#particle physics
Muon Tau
Mass: 105.658 MeV/c^2 Mass: 1776.86 MeV/c^2
Charge: -1 e Charge: -1 e
Spin: ½ Spin: ½
Color: None Color: None
Antiparticle: antimuon Antiparticle: antitau
The muon and tau are second and third generation, respectively, leptons and fermions. There are a total of 6 leptons in the standard model. The electron, muon, and tau are the three which have electric charge while the others, the neutrinos, do not. Both the muon and tau are much more massive than the electron and decaydue to the weak interaction. The muon decays on average 2.2 microseconds (2.2*10^-6 s) into usually an electron and two neutrinos of different types. The tau decays much quicker in 2.9 * 10^-13 seconds into hadrons(composite particles made of two or more quarks, e.g. proton). The tau is the only lepton able to decay into hadrons because it is the only one with sufficient mass.
The muon was discovered by Carl D. Anderson and Seth Neddermeyer in 1936 by studying cosmic radiation and observed particles which deflecteddifferently than electrons in a magnetic field. The radius of deflection depends on mass and charge. Since the charge is the same the difference must be accounted through a greater mass.
The tau was theoretically predicted in 1971 by Yung-su Tsai and experimentally detected between 1974-1977 at the Stanford Linear AcceleratorandLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Probably the most well known experiment that involves muons is the Muon g-2 (”g minus 2″) experiment at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory or Fermilab. The goal is to measure the magnetic dipole moment at a very high precision because there is a slight deviation from g=2 (hence g minus 2) known as the “anomalous” part predicted by the Standard Model theory. A large enough difference between the experimentally measured and theoretically determined values could point to the existence of more undiscovered subatomic particles. Read more about the Muon g-2 experiment below:
Sources:(1)-(2) & Image 2 -(3)- Image 1
Demonstrating driven space-time crystals at room temperature
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Germany and Poland has demonstrated driven space-time crystals at room temperature. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters, the group describes applying theories surrounding space-time crystals to magnons and how doing so allowed them to exploit electron spin in a way that could prove useful in information technology applications.
Crystals are defined by repeating pattern structures. Other research (by Frank Wilczek in 2012) has suggested that space-time crystals are defined in similar ways with structures that repeat in both time and space. More recent work has led to describing roadmaps for their creation in a lab setting. In this new effort, the researchers have used magnons (quasiparticles that are collective excitations of the spin structure of electrons in a crystal) to realize driven space-time crystals in a room temperature environment. The hope is that such structures, with their new state of matter, can be used to store information with far more energy efficiency than technologies in use now.
To create their space-time crystals, the researchers placed a length of nickel-iron alloy in a radio frequency field. Doing so resulted in the creation of excited magnons, which pushed them to assume a dynamic pattern—the researchers described them as similar to balls on a pool table, though in this case, all the balls returned to their initial positions after passing out of the radio frequency field.
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Bimeronium: A new member of the topological spin textures family
Topological spin textures in magnetic systems are intriguing objects that exhibit exotic physics and have potential applications in information storage and processing. The most fundamental and exemplary topological spin texture is called the skyrmion, which is a nanoscale circular domain wall carrying a nonzero integer topological charge. The skyrmion texture in magnetic materials was theoretically predicted in the late 1980s, and it was experimentally observed in chiral magnets a decade ago. Since the first observation of magnetic skyrmions, the skyrmion community has focused on a series of topological spin textures evolved from the skyrmion, such as the skyrmionium and bimeron.
In a recent theoretical work carried out by an international team from China, Japan, Australia, Russia, and France. The authors introduced a new type of topological spin textures, which is called the bimeronium. The bimeronium exists in magnets with in-plane magnetization. It is a topological counterpart of skyrmionium in perpendicularly magnetized magnets and can be seen as a combination of two bimerons with opposite topological charges. Therefore, the bimeronium carries a topological charge of zero, like the skyrmionium.
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From rust to riches: Computing goes green—or is that brown?
Current silicon-based computing technology is energy-inefficient. Information and communications technology is projected to use over 20% of global electricity production by 2030. So finding ways to decarbonise technology is an obvious target for energy savings. Professor Paolo Radaelli from Oxford’s Department of Physics, working with Diamond Light Source, the U.K.“s national synchrotron, has been leading research into more efficient alternatives to silicon. His group’s surprising findings are published in Nature in an article titled "Antiferromagnetic half-skyrmions and bimerons at room temperature.” Some of the antiferromagnetic textures they have found could emerge as prime candidates for low-energy antiferromagnetic spintronics at room temperature.
