December 2008 Volume 17, No. 11 www.aps.org/publications/apsnews

Econophysics and the APS NEWS Current Economic Turmoil A Publication of the American Physical Society • www.aps.org/publications/apsnews See page 8

Pittsburgh Steels Itself for Physics Invasion Apker Recipients Study Graphene, The 2009 APS March Meeting tation, a panel discussion with APS Advances in Josephson Qubits. Quantum Information Theory will be held March 16-20 in Pitts- journal editors, a students’ lunch A one-day workshop on Op- The LeRoy Apker Award is graphene. He used scanning probe burgh, Pennsylvania. It is the larg- with the experts, and a High School portunities in Energy Research for given for outstanding research ac- microscopy to show how the sur- est annual gathering of professional Teachers’ Day. graduate students and postdocs will complishments in physics by an face potential of few-layer graphene physicists in the country. This year be held Sunday, March 15. undergraduate. Two categories are sheets depends on the number of the scientific program will feature The 6th APS Workshop on Op- recognized, one for an undergradu- layers. Datta is now pursuing his 112 invited sessions and 462 con- portunities in Biological Phys- ate at an institution PhD as a graduate tributed sessions (574 total ses- ics, organized by the Division of that grants the PhD, student at Harvard. sions), at which approximately Biological Physics, will be held on and the other for an The recipient in 7000 papers will be presented, Sunday, March 15. undergraduate at an the non-PhD cate- covering the latest research in areas On Saturday, March 14 and institution that does gory is Byron Drury represented by the APS divisions Sunday, March 15, the Divi- not grant the PhD. of Haverford Col- of Atomic, Molecular and Optical sion of Polymer Physics will As reported in last lege. His senior-year Physics; Biological Physics; Chemi- host a special short course: Phys- month’s APS News, research, conducted cal Physics; Computational Physics; ics of Polymer Nanocomposites. the selection com- under the supervi- Condensed Matter Physics; Fluid There will also be a professional mittee first picks a sion of Peter Love, Sujit Datta Dynamics; Laser Science; Materi- skills development workshop for number of finalists was in the area of als Physics; Physics of Beams; and women physicists, and a joint APS from each category, quantum informa- Polymer Physics. department of education/Forum on who then meet for tion theory. He used Also taking part will be the APS Education workshop on Incorpo- a day of interviews elegant Lie Alge- topical groups on Instrument and rating Simulations and Computer with the committee braic techniques to Measurement Science, Magnetism In addition to the regular tech- Modeling into Upper Level Physics before the recipients factorize general n- and its Applications, Statistical and nical program, there will be eight Courses. are chosen. qubit operations into Nonlinear Physics, and Quantum half-day tutorials offered on Sun- Child-care grants of up to $300 This year’s recip- a product of elemen- Information, as well as the forums day, March 15. The tutorial topics will be available to assist meeting ient in the PhD cat- tary unitary opera- on Industrial and Applied Phys- are: Bose-Einstein Condensation attendees bringing small children. egory is Sujit Datta tors that act on only ics, Physics and Society, History and Degenerate Fermi Gases; Gra- The application form is available on of the University of one or two qubits. of Physics, International Physics, phene; Plasmonics; Terahertz Spec- the meeting website. A parent-child Pennsylvania. Work- Byron Drury Drury was awarded Education, and Graduate Student troscopy and Its Applications; Spin- quiet room will also be available. ing in the lab of Alan a Churchill Schol- Affairs. tronics: Physics and Device Appli- More info about the meeting can (Charlie) Johnson, he conducted his arship, with which he is spending Special scheduled events include cations; Emergent Phenomena in be found at: www.aps.org/meetings/ senior thesis research on nanoscale a year at Cambridge University be- the annual prize and award presen- Complex Oxides; Nanomagnetism; march/index.cfm. physics, primarily the properties of fore pursuing his PhD at MIT. Sigma Pi Sigma Congress Convenes at Fermilab By Nadia Ramlagan effect change in society, from local ics Teachers provided some support Participants tackled issues like eral recommendations, which will activism to national politics. for the Congress. science funding and policy, public be encapsulated into a subset of ac- With the end of the 2008 US Sigma Pi Sigma is a national “Our collective task, by the perception of science, international tionable ideas and eventually imple- presidential election just a few days physics honor society, housed with- very nature of our gathering, is to research and collaboration, diversity mented. prior, the topic of scientific citizen- in the Society of Physics Students ask what we can resolve to do as a in scientific fields, and science edu- Many attendees expressed sur- ship discussed at this year’s Sigma (SPS). Both are administered by society to best prepare the physi- cation and outreach through a series prise at the notion of scientists Pi Sigma Quadrennial Congress the American Institute of Physics. cists of tomorrow. How shall we of scientific citizenship workshops. getting involved “in politics” and seemed especially relevant. Five The Congress, held November 6-8, best encourage scientific citizen- During roundtable brainstorm- making a difference in their com- hundred and fifty students repre- was designed to bring together un- ship?” remarked planning commit- ing sessions, members formulated munities. “Before this conference, senting 103 institutions gathered at dergraduates, physics alumni, and tee members Michael Gaither and recommendations to enhance the I didn’t know that as a physicist I Fermilab in Batavia, IL this year to practicing physicists. The APS and Justin Stimatze at the opening of the Society’s role in the civic science could have a career in politics. It explore the myriad ways scientists the American Association of Phys- Congress. movement. Chapters voted on sev- FERMILAB continued on page 4 April Meeting Plenary Speakers Set SESAME Now Officially Open Speakers have been set for the dard, Merging black holes SESAME, a synchrotron radia- plenary lectures at the 2009 APS tion laboratory in the Middle East, Monday, May 4 April Meeting, which, despite its opened with an inauguration cer- name, will be held May 2-5 in Den- 8:30 a.m.–10:30 a.m. emony November 3, attended by ver, Colorado. The theme of the Alexander Zholent, LBNL, Prince Ghazi ben Mohammad of 2009 April Meeting is “New Eyes Next generation microscopes for the Jordan and Director-General of on the Universe: 400 Years of Tele- study of matter UNESCO Koichiro Matsura. scopes.” The plenary lectures will Robert Rosner, Argonne Na- SESAME (Synchrotron-light be exciting and informative, featur- tional Laboratory, Nuclear Energy for Experimental Science and Ap- ing a broad range of distinguished Richard Muller, University of plications in the Middle East) is a speakers. More information about California, Berkeley, A physicist UNESCO-sponsored project that the April Meeting is online at http:// evaluates the terrorist threat aims to promote scientific develop- www.aps.org/meetings/april/index. Tuesday, May 5 ment as well as understanding and cfm . cooperation among scientists from

8:30 a.m.–10:30 a.m. different countries in the Middle Saturday, May 2 Paris Sphicas, University of East. 8:30 a.m.–10:30 a.m. Athens, Greece, The LHC The facility is located in Allaan, Photo courtesy of SESAME Peter Michelson, Stanford Uni- James Cronin, University of Jordan, about 20 miles from Am- versity, First results from Fermi/ Chicago, Nature’s highest energy man. The November ceremony Jordanian Prince Ghazi ben Mohammed (left) watches as Koichiro Matsura (right), GLAST messenger: Pierre Auger Obser- marked the completion of the main Director-General of UNESCO, cuts the ribbon signifying the launch of the SESA- Kent Paschke, University of vatory building for SESAME. Scientific ME facility. Standing between them is the Director of SESAME, Khaled Toukan. Virginia, What have we learned us- Raymond Fonck, University of operations are expected to begin in entific collaboration and promote “One of the challenges for the ing the CEBAF microscope to study Wisconsin–Madison, Recent High- 2011. basic and applied research in the success of SESAME is building a hadronic matter? lights in Plasma Physics on the The SESAME project will offer Middle East. user community by enabling Middle Joan Centrella, NASA/God- Path to ITER facilities for interdisciplinary sci- SESAME continued on page 3 2 • December 2008 APS NEWS

