April 2001 NEWS Volume 10, No. 4 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews

NMD, National Security Issues Featured Phase I CPU Report to be at 2001 April Meeting in Washington Discussed at Attendees of the 2001 APS April include a talk on how the news me- Meeting, which returns to Wash- dia cover science by David April Meeting ington, DC, this year, should arrive Kestenbaum, a self-described “es- The first phase of a new Na- just in time to catch the last of the caped physicist who is hiding out tional Research Council report of cherry blossom season in between at National Public Radio,” and a lec- the Committee on the Physics of scheduled sessions and special ture on entangled photons for the Universe (CPU) will be the events. The conference will run quantum information by the Uni- topic of discussion during a spe- April 28 through May 1, and will versity of Illinois’ Paul Kwiat. Other cial Sunday evening session at the feature the latest results in nuclear scheduled topics include imaging APS April Meeting in Washing- physics, astrophysics, chemical the cosmic background wave back- ton, DC. The session is intended physics, particles and fields, com- ground, searching for extra to begin the process of collect- putational physics, plasma physics, dimensions, CP violation in B me- ing input from the scientific the physics of beams, and physics sons, neutrino oscillations, and the community on some of the is- history, among other subdisci- amplification of atoms and light in The White House and (inset) some of its famous fictional sues outlined in the draft report, plines. The April Meeting will also Bose-Einstein condensates. For a denizens, the cast of West Wing. and members of the CPU will be noteworthy for a number of ses- complete list of plenary speakers be present to respond to ques- sions devoted to science policy and topics, see http://www.aps.org/ particle and astrophysics and the Renaissance West A, tions and hear comments on issues, including national missile de- meet/APR01/ physics of beams, will be: Saturday at 2:30 the content of the report. There fense (NMD), balancing scientific Sessions A1, G1 and P1, Session C4 on B Physics and CP Session C10 on Lepton Proper- will also be time for open discus- freedom with national security in- Grand Central Ballroom North/ Violation, sponsored by the Division ties, also sponsored by DPF and sion of future projects to realize terests, and climate change. Central, Renaissance Hotel. of Particles and Fields, will feature also taking place Saturday at 2:30 the science opportunities. Along with the standard array talks on the latest results from the B- (in Renaissance Room 3) will have Chaired by Michael Turner of of technical sessions, the meeting CP Violation, Muon G-2, factories. The results from Belle will four talks on various aspects of the RHIC Results, and Fermilab and the University of will feature three sessions of ple- be presented by Kay Kinoshita of the recently announced measure- Chicago, the CPU was established Neutrinos nary lectures on a broad range of University of Cincinnati, while those ment of the muons’s magnetic early last year. The Phase I report topics of general interest to the sci- Among the many sessions de- from Babar will be reviewed by David moment, which conflicts at the to be presented at the April Meet- entific community. Highlights voted to the latest results in nuclear, Kirkby of Stanford. See APRIL MEETING on page 6 ing summarizes the science and discusses the most timely oppor- tunities in a rapidly developing Peaceful Transfer of Power NAS Publishes Survey of and very active area of research, according to Turner. “Physics in a New Era” The second phase of the Ed. Note: This story was written for around the country, who worked for committee’s task is to evaluate and APS News by Jordan Raddick. two years to produce the report. “What prioritize projects that address sci- “There is an awful lot of exciting we try to do with these reports is to ence at the intersection of physics stuff going on in physics,” said Tho- identify and articulate the consensus and astronomy. The committee mas Appelquist of Yale University, of the community,” said Donald has also been asked to address chairperson of the committee that Shapero, director of the Board of the issue of inter-agency coopera- wrote “Physics in a New Era,” a re- Physics and Astronomy at the NAS. tion and possible barriers to it, port just published by the National The committee met with the heads since many of the projects in this Academy of Sciences (NAS) as a de- of federal funding agencies, and interdisciplinary area will likely be cennial “State of Physics” address. The sought advice from APS members. funded by more than one agency. Session M1, Grand Ballroom report profiles the frontiers of Ameri- “We got a lot of substantive and NC, Renaissance Hotel can physics research and outlines thoughtful responses [from APS recommendations for physics policy. members],” Appelquist said. The For more information on the It is now available from NAS, and will committee reviewed physics re- CPU study, see http:// www.nas.edu/bpa/projects/cpu. Alan Chodos/APS be officially introduced at a press con- search, and evaluated how physics Outgoing APS President James S. Langer (left) hands the gavel to new Presi- ference this month in Washington, DC. has changed over the past ten years. dent George H. Trilling at the start of the Executive Board meeting in February. The physics overview committee The report focused on four comprised of 14 physicists from See NAS SURVEY on page 2 HIGHLIGHTS

AIP Report Finds Academic Jobs for Physicists Are On the Rise Frozen Light: the Tip of the Iceberg The academic job market over the heads the AIP division and co-authored to retirement each year. Czujko specu- increasing turnover rates for several 5 By Marlan O. Scully and last two years is characterized by in- the 2000 report. lates that part of the reason for this years,” says Czujko. George R. Welch creases in the number of vacancies and Among the report’s most notable may be that faculty retirement “is of- As a result of higher retirement retirements, with corresponding in- findings is that the turnover and retire- ten a multi-step process, with many rates and job turnovers, the num- creases in the number of new hires and ment rates for physics faculty are on members reducing their status to part- bers of new hires and recruitments recruitments, according to the 2000 the rise; in fact, the retirement rate is time for several years before finally have also increased, the report con- Academic Workforce Report, re- currently higher than 3% for the first retiring completely.” cludes. In 2000, US physics leased recently by the American time (it never rose above 2.6% through- Turnover rates were also higher departments hired an estimated 329 Institute of Physics (AIP). AIP’s Divi- out the 1990s), and is expected to among tenured and tenure-track fac- tenured and tenure-track faculty sion of Employment and Education continue to increase slowly due to the ulty during the 1999 academic year members, a substantial increase from Statistics has been tracking the aca- increasing age of the physics faculty. than in previous years. The report the 1998 estimate of 264 tenured or demic workforce every two years Degree-granting physics departments found that 388 faculty members left tenure-track positions. The overall since 1986. “A sizeable percentage in the US employed an estimated 8375 their tenure or tenure-track posi- percentage of physics departments Call for Nomination of PhD physicists work in academia, full-time equivalent physicists during tions, for a total turnover rate of hiring for such positions increased The George E. Valley Jr. 7 Prize of the APS is looking and hence this sector is a good indi- the spring of 2000, but even with the 7.3%. “To the extent that increases as well, from about one-fourth in for nominations. cator of the health of the entire higher retirement rate, there are fewer in turnover rates are caused by ag- 1996 and 1998 to 35% in 2000. All Deadline: July 2, 2001 discipline,” says Roman Czujko, who than 250 physics positions vacated due ing faculty, we may continue to see See AIP REPORT on page 3 2 April 2001 NEWS

