Physics

Excluding New Particles: The Nuts And Bolts

Occasional readers of this blog, I reckon, have time and again been left wondering what is the matter with these lower mass limits on new particles that physicists so copiously produce with their subnuclear physics experiments. How are they determined? Why ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Jan 2 2013 - 11:43am

Two Peaks, Three Bets

I am glad to see that the Higgs signal we have discovered last July continues to raise the interest of well-learned laypersons around the world. The confirmation this time comes from the fact that three readers of this blog have decided to challenge my bet ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Jan 3 2013 - 9:22pm

E=mc^2...In Spaaaace

The only thing that might have saved a sequel like "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, Jr." (1) was putting it in space. If you put ":In Space" at the end of anything, it gains instant credibility it might otherwise not have. (see The Muppets ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 27 2013 - 7:18pm

Einstein And Accelerating Expansion: Still The One Dark Energy Has To Beat

A popular hypothetical alternative to Albert Einstein's theory for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe does not fit newly obtained data on a fundamental constant, the proton to electron mass ratio, which may mean the need for a new dire ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 9 2013 - 8:00pm

The Quote of the Week: Lyons on Single Event Probabilities

"Given that a repeated series of trials is required, frequentists are unable to assign probabilities to single events. Thus, with regard to whether it was raining in Manchester yesterday, there is no way of creating a large number of `yesterdays' ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Jan 10 2013 - 10:57am

Observer Dependence Of Hawking Radiation Doubts Boltzmann Brains

That black holes radiate Hawking radiation (which should actually be called Unruh radiation) is almost established knowledge although it has not been experimentally confirmed.   The radiation, as of now, is founded on the consistency of the thermodynamics ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - May 9 2018 - 7:07pm

The Plot Of The Week- SUSY After The Higgs Discovery

I may have been unattentive to recent papers on Supersymmetry, but I got the impression that during the last few months the majority of SUSY phenomenologists have been keen on speculating on the few apparently non-standard features of the recently discover ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Jan 15 2013 - 10:51am

You, Andromeda, And The Largest Structure In The Universe

Gravity is an amazing force. It can grow enormous structures in the universe. If you ever find yourself under a dark night sky at a spot far away from city light, have a look at the constellation Andromeda. With bare eyes you should just be able to spot a ...

Article - Johannes Koelman - Jun 29 2013 - 6:51am

Weighted Averages "A' La PDG"

The new PDG- a full-size copy of the glorious "Review of Particle Properties"- is on my desk since its arrival a few weeks ago, but only today did I get some time to browse it. It is always awesome to observe how much information is contained in ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Jan 18 2013 - 5:37pm

Ben Kilminster: How The Universe Works- In 10 Sentences

Ben Kilminster is a friend and a distinguished colleague working for the CMS and CDF experiments. Besides being a long-time higgs hunter, having sought that particle for over a decade in the two mentioned experiments, Ben is a veteran of science outreach ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Jan 19 2013 - 11:09am