Members This Month in Physics History in the Media December 1706: Birth of Émilie du Châtelet “What we have done is we have the opportunities that physics af- put together two materials, neither fords me to think deeply about all Émilie du Châtelet, famous for being Voltaire’s published and was positively received by the sci- of which is a superconductor, and kinds of things, from the trivial to mistress, was actually a talented scientist and in- entific community. we found their interface–where the profound, and I also enjoy the tellectual in her own right. Overcoming challenges She also developed a strong interest in the they touch–is superconducting,” chance to implement new pro- that kept women from becoming scientists at the work of Isaac Newton, which was somewhat con- Ivan Bozovic, Brookhaven Na- grams and ideas that benefit young time, she educated herself and carried out experi- troversial at the time in France, where Cartesian tional Laboratory, Reuters, Octo- people.” ments in physics, and completed a translation and philosophy was favored over Newton’s ideas. Ém- ber 8, 2008 Gary White, AIP, The Topeka commentary on Newton’s Principia. ilie and Voltaire jointly wrote a book, Elements of “We’ve got a lot of money on Capital-Journal, October 13, 2008 Gabrielle Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil (later Newton’s Philosophy, which explained Newton’s the table (for science spending). “Having something that you Émilie du Châtelet), was born December 17, 1706 astronomy and optics in a clear manner for a wide The question is how to spend it. can hold in your hand is an accom- in Paris. Her father, Louis Nicolas le Tonnelier de French readership. Only Voltaire’s name appeared That is going to be the question for plishment in nanotechnology.” Breteuil, was a high ranking official of the court on the book, but he acknowledged her important the next administration. That is go- Wade Adams, Rice University, of Louis XIV. The de Breteuil family was part of role. ing to be tough.” on “buckypaper,” which research- French aristocratic society, and as such they enter- Émilie also worked on another manuscript, Presidential Science Advi- ers at Florida State are begin- tained often. Distinguished scientists and mathe- Foundations of Physics, in which she considered sor Jack Marburger, Associated ning to commercialize, Associated maticians were frequent visitors to the household. the philosophical basis of science and tried to in- Press, October 16, 2008 Press, October 17, 2008 Educated at home, the young Émilie learned tegrate the conflicting Newtonian, Cartesian, and to speak six languages by the time Leibnizian views. “Scientifically, it is a compel- “On the one hand, a head-first she was twelve, and had lessons One of her most important ling problem, and the public ac- slide gets the fingertips to the bag in fencing and other sports. Even contributions to science was her cepts the notion that it’s a problem. before the center of mass gets from a young age she was fasci- elucidation of the concepts of en- But at the moment most people are there. On the other hand, sliding nated most by science and math, ergy and energy conservation. feeling affected by other things in reduces your forward velocity. As much to her mother’s displeasure. Following experiments done ear- a much more urgent fashion.” with many things in physics, it is Such interests were not viewed as lier by Willem ‘s Gravesande, she Michael Lubell, APS, on cli- not so obvious which effect wins proper for young ladies, and her dropped heavy lead balls into a mate change, St. Louis Post-Dis- out.” mother even threatened to send her bed of clay. She showed that the patch, October 22, 2008 Alan Nathan, University of Il- away to a convent. Fortunately, her balls that hit the clay with twice linois at Urbana-Champaign, on “The core message is we need father recognized her intelligence the velocity penetrated four times whether baseball players should a comprehensive energy strategy. and encouraged her interests, ar- as deep into the clay; those with slide or run to the base, Health- Nuclear energy can and should be ranging for her to discuss astronomy with promi- three times the velocity reached a depth nine times Day News, October 21, 2008 a part of that overall comprehen- nent scientists he knew. greater. This suggested that energy is proportional sive energy strategy, but nothing “The snail has to figure out Émilie also had a flair for gambling, applying to mv2, not mv, as Newton had suggested. can happen without the human re- how to apply the right force– you her talent at mathematics to give herself an advan- While conducting her scientific work, Émilie sources.” have to tune yourself to exploit tage. She used her winnings to buy books and lab- du Châtelet still carried out her duties as a mother Shirley Jackson, Rensselaer this ‘sweet spot’ of surface ten- oratory equipment for her scientific investigations. to her three children and as a hostess for her many Polytechnic Institute, Associated sion. If you’re doing too much or When she reached age 18, she knew she had to visitors so she was always busy, and had little time Press, October 6, 2008 too little, it won’t work.” get married, and she accepted the proposal of Mar- for sleep. “Some kind of microscopic Eric Lauga, UC San Diego, quis Florent-Claude du Châtelet, a distinguished At age 42 Émilie du Châtelet discovered she lightning effect.” on his study of how water snails army officer. This was a convenient arrangement was pregnant. At that time, a pregnancy at such Seth Putterman, UCLA, on move, MSNBC.com, November 3, for Émilie, because Châtelet was often away from an old age was extremely dangerous. Knowing how scotch tape generates x-rays 2008 home, leaving her free to indulge her interests in she would likely die, she began working 18 hours when unrolled, The New York “We cannot explain [the effect] studying math and science on her own. a day to complete her biggest project, a French Times, October 23, 2008 100%, but it gives us a new mech- She was also free to carry on an affair with the translation of Newton’s Principia, before she died. anism, and probably new science, writer Voltaire, one of the few men who appreci- More than simply a translation, Émilie du “An electromagnetic cloak ated her intelligence and encouraged her scientific Châtelet’s Principia included her own notes, ex- could bend light around itself, to focus on as we try to raise the efficiency of thermoelectrics,” pursuits. Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire renovat- amples, derivations, and clarifications of New- similar to the flow of water around ed Châtelet’s large estate house in the countryside. ton’s often obscure writing, as well as examples a stone, making invisible both the Mercouri Kanatzidis, North- western University, on a new more The house included several rooms for scientific of experiments that confirmed Newton’s theories. cloak and an object hidden in- equipment and space for experiments, and a large Her modern notation and clear style soon helped side.” efficient thermoelectric material, The Guardian, October 13, 2008 library holding over 20,000 books, more than French scientists understand and build upon New- Vladimir M Shalaev, Purdue many universities at the time. ton’s ideas. University, The Toronto Star, Oc- “The people got an opportunity Although she was frustrated at being excluded With determined effort, she achieved her goal tober 25, 2008 to see who I was.” from scientific society and education because she of finishing the manuscript just before she died “I just felt sick in my heart. Bill Foster, on winning re-elec- was a woman, she was able to learn mathemat- in September 1749. The complete work was pub- They went out with their dredges tion to Congress, Chicago Sun- ics and science from several renowned scholars, lished ten years later, when the return of Halley’s to San Bruno Shoal and piled up Times, November 5, 2008 including Pierre-Louis Maupertuis and Samuel Comet brought about a renewed interest in New- millions and millions of tons. They “If you hit something, what’s Konig, by inviting them to her house. tonian mechanics. changed the whole hydraulics of stopping you from putting your In 1737, after several months of conducting re- Émilie du Châtelet’s book was for many years the bay.” hand through it is electromagne- search in secret, she entered a contest sponsored the only available translation of Newton’s Prin- Ralph Nobles, on develop- tism. That’s much stronger than by the French Academy of Sciences on the nature cipia into French, and the translation and insight- ment of wetlands around the San the force pulling it down to the of light, heat and fire, submitting her paperDisser - ful commentary probably helped advance science Francisco Bay, San Jose Mercury ground.” tation sur la nature et la propagation du feu. In it in France. Nonetheless, Émilie du Châtelet herself News, October 24, 2008 Glenn Starkman, Case West- she suggested that different colors of light carried was largely forgotten by history (or remembered “Some of my favorite days are ern Reserve University, on the different heating power and anticipated the exis- mainly as Voltaire’s mistress) and only recently when I get to see students learning weakness of gravity compared to tence of what is now known as infrared radiation. have her scientific achievements been brought to something new. I especially enjoy other forces, The Cleveland Plain She did not win the contest, but her paper was light. Dealer, November 5, 2008

Series II, Vol. 17, No. 11 For Nonmembers–Circulation and Fulfillment Division, Treasurer on International Physics), Philip “Bo” Hammer, (Forum December 2008 American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington Joseph W.Serene*, Georgetown University on Physics and Society), Steven Rolston (Laser Science), APS NEWS Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Allow at least Leonard Feldman* (Materials), Akif Balantekin* (Nucle- © 2008 The American Physical Society Editor-in-Chief 6 weeks advance notice. For address changes, please Gene Sprouse*, Stony Brook University (on leave) ar), Janet Conrad (Particles & Fields), Ronald Ruth send both the old and new addresses, and, if possible, (Physics of Beams), David Hammer (Plasma), Scott Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 include a mailing label from a recent issue. Requests Past-President Milner (Polymer Physics), Paul Wolf (Ohio Section), Leo P. Kadanoff*, University of Chicago Editor•...... Alan Chodos from subscribers for missing issues will be honored Heather Galloway (Texas Section), without charge only if received within 6 months of the Staff Writer...... Ernie Tretkoff General Councillors ADVISORS Contributing Editor ...... Jennifer Ouellette issue’s actual date of publication. Periodical Postage Paid Robert Austin, Christina Back*, Marcela Carena, Eliza- Art Director and Special Publications Manager...... Kerry G. Johnson at College Park, MD and at additional mailing offices. beth Beise, Katherine Freese, Wendell Hill*, Ann Orel*, Representatives from Other Societies Design and Production...... Nancy Bennett-Karasik Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News, Mem- Richart Slusher*, Fred Dylla, AIP; Lila Adair, AAPT Proofreader...... Edward Lee bership Department, American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. International Councillor Science Writing Intern ...... Nadia Ramlagan Sabayasachi Bhattacharya International Advisors Francisco Ramos Gómez, Mexican Physical Society APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X yearly, ed to: Editor, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College APS COUNCIL 2008 Chair, Nominating Committee Shelley Page, Canadian Association of Physicists monthly, except the August/September issue, by the Park, MD 20740-3844, E-mail: [email protected]. Philip Phillips President Staff Representatives American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Col- Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Arthur Bienenstock*, Stanford University Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Amy Flatten lege Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It con- Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership publi- Miles Klein tains news of the Society and of its Divisions,Topical cation delivered by Periodical Mail. Members residing President-Elect Director of International Affairs; Ted Hodapp, Director Groups, Sections and Forums; advance information on abroad may receive airfreight delivery for a fee of $15. Cherry Murray*, Lawrence Livermore National Labora- Division, Forum and Section Councillors of Education and Diversity; Michael Lubell, Director, meetings of the Society; and reports to the Society by its Nonmembers: Subscription rates are available at http:// tory Charles Dermer (Astrophysics), P. Julienne (Atomic, Public Affairs; Dan Kulp, Editorial Director; Christine Molecular & Optical Physics) Robert Eisenberg (Bio- Giaccone, Director, Journal Operations; Michael committees and task forces, as well as opinions. librarians.aps.org/institutional.html. Vice-President logical), Charles S. Parmenter (Chemical), Arthur Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer Curtis G.Callan, Jr.*, Princeton University Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- Subscription orders, renewals and address changes Epstein (Condensed Matter Physics), David Landau ship. Letters must be signed and should include an ad- should be addressed as follows: For APS Members– Executive Officer (Computational), James Brasseur (Fluid Dynamics), Pe- Administrator for Governing Committees dress and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves Membership Department, American Physical Society, Judy R. Franz*, University of Alabama, Huntsville ter Zimmerman* (Forum on Education), Amber Stuver Ken Cole the right to select and to edit for length or clarity. All One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, (on leave) (Forum on Graduate Student Affairs) Roger Stuewer correspondence regarding APS News should be direct- [email protected]. (Forum on History of Physics), Stefan Zolner (Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics), David Ernst* (Forum * Members of the APS Executive Board APS NEWS December 2008 • 3