NAS Survey, from page 1 This Month in Physics History “frontiers” of physics research – April 1946: First Concept of Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer quantum manipulation, complex systems, the structure of the uni- Since its humble origins verse, and fundamental symmetries. nearly 100 years ago, mass In particular, the report concluded spectrometry has become a that new tools and techniques have virtually ubiquitous research revolutionized astrophysics and cos- tool, with scores of scientific mology. “We are in the middle of a breakthroughs, including the golden age in that field,” Appelquist said. discovery of isotopes, the ex- However, one of the biggest Thomas Appelquist act determination of atomic changes in the way physics is done in weights, the characterization the last ten years has come from the should be paid to physics education, of elements, and characteriza- ease of electronic communication. “The from elementary to graduate school. tion of molecular structure. In Los Alamos archive and e-mail have “Undergraduate education is badly in fact, it is arguably one of the speeded up scientific communication need of revamping and improvement,” most important types of com- tremendously,” Shapero said. In Feb- Appelquist said. The report recom- plex instruments in many fields ruary, Brookhaven National Laboratory mends that graduate education should of science and industry for announced new measurements of the include the training of students for jobs much of the 20th century, yet muon magnetic moment. A few days in industry, which employs most PhD the technology is generally later, two theoretical papers appeared graduates today. unknown among the educated Part of the Calutron mass spectrometer first used for preparative MS; inset photo on the Los Alamos archive – one from The report also concluded that public. of J.J. Thomson. a senior theorist at Brookhaven, and physics will increasingly broaden its Mass spectrometers are parabola spectrograph — was correcting for the initial spatial one from a researcher in India. “That influence on other sciences, espe- crucial for astronomical stud- constructed in 1912 by J.J. and kinetic energy distributions would have been inconceivable fifteen cially the life sciences. “We think that ies of our solar system. They Thomson, best known for his dis- of the ions. The resolution was years ago,” Appelquist said. “It’s an as- physics is likely to provide a lot to are also key to the non-inva- covery of the electron in 1897. improved further by a 1974 in- tonishing globalization.” the biological sciences, neuroscience sive international monitoring He used the mass spectrometer vention by a Russian scientist, The committee examined the role in particular,” Appelquist said. In the of nuclear facilities, and are to uncover the first evidence for Boris Mamyrin, called the of physics in society and developed nine past, Shapero said, physics was becoming important tools in the existence of nonradioactive reflectron, which corrects for recommendations for physics policy viewed as a tool for life sciences, but studies of surface phenomena. isotopes. His device for the de- the effects of the kinetic energy in the next ten years. They recommend now physicists are beginning to un- Commercially, mass spectrom- termination of mass-to-charge distribution of the ions. that federal physics funding, relative to derstand how collaboration with etry has long played a ratios of ions was based on turn- The quest for ever-greater GDP, should be increased to its early- biologists can aid physics as well. significant role in materials of-the-century research on resolution continues with two 1980s level, and that the US help lead To order a copy of “Physics in a analysis and process monitor- kanalstrahlen, the streams of recently developed techniques: international collaborations to build ex- New Era,” e-mail the Board of Phys- ing in the petroleum, chemical positive ions formed from re- electrospray ionization (ESI) perimental facilities. They also ics and Astronomy of the NAS at and pharmaceutical indus- sidual gases in cathode ray tubes, and matrix-assisted laser des- recommend that more attention [email protected]. tries, and are also used in the initially found emitted from chan- orption/ionization (MALDI). In food processing and electron- nels cut in the cathode plate. ESI, first conceived in the 1960s, ics industries. It is increasingly Local magnetic and electrostatic highly charged droplets in an MIT To Host First Conference on used in toxicology, drug abuse fields deflected these positive electric field are evaporated Image and Meaning in Science diagnosis and pollution moni- rays depending on their mass, re- and the resulting ions are drawn toring, as well as for biological sulting in diverging traces on a into a mass spectroscopic inlet. Scientists from nearly every disci- visualization technologies to commu- and biomedical uses. photographic plate. MALDI, a form of laser desorp- pline will join animators, architects, film nicate science,” says Felice Frankel, an A mass spectrometer is Thomson’s protégé, Francis tion developed in 1985 by a makers, graphic artists and others for award-winning science photographer usually defined as any device Aston, designed a mass spectrom- team of German scientists, la- a conference on image and meaning, (see APS News, May 1999) who is co- that operates by a process eter in which ions were dispersed ser-desorbs sample molecules to be held June 13-16 at the Massa- organizing the NSF-funded conference. used to produce a mass spec- by mass and focused by velocity, from a solid or liquid matrix chusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “But this communication will not be trum, and the instruments improving resolution power by containing a highly ultraviolet- Conference participants will discuss effective unless science communica- have appeared in ever-increas- an order of magnitude over absorbing substance. and demonstrate the most advanced tors and science imagers learn more ing variety of designs since Thomson’s device. Other helpful These innovations have forms of visual expression from science, about one another, and develop more their inception. Among these innovations followed but the in- made TOFMS and other forms technical and nonscientific visual fields sophisticated ways to interact.” designs is the innovation novation of TOFMS as an of lower-cost mass spectros- in both plenary sessions and more in- Among the program highlights is a known as time-of-flight mass analytical tool took several more copy increasingly useful for formal working sessions. Specific topics special Thursday evening on science spectrometry (TOFMS), a decades. The concept was first sophisticated biomedical to be covered include exploring ways as spectacle, with representations from technique that determines the presented at the 1946 APS April analysis, sufficiently democ- in which techniques developed for one Digital Domain, Industrial Light and molecular weight of a sub- Meeting in Cambridge, Massa- ratizing the technology to discipline can be used in others; the Magic, and Sony Imageworks show- stance by accelerating ions chusetts, by William Stephens of make it available to hun- role of science writers in adding infor- casing their latest technologies on toward a detector. The time it the University of Pennsylvania. dreds of researchers who mation and meaning to an image; the how to present scientific informa- takes to travel from the ion The first TOF instruments were lack access to sophisticated psychology of perception; graphical tion, followed by a panel discussion source to the detector is mea- designed and constructed in the magnetic sector machines. representation of numerical data; and on what does and doesn’t work sured, then converted to mass late 1940s, and the Bendix Corpo- Current applications include the border between image enhance- when film and television try to ex- with high accuracy. The ration in Detroit, Michigan was the the sequencing and analysis of ment and falsification. plain science. Friday evening will greater the ratio of mass to first to commercialize such de- peptides and proteins, DNA “As human beings, we assimilate the feature appearances by Alan charge, the slower the ion vices. Two staff scientists — sequencing, and the analysis world chiefly through our sense of Lightman, Roger Penrose, Susan speeds toward the detector as William Wiley and I.H. McLaren — of intact viruses, among oth- sight. Both the increasing complexity Sontag and E.O. Wilson, in what is it is accelerated. are credited with devising a time- ers, providing high sensitivity, of science and the invention of new being touted as a “conversation” The first mass spectrom- lag focusing scheme that improved specificity, and speed at a methods of visualization provide a re- about how images in science have eter — originally called a mass resolution by simultaneously lower cost. markable opportunity to use the new changed the way we view ourselves.

Series II, Vol. 10, No. 4 Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, Treasurer Lubkin* (Forum on History of Physics), Stuart Wolf April 2001 MD 20740-3844, [email protected]. Thomas McIlrath*, University of Maryland (emeritus) (Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics), Ed Gerjuoy NEWS © 2001 The American Physical Society Editor-in-Chief (Forum on Physics and Society), Carl Lineberger (Laser For Nonmembers—Circulation and Fulfillment Martin Blume*, Brookhaven National Laboratory Science), G. Slade Cargill, III (Materials), John D. Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 Division, American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, (emeritus) Walecka (Nuclear), Sally Dawson, Peter Meyers 2 Huntington Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747- Past-President (Particles & Fields), Alexander Chao (Physics of 4502. Allow at least 6 weeks advance notice. For James Langer*, University of California, Santa Barbara Beams), Richard Hazeltine (Plasma), Timothy P. Editor ...... Alan Chodos address changes, please send both the old and new Lodge (Polymer), Kannan Jagannathan, (New Associate Editor ...... Jennifer Ouellette addresses, and, if possible, include a mailing label General Councillors England), Joe Hamilton (Southeastern) Special Publications Manager ...... Elizabeth Buchan-Higgins from a recent issue. Requests from subscribers for Jonathan A. Bagger, Beverly Berger, Philip Bucksbaum*, * Members of the APS Executive Board Design and Production ...... Alicia Chang missing issues will be honored without charge only L. Craig Davis, Stuart Freedman, Leon Lederman*, if received within 6 months of the issue’s actual date Cynthia McIntyre, Margaret Murnane, Cherry Ann ADVISORS APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X News should be directed to: Editor, APS News, One of publication. Periodical Postage Paid at College Murray, Roberto Peccei, Philip Phillips, Helen Quinn*, Representatives from Other Societies yearly, monthly, except the August/September Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20749-3844, Email: Park, MD and at additional mailing offices. Jin-Joo Song, James Trefil John Hubisz, AAPT; Marc Brodsky, AIP issue, by the American Physical Society, One [email protected]. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS News, International Advisors Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844, Membership Department, American Physical Society, Chair, Nominating Committee Gordon Drake, Canadian Association of Physicists, (301) 209-3200. It contains news of the Society Subscriptions: APS News is an on-membership One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Curtis G. Callan, Jr. Dr. Gerardo C. Puente, Mexican Physical Society and of its Divisions, Topical Groups, Sections publication delivered by Periodical Mail. Members Chair, Panel on Public Affairs and Forums; advance information on meetings residing abroad may receive airfreight delivery for a APS COUNCIL 2001 William R. Frazer Staff Representatives of the Society; and reports to the Society by its fee of $15. Nonmembers: Subscription rates are: President Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Irving Lerch, committees and task forces, as well as opinions. domestic $105; Canada, Mexico, Central and South George H. Trilling*, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Division, Forum and Section Councillors Director of International Affairs; Fredrick Stein, Director America, and Caribbean $105; Air Freight Europe, President-Elect Steven Holt* (Astrophysics), Harold Metcalf (Atomic, of Education and Outreach; Robert L. Park, Director, Letters to the editor are welcomed from the Asia, Africa and Oceania $120. William F. Brinkman*, Bell Labs-Lucent Technologies Molecular & Optical), Robert Eisenberg (Biological Physics), Public Information; Michael Lubell, Director, Public membership. Letters must be signed and should Vice-President Sylvia Ceyer (Chemical), E. Dan Dahlberg* Arthur Affairs; Stanley Brown, Editorial Director; Charles include an address and daytime telephone number. Subscription orders, renewals and address Myriam P. Sarachik*, City College of New York - CUNY Hebard*, Allen Goldman (Condensed Matter Physics), Muller, Director, Journal Operations; Robert Kelly, The APS reserves the right to select and to edit for changes should be addressed as follows: For APS Executive Officer Steve White (Computational), Jerry Gollub* (Fluid Director of Journal Information Systems; Michael length or clarity. All correspondence regarding APS Members—Membership Department, American Judy R. Franz*, University of Alabama, Huntsville (on leave) Dynamics), James Wynne (Forum on Education), Gloria Stephens, Controller and Assistant Treasurer NEWS April 2001 3

Institute Participants Ponder Memorial Talk To Honor Archimedes’ Principle Herman Feshbach The upcoming APS April Meet- These investigators are work- ing in Washington, DC, will ing with materials from an feature a special memorial talk in exemplary elementary science honor of Herman Feshbach, a kit on buoyancy. The two at the prominent nuclear physicist and right have just calibrated their former APS president (1980) who spring scale and are weighing a helped develop the theories un- large fishing bobber. The two at derlying the behavior of the the bottom right are weighing a nuclei of atoms and later became

set of identically sized and active in the anti-nuclear move- Shelter Island II shaped cylinders under water to ment. Feshbach died last determine the buoyant force. December from congestive heart

