Friedman, Kendall and Taylor scattered beams of high-energy electrons from liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets. They found that electrons were more likely to be scattered at large angles than was previously thought. This work paralleled that of Ernest Rutherford, who famously scattered alpha particles from nuclei, pointing to the existence of the atomic nucleus. “Henry was an outstanding scientist and an outstanding human being who worked tirelessly for the betterment of society, ” said Friedman. “He always saw the big picture and identified the big problems. He used political and scientific activity effectively to advance such goals as arms control, nuclear safety and a better environment. He was a wonderful colleague and a wonderful friend. I will miss him terribly.” Kendall was a founding member of the Union of Concerned Scientists in 1969, and served as its chairman for the past 25 years. He was also a member of the panel that briefed President Clinton on the dangers of global warming in 1997.
NASA to fly museum pieces
Putting the quantum brakes on light
Electromagnetically induced transparency relies on interference between different electronic transitions in an atom and has been used to make opaque media transparent at certain wavelengths in the past. In the latest experiment the sodium atoms were trapped and cooled in a magneto-optic trap. The atoms were cooled until they collapsed into a Bose-Einstein condensate – a special state of matter in which all the atoms are in the same quantum state and are described by a single wavefunction. Hau and co-workers then tuned a ‘coupling’ laser to a transition between two hyperfine states in the atoms. Under the right conditions they found that this slowed down a ‘probe’ laser beam travelling at right angles to the coupling laser. The sample also showed exceptionally large optical nonlinearities which could be useful in optical switching applications. The team also believe that it might be possible to slow the light even further – to speeds measured in centimetres per second.
A ‘sticky’ theory
The French team studied the behaviour of air bubbles on the surface of the sticky polymer film attached to a metal probe. The number and size of the bubbles depends on the surface roughness of the film and probe. They discovered that when the film and the probe are pulled in opposite directions, the air bubbles deform and change shape. This leads to a ‘suction-cup’ effect which strengthens the bond between the probe and the film. However, once air rushes between the film and the probe, the bubbles start to move and join together. Small contact points remain between the film and the probe, until enough force is applied to pull the items completely apart.
Physics, biscuits and the public
Scientists often complain that the media do not report their work. However, according to Fisher, this is not because journalists are not interested in science but because they have a fear of looking foolish when asking questions. The dunking story, on the other hand, gave journalists the chance to interact with researchers on a topic they were acquainted with, and to ask questions they and their readers could understand. This helped the story get wide coverage. “More than 50% of people in a random sample, including the village pub and my wife’s hairdresser, were aware of the story and talking about it” says Fisher.
The ability of both journalists and the public to understand the Washburn equation – which was first derived in 1921 and explains capillary flow in porous materials – highlights that equations can sometimes popularise science.
Supersonic plasticity
Gumbsch and Gao also found that the supersonic speeds only occur when the stress is applied at a single point. At very low strains, the deformations travel subsonically. At intermediate strains, however, they start supersonically but quickly drop below the sound barrier. But if higher strains are applied, stable supersonic deformation occurs, causing a ‘shock cone’ to ripple throughout the material. Gumbsch and Gao now hope to model these effects on geological features such as tectonic shear faults.
Statistical physics challenges economics
Once the balance between ‘fundamentalists’ and noise traders is breached the market becomes more volatile and creates boom or bust cycles. For example, Amazon.com is now worth over $30 billion, 30 times its predicted revenue this year, despite never making a profit. Lux and Marchesi suggests that the increasing numbers of ‘optimistic’ noise traders investing in Internet stocks is making the market unstable. As more and more noise traders follow this trend, companies such as Amazon find their share prices pushed far above their true worth.
Physics misses out in US budget
At the DOE, the budget for basic energy science is set to rise by 11%, with two-thirds of this going to meet construction costs for the Spallation Neutron Source being built at Oak Ridge. Fusion research remains static at $222 m.
The $13.6 bn requested for NASA represents a fall of 0.6% compared with this year. However, space science and earth observation are set to receive increases of 3.6% and 3.2% respectively. As expected, construction of the International Space Station is earmarked to receive the biggest increase – 7.7%.
Wigner crystal found
Normal metals have an equal number of electrons with spin “up” and spin “down”. However, when there are more spins pointing up than down, or vice versa, the metal becomes a ferromagnet. Furthermore, the unpaired electrons responsible for the magnetism are pinned by the metal lattice and cannot move. This is what happens in iron. In lanthanum-doped calcium hexaboride, however, the unpaired electrons responsible for the magnetism are free to move. “We don’t know what the practical implications of this are yet, ” said team member Roy Goodrich of Louisiana State University, “but a lot of people will be looking at this.”
Perl reveals recipe for success
The history of science is littered with famous scientists who pushed the ‘wrong idea’, Perl told PhysicsWeb. And research organisations do not have a good track record of controlling the direction of scientific discoveries. He points out that all efforts to produce energy from controlled nuclear fusion have failed, despite the massive investment in fusion research. Perl also disapproves of the International Space Station because “there are cheaper and more immediate ways to do the same space, biological, and cosmic ray research.” He does, however, think that the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will be worthwhile. “We have no other technology for studying very high energy and very large mass phenomena, ” he says.
“One should always use the cheapest and most immediate experimental technology because it is more flexible and allows changes in direction and technique as the experimenter learns, ” says Perl. “Surprises are the best part of the practice of science, but most surprises require the experimenters to do something new and different, such as examining a new phenomenon or applying a new technology to an old phenomenon.”
Perl says he has three rules for carrying out speculative research: make sure the speculation does not violate established laws; enjoy yourself; and make sure others can duplicate the experiment. Perl currently spends half his time on a non-accelerator experiment that is searching for particles with fractional electric charge.
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