Washington Dispatch SESAPS Presents Awards at Fall Meeting The Southeastern Section of the A bimonthly update from the APS Office of Public Affairs APS (SESAPS) held its 75th meet- ing in Raleigh, NC from October 29 ISSUE: Science Research Budgets to November 1, jointly with the NC Section of the American Association By October 3, 2008 when the House of Representatives adjourned, of Physics Teachers, and with Zone Congress had passed only three appropriations bills: Defense, 5 of the Society of Physics Students. Homeland Security, and Military Construction-Veterans Administration. The meeting was hosted by the De- Funding for all other FY 2009 activities of the federal government fell partment of Physics at North Carolina under a Continuing Resolution that keeps budgets fixed at theirFY 2008 State University, and, with 314 regis- levels until March 6, 2009. At the time of the filing deadline for APS trants, was one of the best attended meetings in the history of the Section. News, it remained unclear whether Congress would revisit FY 2009 SESAPS has for many years pre- spending before that date and what alterations it might make before the sented annual awards for education, CR expires or what actions it might take subsequent to March 6. research and service to physics in The increasing likelihood of one or more stimulus packages to address the Southeast. At left is a photo of the 2008 award winners. Left to right: Mi- the deepening economic recession could also affect the final disposition chael Fowler (University of Virginia), of the FY 2009 appropriations legislation. Although the scope and the George B. Pegram Award for Ex- timing of any stimulus action are far from certain, congressional cellence in the Teaching of Physics; leaders have signaled that infrastructure and “green jobs” are on the Herbert A. Mook (Oak Ridge National priority list. Funding for science programs that have an immediate Laboratory), the Jesse W. Beams impact on job creation or job stabilization might make the cut, but until Award for Research; Lawrence Cain the parameters of the stimulus bills are better defined, the possibility (Davidson College), the Francis G. remains speculative. Slack Award for Excellence in Service to Physics in the Southeast. ISSUE: POPA Activities Photo by David G. Haase At the October 3rd, 2008 meeting of POPA, two draft statements were approved for presentation to the Executive Board: the APS Statement on Obama Energy Policy on View at Forum the Civic Engagement of Scientists and the Joint Diversity Statement. An advance look at Obama ad- tion, participated in the debate. both increasing the market demand The first statement deals with the Society’s stance on increasing ministration energy policies was Kammen, a professor at UC Berke- for clean energy and on increasing representation of scientists and engineers in public office at the federal, provided at a forum held in October ley, was also a member of the APS investment in developing innovative state and local levels, and in positions of responsibility at the federal agencies, to ensure that informed policy and science funding decisions at Stanford University, sponsored by study group that issued a report on technology. “You cannot emphasize are made. It is the Panel’s hope that APS as a whole will strongly support Scientists and Engineers for Ameri- energy efficiency in September (see one part of the equation without the the decision of members of the scientific and engineering communities ca in partnership with APS and sev- the October APS News). other,” Kammen said. “The Obama to pursue such positions. eral other scientific societies. Advi- Both candidates recognized the platform is deep with details on both The Diversity Statement’s goal is to effect change that will make physics sors to both the Obama and McCain need to implement a variety of mea- the technology push, the R&D side, more inclusive to under-represented minorities and foster greater campaigns participated in the forum sures to solve the energy problem. and the market transformation side diversity in physics, at all levels. The organizations jointly proposing this and answered questions from the au- “This is a critical juncture. Both of the equation.” statement include the American Association of Physics Teachers, the dience. sides of the aisle, Republicans and Obama is committed to a ten- American Physical Society, the National Society of Black Physicists, and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists. There was broad agreement on Democrats, have awoken to the need year, $150 billion program divided the urgent need for a range of poli- to do something about an energy between dramatically increasing the Two proposed studies were also reviewed at the October 3rd meeting. cies and new technology solutions to system that is fundamentally out of federal R&D program and building The first, which was approved by POPA, will study non-biological CO2 capture directly from the atmosphere and from post-combustion flue tackle the nation’s energy problem, date,” Kammen said. markets for clean energy. gas exiting a coal or natural gas power plant. The second report, which though the candidate’s platforms dif- Obama’s energy plan includes This country invests less in en- will be reviewed by the POPA Energy & Environment subcommittee fered in the details. developing new renewable energy ergy research and development than and presented in full form at the February 6th, 2009 Panel meeting, Daniel M. Kammen, Senior Ad- sources, increased research and de- it did before the OPEC crisis, Kam- focuses on modernizing the current US energy grid to enable significant visor on Energy & Environmental velopment, and a cap and trade sys- men pointed out. Right now the expansion of renewable energy. POPA agreed that this was an issue worth investigating, and a vote on the study’s progression will be held Policy for Barack Obama, and Kurt tem for carbon dioxide emissions. private sector in energy invests less in early ‘09. E. Yeager, co-chair of the McCain At the October forum, Kammen than half of one percent back into California Energy Security Coali- emphasized the need to work on ISSUE: Washington Office Media Update OBAMA continued on page 6 The APS Energy Efficiency report has been covered in newspapers, magazines, online news sites and blogs, including Science, Politico, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee, Seattle Times, Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.) The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colo.) BusinessWeek.com, Voice of America.com, Grist. com, CoStar.com, Energy & Environment TV and Clean Skies TV. The report was also featured in news stories on about 150 radio stations across the country reaching 15.2 million households. The Physical Society of Visayas and Mindanao, Philippines By Lolita A. Daral-Ungui Log on to the APS Public Affairs website (http://www. aps.org/public_affairs) for more information. Since many APS members are membership in the organization has SPVM has organized national phys- interested in international develop- expanded to include physics profes- ics conferences and workshops ment, I want to introduce the Ameri- sionals from all regions of the Phil- hosted by big universities in differ- SESAME continued from page 1 can Physical Society to an organiza- ippines and a number from Japan ent parts of the Philippines. SPVM- Eastern scientists to avail themselves SESAME will be a powerful tion in the Philippines that is promot- and the USA. Presently, SPVM is organized national conferences and of training opportunities,” said APS synchrotron radiation source produc- ing physics education and research headed by Jinky B. Bornales, PhD workshops advance its mission to Director of International Affairs ing light from infrared to x-rays. The among increasingly diverse Filipi- as President and Hitoshi Miyata of provide a dynamic medium where- Amy Flatten, who attended the No- synchrotron is built from compo- nos with significantly different cul- Japan as Adviser for International by members can exchange ideas and Mindoro Burias vember inauguration ceremony. nents of the retired BESSY I accel- tural perspectives, experiences and Affairs.S Today,ibuyan SPVM has become a experiences and be updated on the

Masbate S Samar a “While many can find local support erator, donated by Germany. SES- expectations. Aligning with the APS very activeSibuyan professionalm organization Philippinecurrent Sea state of physics research and Tablas a Calbayog Masbate r Sea S e at host training institutions, or food AME users will conduct research mission “to advance and diffuse Visayan a education in the Philippines

Roxas Sea and lodging for the “SESAME Us- in a variety of areas of research, in- the knowledge of physics,” this Eastern and abroad. Development and Visayas P anay ers Meetings,” they oftentimes can- cluding physics, materials science, young organization also aims to Cadiz publication of teaching materi- Cuyo Is. Iloilo San Jose de Leyte San Carlos not find funds to cover the travel/ molecular biology, nanotechnology, collaborate and cooperate with Buenavista als in general physics; physics Bacolod airfare.” archaeology, environmental studies, local and international physical Western Cebu enrichment programs among l f Visayas G u Cebu a y Consequently, the American and medical research. societies to promote physics for P a n high school students; and hold- B ohol Negros Northern Physical Society, the European The international physics com- the benefit of humanity. Mindanao ing “Mini-Science Olympics” Dumaguete Central Butuan Physical Society (EPS), and the munity has shown its support for The Physical Society of Camiguin among underprivileged chil- Visayas Siquijor

U.K. Institute of Physics (IoP) have SESAME through a resolution re- Visayas and Mindanao of the Dapitan Gingoog dren during the holiday season Dipolog agreed to establish a joint SESAME cently passed by IUPAP, the Inter- Philippines, locally known as Cagayan de Oro are some of the other activities Ozamiz Iligan Travel Award Program. EPS, IoP national Union for Pure and Applied Samahang Pisikang Visayas at Marawi conducted by the SPVM–all Pagadian Lake and APS will each provide $5K Physics. Mindanao (SPVM), is an or- Lanao aiming at its aforementioned Illana MINDANAO Bay each annually ($15K jointly) for the In November, Herwig Schopper ganization of physics teachers, Cotabato Davao vision. next 3 years, for “travel awards” that ended his term as SESAME coun- researchers and other physics Zamboanga Moro Mt. Apo The 10th SPVM National would enable Middle East scientists cil president and Chris Llewellyn- enthusiasts. SPVM was of- Isabela Gulf Physics Conference & Work- to attend SESAME “Users Meet- Smith took over the position. ficially instituted on April 21, Autonomous shop was conducted at the St. Jolo Region in Muslim Samales Jose Abad Santos ings” or other training opportunities. So far, SESAME members are: 1995 during the National Sci- Group Mindanao Louis University, Baguio City

Flatten is approaching other physical Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Iran, ence Conference on Theoreti- Tapul Sarangani on October 16–18, 2008 with Group societies to contribute as well. Jordan, Pakistan, Palestinian Au- cal and Experimental Physics Balut 300 in attendance. Ninety- Herman Winnick, a long-time thority, and Turkey. Other countries held at the Mindanao State Univer- which envisions a scientific com- two scientific papers (7 plenary, 62 APS member who currently serves in the region could also potentially sity-Iligan Institute of Technology munity bound by a common desire subplenary and 23 poster papers) on the APS Committee on Inter- join SESAME. The United States is (MSU-IIT), Iligan City with Ange- to advance physics in all fields and were presented in the conference by national Scientific Affairs (CISA), an observer, as are France, Greece, lina M. Bacala, PhD as Founding to make physics education and re- physics researchers and educators, was one of those who originally Germany, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Por- President. SPVM has charter mem- search a potent tool for development high school and college teachers, as proposed SESAME and has been tugal, Russian Federation, Sweden, bers all based in Visayas and Mind- in the Philippines. well as, graduate and undergraduate instrumental in promoting it. and the United Kingdom. anao, Southern Philippines. To date, Since its founding in 1995, the PHILIPPINES continued on page 7 4 • December 2008 APS NEWS