Researchers have been working for a long time on alternative technologies to silicon. Oxides of common metals such as iron and copper are natural targets because they are already a technology staple, present in silicon-based computers, meaning there is a high chance of compatibility between the two technologies. Although oxides are great for storing information, they are not good at moving information around—a necessity for computation. However, one property of oxides that has emerged is that many are magnetic, which means it might be possible to move magnetic bits around, both in oxides and in other magnets, with very little energy required.
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Hints of an unexpected new particle could be confirmed within days.
If the observations are confirmed, it will be revolutionary. This could mean nothing less than the fall of the Standard Model of particle physics (SM), which has passed every experimental test thrown at it since it was first put together over four decades ago.
Neo-Boolean - II: Logic Gates
Thinking Inside the Lines
(continued from here)
We have already looked briefly at three of the more important Boolean operators or logic gates: AND, OR,andXOR.NOT just toggles any two Boolean truth values (true/false; on/off; yes/no). Here we introduce two new logic gates which do not occur in Boolean algebra. Both play an important role in mandalic geometry though.
We’ll refer to the first of these new operators or logic gates as INV standing for inversionorinvert. This is similar to Boole’s NOT except that it produces toggling betweeen yang/+ and yin/- instead of 1 and 0. Because it is based on binary arithmetic, Boole’s NOT has been thought of as referring to inversion also (as in ONorOFF). Although both ANDandINV act as toggling logic gates they have very different results in the greater scheme of things, since nature has created a prepotent disparity between a -/+ toggle and a 0/1 toggle in basic parameters of geometry, spacetime, and being itself. This makes Boole’s AND just a statement of logical opposition, notinversion.
Recognition of this important difference is built into mandalic geometry structurally and functionally, as it is also into Cartesian coordinate dynamics and the logic of the I Ching, but lacking in Boole’s symbolic logic. This is necessarily so, as there is no true negative domain in Boolean algebra. The OFF state of electronics and computers, though it may sometimes be thought of in terms of a negative state, is in fact not. It relates to the Western zero (0), not the minus one of the number line. Where Boolean algebra speaks of NOT 1 it refers specifically to zero and only to zero. When mandalic geometry asserts INV 1 it refers specifically to -1 and only to -1 . The inversion of yang then is yin and the inversion of yinisyang.[1] In the I Ching, Taoist thought, and mandalic geometry the two are not opposites but complements and, as such, interdependent.
The second added logic gate that will be introduced now is the REV operator standing for reversionorrevert. This operator produces no change in what it acts upon. It is the multiplicative identity element (also called the neutral elementorunit element), as INV is the inverse element. In ordinary algebra the inverse element is -1, while the identity element is 1. In mandalic geometry and the I Ching the counterparts are yinandyang, respectively. If Boolean algebra lacks a dedicated identity operator, it nonetheless has its Laws of Identity which accomplish much the same in a different way:
- A = A
- NOT A = NOT A
Again, Boolean algebra has no true correlate to the INV operator. There can be no sign inversion formulation as it lacks negatives entirely. Although Boolean algebra may have served analog and digital electronics and digital computers quite well for decades now, it is incapable of doing the same for any quantum logic applications in the future, if only because it lacks a negative domain.[2] It offers up bits readily but qubits only with extreme difficulty and those it does are like tears shed by crocodiles while feeding.
(to be continued)
Image: Boolean Search Operators. [Source]
Notes
[1] Leibniz’s binary number system, on which Boole based his logic, escapes this criticism, as Leibniz uses 0 and 1 simply as notational symbols in a modular arithmetic and not as contrasting functional elements in an algebraic context of either the Boolean or ordinary kind.
In the field of computers and electronics, Boolean refers to a data type that has two possible values representing true and false. It is generally used in context to a deductive logical system known as Boolean Algebra. Binary in mathematics and computers, refers to a base 2 numerical notation. It consists of two values 0 and 1. The digits are combined using a place value structure to generate equivalent numerical values. Thus, both are based on the same underlying concept but used in context to different systems. [Source]
[2] Moreover, I expect physics will soon enough discover that what it now calls antimatter is in some sense and to some degree a necessary constituent of ordinary matter. I can already hear the loudly objecting voices declaring matter and antimatter in contact necessarily annihilate one another, but that need not invalidate the thesis just proposed. My supposition revolves around the meaning of “contact” at Planck scale and the light speed velocity at which subatomic particles are born, interact and decay only to be revived again in an eternal dance of creation and re-creation. Material particles exist in some kind of structural and functional homeostasis, not all that unlike the anabolic and catabolic mechanisms that by means of negative feedback maintain all entities of the biological persuasion in the steady state we understand as life. Physics has yet to get a full grip on this aspect of reality, though moving ever closer with introduction of quarks and gluons to its menagerie of performing particles.
