Comments to the Writings of Sean Carroll in Smithsonian Magazine
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President's Column
AAAS Publication for the members N of the Americanewsletter Astronomical Society September/October 2010, Issue 154 CONTENTS President's Column Debra Meloy Elmegreen, [email protected] 2 Congratulations to all of us in the astronomical community on the completion of the Decadal From the Survey! Two years after the National Research Council organized the Astro2010 Committee to begin its arduous process, the report “New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics” Executive Office is complete. In fact, as I write this article the public roll-out is underway at the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, DC. This was truly a community effort, and we should all be proud of it and feel ownership of it. The federal funding agencies and Congress widely view the 3 astronomy decadal process as a model for other disciplines to emulate, and it is extremely important for us to embrace it. Editor, The Astrophysical We are embarking on a period of unprecedented opportunities for astronomical research, thanks to great advances in technology, theory, and observations, and the report presents an exciting Journal Letters and balanced set of science-driven priorities within the framework of realistic budget scenarios. The Astro2010 committee comprised 23 astronomers, selected by the National Academies based on community solicitation of suggested names, who were assisted by panels on different science 4 disciplines, space- and ground-based activities, and study groups on the astronomical infrastructure; these subcommittees had a membership of nearly 200 astronomers from the US astronomical Journals Update community. The Survey report and the panel reports are the culmination of a careful and deliberate consideration of science goals, projects and missions and on the whole astronomical enterprise, based in part on the distillation of over 450 community-submitted white papers, over 100 proposals for 6 research activities, briefings from federal agencies, and 17 Town Halls, along with other federal and international reports. -
Science & ROGER PENROSE
Science & ROGER PENROSE Live Webinar - hosted by the Center for Consciousness Studies August 3 – 6, 2021 9:00 am – 12:30 pm (MST-Arizona) each day 4 Online Live Sessions DAY 1 Tuesday August 3, 2021 9:00 am to 12:30 pm MST-Arizona Overview / Black Holes SIR ROGER PENROSE (Nobel Laureate) Oxford University, UK Tuesday August 3, 2021 9:00 am – 10:30 am MST-Arizona Roger Penrose was born, August 8, 1931 in Colchester Essex UK. He earned a 1st class mathematics degree at University College London; a PhD at Cambridge UK, and became assistant lecturer, Bedford College London, Research Fellow St John’s College, Cambridge (now Honorary Fellow), a post-doc at King’s College London, NATO Fellow at Princeton, Syracuse, and Cornell Universities, USA. He also served a 1-year appointment at University of Texas, became a Reader then full Professor at Birkbeck College, London, and Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics, Oxford University (during which he served several 1/2-year periods as Mathematics Professor at Rice University, Houston, Texas). He is now Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor, Fellow, Wadham College, Oxford (now Emeritus Fellow). He has received many awards and honorary degrees, including knighthood, Fellow of the Royal Society and of the US National Academy of Sciences, the De Morgan Medal of London Mathematical Society, the Copley Medal of the Royal Society, the Wolf Prize in mathematics (shared with Stephen Hawking), the Pomeranchuk Prize (Moscow), and one half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, the other half shared by Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez. -
Physics 616 Quantum Field Theory I(3 Credits)
Physics 616 Quantum Field Theory I (3 credits) Fall 2011 Instructor: Prof. Michael Eides 279 Chem.-Phys. Bldg. Phone 257-3997 E-mail: [email protected] Office hours: Tuesday, 2:00-4:00 pm, or by appointment. Class meets Tuesday, Thursday, 9:30-10:45 am (CP 183). There will be no classes on Thursday, November 24 (Thanksgiving). Grading: I will give you home assignments approximately every 10 days. Your homework will be graded (40 points). Solutions to all problems will be placed in the library. I advice you to read my solutions with great care. If you have any questions about my solutions (as I expect you would), you are welcome in my office for discussion. I encourage you to discuss the homework together, and even to work on it together. However, you should write up your homework separately. Identical solutions would not earn any points. There will be no midterm exam. There will be a take-home final exam due Friday, December 12 (60 points). It could happen that I will change my mind and ask each of you to prepare a short talk (20-25 min) instead of the final exam. Student Evaluations: Course evaluations are an important (and mandatory!) component of our De- partment’s instructional program. The evaluation window for Fall 2011 will open on Wednesday, November 16, and close on Wednesday, Wednesday, December 7th. To access the system during this time, simply go to ”Courses” on the A&S Departmental Website page, and click on the link for Course Evaluations; then follow the instructions. -