All four were participants at failure; he was 83. Reprinted from the 2001 APS Lead-Scientist In- The talk, “A Tribute to Discussing physics informally (left to stitute, held in Washington, DC Herman Feshbach” will be deliv- right): R. Feynman, H. Feshbach, J. Schwinger at the Shelter Island Confer- on January 6-10. This institute, ered by J. Dirk Walecka, ence in 1947. the last in a series of seven Governor’s Distinguished CEBAF funded by the Campaign for Professor of Physics at the Col- the National Medal of Science in Physics, showed 46 scientists lege of William and Mary. It will 1986. In 1953 he co-authored and educators from nine states be part of Session Q2, of the Di- (with Philip M. Morse) a two-vol- how they can contribute to K-8 vision of Nuclear Physics, at ume textbook, Methods of systemic science education re- 10:45am on Monday, April 30 in Theoretical Physics, which served form. the Grand Ballroom South of the as the standard reference for After three days of talks and Renaissance Hotel. physics graduate students for de- workshops, the participants ob- A New York City native, cades. served science classes at an Feshbach spent the majority of Feshbach’s opposition to nuclear elementary and a middle school his professional career at the weapons dated back to the early in nearby Montgomery County Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 1950s, when he turned down an (MD) so they could see good sci- nology, beginning as a graduate offer from Edward Teller to develop ence instruction in action. In student in physics and eventually the hydrogen bomb, and in 1989 addition, they toured the sci- heading the physics department he was one of several scientists who ence materials center that and serving as director of the signed a letter urging the US not to replenishes the kits after each Center for Theoretical Physics. build new reactors for the produc- use in schools. He is best known for his descrip- tion of weapons-grade uranium The APS expects that insti- tion of the phenomenon now and plutonium. He was also a tute participants will work with known as Feshbach resonance, staunch supporter of human rights, teachers, administrators, and in which two atoms adhere to co-founding the Union of Con- local officials and will recruit form a temporary molecule when cerned Scientists and serving as its large numbers of scientists and Photos by Edward Lee/APS their kinetic energy is exactly first chairman. In 1969 he partici- engineers. The institute was con- Top photo: Don Brown (left), Wallace Planetarium, Fitchburg, MA; and George equal to the energy required to pated in a “research stoppage” ducted by Ted Schultz, a retired Miller, Fitchburg State College. bind them together. (Normally, protesting military research at MIT, IBM physicist who is on the APS Bottom photo: Carolanne Buguey (left), Webster Life Science Academy, Palo Alto, when two atoms collide, they and later championed the cause of staff. CA; and Bonnie Schindler, San Diego USD. bounce off one another, akin to Soviet dissident physicist Andrei billiard balls.) He was awarded Sakharov. Campinas Workshop Could Be the Start of a Series AIP Report, from page 1 number of US citizens entering graduate school is in a free fall. “Over The success of a recent sum- effort. “It was surprising to see others in Brazil, and more gener- departments showed an increase in the last three years, the number of mer workshop in Brazil, partly how, on such short notice, we ally throughout the Americas.” the percentage of hires who earned first-year students in graduate phys- sponsored by APS and organized could get together a good This month, organizers of the PhDs outside the US. ics programs has stabilized, but this with the help of the APS Office of number of scientists from several meeting, together with represen- For 2001, the departments have an is due entirely to a continued in- International Affairs, may augur countries in Latin America”, tatives of the APS and of the US estimated 509 tenured and tenure- crease among foreign students,” he well for a series of such workshops commented da Silva. “This shows Liaison Committee to the Interna- track faculty openings, not all of says. The number of US citizens en- at appropriate locations through- such meetings are needed. The tional Union of Pure and Applied which will be filled. This is also a tering graduate physics programs is out Latin America. venue was well suited to Physics, plan to get together to dis- large increase from the previous the lowest in the 30 years that AIP The meeting, held from Febru- showcase the determination of cuss future meetings in Latin survey, which showed 34% of de- has conducted such studies. ary 11 to February 13, combined many countries in Latin America America. “Many participants were partments recruiting for an However, Czujko points out that a workshop on the use of synchro- to support research and to extremely positive,” said da Silva, estimated 373 tenured or tenure- the academic job market is influ- tron radiation for research with a provide high-quality scientific “suggesting that the workshop track positions for 1999. And most enced by many factors, all of which symposium on nanotechnologies. infrastructure.” should become part of a regular of the 2001 recruitments (roughly must be considered when predicting The site was the National Synchro- Among the lecturers were ten program of meetings on synchro- three quarters) were for PhD grant- its future. “The pool of potential phys- tron Light Laboratory in Campinas, from the United States, including tron radiation and nanotechnology ing physics departments. Physics ics faculty is indeed getting smaller and Brazil, and the Chair of the Orga- Richard Pratt of the University of in Latin America.” departments also hired an additional it is tempting to compare the increas- nizing Committee was the founding Pittsburgh. “The workshop in Pratt had a similar opinion, re- estimated 329 faculty on a part-time ing number of openings to the director of this facility, Cylon Campinas was very useful,” he said, marking that “the concentrated or temporary full-time basis, for an decreasing number of new PhDs Gonçalves da Silva. “for understanding what has been activity in a short time frame could estimated overall total of 658 new awarded each year,” he says. “But such The meeting was put together accomplished, and for becoming provide a model for other such faculty, including tenure and tenure- a comparison does not take into ac- in eight months of concerted acquainted with the people there, workshops in the future.” track positions. count the complexities of the academic This increased demand for phys- job market for physicists. It is true that ics faculty is occurring at a time when there are fewer applicants and more the pool of potential faculty (among jobs than there have been in the last US PhD recipients) is decreasing. PhD several years, and we do not foresee production has been declining since this situation changing for the next 1994, dropping to 1262 for the class several years.” of 1999, according to AIP’s most re- On the negative side, the report cent survey of enrollments and degrees. found that very few academically em- In addition, the number of incoming ployed physicists are African-American graduate students declined during the or Hispanic, and two-thirds of African- early 1990s and was still low in 1999, American physics faculty work at and thus the workforce survey re- historically black colleges and univer- port predicts that production will sities (HBCUs). Out of the 38 continue to be low, perhaps declin- African-Americans who are on facul- ing to around 1050 by 2003. ties at PhD-granting physics

Czujko describes this trend as departments, fourteen belong to just Courtesy of LNLS “disquieting,” particularly when two departments: Hampton University Inter-American Workshop on the use of Synchrotron Radiation for Research and Symposium on Nanotechnologies hosted by combined with the fact that the and Howard University. Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron, Campinas-SP-Brazil, February 11-13, 2001. 4 April 2001 NEWS LETTERS