© 2016 Martin Hauser
Please note: The content and/or format of this post may not be in finalized form. Reblog as a TEXT post will contain this caveat alerting readers to refer to the current version in the source blog. A LINK post will itself do the same. :)
Scroll to bottom for links to Previous / Next pages (if existent). This blog builds on what came before so the best way to follow it is chronologically. Tumblr doesn’t make that easy to do. Since the most recent page is reckoned as Page 1 the number of the actual Page 1 continually changes as new posts are added. To determine the number currently needed to locate Page 1 go to the most recent post which is here. The current total number of pages in the blog will be found at the bottom. The true Page 1 can be reached by changing the web address mandalicgeometry.tumblr.com to mandalicgeometry.tumblr.com/page/x, exchanging my current page number for x and entering. To find a different true page(p) subtract p from x+1 to get the number(n) to use. Place n in the URL instead of x (mandalicgeometry.tumblr.com/page/n) where
n = x + 1 - p. :)
-Page 304-
Post 26 of 51…
25) in 2006, this lucky, lucky man and his husband got invited to CERN!! [i wanna go!!]
he got shown around the LHC and the other particle accelerators they got there.
I’m still green with envy, me. ;o)
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Beyond Descartes - Part 6
The Fiction Formerly Known As the Line
(continued from here)
Rereading the last post a moment ago I see I fell into the same old trap, namely describing a concept arising from an alternative worldview in terms of our Western worldview. It is so astonishingly easy to do this. So it is important always to be on guard against this error of mind.
In saying that the Taoist number line is the basis of its coordinate system I was phrasing the subject in Western terminology, which doesn’t just do an injustice to the truth of the matter, it does violence to it, in the process destroying the reality: that within Taoism, the coordinate system is primary. It precedes the line, which follows from it. What may be the most important difference between the Taoist apprehension of space and that of Descartes lies encoded within that single thought.
Descartes continues the fiction fomented in the Western mind by Euclid that the point and the line have independent reality. Taking that to be true, Descartes constructs his coordinate system using pointsandlines as the elemental building blocks. But to be true to the content and spirit of Taoism, this fabrication must be surrendered. For Taoism, the coordinate system, which models space, or spacetime rather, is primary. Therefore to understand the fictional Taoist line we must begin there, in the holism and the complexity of its coordinate system where dimension, whatever it may be, reigns supreme.[1]
And that means we can no longer disregard composite dimension, postponing discussion of it for a later time, because it is the logical basis on which the I Ching is predicated. It is related to what we today know as combinatorics,Boolean algebra, and probability, and is what gives rise to what I have called the plane of potentiality. It is the very pith of mandalic geometry, what makes it a representation of mandalic spacetime.[2]
(continuedhere)
Notes
[1] In my mind, dimension is a category of physical energetic description before it is a category of geometrical description. When particle physicists speak about “quantum numbers” I think they are actually, whether intended or not, referring to dimensions. If this is true, then our geometries should be constructed to reflect that primordial reality, not arbitrarily as we choose.
[2] In speaking of logic and the I Ching in the same breath I am using the term in its broadest sense as any formal system in which are defined axioms and rules of inference. In reference to the I Ching, the logic involved is far removed from the rationalism bequeathed to Descartes by his times. It is a pre-rationalist logic that prevailed in human history for a very long time before the eventual splitting off of the irrational from the rational. This means also that the I Ching is among other things a viable instrument to access strata of human minds long dormant in historical times, other than possibly, at times, in poetry and art and the work of those select scientists who make extensive use of intuition in the development of their theories.
Note to self: Two contrasting systems of thought based on very different worldviews can never be adequately explained in terms of one another. At times though, for lack of anything better, we necessarily fall back on just such a strategy, however limited, and make the best of it we can.
© 2015 Martin Hauser
Please note: The content and/or format of this post may not be in finalized form. Reblog as a TEXT post will contain this caveat alerting readers to refer to the current version in the source blog. A LINK post will itself do the same. :)
Scroll to bottom for links to Previous / Next pages (if existent). This blog builds on what came before so the best way to follow it is chronologically. Tumblr doesn’t make that easy to do. Since the most recent page is reckoned as Page 1 the number of the actual Page 1 continually changes as new posts are added. To determine the number currently needed to locate Page 1 go to the most recent post which is here. The current total number of pages in the blog will be found at the bottom. The true Page 1 can be reached by changing the web address mandalicgeometry.tumblr.com to mandalicgeometry.tumblr.com/page/x, exchanging my current page number for x and entering. To find a different true page(p) subtract p from x+1 to get the number(n) to use. Place n in the URL instead of x (mandalicgeometry.tumblr.com/page/n) where
n = x + 1 - p. :)
-Page 282-
There’s Only One Way To Beat The Speed Of Light
“The discovery and understanding of Cherenkov radiation was revolutionary in many ways, but it also led to a frightening application in the early days of laboratory particle physics experiments. A beam of energetic particles leaves no optical signature as it travels through air, but will cause the emission of this blue light if it passes through a medium where it travels faster than light in that medium. Physicists used to close one eye and stick their head in the path of the beam; if the beam was on, they’d see a “flash” of light due to the Cherenkov radiation generated in their eye, confirming that the beam was on. (Needless to say, this process was discontinued with the advent of radiation safety training.)