Journals Aim to Improve Access for the Blind Letters APS journals are developing tent has sophisticated tagging and completely inaccessible to a blind ways to improve the journals’ ac- metadata to enhance the content and user could be made accessible. For Setting the Record Straight on 1987A cessibility to blind people and others make it navigable, but most images instance, a sight-impaired user could with print disabilities while adding and graphs lack metadata and aren’t feel the slopes of lines on the graph, The article concerning As- The Rome one had gone off the enriched content for all users. searchable. The APS journals cur- from an embossed printer, and listen trowatch and LIGO in the Au- air by the time of the later, second Bob Kelly, APS Director of Jour- rently use XML/MathML formatting to the software read out values of gust-September issue of APS (Kamioka, IMB, etc) neutrino event, nal Information Services, is working for text and equations with figures in data points. Graphics with this add- News invites two comments: but the Maryland ones continued to on converting APS journal articles Postscript. Kelly is now working on ed information would also be easier 1. The supernova was 1987A operate. Data from all three were to a universally accessible format making equations and images in a to work with, edit, and integrate with (1987a was Comet Levy) in ac- analyzed and published at the time. that would give added information universally accessible format. text. Sighted physicists might also cordance with an IAU resolution to the screen readers that disabled Kelly teamed up with John Gard- find the technology useful. For ex- from long before and custom es- Virginia Trimble people use to read the content. This ner, a blind physicist at Oregon State ample, a computer could read aloud tablished by Fritz Zwicky. If there Irvine CA could make it possible, for example, and founder of ViewPlus technolo- the information contained in a graph are more than 26 in a year, they for blind people to print graphics in gies, which makes products such as while the scientist looks at some- become 2008AA, 2008AB, etc.; Ed. Note: The author is past tactile form. Braille printers for people with print thing else, such as an experimental 2. At the time of the first neutrino chair, IAU Supernova Working Journals have been structured disabilities. instrument. alert, there were three bar antennas Group, and widow of Joseph Weber, and typeset to be read on paper, not By using a new enhanced format Switching to universally acces- in operation, two at the University who designed, built, and operated to be listened to. Most online con- for figures, a graph that otherwise is BLIND continued on page 7 of Maryland, and one in Rome. the Maryland bar antennas. Setting the Record Straight on Videogames The column “This Month in adjudicated in favor of Baer et al. Physics History” in the October APS Thereafter, Nintendo came back to News purports to describe the sig- the table and took a license. Had it The Lighter Side of Science nificance of William Higinbotham’s not been for Higinbotham’s appear- electronic game “Tennis for Two.” ances at those court proceedings, the Santa Claus is a Physicist This demonstration game of a sim- existence of his game would have Santa is at least several hundred reindeer? Obviously, the product of over an entire year, though, and it ple physics process, while creative remained as unheralded as that of years old, and you've got to assume sophisticated anti‑gravity technol- becomes much more reasonable, and fun to play, was not the first other engineers’ similar electronics that somewhere along the line, he ogy. Planning the route? Done with particularly if the wormholes can be game played on an oscilloscope. It experiments. This in no way negates spent some time in academia and a quantum computer. Likewise, sort- targeted to individual houses. had no more impact on the future the creativity of the Higinbotham probably got a degree or two. As- ing the naughty from the nice, which This also explains the chimney creation of videogames than similar design or that of others, especially suming he is a man of science, what is clearly some sort of Grover's algo- thing–he doesn’t actually enter via demonstrations made by many en- the many more or less successful at- kind of scientist might he be? rithm issue. the chimney, itself (which would be gineers and technicians to entertain tempts to play games on refrigerator- Now, you might think that there And anybody who can deliver themselves during idle moments, sized computers of that era. Howev- are lots of ways to go with this. You that many toys to that many places in impractical for a fat man with a bag just as did Higinbotham for that er, none of these resulted in any way could note the flying reindeer, and that little time obviously has a deep of gifts), but rather through a worm- open-house occasion in 1958. in the concept of, and the creation of say that they’re clearly the product understanding of relativity and is us- hole whose mouth is located in the The actual creation of the first the home videogame console indus- vicinity of the fireplace, which is videogame took place in September try. They DID, however, experience of either genetic engineering or at ing a system of wormholes to travel of 1966 when I disclosed the con- a rebirth in the creation of the arcade the very least a sophisticated un- back and forth in time, spreading the obviously one of the safer places in cept and built the first of a series of videogame industry by Nolan Bush- derstanding of evolutionary biol- toy‑delivering out over an entire year the average house to do that sort of devices that allowed playing games nell of Atari in the late seventies. ogy. You could take the fact that he of his own subjective time, while the thing, as you can be sure that there using an ordinary home TV set. Higinbotham’s legacy does not manages to deliver toys all over the rest of us only see one night. won’t be anybody standing there world as clear evidence that he has That’s a much more reasonable That started the console game indus- depend on the creation of a game when the wormhole opens. try. Numerous patents issued within that produced no consequences dur- found the solution to the Traveling explanation than elves making toys So, clearly, Santa Claus is a phys- a few years covered the interaction ing a professional life otherwise full Salesman Problem, and thus is ei- in a secret factory at the North Pole of manually and machine controlled of accomplishments, a game that ther a mathematician or a computer and towing them around with rein- icist. It’s the only explanation that symbology on the screen of a TV set would never have been given prom- scientist. But really, all the evidence deer. After all, the supply chain is- makes sense. or monitor, none of which features inence according to Higinbotham’s points to Santa being a physicist. sues alone would be a nightmare, Chad Orzel is a physics professor were embodied in the Higinbotham own contention during his appear- I mean, it's the only explana- and the speed and weight issues are at Union College, and also blogs at demonstration. ance on the stand, if it hadn’t been tion that covers everything. Flying well known. Spread that load out Uncertain Principles. These patents were exclusively for a couple of hot-shot lawyers licensed to the Magnavox com- who saw an opportunity to confuse FERMILAB continued from page 1 pany. When license negotiations a Federal Judge. was really eye-opening”, said senior civilizations detect each other? We A Congress highlight was the between Magnavox and Nintendo Emmaris Soto of the University of don’t know the answers…yet,” said closing plenary lecture “What Presi- broke down, Nintendo sued the Ralph H. Baer Connecticut. Tarter. dents and Physicists Need to Know inventors and their lawyers. The Manchester, NH Speaker Philip Hammer, Vice “I really liked Dr. Tarter’s lec- about Science” by Leon Lederman, trial took place in New York Fed- President of the Franklin Center, ture. I previously did an indepen- 1988 physics Nobel Laureate and eral District Court in front of Judge Ed. Note: Ralph Baer is a Na- stressed that civic scientists must dent study in cosmology and astro- Director Emeritus of Fermilab. With Sands. Higinbotham was called as tional Medal of Technology Laure- understand the nature of political physics, so I felt right at home,” said visible optimism and humor, Led- a witness for Nintendo, which had ate. More information about his role discourse and the boundaries of sci- senior Chaan Thomas of Chicago erman implored young physicists refused to come under license of the in the early history of video games State University. entific authority. “Progress comes to use their scientific skills to help Baer/Harrison/Rusch patents. The can be found on his website at www. through compromise and consen- Attendees also had a chance to solve the many challenges our na- lawsuit was unsuccessful and was ralphbaer.com . sus,” he said. foster dialogue on perhaps the most tion and planet face, while empha- Exhibitors representing gradu- challenging social issue in physics– sizing the impact that public science CLARIFICATION ate school programs and scientific race and gender diversity in the societies and organizations filled the workforce. The representation of literacy and education will have on halls as students mingled with fel- women and under-represented mi- developing future solutions to these A revised version of an article about the APS/AAAS/CSIS nuclear problems. policy report, which was published in the November edition of APS low members and physicists. “It’s norities in physics has changed over “The Obama credo of change News, is now available on the APS web site. The updated article very gratifying to see everything the last several years. These “future matches the scientific tradition; reflects the final version of the report, Nuclear Weapons in 21st come together. What I really like faces of physics” will most likely be change is also what science is about, Century U.S. National Security. is the conversation–everywhere women, according to Rachel Ivie, you turn, every table or exhibit you Assistant Director of the Statistical it is what science produces,” said walk by is just vibrating,” said Gary Research Center at the American Lederman. White, Director of the Society of Institute of Physics (AIP). While For many attendees, holding the Meeting Briefs Physics Students. the representation of women among Congress at Fermilab has a special “The Congress is great for meet- physics bachelor's and PhDs has significance. “Fermilab is such a big • The APS Southeastern Sec- evening. ing influential people in the com- been steadily increasing, it remains part of physics. Even though I’m tion held its annual fall meet- • The APS New York State munity and making contacts. There the lowest among all other sciences. not planning to work in the particle ing October 30–November 1 at Section held its annual fall is so much other research going on, On the other hand, the percentage of physics field, I really wanted to see North Carolina State Univer- meeting November 14‑15 at but it’s easy to get bogged down and African Americans and Hispanics it,” said senior Devin Underwood sity in Raleigh, NC. The tech- the Corning Museum of Glass narrowly focused on your own lab. who hold physics degrees is “ex- of the University Wisconsin-River nical program covered a broad in Corning, NY, organized The Congress provides a way to be- tremely low and has changed little Falls. range of topics, including around the theme, “A Century come aware of all the other research since 1994,” Ivie stated. The Laboratory’s rich history of granular physics, astrophysics, of Optics and Materials.” In that’s out there,” said senior Kileigh Collectively signing a letter biophysics, atmospheric and addition to the invited techni- Peturis of The University of South- promising to speak out against rac- scientific discovery made tours of geophysics, optics, and par- cal talks, the meeting included ern Mississippi. ism as civic scientists, participants the main building and 6,800 acre ticle physics. There were also a tour of the museum and a Search for Extraterrestrial Intel- vowed to uphold the pledge of Ein- premise memorable. “Students were sessions on the history and visit to the Palomar Obser- actually up early waiting for the philosophy of physics, suc- vatory. Scott Kardell of the ligence (SETI) researcher Jill Tarter stein, whose active work against 7:00 a.m. buses to Fermilab–college cessful programs in physics Palomar Observatory was the kicked off the plenary lecture series racism remains largely unknown, at education, and a physics dem- keynote speaker at Friday eve- by posing some profound cosmic a lecture by Fred Jones and Roger students!” exclaimed Kendra Rand, onstration show on Thursday ning's banquet. questions. “Can planets orbit stars Taylor, co-authors of Einstein on program coordinator for the Society like pulsars? Can two technological Race and Racism revealed. of Physics Students. APS NEWS December 2008 • 5