Professor Roger Blandford Stanford University, USA
2020 Jacques Solvay International Chair in Physics Professor Roger Blandford Stanford University, USA 5 ONLINE LECTURES VIA ZOOM Thursday 11 March 2021 at 5:30 PM Black Holes: Nature or Nurture?: The Role of Rotation in Powering Cosmic Sources Black holes power many of the most powerful sources in the universe through releasing the gravitational energy of accreting gas and by donating their rotational energy using electromagnetic feld. The interpre- tation of recent, remarkable images made by the Event Horizon Telescope of M87 will be discussed in the context of both modes. It will be proposed that the rotational mode dominates in sources like M87 so that the black hole spin drives away the accreting gas as a powerful hydromagnetic wind that collimates a pair of relativistic jets. Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/92256891111?pwd=NmROZHRBdStvbnUxR1BWb1A1ZlIydz09 Monday 15 March 2021 at 5:30 PM Cosmic Blowtorches: Relativistic Jets from Stars and Galaxies Powerful relativistic jets are made by black holes and neutron stars. They are prodigious emitters from the lowest radio frequencies to the highest energy gamma-rays. They may also create high energy cosmic rays and neutrinos. They are remarkably persistent as they escape from collapsing stars, active galaxies and merging neutron stars. It will be argued that their collimation, resilience and emission is generically due to the tensile action of electromagnetic feld. Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/93200154324?pwd=R2xqOEpKNVYwbU5xU1Z5bm1WL3djdz09 www.solvayinstitutes.be à 2020 Jacques Solvay International Chair in Physics Friday 19 March 2021 at 4:00 PM Fast Radio Bursts: ElectroMagnetic Pulses from Cosmologically Distant Neutron Stars with Hundred GigaTesla Magnetic Field? For over a decade, radio astronomers have been observing millisecond pulses of intense radio emission. -
Meeting Program
A A S MEETING PROGRAM 211TH MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY WITH THE HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS DIVISION (HEAD) AND THE HISTORICAL ASTRONOMY DIVISION (HAD) 7-11 JANUARY 2008 AUSTIN, TX All scientific session will be held at the: Austin Convention Center COUNCIL .......................... 2 500 East Cesar Chavez St. Austin, TX 78701 EXHIBITS ........................... 4 FURTHER IN GRATITUDE INFORMATION ............... 6 AAS Paper Sorters SCHEDULE ....................... 7 Rachel Akeson, David Bartlett, Elizabeth Barton, SUNDAY ........................17 Joan Centrella, Jun Cui, Susana Deustua, Tapasi Ghosh, Jennifer Grier, Joe Hahn, Hugh Harris, MONDAY .......................21 Chryssa Kouveliotou, John Martin, Kevin Marvel, Kristen Menou, Brian Patten, Robert Quimby, Chris Springob, Joe Tenn, Dirk Terrell, Dave TUESDAY .......................25 Thompson, Liese van Zee, and Amy Winebarger WEDNESDAY ................77 We would like to thank the THURSDAY ................. 143 following sponsors: FRIDAY ......................... 203 Elsevier Northrop Grumman SATURDAY .................. 241 Lockheed Martin The TABASGO Foundation AUTHOR INDEX ........ 242 AAS COUNCIL J. Craig Wheeler Univ. of Texas President (6/2006-6/2008) John P. Huchra Harvard-Smithsonian, President-Elect CfA (6/2007-6/2008) Paul Vanden Bout NRAO Vice-President (6/2005-6/2008) Robert W. O’Connell Univ. of Virginia Vice-President (6/2006-6/2009) Lee W. Hartman Univ. of Michigan Vice-President (6/2007-6/2010) John Graham CIW Secretary (6/2004-6/2010) OFFICERS Hervey (Peter) STScI Treasurer Stockman (6/2005-6/2008) Timothy F. Slater Univ. of Arizona Education Officer (6/2006-6/2009) Mike A’Hearn Univ. of Maryland Pub. Board Chair (6/2005-6/2008) Kevin Marvel AAS Executive Officer (6/2006-Present) Gary J. Ferland Univ. of Kentucky (6/2007-6/2008) Suzanne Hawley Univ. -
Magnetocentrifugal Launching of Jets from Accretion Disks. I. Cold
THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 526:631È642, 1999 December 1 ( 1999. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. MAGNETOCENTRIFUGAL LAUNCHING OF JETS FROM ACCRETION DISKS. I. COLD AXISYMMETRIC FLOWS RUBEN KRASNOPOLSKY Theoretical Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 130-33 Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125; ruben=tapir.caltech.edu ZHI-YUN LI Astronomy Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903; zl4h=protostar.astro.virginia.edu AND ROGER BLANDFORD Theoretical Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 130-33 Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125; rdb=tapir.caltech.edu Received 1999 February 15; accepted 1999 July 19 ABSTRACT We present time-dependent, numerical simulations of the magnetocentrifugal model for jet formation, in an axisymmetric geometry, using a modiÐcation of the ZEUS3D code adapted to parallel computers. The gas is supposed cold with negligible thermal pressure throughout. The number of boundary condi- tions imposed on the disk surface is that necessary and sufficient to take into account information pro- pagating upstream from the fast andAlfve n critical surfaces, avoiding overdetermination of the Ñow and unphysical e†ects, such as numerical ““ boundary layers ÏÏ that otherwise isolate the disk from the Ñow and produce impulsive accelerations. It is known that open magnetic Ðeld lines can either trap or propel the gas, depending upon the incli- nation angle, h, of the poloidal Ðeld to the disk normal. This inclination is free to adjust, changing from trapping to propelling when h is larger thanhc D 30¡; however, the ejected mass Ñux is imposed in these simulations as a function of the radius alone. As there is a region, near the origin, where the inclination of Ðeld lines to the axis is too small to drive a centrifugal wind, we inject a thin, axial jet, expected to form electromagnetically near black holes in active galactic nuclei and Galactic superluminal sources. -
Lecture Notes in Physics
Lecture Notes in Physics Editorial Board H. Araki, Kyoto, Japan E. Br~zin, Paris, France J. Ehlers, Potsdam, Germany U. Frisch, Nice, France K. Hepp, Ziirich, Switzerland R. L. Jaffe, Cambridge, MA, USA R. Kippenhahn, G6ttingen, Germany H. A. Weidenmtiller, Heidelberg, Germany J. Wess, Mtinchen, Germany J. Zittartz, K61n, Germany Managing Editor W. Beiglb6ck Assisted by Mrs. Sabine Landgraf c/o Springer-Verlag, Physics Editorial Department II Tiergartenstrasse 17, D-69121 Heidelberg, Germany Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York Barcelona Budapest Hong Kong London Milan Paris Tokyo The Editorial Policy for Proceedings The series Lecture Notes in Physics reports new developments in physical research and teaching - quickly, informally, and at a high level. The proceedings to be considered for publication in this series should be limited to only a few areas of research, and these should be closely related to each other. The contributions should be of a high standard and should avoid lengthy redraftings of papers already published or about to be published elsewhere. As a whole, the proceedings should aim for a balanced presentation of the theme of the conference including a description of the techniques used and enough motivation for a broad readership. It should not be assumed that the published proceedings must reflect the conference in its entirety. (A listing or abstracts of papers presented at the meeting but not included in the proceedings could be added as an appendix.) When applying for publication in the series Lecture Notes in Physics the volume's editor(s) should submit sufficient material to enable the series editors and their referees to make a fairly accurate evaluation (e.g. -
Republication Of: the Dynamics of General Relativity
Gen Relativ Gravit (2008) 40:1997–2027 DOI 10.1007/s10714-008-0661-1 GOLDEN OLDIE Republication of: The dynamics of general relativity Richard Arnowitt · Stanley Deser · Charles W. Misner Published online: 8 August 2008 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008 Abstract This article—summarizing the authors’ then novel formulation of General Relativity—appeared as Chap. 7, pp. 227–264, in Gravitation: an introduction to current research, L. Witten, ed. (Wiley, New York, 1962), now long out of print. Intentionally unretouched, this republication as Golden Oldie is intended to provide contemporary accessibility to the flavor of the original ideas. Some typographical corrections have been made: footnote and page numbering have changed–but not section nor equation numbering, etc. Current institutional affiliations are encoded in: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. An editorial note to this paper and biographies of the authors can be found via doi:10.1007/s10714-008-0649-x. Original paper: R. Arnowitt, S. Deser and C. W. Misner, in Gravitation: an introduction to current research (Chap. 7). Edited by Louis Witten. John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, London, 1962, pp. 227–265. Reprinted with the kind permissions of the editor, Louis Witten, and of all three authors. R. Arnowitt (B) Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, 4242 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA e-mail: [email protected] S. Deser (B) Mailstop 057, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02454, USA e-mail: [email protected] Lauritsen Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA C. W. -
When China Rules the World