Still, despite all the advances that have occurred in physics over the intervening generations, the only way we know of to beat the speed of light is to find yourself a medium where you can slow that light down. We can only exceed that speed in a medium, and if we do, this telltale blue glow — which provides a tremendous amount of information about the interaction that gave rise to it — is our data-rich reward. Until warp drive or tachyons become a reality, the Cherenkov glow is the #1 way to go!”
Does Dark Matter Harbor Life?
An invisible civilization could be living right under your nose.
By Lisa Randall
Illustrations by Jackie Ferrentino
Even though we know that ordinary matter accounts for only about one-twentieth of the universe’s energy and a sixth of the total energy carried by matter (with dark energy constituting the remaining portion), we nonetheless consider ordinary matter to be the truly important constituent. With the exception of cosmologists, almost everyone’s attention is focused on the ordinary matter component, which you might have thought to be largely insignificant according to the energy accounting.
We of course care more about ordinary matter because we are made of the stuff—as is the tangible world in which we live. But we also pay attention because of the richness of its interactions. Ordinary matter interacts through the electromagnetic, the weak, and the strong nuclear forces—helping the visible matter of our world to form complex, dense systems. Not only stars, but also rocks, oceans, plants, and animals owe their very existence to the nongravitational forces of nature through which ordinary matter interacts. Just as a beer’s small-percentage alcohol content affects carousers far more than the rest of the drink, ordinary matter, though carrying a small percentage of the energy density, influences itself and its surroundings much more noticeably than something that just passes through.
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We may have spotted a parallel universe going backwards in time
Strange particles observed by an experiment in Antarctica could be evidence of an alternative reality where everything is upside down
In the Antarctic, things happen at a glacial pace. Just ask Peter Gorham. For a month at a time, he and his colleagues would watch a giant balloon carrying a collection of antennas float high above the ice, scanning over a million square kilometres of the frozen landscape for evidence of high-energy particles arriving from space.
When the experiment returned to the ground after its first flight, it had nothing to show for itself, bar the odd flash of background noise. It was the same story after the second flight more than a year later.
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Lawrence Krauss on “Seeing” the Early Universe
At a 2016 convention hosted by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss spoke about scientists’ attempts to look back to when the universe was just fractions of a second old. A few highlights from Krauss’ talk are listed below, and his full presentation can be seen at the bottom of this article.
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Science doesn’t make it impossible to believe in God, it just makes it possible not to believe in God
RIP S. Weinberg (1933-2021)
I updated my Standard Model “snowflake plot” tonight while waiting for a headache to go away. I also added the graviton to this version because I’m biased. :P
A long time ago I decided: if I have to include an SM slide in many talks from now on, it’ll at least be on my own terms!
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Antiprotonic Helium
Antiprotonic helium consists of an electron and antiproton that orbit around a helium nucleus. The hyperfine structure of this exotic type of matter is studied very closely by a CERN experiment in Japan called ASACUSA (AtomicSpectroscopyAndCollisionsUsing Slow Antiprotons) using laser spectroscopy.
To create antiprotonic helium, antiprotons are mixed with helium gas so that they spontaneously remove one of the electrons that orbit around each of the helium atoms and take their places. However, this reaction will only occur for 3% of the gas.
From the time that antiprotonic helium is created, the antiprotons orbiting the helium nucleus will only remain in orbit for a few micro seconds until they fall rapidly into the nucleus, causing a proton-antiproton annihilation. Surprisingly, antiprotonic helium has the longest lifetime of all the other antiprotonic atoms.
Laser Spectroscopy
ASACUSA physicists used a laser pulse (that if tuned correctly) will let the atom of antiprotonic helium absorb just enough energy so that the antiproton can jump from one energy level (aka orbit) to the other. Thus allowing physicists to determine the energy between orbits of an atom. Currently, laser and microwave precision spectroscopy of antiprotonic helium atoms is ASACUSA’s top priority. (Which is basically using two laser beams and pulsed microwave beams to further explore the ‘hyperfine energy levels’ of antiprotonic helium.)