A physics star among the stars By Alaina G. Levine Tammy Jernigan was in space most importantly, it’s the people really help me to understand the Houston to train and finished her approach to a problem, that I think when she faced a curious conun- with whom you work that make mission of the laboratory and the doctorate at Rice University. you can apply in many areas of drum concerning a floating ball all the difference in the success of challenges of executing a national Jernigan has logged 1,512 your life,” she says. “It’s a general of fluid. As an astronaut, she had any mission, both earthbound and security mission and doing funda- hours in space during her five mis- view of the world of trying to be a been charged with many tasks of beyond. mental research in support of that sions, including a number of space problem-solver and sit at the table a scientific and engineering na- Jernigan understands this from mission,” Jernigan notes. This di- walks. She says the ride into space with other problem-solvers and ture, as well as the opportunity to many different levels, because at verse experience helps her to iden- is especially thrilling as you are work together to try to come up produce educational and outreach LLNL she is in charge of all HR tify and ask (and answer) the right “sitting on eight million pounds of with the best solution possible.” materials to inspire kids to study activity, which she categorizes as questions to ensure the success of thrust as you accelerate to 18,000 She sees parallels between the science. When it came time for “strategic forward-looking, proac- the lab now and in the future. miles per hour.” skills she uses as a HR manager her and her crew to create a video tive workforce management.” She “Once you get there it is an in- and those she used as an astronaut in which they performed a specific must be a visionary and a realistic credible feeling of freedom to float and a physicist. creative space-based demo, they planner in terms of resources, both effortlessly through the spacecraft “It’s all just having an intel- found themselves facing an un- human and monetary, and any- or to do a spacewalk and see this lectual curiosity. Wanting to un- foreseen challenge: how do you thing else that can influence how extraordinary planet that we in- derstand [the issues].... All these still look professional assembling LLNL reaches its goals. habit from the vantage point of things are about problem-solving, and then drinking from a sphere of Prior to this she served as Prin- space,” she describes. whether you are in a laboratory, liquid while floating in space? cipal Deputy Associate Director of And while she didn’t consider working with a computational Jernigan, former astronaut, Physics and Advanced Technolo- herself an environmentalist before physics problem, or a workforce physicist, and now the Associ- gies. Her deep understanding of she became an astronaut, she was restructuring problem,” she ex- ate Director for Strategic Human the operation and science side of moved by her experience in space plains. “[One asks] what is my op- Capital Management at Lawrence the lab propelled her towards the to have a greater appreciation for timum solution? How do I bring in Livermore National Laboratory HR position and ultimately landed our natural resources. the best ideas? How do I integrate (LLNL), recalls performing this her the job of taking “workforce “You look at the planet and those ideas?” demo as one of the funniest mo- management to a new level at the there are no borders and dividers,” In HR she has enjoyed learning ments of her otherworldly experi- laboratory,” she says. she says, half joking that this has about professional development ence, as well as one that actually This year, the lab underwent its Asking and finding answers helped her be better at her HR job opportunities for employees and helped her launch a career in hu- first layoffs in over 30 years. “We to problems was actually what since she has to do international has mentored many people, es- man resources (HR). had a contract transition,” she ex- got her interested in physics and recruiting. pecially those early in their voca- She and her astro-colleagues plains, “and the intersection of math in the first place. As a child, But in all seriousness, “I had a tions. Regarding their careers, she were filming what was supposed the increased cost of doing busi- “I always liked the beauty and el- very compelling sense that we’re advises her protégés to “choose to be a cute educational video in ness associated with the contract egance of math,” she says. “I liked all in this together,” she says. something that they really love which they took a drink bag with transition, inflation and a large lab the fact that there was always an “You see the fragile atmosphere and that they’re going to be pas- a straw, squirted the liquid into a budget reduction caused the lay- answer. In science it was so inter- and this lone blue orb suspended sionate about because that’s where free-floating ball, and then poked offs. …You’re making some pro- esting to me to figure out how the in the darkness and you think they’re going to do their best straws into the liquid to drink jections about what the research world worked and why things be- we have been entrusted with this work.” it out of the air. The final video portfolio and mission portfolio are haved the way they did.” beautiful Earth and we really have And she encourages physicists “makes it look pretty straightfor- going to be in the future.” With a bachelors in physics to be good stewards of our plan- in particular who want to be lead- ward and neat,” Jernigan, 49, re- The fact that she studied phys- and a masters in engineering, both et.” ers in their fields, be it in a lab in calls. But it took many takes. “We ics and had served on the techni- from Stanford University, she laid As a physicist and an astronaut, space, an office on Earth, or some- made a hideous mess.” cal side of the lab for six years out a career course for herself that Jernigan has developed skills that thing in between, to add breadth to She learned a few vital things before rotating into HR aided her leaned toward academia for a few have helped her succeed in all of their backgrounds and concentrate from this experience. First, while tremendously in dealing with this years, with the hope of becoming her careers. From an understand- on teambuilding. Learn to lead a Earth-based spills generally con- challenging situation. an astronaut someday. However, ing of what’s required to do basic team well and to follow well, she tain the mess within one location, She considers her scientific while working on her PhD on in- science, to an appreciation of the says. And of course, it also never in space, “if you bump a sphere of background essential in having an terstellar shockwaves at the Uni- importance of teaming and work- hurts to learn the science (and art) liquid, it goes into hundreds of lit- appreciation of the needs of the versity of California at Berkeley, ing well with people, Jernigan re- of fluid dynamics in zero-gravity tle droplets that spread out in three lab from many different angles. she herself experienced a career alizes that having studied physics, environments. dimensions all over the place.” “My physics background and my shockwave when she was selected she is better prepared for whatever Second and consequently, “gravity relationships with the physics and for the astronaut program. She was comes her way. Copyright, Alaina G. Levine, is very convenient.” And third, and mission directorates (of the lab) only 26 years old. She moved to “In physics you learn a certain 2008.

DNP Holds 2008 Annual Meeting in Oakland, California The APS Division of Nuclear the University of Washington. For investigate the processes by which strained by measuring the scales on space missions, and thus, protect- Physics (DNP) held its 2008 an- instance, it took 70 years after their they are produced by the sun. Ac- which it clumps, while the nature ing astronauts from long‑term ex- nual meeting 19‑23 October in discovery before scientists realized cording to University of Califor- of dark energy can be constrained posure to space radiation. Further- Oakland, California. The technical they had a tiny amount of mass, al- nia, Berkeley’s Michal Patrick De- by measuring the time evolution more, advances in human genome program featured talks on the latest though the exact value of that mass cowski, some of these new experi- of cosmic dark matter structures, sequencing and new radiobiologi- in neutrino physics, the status of a remains unknown. ments will also measure anti‑neu- as well as measuring the distribu- cal techniques have made it pos- new project to probe the nature of Melissa Jenkins (University of trinos from the decay of uranium tion of galaxies and the cosmic sible to determine at the cellular dark matter/dark energy, and the Texas at Austin) believes that re- and thorium in Earth’s crust and “shear” of their apparent shapes. level how living systems respond role nuclear physics is now play- cent advances in atomic slowing mantle, thereby possibly provid- The LSST will also make it possi- to low doses of radiation. And pro- ing in planned space missions and and cooling are opening up new ing information on the radiogenic ble to compile maps of dark matter ton radiotherapy is becoming more hadron radiotherapy, among other avenues for exploring neutrino contribution to the planet's heat and carry out several independent common as a cancer treatment. research topics. In addition, three properties, such as mass. Neutrino balance. Other experiments will cross‑checking probes into the na- Computational Modeling of half‑day topical workshops were physicists have long used tritium utilize neutrinos produced in reac- ture of dark energy. Supernovae. Adam Burrows of held the day before the meeting beta decay to probe the “ghost tors for nuclear non‑proliferation Nuclear Physics and Human Princeton University discussed on quantifying the character of the particle,” but thus far have failed purposes. Biology. Ram Tripathi of NASA’s recent progress on simulating a quark gluon plasma; large‑scale to detect the mass. Jenkins pro- Probing the Dark Side of the Langley Research Center reviewed supernova explosion in six‑dimen- computation in nuclear physics; poses to improve matters by using Cosmos. Tony Tyson of Univer- the vital role nuclear physics is sional phase space (plus a seventh and underground nuclear physics a slow, cold beam of tritium atoms sity of California, Davis, gave now playing in such diverse areas dimension of time), which he ex- experiments. as a neutrino source. an overview of the status of the as planned space missions, hadron pects to improve even more over Cracking the Neutrino Code. Although the central focus of Large Synoptic Survey Telescope radiotherapy, and low‑dose radio- the next five years. In particular, For a particle with no charge and current neutrino experiments not (LSST), which is slated to begin biology. For instance, NASA’s fu- he probed the theoretical mecha- very little mass, neutrinos are ap- involving accelerators is the study analyzing a wide range of cosmo- ture vision for space exploration nism of supernova core collapse pear to be very complicated in of their properties, other research- logical phenomena in 2014. For includes missions to the moon, via a series of massive computa- terms of their properties, accord- ers are harking back to the past instance, according to Tyson, the Mars, and beyond, with a corre- tions, which he believes will shed ing to R.G. Hamish Robertson of and using neutrinos as probes to nature of dark matter can be con- sponding focus on long‑duration DNP continued on page 7 6 • December 2008 APS NEWS