Science Textbooks Riddled with Errors Instead of debating philosophi- they do not compare with the Physicists Obsess Over Small Part of Religion cal subjects, such as “Religion and damage done by discouraging the Anantanarayanan Stalinist suffering depended on the sible for any part of the suffer- Science”, I believe we should con- young students. Experiments that Thyagaraja added Lysenkoism ability of one human to see another ing of others? Who is guilty and centrate our minds and efforts on can not possibly work, irrelevant to the list of false belief systems human suffering and then turn who is innocent? And if there is problems within our large realm of photographs, diagrams and that have inflicted suffering on away without guilt or a sense of re- guilt, what should the punish- science teaching. A recent study of drawings that represent impossible millions. But I must dispute this sponsibility for the suffering. ment be, and then what should the science textbooks widely used situations, and patently false claim. Lysenkoism by itself never As poet Anna Ahkmatova said happen after the punishment is in middle schools has shown them statements serve only to drive away did anything to anyone. Lysen- about the year 1956 when the sur- delivered? And how can such to be riddled with errors. The study potential science students. The koism was a movement in viving prisoners of the Stalinist suffering be alleviated? What is entitled, “Review of Middle damage is compounded by lack of biology that was supported by labor camps began to return home, actions and words and ideas School Physical Science Texts”, and response from the publishers, and Stalin for political reasons. Ly- “The half of Russia who went to the have the power to bring solace is authored by Dr. John L. Hubisz, the inability of the investigators to senkoism was never at any time camps came home to face the half to those who suffer? visiting professor of physics at contact the real authors. a driving force behind Commu- of Russia who sent them there.” Science, and especially phys- North Carolina State University. He How can we claim respect and nism. Quite the opposite. Physicists continually obsess over ics, can never replace those is a coinvestigator in the 2½ year acceptance of science, when such It was the Soviet Commu- the small portion of religious thoughts or those conversa- study, sponsored by a grant from pervasive and destructive teaching nist Party that inflicted thought and discourse that at- tions. The only responsibility felt the David and Lucile Packard is allowed? This did not happen suffering on millions. They did tempts to describe the external by scientists is the responsibil- Foundation. overnight – we have not paid at- it because the leadership world. (Sometimes this reminds me ity to be correct about science. The full report can be seen on tention to this growing problem in thought cruelty and suffering of Napoleon obsessing over the The scientific community the internet at: http://www.psrc- our children’s schools. Where is were a valid means of building parts of Europe that weren’t ruled spends a great deal of time ar- onhne.org. It is a devastating and the attention of the APS members a society that replaced reli- by France.) guing that this is where individual disturbing account. While gross and directors? We must attack this gious belief by scientific But the majority of religious responsibility ends within the errors, such as showing the problem in our own back yard! reasoning in the name of con- thought and discourse in the world context of science. equator passing through the David A. Lupfer structing and maintaining a does not concern the structure of The problem in the Soviet United States, leap out at the reader, Southern Pines, NC scientifically engineered so- spacetime or behavior of objects Union was that they did try to cialist economy. in the material world. The majority replace that thinking and con- Keyworth Promotes Reagan-Bush-Bush Agenda But this suffering was not of religious thought in the world versing with what was at the time merely or simply imposed from concerns the development of the believed to be logical scientific I am writing in response to can accurately identify one. In ad- the top down. It was a fully col- individual’s relationship with self reasoning. The tragic outcome George Keyworth’s Back Page ar- dition, it would be relatively easy lective effort, inflicted by and others. Some questions that of this endeavor should tell us ticle in the February APS News to harden a missile against a laser citizens upon other citizens. religion asks and then tries in vari- something about where science where he promotes the Reagan- attack: a highly reflective and con- Family, friends and lovers were ous ways to answer are: What belongs and where it should Bush-Bush agenda of deploying the ductive cladding should be willing and eager to betray each should one human do upon seeing never try to go. SDI system using high power lasers. sufficient. other to the system. The deep the suffering of another human? In Patricia Schwarz He claims that only marginal atten- Also (and I am not the first to reach and lengthy persistence of what sense is the individual respon- Pasadena, California tion has been paid to this state this), deployment of an anti- technology over the past 20 years. missile system would just induce However, the reality is that we have other countries to build more mis- poured over 100 of billion dollars siles to overwhelm it. It is especially into the Star Wars program and dangerous to build such a system Letters Policy Now Online have yet to produce a working sys- (at a cost of over $100 billion) when APS News encourages our readers to submit letters to the editor. The best way tem. We still cannot produce a laser it does not work. to do this is to send them to [email protected]. Our policy on publishing letters can or a rocket capable of destroying a Michael Bleiweiss be found on the web at http://www.aps.org/apsnews/letters.html missile or a surveillance system that Methuen, Massachusetts zero gravity

is so big it doesn’t even have a name. more number names. is googolplexgoogolplex, and nobody is A Fuga Really Big Numbers The two decided on the name “goo- I have been obliged to find ways going to top that. By Alistair Cockburn golplex,” and they made the names to make numbers grow faster and Not so. We made our own new Every parent knows that kids two walk away or mom or dad public and popular. So that now, in faster. My by-now six-year-old, math function, Fuga, to take us like to hurl really big numbers at show up and say, “Quiet down in our household, the conversation Kieran, caught the other two off one step further in this game. We each other. It starts with the five- here and just play.” between the three kids runs on its guard one day: “Mine rules noticed that fzgoogolplex only and eight-year-olds. What kids need are some really course: gargoogolplex stars. Gargoogolplex has googolplex raised to the goo- “My space commander rules big numbers. A jillion is good for a “Well, my space commander is googolplex googolplexes.” I liked golplex once. What about the the whole world!” while, but it is not a real number, rules a googol stars!” the cleverness of Kieran’s “gar-” ultimate five-year-old’s answer? “Yeah, well my space com- it’s a fake. Quintillion is great if you “Well, mine rules a googolplex prefix. It implies that there are as “Googolplex raised to the googol- mander rules the whole star and can say it. stars!” many of the number as the num- plex raised to the googolplex all the planets.” My kids were seriously im- And they are stuck again. What ber itself. For example, “gar-four” raised to the... (until the voice “Yeah, well my commander rules pressed with googol, and even we need are names for some seri- is four fours. “Gar-million” is a mil- wears out).” two stars.” more impressed that it was named ously, really big numbers, bigger lion millions. And “gar-googolplex” We came up with fuga (pro- “Mine rules ten stars.” by a ten-year-old in search of a re- even than googolplex. is a googolplex googolplexes. nounced ‘few-ga’). Fuga is a Now is the big moment for the ally big number. I can almost hear Let’s first get straight that goo- However, kids in junior high get mixture of the musical word five-year-old. Five-year-olds have the conversation at the dinner golplex is a really big number. around to noticing that four fours “fugue,” and Kieran’s “gar-” pre- to learn to count to 100 in kinder- table. The ten-year-old has recently Googol is 10 to the 100th power, is really just four squared (4 x 4 = fix. Fuga-number means “that garten, so One Hundred is a really learned about powers of ten: which is 10,000,000,000, 42), and a million millions is a mil- number raised to that number big number. It is so big and fright- “Dad, what’s 10 to 5th power?” 000,000,000,000,000,000,000, lion squared (1,000,000 x that number of times.” Fuga-2 is ening to five-year-olds that they “Ten thousand.” 000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 1,000,000 = (1,000,000)2). Much (22). Fuga-3 is ((33)3). Very soon, never name 101. Always 100. “Dad, what’s 10 to the 10th 000,000,000,000,000,000,000, more interesting would be to get here, this is going to get hard to “My space commander rules power?” 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 1,000,0001,000,000, which doesn’t write. So we will leave fuga-4 and 100 stars!” “Ten billion.” [Silence for a bit.] Googolplex isn’t just that number have a name, as far as I know. But fuga-100 as exercises for the At this point the five-year-old “Dad, what’s 10 to the 100th but has that many zeros in it. It then, some of us have lived long reader. Now we can name Fuga- will lose, because the eight-year-old power?” simply has no other nameable enough to see what’s coming. We gar-googolplex! (We could say can say, “Well mine rules 1,000 “It doesn’t have a name.” [Si- name. won’t just need a name for fuga-googolplex, but why bother stars, so there.” And the five-year- lence again.] But it’s no good having a top 1,000,0001,000,000, but a name for: when we know that Kieran is just old can’t say anything. “I want to call it ‘googol’.” number. Kids need numbers be- NN, any number to the power of going to say Fuga-gar-googolplex But the ten-year-old can, and “OK, that’s fine.” yond numbers, ways to name itself. Let’s call it fz-whatever. Fz- right afterwards?) jumps in with, “But my commander “Dad, what’s 10 to the googol?” number larger than whatever four is 44, and fz-million is the There we have it. A number so rules a million stars.” “Well, googol didn’t have a name numbers the other kids name. 1,000,0001,000,000 we were looking big that it boggles the ears just in And now the five-year-old is until a few seconds ago, so 10 to And they have to be actual for. We can already see where this the speaking. Gar-googolplex back in the game. “Well my space the googol doesn’t have a name.” numbers, not phonies like is going. Fzgoogolplex is going to raised to the gar-googolplex a gar- commander rules a million million Power surges through the ten- “jillion,” or vague not-quite- outdo gargoogolplex in just a mo- googolplex times! Bigger than the million million million million...” year-old at the thought of having numbers like “infinity.” Part of ment, because gargoogolplex is number of all the atoms in the and keeps going until the other found a specific, real number that the game is to keep using up only googolplex2, and fzgoogolplex universe! [By a lot! Ed.] NEWS April 2001 5

