is what we all think of when we read the word... Sorry, but I still don't see it happening.
But that's a discussion for a different day.
-CAINE-
VIA: Wired Science -And- phys.org
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Researchers Send Message Through Solid Stone on a Beam of Neutrinos
While modern wireless technologies are obviously vastly superior to the communication methods of old, they still rely on the use of magnetic waves, and therefore, on maintaining an unobstructed line of sight between the transmitter and receiver, in order to work. So even today -as anyone whose ever had a satellite dish knows- it can take little more than heavy cloud cover, or even a little too much sunshine, to result in a lost signal.One potential answer to the ever present issue of signal obstruction, is the recently very popular sub-atomic particle known as the neutrino. Because all though they may still be limited to the speed of light like everything else, neutrinos are still very strange, and potentially very useful little bits of matter. These neutrally charged, weakly interacting, sub-atomic particles move through the world virtually unaffected by outside forces, and even other matter, thanks to the neutrino's near complete lack of mass. It's this unique ability to pass through other matter unaffected, that makes the concept of using beams of neutrinos to replace the conventional radio wave as a data carrier, so attractive.
A recent experiment conducted at the Fermi labs accelerator in Illinois by a group of scientists lead by researchers from the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University, managed to successfully transmit information using a neutrino beam, for the very first time. The message they sent, which was simply the word "neutrino", was transmitted through 250 yards of solid stone, and is a promising proof of concept, where the use of neutrinos as an effective, alternative transmission medium is concerned. However, even sending this simple, binary message consisting of a single word, took over two hours and the power of massive particle detector pull off. Which clearly demonstrates that the same property which makes the neutrino a suitable medium for unobstructed data transmission, also makes it difficult to detect and collect on the receiving end.
So while it's entirely possible that we might all someday be connecting wireless to the world through virtually unobstructable beams of neutrinos. For now, you'll still have to keep hanging your head dangerously far out your office window, to try and get that elusive third bar you need to load your Twitter feed.
-CAINE-
Story and Image VIA: University of Rochester
Sunday, March 18, 2012
The Inner Workings of The LHC
In case you're unfamiliar with the inner workings of a modern particle accelerator, more specifically the inner workings of the LHC. The above animation explains just how the accelerator manages to drive particles up to 99.99% the speed of light, and then smash them into one another, breaking them down into smaller sub-atomic pieces.
-CAINE-
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Standard Model and The Search For The Higgs Boson
Two recent experiments from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, reported a small excess of events between 115 and 135 GeV (gigaelectronvolts), which they believe to be hints of the long sought Higgs boson. The results of Fermi's experiments seem to support those of experiments conducted last year at CERN’s LHC, which also may have spotted the particle at a similar wavelength; around 125 GeV. What does that actually mean?
Searching for sub-atomic particles like the Higgs, is a matter of smashing larger particles together -Larger in this case meaning things like protons- and then searching the debris of the resulting explosion for anomalies. Because Like every other particle described by the standard model the Higgs, if it does exist, would only be detected at a specific energy level or wavelength of radiation, finding it is really just a matter of looking in the right place. So the experimental results obtained by physicists at Fermi, the LHC, and other accelerators around the world, now seem to suggest that physicists are finally doing exactly that. And the general buzz amongst physicists, the ones I follow anyway, seems to be that we are in fact on the verge of discovering the Higgs.
Why does that matter, and why should you care?
Finding the Higgs matters because the standard model of particle physics predicts the existence of at least 17 fundamental particles, including the Higgs. This collection of particles consists of the Higgs boson, believed to be responsible for imparting all matter with mass, four particles corresponding to the fundamental forces, and 12 particles of matter; the matter particles being divided into two categories, quarks and leptons, and appearing as pairs, or "generations". This theoretical model is largely regarded as one of the most successful theories of all time, as it has consistently been used to make accurate scientific predictions since the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970's.
But the accuracy of the equations derived from the standard model rely on the assumption that the Higgs is a real thing. So confirming the existence of this theoretical particle is vital to the theory's validation, and in turn, a major part of our current understanding of the physical universe. And you should care, particularly if you are of the mind that ours is a reality governed by natural laws and forces, rather than malicious deities and supernatural effects, because the world of quantum theory is the quest for the ultimate explanation of EVERYTHING.
Also because:
-CAINE-
Source: Wired Science
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