OBAMA continued from page 3 What Answer Did You Get? R&D. vestment tax credit. “This is one of ing on states that do not want it. Obama supports a cap and trade the most effective mechanisms we Since about 50% of electricity in system for carbon dioxide emissions, have developed in this country” to the US comes from coal, and coal with permits to be auctioned, not support the growth of clean technol- will probably continue to be a major given away. Obama also proposes ogy, said Kammen. source of energy for many years to using funds generated through the While McCain’s energy plan come, Obama supports developing cap and trade system to fund energy stressed building new nuclear power clean coal technology, even though initiatives for inner cities. “We can’t plants and developing clean coal that technology is probably a decade make energy a have and have not technology, Obama’s plan focuses away. issue,” Kammen said. In addition, on developing a variety of renew- Obama also wants to push com- green technology “is one of the areas able energy sources. Kammen called panies to make more efficient prod- of true job creation.” Kammen said. McCain’s vision of 45 new nuclear ucts and empower consumers with Another key part of the discussion plants unrealistic, though Obama more information than just the Ener- is the role of energy efficiency, Kam- supports nuclear power if it can be gy Star rating. “We have not pushed men said. California, New York, and done safely. Obama opposes Yucca anywhere near hard enough on elec- several other states are forty percent Mountain as a storage site for nu- tronics companies,” Kammen said. more efficient than the national aver- clear waste, but believes that nuclear International efforts are also age. The rest of the country can learn waste can continue to be stored at needed as China and other countries from those states, Kammen said. En- power plant sites until a better per- Photo by Ken Cole ergy efficiency must be made much manent solution is agreed upon. are likely to significantly increase their energy use. “The United States Nathanael Smith of Middle Tennessee State University, and Ming Tian of more business as usual everywhere, Obama also supports a mandated not just in a few states, he said. federal portfolio standard for renew- has been a spectator to an evolving George Mason University collaborate during a breakout session at the New international effort for far too long. Physics and Astronomy Faculty Workshop, held at the American Center for Unlike McCain, Obama supports able energy as well as investments in Physics in College Park, MD in early November. The workshop provides windfall profits tax on oil, said Kam- modernizing the grid. Obama is committed to getting the new faculty with the latest information on how students learn physics and men, pointing out that there are good Recognizing the need for energy US to reengage substantively on this astronomy, and gives them practical suggestions on how to improve their economic indicators that oil compa- independence, Obama would sup- issue,” Kammen said. teaching methods. This annual event, which began 12 years ago, has been nies have reaped a windfall profit, port some offshore drilling for oil if Obama made energy one of the steadily increasing in popularity. Ninety-five new faculty members attended and that they have under-invested in it is part of a broader compromise most important issues of his cam- in 2008. The conference is funded by NSF and sponsored by the American research. that brings about investment in clean paign, said Kammen. “We are go- Association of Physics Teachers, the American Astronomical Society, and Obama has also been supportive energy alternatives, Kammen said, ing to have to make clean energy job the APS. of a long-term extension of the in- but he would not force offshore drill- one.” Fluid Dynamicists Hear About Oil Spills, Wind on Jupiter, and More The physics of oil spills, how the past dozen years, says Asay-Da- This better understanding of the mineralized. But what happens in sights enabling new generations of germs spread in airplanes, and the vis. basic physics of the dispersion pro- the short term? If you pump carbon flying machines that are impossible best velocity maps to date of wind Spill, Baby, Spill. Oil spills are cess should allow environmental dioxide into saline aquifers, will it to consider today. speeds on the planet Jupiter were a major environmental problem be- engineers to better predict how well stay put and mineralize or leak away Arnold Song, who is one member among the highlights of the 61st cause they often occur at sea and dispersants will work in the field, completely? of this research group, described the Annual Meeting of the American in remote, ecologically-sensitive says Gopalan, which should help in- Neufeld and his colleagues have basic motions–and their aerodynam- Physical Society (APS) Division of areas where their impact on birds, form decision makers during major created a simple tool to predict the ic implications–that he and his col- Fluid Dynamics, held November sea mammals and subsurface life oil spills. The work is part of a large fate of carbon dioxide “plumes” leagues at Brown have discovered 23-25 in San Antonio, Texas. More may last for years. The best way to collaboration among biologists, rising though aquifers after being so far by measuring how paddles than 1,500 papers were presented on mitigate this damage is to clean up ecologists, physical oceanographers, pumped underground. Their mod- and stretched ribbons of sailcloth vi- the latest research in fluid dynamics, spills immediately, and typically this computer modelers, and engineers, el shows how the shape of rising brate in manmade breezes in a wind with applications ranging from as- starts with skimming off as much primarily associated with the Coastal plumes is influenced by the structure tunnel. As the airflow increases, for tronomy and engineering to alterna- oil as possible. Such cleanups may Response Research Center, that aims of the surrounding rock, and it sug- example, a paddle on a post first tive energy and medicine. leave large areas covered with a thin to model and predict the fate of oil gests that there are advantages to in- twists and then flaps, like a stop sign Jupiter’s Shrinking Red Spot! slick of spilled oil, which is often after it spills, taking into account jecting carbon dioxide into reservoirs being pummeled by hurricane-force The best map of wind speeds on dispersed by spraying the spill area the properties of the oil, dispersant, that are like geological layer cakes, winds. The ribbon’s behavior is Jupiter ever produced proves that with chemical “surfactants” that weather conditions, and ecological with alternating stacks of porous and more complicated, but also essential the massive weather system known break the film into small oil droplets data. In the future, an improved “re- seal rock. When a plume reaches an for understanding how bat wings or as the Great Red Spot has shrunken that are consumed by bacteria, dis- sponse model” based on this larger impermeable boundary, it spreads other compliant structures generate over the past dozen years. Under- solved, evaporated, or attached to collaboration may suggest the op- until it can rise again, filling out a lift so efficiently. standing cloud patterns on distant small solid particles and sink to the timal approach to cleaning up any shape that looks like an inverted How Germs Spread in Air- planetary surfaces, such as those at bottom of the ocean. specific oil spill. Christmas tree. As the plume pools planes. Airliner ventilation systems Saturn or Jupiter, is potentially con- When dispersants are sprayed Trapping Greenhouse Gases. it mixes with the brine, ultimately are designed to limit passengers’ fusing because clouds deform over over a spill in the open sea, the tur- Of all the possible ways of reduc- resulting in a more stable long-term exposure to airborne particles–from time. Using sophisticated software, bulent mixing forced by ocean cur- ing future greenhouse gas emissions, sequestration. ill travelers’ contagious germs to ter- scientists at the University of Cali- rents and the wind actually helps in one of the most immediately feasible Those Flexible, Flappable Fly- rorists’ aerosol biohazards. Vents in fornia at Berkeley have been able to the cleanup process, but how much is carbon dioxide “sequestration,” ing Machines. Modern aircraft have a plane’s center ceiling direct air out take the deformations into account such turbulence contributes is not which involves compressing the gas been fabulously successful with rig- and down toward the floor below the (and the much easier-to-deal-with completely understood scientifi- into a liquid and piping it deep un- id wings and rotors. But just imagine windows, creating a swirling flow factor of the planet’s rotation) and cally. Up to now, the breakup of oil derground instead of releasing it into the flying machines that would be pattern within each row of seats that have calculated the best velocity mixed with dispersants has not been the atmosphere. Earth has abundant possible if we could understand and effectively confines contaminants to maps yet for the surface of Jupiter. thoroughly studied in the laboratory, geological formations known as sa- harness the most efficient and acro- a single row or, at worst, its next-row Using data recorded by the Gali- and there is little information on how line aquifers that would seem to be batic airfoils in nature: the flexible neighbors. leo and Cassini spacecraft, views of wind, weather, and other local condi- ideal storage bins for such seques- wings of the bat. But new research at Purdue Uni- Jupiter’s surface have been made tions contribute to the effectiveness tered carbon. The aerodynamics of “compli- versity has shown that anyone–a that essentially factor out the plan- of a cleanup process. However, says Jerome Neufeld ant” structures, such as bat wings, flight attendant or a passenger, for et’s rotation, simplifying the view Now Johns Hopkins graduate stu- of the University of Cambridge in are very complicated because both instance–merely walking down an of what is happening to the cloud dent Balaji Gopalan and his mentor England, if carbon sequestration is to the structure and airflow change airliner’s aisle will disrupt this care- decks. For mid-latitudes, the veloc- Professor Joseph Katz have imaged play a major role in reducing green- and adapt to each other in a highly fully designed flow pattern by creat- ity resolution for this mapping pro- the dispersion of tens of thousands house gas emissions, the process nonlinear way. Bats’ wing bones ing a wake of eddies that can spread cedure is 3 m/s. For higher latitudes, of oil droplets in carefully controlled needs to be deployed on a global are even flexible, unlike those of contaminants as far as 10 rows away. the resolution is 3 m/s to 6 m/s. The laboratory settings and observed scale, and new tools will be needed birds, which gives the mammals Moreover, lead scientist Michael maps consist of tens of millions of the effect of local turbulence on this to monitor the long-term stability added control but is an additional Plesniak says, the eddies’ interaction velocity measurements. process. Pre-mixing the oil with the and fate of trapped gas. challenge for scientists trying to with the ventilation system’s swirl- According to Berkeley scien- commercial dispersant COREXIT The principle of sequestration understand them. Kenny Breuer’s ing flow creates a stagnant zone “at tist Xylar Asay-Davis, these maps 9527, they observed how it breaks is simple. Saline aquifers are basi- research group at Brown University just the wrong place.” The height of represent the highest resolution and into numerous tiny droplets smaller cally porous regions of rock soaked is designing a series of fundamental the stagnant zone is exactly where highest accuracy full-planet map than the period at the end of this with brackish fluids. The density of experiments that will allow scien- seated passengers breathe. Future ever produced. With this approach, sentence. Following each droplet carbon dioxide is much less than tists to isolate, observe and analyze research aims to devise ways for such meteorological features as the in three dimensions, they observed that of the brine, so gas pumped a variety of specific flow-structure breaking up this stagnant zone and Great Red Spot or the Red Oval can how tails or thread-like structures into the aquifer will rise through the interactions that are important in un- reducing the ability of wakes from be monitored more carefully than grew from its surface, the thickness porous rock until it hits an imper- derstanding bat flight and, in general, people moving around the cabin to before. The high-precision velocity of the tails being less than 17 micron meable “cap” rock. Over very long the aerodynamics of compliant struc- disperse contaminants. measurements show definitively that in size, and the breakup of which time scales, trapped carbon dioxide tures. Ultimately, Breuer expects that Plesniak described his team’s re- the Great Red Spot has shrunk over could produce even smaller droplets. will saturate the brine and become experiments like these will yield in- FLUID continued on page 7 APS NEWS December 2008 • 7