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The Weak Interaction
Amongst the four fundamental forces in nature, the weak interaction (aka the weak force or weak nuclear force) is the most commonly unheard of.
The weak force is mainly responsible for radioactive decay and fusion in stars. In our current understanding of the Standard Model, the weak interaction itself is caused by the emission or absorption of W and Z bosons. For example, this is most commonly seen in beta decay.
The exchange of W and Z bosons not only cause the transmutation of quarks (i.e. quark flavor changing) inside hadrons, but also (by definition) the hadrons themselves. For example, the process of beta decay allows for a neutron to transform into a proton. Given that a neutron is made up of two down quarks and one up quark, a down quark will need to emit a W¯ boson in order to transform into an up quark, thus allowing for the formation of a proton (which consists of two up quarks and one down quark). At the end of the process, the W¯ boson will then further decay into an electron and antineutrino.
It is called the weak force because its field strength is several orders of magnitude less than that of both electromagnetism and the strong interaction (however, gravity is the weakest of the four forces). The weak interactions are extremely short ranged (≈ 2 x 10-3fm) because the intermediate vector bosons (W and Z) are very massive (with even higher masses than neutrons).
Unifying Fundamental Forces
Electromagnetism and the weak force are now considered to be two aspects of a unified electroweak interaction. This is the first step toward the unification the four fundamental forces.
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Quark-Gluon Plasma
First of all… What are quarks and gluons?
Quarks are tiny subatomic particles that make up the nucleons (protons & neutrons) of everyday matter as well as other hadrons. Gluons are massless force-carrying particles which are necessary to bind quarks together (by the strong force\interaction) so that they can form hadrons.
QGP (Quark-Gluon Plasma)
A tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang, the universe is speculated to have consisted of inconceivably hot and dense quark-gluon plasma. QGP exists at such high temperatures (about 4 trillion Kelvin — 250,000 times warmer than the sun’s interior), that the quarks and gluons are almost free from colour confinement (in other words, they do not group themselves to form hadrons). QGP does not behave as an ideal state of free quarks and gluons, instead it acts like an almost perfect dense fluid.
It then took only a few micro-seconds until those particles were able to cool down to lower energies and separate to form nucleons.
RHIC & ALICE
To study the properties of the early universe, physicists have created accelerators that essentially recreate quark-gluon plasma. The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (in Upton, NY) collides heavy ions (mainly gold) at relativistic speeds. This accelerator has a circumference of about 2.4 miles in which two beams of gold ions travel (one travels clockwise, and the other anticlockwise) and collide. The resulting energy from the collision allows for the recreation of this mysterious primordial form of matter.
ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) at CERN (in Geneva, Switzerland) is the only other current heavy ion collider experiment which studies QGP. However, instead of gold, ALICE uses lead ions.
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Dark Matter 4: What is Dark Matter made of? - The search for WIMPS
In my last post, I talked about how we can see the effects of dark matter not just in galaxies, but in the wider Universe as well. Gravity pulls the galaxies into a ‘cosmic web’ pattern - called galactic filaments.
Now we are sure that there is more mass in the universe than we can see, we can start to think about what this extra mass actually is. Obviously, it must be either very difficult or impossible to see with light, and it must be very heavy. This shows that it is not baryonic or 'normal’ matter - stuff made out of protons and neutrons that we can see all around us in everyday life. Normal matter can interact with light, and this is why we can see it - it reflects and diffracts light into our eyes. If a dark matter particle exists, then it shouldn’t interact with light at all, and this is why can not zoom in with a telescope and actually see it.
It makes sense then to assume that dark matter is not 'normal matter’ and must be made out of something more exotic. We know that normal matter is made of atoms which can be split up into particles, so can we get 'dark atoms’ made up of 'dark particles’?
The first image I have included shows a few types of particle that dark matter could be made out of. Out of all of these, the most likely theory seems to be that dark matter is made out of a new type of particle called a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). These basically do what they say on the tin - they don’t interact with light very much, and they are really heavy (up to 1000 GeV!).
The second image shows the Standard Model of Elementary Particles - a list of all the different types of particles we have found so far. If WIMPs do exist then they will have to fit into this model somewhere, which is why it has been suggested that they are a type of neutrino (see the bottom row). This is why the hunt for dark matter particles is really on, and scientists at CERN are hopeful that they may be able to find something when the accelerators are turned on later this year.
But if a dark matter particle can’t be found, what happens then? Well dark matter might not exist and we might have to find another theory to try and explain it all! More to come in the next post!
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