Frozen Light: the Tip of the Iceberg By Marlan O. Scully and George R. Welch Recent experiments have slowed But there is more to the story. ments is similar to the spirit of light, stored light, and even demon- When the index of refraction n de- teleporting an atom by transmitting strated the possibility of bringing light pends on the wave-vector k, such the quantum information necessary to a complete halt and reversing its di- as when atoms are moving in a Dop- to reproduce the original atomic rection. These experiments now pave pler broadened medium, the state. The idea of teleportation is that the way for a wide-ranging set of appli- correct expression for the group the quantum state of an atom can be ω∂ ∂ cations including new measurement velocity is vg = (c – n/ k) / ng. The imprinted on an electromagnetic tools in the near term to quantum op- second term in the numerator is po- field, this field can then be transmit- tical data storage and processing in the tentially very large, and in this way it is ted to another point in space and more distant future. possible to use the thermal motion of time, and then the information con- In 1967, Hahn and his cowork- the atoms to stop or “freeze” the light. tained in the light beam can be used ers used self-induced transparency Stored Light to prepare an atom in the original to reduce the group velocity of light The plot thickens when one re- state. All atoms are identical, so we to around c/100. This was startlingly alizes that the ultra-large can say that we have teleported the low at the time, but like all records it nonlinearity associated with slow atom from one point to another. was quickly surpassed. Today, using light plays an important role even Philips and Liu turned things in two level systems, and more re- medium than sound. But now, ultra- electromagnetically induced trans- for very weak light pulses. Harris around in their experiments on cently generalized to multilevel slow light can give us a new lease on parency (EIT) and capitalizing on the and Hau showed that nonlinear atomic coherence. They focused on media and to resonant four-wave life, acousto-optically speaking. For ultra-dispersive nature of EIT, it optical effects are important even the fact that it is possible to store the mixing experiments in coherent example, stimulated Brillouin scatter- stands near one meter per second. at the single photon level. In fact, quantum state of a light beam in an atomic systems. However, the usual ing in ordinary experiments is only Last year, a theoretical analysis by Lukin, Yelin, and Fleishhauer and atomic medium and then allow the photon echo experiments do not observed in the backward direction Lukin, Yelin, and Fleishhauer, followed Lukin and Imamo—lu showed theo- atoms to evolve such that the same involve “photons”, i.e., they involve because of the need to phase-match by beautiful experiments on the stor- retically that one can control and light beam can be reconstructed later only intense classical fields rather than the sound and light fields. When ul- age of light in atomic vapor, showed manipulate the quantum state of in time. In this sense the atoms are single photon quantum fields. tra-slow light interacts with sound that quantum information associated pulse with another pulse of light as used to store the state of light. Due to the giant non-linear opti- waves and the light velocity equals with a light field can be stored for long weak as a single photon. They also At Texas A&M University we cal coefficients associated with EIT, the velocity of sound in the medium, times and retrieved on demand. Fur- showed that it should be possible to have demonstrated new results on our experiments are capable of dem- an anomalous stimulated Brillouin thermore, within the past year store the quantum states of single light transportation (transport of the onstrating nonlinear optical effects at scattering occurs such that the gen- calculations have shown that light can photon fields in the atomic medium state of light between different spa- the few-photon level. Furthermore, erated sound is strongest in the actually be “frozen” or stopped by and to read the stored quantum in- tial and temporal points via atomic unlike photon echoes, there is no time forward direction and vanishes in the making use of the Doppler broaden- formation with nearly 100% coherence), multiplexing (transfer of delay between the reading and restored backward direction! Furthermore, ing associated with a hot gas. efficiency via a pulse applied later in a state of light with one frequency pulses associated with the spin resto- using the extreme phase matching Group Velocity and Frozen time. Recently Philips and colleagues and wave vector to another fre- ration in an inhomogeneously made possible by ultra-slow light in Light at the Harvard Smithsonian and Liu quency and wave vector), and time broadened medium. The Doppler-free a fiber, we can achieve enhanced There are several kinds of veloci- and colleagues at the Rowland Insti- reversal (phase conjugation). We use configuration of the fields allows us to squeezing via guided acoustic wave ties associated with optical tute carried out the first the fact that the atomic center of reproduce the signal pulse at any mo- Brillouin scattering. phenomenon in dispersive media. The proof-of-principle experiments. Us- mass motion allows us to transport ment of time, provided that the As a second example, it is pos- phase velocity, v, is the speed at which ing polaritons, the strong coupling the stored information from one spin-coherence survives. Finally, unlike sible to dramatically increase the the nodes of the electromagnetic car- of light and matter in ultra-disper- point in space to another. Thus, we other resonant four-wave mixing ex- efficiency of the ponderomotive rier wave moves. This is defined as v = sive media, they demonstrated that provide proof-of-principle demon- periments, we can spatially and nonlinearity driving the atomic me- c / n where n is the index of refraction. quantum memory could be effi- strations of the tools to teleport light temporally separate the writing fields dia by appropriately detuning the But the group velocity, which is the ve- ciently recorded and read out. via atomic motion, i.e., the moving (which store the information in the light fields from atomic resonance. locity v of the peak of the Quantum information theory, atoms carry the information about g atomic medium) from the reading Harris has shown that the longitudi- electromagnetic envelope or wave quantum computing, quantum the light between two spatially sepa- field. Therefore our experiments nal gradient force acting on a packet, is more important for the dense coding and the like are all po- rated points. demonstrate a new facet of quan- two-level atom can be enhanced very present purposes. This is usually given tentially exciting applications of This technique also enables us to tum coherence. substantially via the spatial compres- by v =c / n where n is the group in- these new phenomena. But the time time reverse the incident pulse by g g g Applications of Slow, Stored, sion associated with ultra-slow pulse dex, and n = 1 + ω∂n/∂ω where ω is the scale for their use is still anybody’s extracting its time reversed phase g and Frozen Light propagation. This enhanced force frequency of the light. By making the guess! conjugate partner from the stored New Acousto-Optics provides a kind of atom “surfing” and group index large, on the order of 106 information. In this sense, our ex- The world of acousto-optics has a new kind of local ponderomotive or 107 as in recent experiments, it is Recent Experiments periments may be viewed as an always been dominated by the fact light scattering. possible to slow the velocity of light to The sense in which light can be extension of stimulated photon echo that light moves much faster in a See FOREFRONT on page 7 a few tens of meters per second. said to be “stored” in recent experi- experiments, as originally carried out VIEWPOINT… 50 Years on Long Island A “50 Years on Long Island” celebra- Science and Surpluses By D. Allan Bromley tion bagel breakfast for staff and guests When President Bush spoke to alarming 7.1 percent. advances in defense hardware.) was held at the APS Editorial Office in Congress and the nation on Feb. 27, Economists, including Alan Technological innovation depends Ridge, NY on 15 February, to coincide he outlined three cardinal goals: a $1.6 Greenspan, attribute much of upon the steady flow of discoveries and with the first issue produced on Long trillion tax cut, a first-class education America’s 1990’s boom to increased trained workers generated by federal Island 50 years ago. Peter Bond, former for every child and a restructured mili- productivity stemming, in large part, science investments in universities and Interim Director of Brookhaven Na- tary that confronts emerging post- from scientific research. Two simple national laboratories. These discover- tional Laboratory, was in attendance as cold-war threats. The next day, he an- discoveries * the transistor and the fi- ies feed directly into the industries that Bob Kelly/APS nounced a budget that jeopardizes the ber optic cable * are at the root of it. drive the economy. It’s a straightfor- was Suffolk County Legislator Ginny APS Editor-in-Chief Marty Blume Fields. Fields addressed the staff and accepts “50 Years of Physical Review nation’s ability to achieve any of these Anyone skeptical of this should turn ward relationship: industry is attentive presented a congratulatory proclama- on Long Island” proclamation from truly laudable goals. off the computer for a day and see how to immediate market pressures, and tion from the County Legislature. Suffolk County Legislator Ginny Fields Both the tax cut and the spending much work gets done. the federal government makes the in- Founded at Cornell University in at APS Editorial Offices. that would support educational and The 21st century economy will con- vestments that ensure long-term 1893, the Physical Review remained based at or near that institution military buildups depend upon an esti- tinue to depend on scientific competitiveness. until 1926, when it relocated to the University of Minnesota and mated $5.6 trillion surplus over the next innovation. Economists estimate that The proposed cuts to scientific re- John Tate became Editor. At his death, an interim Editor took over 10 years. Where is all that money com- innovation and the application of new search are a self-defeating policy. for a year until the operation moved to Long Island and Sam ing from? There are several sources, technology have generated at least half Congress must increase the federal in- Goudsmit of Brookhaven National Laboratory became Editor. but the major driver of our nation’s of the phenomenal growth in America’s vestment in science. No science, no From its beginning until 1951, the Physical Review operation was economic success is scientific innova- gross domestic product since World surplus. It’s that simple. nimble and compact enough to be relocated when the Editor changed. tion. And the Bush budget includes War II. Keeping that economic source Ed. Note: D. Allan Bromley, Ster- But well before the end of Goudsmit’s term in 1975 it was clear that cuts, after accounting for inflation, to productive is critical to both national ling Professor of the Sciences at Yale, henceforth the Editor-in-Chief would need to come to the journals, the three primary sources of ideas and prosperity and federal revenues. (And served as Science Advisor to President rather than vice versa. So it happens that the best physics journals in personnel in the high-tech economy: where defense is concerned, basic sci- Bush the elder, 1989-93, and was APS the world, by almost any measure, are put together in the peaceful the National Science Foundation is cut entific discovery also has a more President in 1997. This article ap- and beautiful environs of eastern Long Island’s Suffolk County. by 2.6 percent, NASA by 3.6 percent direct role: it leads to the applied peared in the New York Times on and the Department of Energy by an science that eventually provides March 9. 6 April 2001 NEWS Master’s Program Enhances Relevance of Physics to Zimbabwe Ed. Note: This story was written of Zimbabwe in Harare for twenty students away from jobs in government for APS News by Jordan Raddick. years. Last September, Carelse gave a or industry. “We are progressively making presentation at an international con- To solve this problem, Carelse physics irrelevant by focusing on ference on physics and economic founded his two-year master’s of ap- what physics is and what it isn’t,” development in Durban, South Africa. plied physics program. In the first year, claimed Xavier Carelse, professor There, he met Roman Czujko, Direc- students take classes and pick one of of physics at the University of Zim- tor of the Statistical Research Center of four areas of concentration. One babwe, in a talk given at APS the American Institute of Physics (AIP). course involves practice in a workshop headquarters in February. When Czujko heard that Carelse was that Carelse built for the students. Stu- Carelse contrasted this general coming to Washington, he invited him dents make devices in the workshop; situation with the Master’s of Applied speak at the American Center for Phys- by the end of the course, all must be Jessica Clark/APS Physics program that he founded at ics, the common home of APS and AIP, able to design and build a circuit. One Xavier Carelse speaking in College Park and (inset) working with students in Zimbabwe. the university in 1994. His students in College Park, MD. “His talk and the student built a solar cooker – he now machine is running because it makes a on to other industrial jobs, both in work with industry to learn new ma- slides that he used put a face on phys- uses it to cook all his food, and he sells loud bang that can be heard through- Zimbabwe and abroad. Half of the chines and techniques, and most ics in Zimbabwe,” Czujko said. it in the countryside. “You can’t train out the building. graduates have taken teaching jobs. graduates go on to jobs with indus- In his talk, Carelse explained that physicists to be useful in industry un- In the second year of the master’s “To me, that is gratifying,” Carelse tries in Zimbabwe. “What we’re trying his university is currently experiencing less you train them to use their hands,” program, students are matched up said. “They will produce the next gen- to do is to make physics relevant to the same decline in physics enrollment Carelse said. One of his PhD students with local companies for an intern- eration of physicists who are relevant our country,” Carelse said. that many western universities have ex- turned a broken electron microscope ship, where they work as full-time to Zimbabwe.” One recent graduate Carelse grew up in South Africa. He perienced. He attributes the decline to into a plasma focus machine, and he industrial physicists. Since 1993, 30 has gone to the nearby country of has worked in eight different coun- an excessive focus by professors on now uses it to conduct fusion experi- students have graduated from the Malawi, where he is setting up a simi- tries, and has been at the University defining ‘pure’ physics and steering ments. Carlese said he knows when the master’s program. Many have gone lar university master’s program.