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Now Appearing in RMP: Recently Posted Reviews and Professional Skills APS CONGRESSIONAL Colloquia You will find the following in Development for Women SCIENCE FELLOWSHIP 2009-2010 the online edition of Physicists Reviews of Modern Physics THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY is currently accepting at applications for the Congressional Science Fellowship Program. Do you want to improve your negotiation Fellows serve one year on the staff of a senator, a representative, http://rmp.aps.org skills? or of a congressional committee. They are afforded an opportunity Do you have great ideas that you want to communicate to to learn the legislative process and explore science policy issues Colloquium: Andreev reflection your colleagues? from the lawmakers' perspective. In turn, Fellows have the oppor- and Klein tunneling in graphene tunity to lend scientific and technical expertise to public policy is- If so, the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics invites you to sues. C.W.J. Beenakker attend one of the workshops entitled “Professional Skills Development for QUALIFICATIONS include a PhD This Colloquium describes Women in Physics.” These workshops will: or equivalent in physics or a closely re- the underlying physics of two • Coach women in key skills that are needed to enhance their careers. lated field, a strong interest in science electronic processes that oc- • Provide training in persuasive communication, negotiation, and leadership and technology policy and, ideally, some cur in a carbon monolayer (gra- presented by experienced professionals, with an aim towards increasing experience in applying scientific knowl- edge toward the solution of societal phene): the electron‑to‑hole the influence of female physicists within their own institutions. • Provide a special opportunity for networking among participants. problems. Fellows are required to be US conversion at an interface with a citizens and members of the APS. superconductor (Andreev reflec- Workshops in 2009 will each have one session aimed at women post-docs TERM OF APPOINTMENT is one tion) and the tunneling through in physics and one session aimed at tenured women faculty in physics. year, beginning in September of 2009 a p‑n junction (Klein tunneling). Workshops will be offered on Sunday, March 15 (Pittsburgh) and on May 1 with participation in a two-week orienta- Both processes have an analog (Denver) in association with the APS national meetings. tion sponsored by AAAS. Fellows have in relativistic quantum mechan- considerable choice in congressional The deadline to apply for the March workshop is December 5, 2008; assignments. ics, and the excitations occurring the deadline to apply for the April workshop is January 5, 2009. First A STIPEND is offered in addition to allowances for relocation, in each of them are described by consideration will be given to applications received by the deadlines. Women in-service travel, and health insurance premiums. a variant of the Dirac equation of color are especially encouraged to apply. APPLICATION should consist of a letter of intent of no more for massless fermions. Further- Workshops will be limited in size for optimal benefits. Participants are eligible than two pages, a two-page resume with one additional page for more, the chiral tunneling in nor- to receive a stipend to help cover the cost of travel and up to two nights publications, and three letters of reference. Please see the APS mal and superconducting junc- lodging. website (http://www.aps.org/policy/fellowships/congressional.cfm) tions in graphene is discussed for detailed information on materials required for applying and from a unified perspective. Details at www.aps.org/programs/women/ other information on the program. workshops/skills/index.cfm ALL APPLICATION MATERIALS MUST BE SUBMITTED ONLINE BY JANUARY 15, 2009.

DNP continued from page 5 PHILIPPINES continued from page 3 Job Fair light on the enigma of star death in students. The seven plenary papers versity, Manila and Dr. Joel V. Lu- the cosmos. focused on the conference theme brica of Benguet State University. Looking for a job? Looking for the Burrows’ efforts will likely ben- “SPVM@Luzon: Expanding Phys- Success stories of the application efit from plans to expand develop- ideal candidate? ics Frontiers for Filipinos.” of physics principles in bio-medical ment of petascale computational Dr. Alfonso T. Albano (“Balik sciences were discussed by Dr. Pau- Don't miss these opportunities! systems for nuclear physics research. Scientist”) of Bryn Mawr Col- James Sexton (IBM T.J. Watson Re- lina A. Bawingan of St. Louis Uni- lege, USA talked about The Quest search Center) reported that the first versity, Baguio City. for Quantitative Measures of Time sustained petaflop system has now SPVM’s vigor to fast-track sci- APS March Meeting Job Fair Dependent Behavior, while Dr. been delivered to Los Alamos Na- ence literacy, particularly in phys- Hitoshi Miyata of Japan’s Niigata Date: March 16-17, 2009 tional Laboratory, and described the ics, in the Philippines is sustained University expounded on the stan- current status of systems architec- by the spirited vigilance of its Place: David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA dard model of elementary particle tures for petascale computing and members and by the continuous physics and beyond. The status of Register today at: http://www.aps.org/careers/employ- the present challenges in terms of support of MSU-Iligan Institute of the Philippine government “LPON- ment/jobfairs.cfm power, memory capacity, data man- Technology, the Philippine Council PEP” (Learning Physics as One agement, and reliability. for Advanced Science and Tech- Nation-Physics Essentials Project) nology Research and Development was presented by Dr. Maria Vic- (PCASTRD) of the Department of BLIND continued from page 4 toria C. Bernido, the project direc- Science and Technology (DOST) sible format could also make it easier possible improved navigation for When the new accessible format tor. Modeling Neural Processes: A and by other generous agencies and to add enriched content such as in- sight-impaired people. is implemented, APS journal users White Noise Functional Approach private individuals who firmly be- teractive data, figures, and equations They have presented the proof of was discussed by Dr. Christopher will still be able to read APS jour- lieve in the advocacy of the Samah- that all users could benefit from. concept at several scholarly publish- C. Bernido of the Research Center nal articles online with a standard ang Pisikang Visayas at Mindanao Kelly and Gardner have dem- ing conferences. “It was overwhelm- for Theoretical Physics (RCTP) browser, and sight-impaired people (SPVM). onstrated a proof of concept, using ingly positively received in the pub- based in Jagna, Bohol. Significant will be able to navigate articles with Lolita A. Daral-Ungui is the files from one of the APS journals lishing community,” said Kelly. positive results in physics educa- a DAISY reader. SPVM Consultant for National Af- to show that APS journals could be Next, software and procedures tion among Filipino students using fairs. published in a universally accessible must be developed. Kelly has been APS expects to offer one of its innovative techniques in the phys- Comments/reactions can be sent format (DAISY, Digital Accessible working with the typesetting vendors journals with this universally accessi- ics teaching-learning process were to: [email protected] as well as to Information System) for very little to develop the software and compo- ble option in 2010. Further enhance- ably presented by Dr. Elizabeth P. Melchor, VPAA, Far Eastern Uni- [email protected] . cost. A DAISY format would make sition protocols needed. ments will continue to be developed. FLUID continued from page 6 search and how it is also helping to verse” jets, which consist of gas or square-wave patterns, depending coarser particles bounce along the than Earth’s in lifting particles high create a computational turbulence liquid injected into a crossflow of a on the conditions and desired out- surface, forming ripples and dunes. into the air. The simulations showed simulation software tool that air- similar fluid. Engine manufacturers come, can greatly enhance mixing, Well-established theories developed why: Particles react more slowly to plane manufacturers and safety reg- use transverse jets to introduce gases penetration or both. Continuing re- for Earth ripples in air and water and an upward turbulent eddy on Mars ulators could use to model complex, into jet engines for reducing emis- search will explore the behavior of extended to Martian surface condi- (due to low atmospheric density) realistic cabin ventilation scenarios sions or cooling the turbine blades. transverse jets of different densities, tions predicted that the transitional and the eddies themselves pass by more rapidly and economically than These jets are also used to control which have a wide range of practi- particle diameter between these be- is now possible. The tool could also the thrust of rocket engines. cal applications in energy-generation haviors on Mars would be four times so much faster (due to the high wind be used to design ventilation systems In some applications, rapid and devices, such as stationary power that of Earth’s. Yet they were essen- speeds) that they don’t have the for interiors of buildings, subways thorough mixing of the jet and cross- plants and utility burners. tially the same. Why was the estab- combination of power and time to and tunnels. flow fluids is needed. In other cases, Mysterious Sand Ripples on lished theory wrong for Mars? elevate the larger particles, even in Improving Jet Engine Perfor- deep penetration of the jet into the Mars. When the Mars Exploration Numerical simulations performed Mars’ lower gravity. mance. Actions similar to those of crossflow is desired. Sometimes Rover Opportunity landed on fresh by a team at Cornell University now David Korda described the Martian sand ripples in 2004, its on- suggest a plausible answer. It turns a pulsating water-massage shower both characteristics are required. By team’s simulation. He and his col- head may lead to more effective studying the fluid-mechanical inter- board microscope showed the grains out that the combination of the Mar- leagues are preparing physical ex- control of rocket engines and clean- actions between transverse jets and there to be much finer than predict- tian atmosphere’s low density–100 er, more efficient jet aircraft engines, the crossflow under a wide range ed, revealing a major mystery to be times less than Earth’s–and the high- periments to use in a NASA-Ames UCLA scientists have discovered. of controlled conditions, the UCLA solved. As on Earth, Mars’ famous er wind speeds necessary to move wind tunnel that can imitate Martian Juliett Davitian described new re- scientists learned that pulsing the dust storms loft the finest particles grains of any size on Mars conspire atmospheric conditions to see if the search into the behavior of “trans- transverse jet fluid in sinusoidal or high into the atmosphere, while to make Martian winds less effective simulation’s prediction is accurate. 8 • December 2008 APS NEWS The Back Page