When China Rules the World 803P_pre.indd i 5/5/09 16:50:52 803P_pre.indd ii 5/5/09 16:50:52 martin jacques When China Rules the World The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World ALLEN LANE an imprint of penguin books 803P_pre.indd iii 5/5/09 16:50:52 ALLEN LANE Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London wc2r orl, England Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada m4p 2y3 (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.) Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offi ces: 80 Strand, London wc2r orl, England www.penguin.com First published 2009 1 Copyright © Martin Jacques, 2009 The moral right of the author has been asserted All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book Typeset in 10.5/14pt Sabon by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Grangemouth, Stirlingshire Printed in England by XXX ISBN: 978–0–713–99254–0 www.greenpenguin.co.uk Penguin Books is committed to a sustainable future for our business, our readers and our planet. -
History Newsletter CENTER for HISTORY of PHYSICS&NIELS BOHR LIBRARY & ARCHIVES Vol
History Newsletter CENTER FOR HISTORY OF PHYSICS&NIELS BOHR LIBRARY & ARCHIVES Vol. 42, No. 1 • Summer 2010 Bright Ideas: From Concept to Hardware in the First Lasers Adapted by Dwight E. Neuenschwander, technology and circumstances to catch absorbing a photon whose energy with permission, from Bright Idea: The up with Einstein’s vision. matches the energy difference be- First Lasers, an online exhibit of the tween the two levels. Third, Ludwig Center for History of Physics and Niels Einstein’s 1917 paper depended on Boltzmann’s statistical mechanics gave Bohr Library & Archives at the American four facts that were already well known us an expression for the probability Institute of Physics, hereafter called to physicists, but which Einstein put that an atom resides in a state of a “the Exhibit.”[1] http://www.aip.org/ certain energy when it’s part of history/exhibits/laser/. matter in thermal equilibrium at a given temperature. Fourth, Max Almost everyone living in a Planck’s statistical physics gave us an technological society today owns or expression for the energy distribution uses a laser. Compact disc players, in a gas of photons. Einstein’s 1917 supermarket checkout scanners, laser paper put these four pieces together. printers, and laser pointers are among the applications we encounter daily. Meanwhile, scientists and engineers Some specialized laser applications pushed radio techniques to ever include cauterizing scalpels in surgery, shorter wavelengths. In the 1930s industrial cutters and drills, surveying, some hoped they were on the artificial guide stars for astronomical verge of creating a “death ray” (H.G. observatories, and seismology. -
Quantum Field Theory of Many-Body Systems
Quantum Field Theory of Many-body Systems This page intentionally left blank Quantum Field Theory of Many-body Systems From the Origin of Sound to an Origin of Light and Electrons Xiao-Gang Wen Department of Physics, MIT OXPORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in rcsearch, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sao Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press, 2004 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data (Data available) ISBNO 19 853094 3 (Hbk) 10 987654321 Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddies Ltd. -
Controversies in the History of the Radiation Reaction Problem in General Relativity
DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91125 CONTROVERSIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE RADIATION REACTION PROBLEM IN GENERAL RELATIVITY Daniel Kennefick ,.... 0 ...0 HUMANITIES WORKING PAPER 164 August 1996 Controversies in the History of the Radiation Reaction problem in General Relativity Daniel Kennefick* 1 Introduction Beginning in the early 1950s, experts in the theory of general relativity debated vigorously whether the theory predicted the emission of gravitational radiation from binary star systems. For a time, doubts also arose on whether gravitational waves could carry any energy. Since radiation phenomena have played a key role in the development of 20th century field theories, it is the main purpose of this paper to examine the reasons for the growth of scepticism regarding radiation in the case of the gravitational field. Although the focus is on the period from the mid-1930s to about 1960, when the modern study of gravitational waves was developing, some attention is also paid to the more recent and unexpected emergence of experimental data on gravitational waves which considerably sharpened the debate on certain controversial aspects of the theory of gravity waves. I analyze the use of the earlier history as a rhetorical device in review papers written by protagonists of the "quadrupole formula controversy" in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I argue that relativists displayed a lively interest in the historical background to the problem and exploited their knowledge of the literature to justify their own work and their assessment of the contemporary state of the subject. This illuminates the role of a scientific field's sense of its own history as a mediator in scientific controversy.