April Meeting, from page 1 Lisbeth Gronlund of MIT’s Se- plexity of “life, the universe, and Warming Up to Climate resilience with respect to future cli- curity Studies Program, also a nothing,” bestselling science au- Change mate change,” he says. level of 2.6 standard deviations member of the Union of Con- thor Lawrence Krauss (The Physics The task of adapting and cop- Agent-based computer model- from the predicition of the Stan- cerned Scientists, will follow of Star Trek), a professor of physics ing with climate change is made ing is now being used to grow dard Model. Garwin’s lead in considering three at Case Western Reserve University, more daunting “because climate artificial societies and model the Session H7, sponsored by the primary potential countermeasures will give this year’s Lilienfeld Prize and weather impact society largely socio-economic systems of the Division of Nuclear Physics, will be an emerging missile state could lecture on Saturday afternoon. His through extremes,” according to past, according to George a Mini-Symposium on Early Results employ to overcome an NMD de- theme is life and death in an ever- Hugh Pitcher of Pacific Northwest Gumerman, director of Arizona from RHIC, and will feature talks fense system. She is also a speaker expanding universe, starting with National Laboratory, one of the fea- State Museum and a professor at by representatives of all four ma- at a Sunday morning session fea- recent observations in cosmology tured speakers at a Monday the University of Arizona, who will jor experiments at the Relativistic turing this year’s recipients of prizes “that have changed the way we morning session on climate change. speak at the same session. He will Heavy-Ion Collider: J. J. Gaardhoje sponsored by the APS Forum on think about the universe on large In order to forecast societal impact, describe how he used a computer of the Niels Bohr Institute Physics and Society; Gronlund will scales,” extending the discussion to he believes we need a predictive program to model and systemically (BRAHMS); Marzia Rosati of Iowa discuss the role of testing in the de- the implications for life, and clos- understanding of how projected alter prehistoric economic and State (PHENIX); Steven Manly of velopment of a weapons system and ing with the question of whether climate change will reflect or im- settlement behavior of the Anasazi the University of Rochester make recommendations as to what life can be eternal in an eternally pact extreme events — a capability in northeastern Arizona. Other (Phobos); and Peter Jacobs of Ber- an adequate NMD test program expanding universe. “Surprisingly, that does not yet exist. However, speakers will focus on the econom- keley (STAR). might look like. Her MIT compatri- the answer to this question appears “By studying how societies world- ics of future energy sources, and Renaissance Congressional A, ots, George Lewis and David Wright, to hinge on questions of basic phys- wide build resilience to today’s the role of scientists in setting cli- Sunday morning at 10:45 will review the use of the Patriot air ics, in particular issues of quantum weather extremes, and by adopt- mate change policy. Session J2 on Progress in Neu- defense system in the 1991 Gulf War, mechanics and computation, ing best practices locally, we can go Session Q1, Grand Ballroom trino Physics is jointly sponsored and the impact of the development which may determine whether life a long way toward building global North/Central by DPF and DNP and among its of ballistic missiles by North Korea, is ultimately analog or digital,” he highlights will be a talk on results respectively. says. The session will also feature from the Sudbury Neutrino Obser- Session S1, Grand Ballroom the annual retiring presidential ad- APRIL MEETING SPECIAL EVENTS vatory (SNO) by Kevin T. Lesko of North/Central; Session H2, dress, delivered this year by APS Berkeley and the Maria Goeppert- Grand Ballroom South Past President James Langer. Saturday, April 28 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Mayer Award talk by Janet Conrad Securing Scientific Session E1, Grand Ballroom of Columbia University. North/Central Awards Session Renaissance Grand Ballroom Freedom Presentation of the 2001 APS prizes and awards bestowed South, Sunday afternoon at 2:30 Continuing controversy over Celebrating A Constant on individuals for outstanding contributions to physics. This ses- security lapses at the national labo- Centenary sion will also feature the Lilienfeld Prize Lecture and the retiring ratories and routine polygraph Going Ballistic on Missile The National Bureau of Stan- Presidential Address. See the Special Honors Insert, March 2001 testing of defense employees has Defense dards’ National Institute of APS News, for complete list of recipients and citations. prompted the organization of a One of the key technical ques- Standards and Technology (NIST) 7:00 PM - special panel discussion on Satur- tions in the ongoing debate about celebrates 100 years of its congres- Welcome Reception day afternoon on balancing the the feasibility of national missile sionally mandated mission to APS President George Trilling will help kick off the 2001 Meeting need for scientific freedom with defense systems (NMDs) is whether improve scientific knowledge of the with a special welcoming reception, open to all attendees. national security interests. Sched- they can be expected to work un- values of the fundamental physical Monday, April 30 uled panelists are Ernest Moniz, der real-world conditions if the constants, as part of its responsi- 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM former Undersecretary of the De- attacker has taken steps to de- bility for stewardship of the Students Lunch with the Experts partment of Energy (DOE), John feat the defense. In fact, the APS national standards of measure- Following its success at the last two APS March Meet- Browne of Los Alamos National Council has approved a new APS ment. The APS is marking the ings, the students’ lunch with the experts makes its debut at Laboratory, Charles Shank of study to analyze a possible boost- occasion with a special session de- the April Meeting. Each expert will host an informal discussion Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and phase intercept system (see APS voted to NIST and the NBS, over a complimentary box lunch with students interested in John Hamre of the Center for Stra- News, January 2001). This issue featuring a lecture by Harvard his or her topic. tegic and International Studies, the will be addressed by several University’s Lewis Branscomb, who chair of a new commission to study Tuesday, May 1 speakers, among them Richard joined the scientific staff of the NBS security issues at the national labo- 7:30 AM - 9:30 AM Garwin, a senior fellow for science in 1951 and headed agency from ratories of DOE (see APS News, CSWP Networking Breakfast and technology for the Council on 1969 to 1972. Branscomb will em- February 2001). And on Monday The APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics is Foreign Relations, who will discuss phasize the importance of the evening, the Forum on Physics and sponsoring a special networking breakfast, open to all with an a proposal to conduct boost-phase agency’s reputation for scientific Society is sponsoring a special ses- interest in issues pertaining to women in physics, featuring a intercepts, along with other simple integrity, illustrated with various sion on polygraph testing, one of short talk followed by discussion and networking. possible countermeasures and the case studies. The session also in- the key issues under debate in the REMINDER US’s possible response to them. cludes talks on other highlights in The 2001 APS Congressional Visits Days will be held during “The NMD organization has not recent Los Alamos controversies. Session T1, Room 3 the agency’s long history, as well as the April Meeting, May 1-2. Conference attendees are encour- seriously considered countermea- H. N. Russell’s spectroscopic work aged to stay an extra day in Washington, DC to participate in the sures, which I believe are much The Search for Signs of in the analysis of complex spectra, event, which brings scientists, engineers, researchers, educa- easier to build than the ICBMs them- Eternal Life in an the story of Bose-Einstein conden- tors, and technology executives to Washington to raise visibility selves,” he says. “Only now is NMD Eternally Expanding sation, and an overview of the and support for science, engineering and technology. For more beginning to structure a program scientific legacy of Ugo Fano, who information and to sign up, contact Christina Hood at the APS Universe to evaluate and determine the re- joined the NBS staff in 1946. Washington Office, 202-662-8700, [email protected]. sponse to such countermeasures.” Tackling the ambiguous com- Session H6, Auditorium NEWS April 2001 7 ANNOUNCEMENTS

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS APS UNDERGRADUATE PHYSICS STUDENT COMPETITION THE GEORGE E. VALLEY JR. PRIZE OF THE APS