lmost every physicist by now has heard of the fast- role that physicists have played since Frisch and Meit- Agrowing subdiscipline of “econophysics”, a field ner first proposed the idea of nuclear fission. It is natu- characterized by collaborations between physicists and ral to want someone to blame for major disasters... economists and focused on asking if new insights or Econophysics and the Current whether the disaster is completely natural like Hurri- even laws could emerge if the concepts and approach- cane Katrina or man-made like the current economic es of statistical physics were brought to bear on ques- Economic Turmoil crisis. Just as the fundamental flaw that made Hurri- tions that originate in economics. And almost everyone, By H. Eugene Stanley cane Katrina the disaster it was involved not preparing physicist or nonphysicist, has by now heard that the for the unlikely event of a direct hit of a major storm, economies of every country–large or small, Eastern or so also the fundamental flaw that causes much of to- Western–are witnessing truly huge fluctuations. So it is natural day’s economic problems is not preparing for the unlikely event to ask of a very large economic fluctuation. “Does econophysics have anything to say about the current In any case, the probability of a disastrous economic fluctua- financial/economic turmoil?’’ tion seems to be fairly independent of time period, since Plerou The answer to this question is a resounding “Yes!” since and Gopikrishnan found that the same inverse quartic law holds econophysics is statistical physics applied to the economy, and for different time periods in history, dating back as far as the fluctuations are the substance of statistical physics. In econom- 1929 crash...long before physicists were as popular as they are ics, the probability density function (pdf) of price changes has now on Wall Street. So if it is the physicists who are to blame, been studied for over 100 years, ever since the PhD thesis of how do we explain the fact that large and not-so-large crashes Bachelier in 1900 analyzed real data–without benefit of com- have been appearing with frequencies that are approximately puters. Then, to understand the pattern he witnessed, he intro- time-independent? duced a model which today we call the drunkard’s walk. This But if one wants a scapegoat then you can look no further is the model immortalized to the general public in the aphorism than the author of this article. The inverse quartic law is a quan- “random walk down Wall Street.’’ titative, not a qualitative, law: it tells the exact probability of Approximately 50 years ago, as more data became available, a crash of a given size. So before the inverse quartic law, one it became clear that the drunkard’s walk fails to describe all the perience. For stock price fluctuations, we all experience calm knew only the qualitative statement that rare events do occur, data. The term “fat tail” was used to describe the mathemati- periods of everyday fluctuations, punctuated by highly vola- but not the exact probability of a rare event, making it easier cal counterpart of this statement, that the pdf of price changes tile periods that seem to cluster. So we would expect the pdf of to ignore since indeed the events are very rare. Why didn’t we contains many more events in the tail than predicted by the stock price fluctuations to be bimodal, with a broad maximum write letters to those with the power to plan exactly what to do Gaussian pdf characterizing the drunkard’s walk. Nonetheless, centered around, say, 1-3 standard deviations and then a nar- when the “once in a century” bad news indeed occurs? more than 99 percent of the then available data were reasonably row peak centered around, say, 50 standard deviations. And it is Physicists do not generally stop at extracting empirical laws approximated by a Gaussian, so a terminology grew up where easy to show that if we do not have access to “all the data” but from data. Additionally, they try to understand the laws. What events corresponding to these fat tails became known as “rare instead sample only a small fraction of the 200 million data re- can a physicist offer as a first step to begin to understand the events,” or sometimes “tsunamis.” Since there was no theory cently analyzed, then this everyday experience is perfectly cor- fact that there appears to be scale-free phenomena at work in for them, some argued, and since they are indeed very rare, we rect, since the rare events are indeed rare and we barely recall stock price fluctuations? I can offer a tentative picture–based can as well ignore them. The word “outlier” is sometimes used those that are “large but not that large”. largely on analogy with another scale-free phenomenon, a sys- to describe a data point that does not conform to the widely The same is true for earthquakes: our everyday experience tem near its critical point (now called a “tipping point” due to used Gaussian distribution of price fluctuations. teaches us that small quakes are going on all the time but are the popular book of this title by Malcolm Gladwell). Indeed, Then along came the physicists, starting about 15 years ago barely noticeable except by those who work at seismic detec- physicists often like to argue by analogy, on the “parsimony when the neologism “econophysics” was coined by this author tion stations. And every so often occurs a “once in a century” principle” (often credited to Feynman) that there are not that to describe efforts to apply physics approaches to this and other truly horrific event, such as the famous San Francisco earth- many fundamentally different phenomena. questions of interest in economics. This field can trace its roots quake. Yet when seismic stations analyze all the data, they find Large strides were made in understanding the scale-free phe- to Newton and Copernicus, two physicists who worked exten- not the bimodal distribution of everyday experience but rather a nomena occurring in systems near their “tipping points” by the sively on economics problems, and to a number of others over power law, the Gutenberg-Richter law, describing the number recognition of the fundamental role played by two variables: the centuries who applied to economics the fundamental ap- of earthquakes of a given magnitude. the interactions among the units comprising the systems, and proach of physics. First, to be eternally skeptical of everything– There is another problem with accepting an empirical law the interaction of the units with an external force field. In eco- especially in this case of the practice of calling something that that quantifies the probability to experience a financial shock nomics, if the units are firms, the first is called the “herd effect” does not agree with a theory an “outlier” or “tsunami.” And, of a given size. Many scientists, especially economists, feel (if one unit changes, other units influenced by that unit are more perhaps most importantly, to collect as many data as possible that it is better to really understand a law before proposing it. likely to change), and the second is called the “news effect” (all before making any theory to interpret them. However imagine what must have happened when earthquake units respond to external news). The complexity of this picture Unlike traditional topics in physics, where collecting data specialists uncovered the Gutenberg-Richter law describing the is that the units do not simply interact with equal strength with often requires imagination and sometimes years of painstak- number of earthquakes of a given magnitude. San Francisco a small number of other units, but rather have interactions of ing labor, in the case of price changes every transaction of ev- last experienced a truly huge earthquake in 1906. Do we ignore both sign (“ferromagnetic” and “antiferromagnetic”) with other ery stock is recorded and stored. Apparently all the data were the Gutenberg-Richter law that informs us the precise probabil- units...much as in an Edwards-Anderson spin glass except that not analyzed, so two Boston University graduate students, ity of another San Francisco earthquake of comparable mag- the distribution of interactions is not known and will certainly Parameswaran Gopikrishnan and Vasiliki Plerou (now happily nitude because we do not understand it? Or do we design San even vary over time. Similarly, the interactions with “news” married!), set about to acquire and analyze the data on every Francisco buildings so that they withstand once-in-a-century can take on a huge range of strengths–some news is very good, transaction...such a voluminous data set that their University earthquakes? good, bad, or very bad–and news affects different firms differ- computer system had to acquire a significant addition to its stor- Similarly, do we ignore the inverse quartic law that fits all ently...much as in a random field Ising model. age capacity. the data including once-in-a-century events? Or do we design Of course this model is not exactly solvable, which makes When they analyzed these data–200 million of them–in a financial system that has safeguards to minimize the damage it not very attractive to economists who generally prefer mod- exactly the same fashion that Bachelier had analyzed data al- when one of these rare events actually occurs? els that are amenable to solution. Nonetheless, it is attractive most a century earlier, they made a startling discovery. The pdf We cannot predict the future but we all know what already to physicists because we have developed a fairly deep under- of price changes was not Gaussian plus outliers, as previously happened. Governments worldwide made no contingency standing about phase transitions in idealized models, not only believed. Rather, all the data–including data previously termed plans, and when the current crisis finally appeared to not “just “pure” nearest-neighbor Ising models in a uniform external outliers–conformed to a single pdf encompassing both every- go away,” meetings of experts were called and policies hastily field, but also complex spin glasses and complex random field day fluctuations and “once in a century” fluctuations. Instead crafted. We cannot know at this stage if these policies are the Ising models. Certainly we know enough to understand why of a Gaussian or some correction to a Gaussian, they found a best possible or not, but the speed with which they were crafted the “globalization” of recent years might serve to introduce power law pdf with exponent -4, a sufficiently large exponent seems incommensurate with the fact that we physicists knew more “ferromagnetic” bonds, and hence to increase the magni- that the difference from a Gaussian is not huge; however, the for 10 years the probability of shocks of this magnitude, just tude of the sort of “spin flips” that occur in big clusters near the probability of a “once in a century” event of, say, 100 standard as we know the probability of an earthquake of a given mag- critical point. And Albert-László Barabasi has taught us that the deviations is exp(-10,000) for the Gaussian, but simply 10-8 for nitude. California buildings are required by government to be networks formed by agreements among leaders of economic an inverse quartic law. If one analyzes a data set containing 200 reinforced, but financial systems are not. Indeed, the haste with institutions serve to establish still more long-range ferromag- million data in two years, this means there are only two such which current policies were adopted clearly has the potential for netic interactions, again with the result that cluster flips could events–in two years! making a bad situation worse than it would be if more careful be more dramatic. Now which is better, the concept of “everyday fluctuations” policies were proposed, back-tested on real economic data, re- Many physicists have viewed the film by Fumiko Yonezawa which can be modeled with a drunkard’s walk, complemented fined, and discussed at all levels from many points of view, by of her simulations below the critical point of Ising models with by a few “once in a century” outliers? Or a single empirical law individuals from the Paul Krugmans to the Alan Greenspans. nearest neighbor interactions bathed in a uniform magnetic I now briefly address a second question, a question raised with no outliers but for which a complete theory does not exist field. One can never forget how all the spins are flipping non- frequently by the news media: “There have even been accu- despite promising progress by Xavier Gabaix of NYU’s Stern stop but suddenly a huge cluster of spins which were mostly sations that physicists are to blame for what’s been going on, School of Management and his collaborators? Here we come “up” suddenly flip and become mostly “down”. The effect of to one of the most salient differences between traditional eco- because they have allegedly invented the complex financial in- struments that nobody else understands but that are now doing additional long-range ferromagnetic interactions would be to nomics and the econophysicists: economists are hesitant to put increase the magnitude of these dramatic flips. much stock in laws that have no coherent and complete theory us in.” It is indeed true that physicists have been among those who In short, this physicist’s intuition is that an overconnected supporting them, while physicists cannot afford this reluctance. system is WORSE, not BETTER, in a metastable condition, for There are so many phenomena we do not understand. Indeed, invented complex financial instruments. But so what? Physi- encouraging large fluctuations. So if this argument has any va- many physics “laws” have proved useful long before any the- cists also invented many other things that others have used for lidity, then the fluctuations are larger, not because of physicists oretical underpinning was developed . . . Newton’s laws and destructive purposes. Bernoulli invented the principles underly- making up new instruments, but rather because of the links be- Coulomb’s law to name but two. ing flight yet it is not customary to blame physicists for flight And all of us are loathe to accept even a well-documented accidents caused by the failure of these principles (in, e.g., tur- tween corporations, and the links between countries. empirical law that seems to go against our own everyday ex- bulent air conditions). Nor is it customary to blame physicists H. Eugene Stanley is University Professor and Director of for the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl despite the acknowledged the Center for Polymer Studies at Boston University.

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