[EAS] Top Physics Stories of 2007

Peter J. Kindlmann pjk at design.eng.yale.edu
Thu Dec 13 19:49:35 EST 2007


Dear Colleagues -

For the technical among you, there is much beautiful work here. In 
the present temper of the times and of the season, it seems restful 
to contemplate work of such majesty and truth. (To the experimenters, 
for whom it is exhilarating rather than restful, we owe thanks.)

     --PJK

-----------------------------------------------
PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Physics News
Number 850 December 13, 2007      www.aip.org/pnu
by Phillip F. Schewe and Jason S. Bardi

TEN TOP PHYSICS STORIES FOR 2007, in chronological order during the
year: light, slowed in one Bose Einstein condensate (BEC), is passed
on to another BEC (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/812-1.html);
electron tunneling in real time can be observed with the use of
attosecond pulses (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/818-2.html);
laser cooling of coin-sized object, at least in one dimension
(http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/818-1.html); the best test ever
of Newton*s second law, using a tabletop torsion pendulum
(http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/819-1.html); first Gravity Probe
B first results, the measurement of the geodetic effect---the
warping of spacetime in the vicinity of and caused by Earth-to a
precision of 1%, with better precision yet to come
(http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/820-2.html); the MiniBooNE
experiment at Fermilab solves a neutrino mystery, apparently
dismissing the possibility of a fourth species of neutrino
(http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/820-1.html); the Tevatron, in its
quest to observe the Higgs boson, updated the top quark mass and
observed several new types of collision events, such as those in
which only a single top quark is made, and those in which a W and Z
boson or two Z bosons are made simultaneously
(http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/821-1.html); the shortest light
pulse, a 130-attosecond burst of extreme ultraviolet light
(http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/823-1.html);  based on data
recorded at the Auger Observatory, astronomers conclude that the
highest energy cosmic rays come from active galactic nuclei
(http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/846-1.html); and the observation
of Cooper pairs in insulators
(http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/849-1.html).




More information about the EAS-INFO mailing list