The George E. Valley Jr. Prize will be awarded ▼ 2001 APKER AWARDS for the first time in 2002. Nominations for the 2002 prize must be received by July 2, 2001. For Outstanding Undergraduate Student Research in Physics Endowed by Jean Dickey Apker, in memory of LeRoy Apker The prize will be awarded for outstanding research in any field of physics to an individual DESCRIPTION QUALIFICATIONS such as a manuscript or reprint of a who is under the age of 30 at the time of Two awards are normally made each • Students who have been en- research publication or senior thesis nomination. The prize carries with it a cash year: One to a student attending an rolled as undergraduates at col- (unbound) award of $20,000. More details can be found institution offering a Physics PhD and leges and universities in the 4. A 1000-word summary, written on the APS web site at one to a student attending an institu- United States at least one quarter/ by the student, describing his or her http://www.aps.org/praw/valley/descrip.html. tion not offering a Physics PhD semester during the year preced- research • Recipients receive a $5,000 award; ing the JUNE 15, 2001 deadline. 5. Two letters of recommendation finalists $2,000. They also receive an • Students who have an excellent from physicists who know the Five (5) copies of nominations and supporting documentation should allowance for travel to the Award academic record and have dem- candidate’s individual contribution to be sent to: presentation. onstrated exceptional potential for the work submitted Laleña Lancaster • Recipients’ and finalists’ home in- scientific research through an origi- 6. The nominee’s address and tele- Attn: George E. Valley Prize stitutions receive $5,000 and nal contribution to physics. phone number during the summer. American Physical Society $1,000, respectively, to support • Only one candidate may be nomi- FURTHER INFORMATION One Physics Ellipse undergraduate research. nated per department. See http://www.aps.org/praw/ College Park, MD 20740-3844 • Recipients, finalists and their home APPLICATION PROCEDURE apker/descrip.html [email protected] physics departments will be pre- The complete nomination package DEADLINE sented with plaques or certificates is due on or before JUNE 15, 2001 Send name of proposed candidate of achievement. The student’s and should include: and supporting information by JUNE home institution is prominently 1. A letter of nomination from the 15, 2001 to: Dr. Alan Chodos, Ad- featured on all awards and news head of the student’s academic de- ministrator, Apker Award Selection stories of the competition. partment Committee; The American Physical Call for Nominations for 2002 • Each nominee will be granted a free 2. An official copy of the student’s Society; One Physics Ellipse, College APS Student Membership for one academic transcript Park, MD 20740-3844; Telephone: APS Prizes and Awards year upon receipt of their com- 3. A description of the original (301) 209-3268, Fax: (301) 209- pleted application. Members are invited to nominate candidates to the respective commit- contribution, written by the student 3652, email: [email protected]. tees charged with recommending the recipients. A brief description of each prize and award is given in the March 2001 APS News Prizes and Awards insert, along with the addresses of the selection committee Now Appearing in RMP... APS WASHINGTON chairs to whom nominations should be sent. Please visit the Prize and The articles in the April 2001 issue of Reviews of Modern Physics are listed below. For brief descriptions of each article, consult the RMP website at OFFICE HAS AN Awards page on the APS web site at http://www.aps.org under the Prize http://www.phys.washington.edu/~rmp/current.html. George Bertsch, Editor. OPENING FOR A and Awards button for complete information regarding rules and eligibil- ity requirements for individual prizes and awards. Phonons and related crystal properties from density-functional perturba- SUMMER tion theory — Stefano Baroni, Stefano de Gironcoli, Andrea Dal Corso, and PRIZES Paolo Giannozzi INTERSHIP WILL ALLIS PRIZE FOR THE STUDY OF IONIZED GASES Spontaneous symmetry breaking in rotating nuclei — Stefan Frauendorf HANS A. BETHE PRIZE Bose-Einstein condensation in the alkali gases: some fundamental concepts We are looking for BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS PRIZE — Anthony J. Leggett a physics major with TOM W. BONNER PRIZE IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS Quantum state engineering with Josephson-junction devices — Yuriy Makhlin, great writing skills to OLIVER E. BUCKLEY CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS PRIZE Gerd Schön, and Alexander Shnirman M(atrix) theory: matrix quantum mechanics as a fundamental theory — spend eight to ten DAVISSON-GERMER PRIZE IN ATOMIC OR SURFACE PHYSICS Washington Taylor DANNIE HEINEMAN PRIZE FOR MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS W boson physics at hadron colliders — Randy M. Thurman-Keup, Ashutosh weeks in Washington POLYMER PHYSICS PRIZE V. Kotwal, Monica Tecchio, and Aesook Byon-Wagner working on political FRANK ISAKSON PRIZE FOR OPTICAL EFFECTS IN SOLIDS Metallic behavior and related phenomena in two dimensions (colloquium) JAMES C. MCGRODDY PRIZE FOR NEW MATERIALS — Elihu Abrahams, Sergey Kravchenko, and Myriam P. Sarachik issues. Write to LARS ONSAGER PRIZE Acoustical analogs of condensed-matter problems (colloquium) — Julian D. [email protected] for GEORGE E. PAKE PRIZE (April 2, 2001 Deadline) Maynard details. W.K.H. PANOFSKY PRIZE IN EXPERIMENTAL PARTICLE PHYSICS Reviews of Modern Physics University of Washington; Physics/Astronomy B428; EARLE K. PLYLER PRIZE FOR MOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY Box 351560; Seattle WA 98195; email: [email protected] • phone: Deadline is April 15 ANEESUR RAHMAN PRIZE FOR COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS (206) 685-2391 J. J. SAKURAI PRIZE FOR THEORETICAL PARTICLE PHYSICS ARTHUR L. SCHAWLOW PRIZE IN LASER SCIENCE PRIZE TO A FACULTY MEMBER FOR RESEARCH IN AN UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTION Forefront, from page 5 cillation. In this latter context, Har- using the ultra-large Kerr non-linear- GEORGE E. VALLEY JR. PRIZE ris many years ago suggested the ity. With ultra-slow light, their idea ROBERT R. WILSON PRIZE New Nonlinear Optics possibility of mirror-less oscillation can be realized with presently avail- AWARDS Ultra-slow light is being used in building up from a vacuum with able technology. LEROY APKER AWARD (June 15, 2001 Deadline) non-linear optical processes. There counter-propagating fields. Recent Conclusion JOSEPH A. BURTON FORUM AWARD are many schemes for taking advan- experiments have demonstrated Ultraslow light and atomic coher- MARIA GOEPPERT-MAYER AWARD tage of the enhanced nonlinearities, that the effective phase-conjugation ence have already found many new JOSEPH F. KEITHLEY AWARD FOR ADVANCES IN MEASUREMENT SCIENCE but in particular we focus on a four- is generated spontaneously by the applications in metrology, nonlinear LEO SZILARD LECTURESHIP AWARD wave mixing double-Λ scheme in large nonlinear gain and intrinsic optics at very low intensity, and in MEDALS AND LECTURESHIPS which the ground state coherence is feedback associated with the coher- the interaction between light and DAVID ADLER LECTURESHIP AWARD produced by one set of laser fields ent grating. This type of oscillator has moving atoms. Moreover, the coher- EDWARD A. BOUCHET AWARD JOHN H. DILLON MEDAL and a weak signal scatters off this an extremely narrow Schawlow- ence increases the coupling between grating, resulting in parametric am- Townes type line width governed by light fields such that it becomes pos- DISSERTATION AWARDS plification of the remaining fourth the group delay of ultra-slow light in sible to study the interaction between OUTSTANDING DOCTORAL THESIS RESEARCH IN BEAM PHYSICS AWARD NICHOLAS METROPOLIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DOCTORAL THESIS field. Sokolov in Harris’ group at the medium rather than the storage single photons. It is already possible WORK IN COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS Stanford and Hakuta and cowork- time of light in a laser. The group to store information about light and DISSERTATION AWARD IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS ers in Japan have polished this delay is on the order of milliseconds transport it in space and time, technique to a fine art. They produce or even seconds, whereas the typi- change its frequency, and time-reverse NOMINATION DEADLINE IS JULY 2, 2001, UNLESS a comb of Raman signals with fre- cal laser light storage time is on the the light’s propagation. The time when OTHERWISE INDICATED. quencies extending from infrared order of microseconds. Thus, the novel applications in quantum nonlin- well into the deep ultraviolet. In the quantum line width of mirror-less ear optics and quantum information foreseeable future we expect these parametric oscillators based on co- processing through the use of frozen techniques to generate Fourier- herent grating slow light propagation light will fast be upon us. CORRECTION In the “Physics News in 2000” insert in the February APS News, the item transform-limited ultra-short pulses. is already a subject of considerable Marlan O. Scully is Distinguished on Multiple-Ionization Mechanisms contained an error. The text incorrectly Recently Hemmer pioneered interest to technologists. Professor of Physics, and director of referred to lithium atoms, and should have read “...the helium collaboration phase-conjugate nonlinear optics Finally Tombesi et al. have pre- the Center of Theoretical Physics. performed subsequent electron-electron correlation measurements on ion- that Zibrov and coworkers have ex- sented a scheme for the complete George R. Welch is an Associate Pro- ized argon atoms;...”. APS News regrets the error, and thanks Dr. Harald Giessen for pointing it out. tended to the production of quantum teleportation of a photon fessor of Physics. Both are at Texas non-degenerate parametric self-os- polarization state, made possible by A&M University. 8 April 2001 NEWS THE BACK PAGE The Mathematics of One Person, One Vote By H. Peyton Young

Article I of the US Constitution Jefferson prevailed over qi(d) = pi/d be the quotient of each yield different solutions, then nec- states that “representatives and di- Hamilton in the 1790s debate — not state i. Next select a rounding thresh- essarily M gives more seats to larger rect taxes shall be apportioned because Congress recognized its old r(a) between every pair of states and fewer seats to smaller states among the several states . . . accord- mathematical subtlety, but largely successive nonnegative integers a as compared to M’. ing to their respective numbers” but because it gave one more seat to Vir- and a + 1. If i’s quotient falls in the History shows that in fact ≤ ≤ offers no specific rule for achieving ginia, which at that time was by far interval a qi(d) a + 1 and it ex- Jefferson’s method strongly favors this goal. The Constitution also re- the most populous and most impor- ceeds r(a) round it up, otherwise large states, while Adams’s method quires a census every ten years to tant state. Jefferson’s method round it down. Finally, adjust the is biased toward small states. The ensure that representation stays in continued in use through the 1830s, value of d until the rounded num- crucial question is whether any line with changing populations. As even as it came under increasingly bers sum to h. Each choice of method treats small and large states expected, the 2000 Census numbers bitter attack in Congress because of rounding thresholds defines a divi- even-handedly. To examine this ques- show a dramatic shift in population its blatant favoritism toward large sor method. tion empirically, let us evaluate from the urban Northeast to the states. (If Jefferson’s method were in These methods can be justified solutions by each of the five meth- South and Southwest, and there will use today it would give California 55 in two different ways. On the one ods in each of the twenty-two be a corresponding shift of twelve seats, even though California’s quota hand they are the only ones that censuses from 1790-2000. In each seats in the House of Representa- is only 52.45.) avoid the Alabama and population census year we first omit the very H. Peyton Young tives. But what method is actually The evident bias of Jefferson’s paradoxes. On the other hand, each small states with quota less than claimed that it was unbiased. Indeed in used to determine this result? The method ultimately led to its aban- can be shown to optimize an objec- one-half, since these must get one an NAS report to Congress they answer forms a fascinating tale that donment in 1840, when it was tive function subject to the constraint seat in spite of their size. Then we claimed that Hill’s method is to be pre- spans two centuries and involves replaced by a method first proposed that the allocations add up to h and divide the remaining states into ferred because it “stands in a middle some of the country’s greatest states- by the great orator Daniel Webster are integer-valued. (In fact, d is the three categories: large, middle and position as compared with the other men and mathematicians — with the in 1832. Like Jefferson, Webster be- Lagrange multiplier associated with small, with the middle category tak- methods.” (It was fortunate for this rea- most telling mathematical insights gan with a common divisor d, but the adding-up constraint.)2 ing up the slack if the number of soning that they were considering an generally supplied by the former instead of dropping the fractional Five divisor methods have states is not divisible by three. For odd number of methods.) Theoretical rather than the latter.1 part of the quotients he argued that played an important role in US ap- each method and each census year, calculations, buttressed by empirical Before launching into this story, they should be rounded in the usual portionment debates: three were we compute the per capita repre- evidence (which was not considered however, the skeptical reader may way: above one-half up, below one- proposed by famous statesmen sentation in the large states as a by the mathematicians), show that on be wondering what all the fuss is half down. As in the case of Jefferson’s (Jefferson, Webster, and John group and in the small states as a the contrary Hill’s method is biased and about. Why not simply compute the method there always exists a range Quincy Adams) and two by scien- group. The percentage difference Webster’s is not. exact share of seats for each state of divisors that apportions the re- tists (Joseph Hill, a statistician at between the two is the method’s Of course, politics also played a (the quotas) and round them to the quired number of seats and does so the Census Bureau, and James relative bias toward small states in that role in the outcome, as it always has: nearest integers? The difficulty is best in a unique way (barring ties). Dean, a professor at Dartmouth). year. Finally, to estimate their long- the switch from Webster’s to Hill’s illustrated by an example. Consider The methods of Webster and The dates they were proposed, run behavior, we compute the method in 1941 gave one more seat a federation of three states with a Hamilton were used off and on until and the associated rounding average bias of each method up to to Arkansas and one less to Michi- “house” of 21 representatives (see 1900, when Webster’s approach de- thresholds that define them, are that point in time. The results are gan, which essentially guaranteed below). finitively replaced Hamilton’s. The shown below. shown in the accompanying graph. one more seat for the Democrats (the majority party). It is also true, Three State Federation with a “House” of 21 Representatives Five Divisor Method Proposals however, that the scientific argu- State Population Quota Hamilton Quotient(480,000) Jefferson Jefferson Webster Hill Dean Adams ments bolstered the Democrats’ case. A 7,270,000 14.24 14 15.15 15 (1792) (1832) (1911) (1832) (1832) Indeed, apportionment debates B 1,230,000 2.41 3 2.56 2 r(a): a + 1 a + 1/2 √a(a + 1) a(a + 1)/(a + 1/2) a over the years exhibit an interplay C 2,220,000 4.35 4 4.63 4 between political and mathematical logic. Jefferson’s method was ulti- Here ordinary rounding does not reason was the bizarre behavior of The methods are arranged from Only Webster’s is close to being mately rejected because of work because all three states get Hamilton’s method when the house left to right so that the rounding unbiased; in particular the current large-state bias, Hamilton’s because rounded down, and thus only 20 size changed. In the 1880s, for ex- thresholds are in descending order: method (Hill’s) systematically favors the of bizarre behavior when the house seats are apportioned. The earliest ample, an increase in the house size a + 1 > a + 1/2 > √a( a + 1) > a(a + 1)/ small states by 3-4%. These results can size grew. Changes in method had to proposed solution to this difficulty from 299 to 300 seats would have (a + 1/2) > a. Webster rounds at the be verified rigorously under various as- wait, however, for the underlying is due to Alexander Hamilton (1792): caused Alabama’s allotment to de- arithmetic mean, Hill at the geomet- sumptions about the probabilistic problem to be articulated and for round the quotas in the usual way, crease from 8 seats to 7. This so-called ric mean, and Dean at the harmonic distribution of populations. the votes to be in place. and if any seats are left over, give “Alabama paradox” led Congress to mean. (Jefferson always rounds Given these findings, it is remark- This time around Hill’s method hap- them to the states with largest re- abandon Hamilton’s method — thus down, Adams always rounds up.) able that the current method was pens to give the same solution as mainders. In the present example, showing that intuitive mathematical This ordering has the following im- adopted in part because some of the Webster’s. It might be a propitious state B, with remainder .41, would principles can, at least occasionally, play plication: consider any two such country’s leading mathematicians – in- moment to correct the situation: no get rounded up to 3 seats under a role in politics. methods, M and M’, and suppose that cluding John von Neumann, Marston state will be affected now, but the large Hamilton’s method. It could be objected that, in re- M lies to the left of M’. If M and M’ Morse, and Luther Eisenhart — states can expect to gain in the future. Straightforward as this approach cent times, the house size has been Moreover, the large states have the may seem, it is fraught with difficul- fixed at 435, and thus the Alabama Cumulative Average Bias of Five Traditional Methods, votes, because in matters pertaining to ties, as future experience would paradox is no longer relevant. But 22 US Censuses apportionment, the Senate generally show. In the meantime, however, Hamilton’s method also displays un- defers to the House, where the large Thomas Jefferson (Hamilton’s nem- acceptable behavior when the house states enjoy a comfortable majority. esis) argued that the method was size is fixed and the populations Peyton Young is Scott and Barbara fundamentally wrong-headed. The change. In particular, a state that is Black Professor of Economics at The correct approach, said Jefferson, is gaining population can give up seats Johns Hopkins University and a Senior to choose a common divisor, d, di- to a state that is losing population, a Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He vide it into each state’s population, phenomenon known as the “popu- is the author, with M. L. Balinski, of and drop the fractional part of the lation paradox.” For both of these Fair Representation (the Brookings resulting quotient. The “trick” is to reasons Hamilton’s method is unac- Institution, Washington, DC, 2001), adjust d so that the required num- ceptable. http://www.brook.edu/es/dynamics. ber of seats is apportioned. This But are there any methods that approach apportions each house size do better? In fact, there is a large References in an essentially unique way, because class of methods, of which Jefferson’s 1For a detailed account of the as the divisor is adjusted downwards and Webster’s are particular ex- history and mathematics of appor- (or upwards), exactly one state at a amples, that avoid both paradoxes. tionment see M. L. Balinski and H. time gains (or loses) a seat, barring All of them are based on the prin- P. Young, Fair Representation, 2nd edi- improbable ties. Jefferson’s solution ciple of the common divisor invented Note: On each curve the point at any census year is the average of the percentage biases of the tion, The Brookings Institution, is shown above with a divisor of by Jefferson. To explain how they apportionments of the corresponding method up to and including that year. The number of seats Washington, D.C., 2001. 480,000, but any divisor between work, consider a set of state popula- allocated is the actual number that was apportioned. Any state with quota less than .5 is ignored. 2H. P. Young, Equity In Theory and The remaining states are divided into thirds: large, middle, and small, the “middle” third being Practice, Princeton University 484,666 and 454,376 yields the tions p1, . . ., pn and a house size h. slightly larger if the number is not divisible by three. The bias percentage is the percentage by same answer. Choose a common divisor d and let which the small states’ representation per capita differs from that of the large states. Press, 1994, pp.188-9.

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