Foreword to Feynman Lectures on Gravitation
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Dtra-Appeal.Pdf
FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS T: 202/546-3300 1717 K Street NW #209 Washington, DC 20036 www.fas.org F: 202/675-1010 [email protected] Board of Sponsors (Partial List) *Sidney Altman December 12, 2003 *Philip W. Anderson *Kenneth J. Arrow (202)454-4691 *Julius Axelrod MG Trudy H. Clark, Deputy Director *David Baltimore *Baruj Benacerraf Defense Threat Reduction Agency *Hans A. Bethe *J. Michael Bishop 8725 John J. Kingman Road *Nicolaas Bloembergen *Norman Borlaug Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060-6201 *Paul Boyer Ann Pitts Carter *Owen Chamberlain Morris Cohen RE: FOIA Appeal, Case No. 03-125 *Stanley Cohen Mildred Cohn *Leon N. Cooper *E. J. Corey *James Cronin Dear General Clark: *Johann Deisenhofer Ann Druyan *Renato Dulbecco John T. Edsall This is an appeal of the initial denial of my request under the Freedom of Paul R. Ehrlich George Field Information Act (FOIA) for a copy of an unclassified DTRA-funded report *Val L. Fitch *Jerome I. Friedman entitled "Lessons from the Anthrax Attacks: Implications for U.S. Bioterrorism John Kenneth Galbraith Preparedness," April 2002. A copy of the December 12, 2003 DTRA denial *Walter Gilbert *Donald Glaser letter is enclosed. *Sheldon L. Glashow Marvin L. Goldberger *Joseph L. Goldstein *Roger C. L. Guillemin I request that you reverse the initial decision and release the requested *Herbert A. Hauptman *Dudley R. Herschbach report, on the following grounds: *Roald Hoffmann John P. Holdren *David H. Hubel *Jerome Karle 1. The cited FOIA exemption 2 (High) is not applicable. In other words, it is *H. Gobind Khorana not true that the requested document, if disclosed, might be used to *Arthur Kornberg *Edwin G. -
Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and Beyond
From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize: Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and Beyond Goddard Space Flight Center Lecture John Mather Nov. 21, 2006 Astronomical Search For Origins First Galaxies Big Bang Life Galaxies Evolve Planets Stars Looking Back in Time Measuring Distance This technique enables measurement of enormous distances Astronomer's Toolbox #2: Doppler Shift - Light Atoms emit light at discrete wavelengths that can be seen with a spectroscope This “line spectrum” identifies the atom and its velocity Galaxies attract each other, so the expansion should be slowing down -- Right?? To tell, we need to compare the velocity we measure on nearby galaxies to ones at very high redshift. In other words, we need to extend Hubble’s velocity vs distance plot to much greater distances. Nobel Prize Press Release The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2006 jointly to John C. Mather, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA, and George F. Smoot, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA "for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation". The Power of Thought Georges Lemaitre & Albert Einstein George Gamow Robert Herman & Ralph Alpher Rashid Sunyaev Jim Peebles Power of Hardware - CMB Spectrum Paul Richards Mike Werner David Woody Frank Low Herb Gush Rai Weiss Brief COBE History • 1965, CMB announced - Penzias & Wilson; Dicke, Peebles, Roll, & Wilkinson • 1974, NASA AO for Explorers: ~ 150 proposals, including: – JPL anisotropy proposal (Gulkis, Janssen…) – Berkeley anisotropy proposal (Alvarez, Smoot…) – Goddard/MIT/Princeton COBE proposal (Hauser, Mather, Muehlner, Silverberg, Thaddeus, Weiss, Wilkinson) COBE History (2) • 1976, Mission Definition Science Team selected by HQ (Nancy Boggess, Program Scientist); PI’s chosen • ~ 1979, decision to build COBE in-house at GSFC • 1982, approval to construct for flight • 1986, Challenger explosion, start COBE redesign for Delta launch • 1989, Nov. -
Executive Committee Meeting 6:00 Pm, November 22, 2008 Marriott Rivercenter Hotel
Executive Committee Meeting 6:00 pm, November 22, 2008 Marriott Rivercenter Hotel Attendees: Steve Pope, Lex Smits, Phil Marcus, Ellen Longmire, Juan Lasheras, Anette Hosoi, Laurette Tuckerman, Jim Brasseur, Paul Steen, Minami Yoda, Martin Maxey, Jean Hertzberg, Monica Malouf, Ken Kiger, Sharath Girimaji, Krishnan Mahesh, Gary Leal, Bill Schultz, Andrea Prosperetti, Julian Domaradzki, Jim Duncan, John Foss, PK Yeung, Ann Karagozian, Lance Collins, Kimberly Hill, Peggy Holland, Jason Bardi (AIP) Note: Attachments related to agenda items follow the order of the agenda and are appended to this document. Key Decisions The ExCom voted to move $100k of operating funds to an endowment for a new award. The ExCom voted that a new name (not Otto Laporte) should be chosen for this award. In the coming year, the Award committee (currently the Fluid Dynamics Prize committee) should establish the award criteria, making sure to distinguish the criteria from those associated with the Batchelor prize. The committee should suggest appropriate wording for the award application and make a recommendation on the naming of the award. The ExCom voted to move Newsletter publication to the first weeks of June and December each year. The ExCom voted to continue the Ad Hoc Committee on Media and Public Relations for two more years (through 2010). The ExCom voted that $15,000 per year in 2009 and 2010 be allocated for Media and Public Relations activities. Most of these funds would be applied toward continuing to use AIP media services in support of news releases and Virtual Pressroom activities related to the annual DFD meeting. Meeting Discussion 1. -
Turner Takes Over at the NSF
PEOPLE APPOINTMENTS Turner takes over at the NSF On 1 October 2003 the astrophysicist the Physics of the Universe, which earlier this Michael Turner, from the University of year produced a comprehensive report Chicago in the US, took over as assistant entitled: "Connecting Quarks with the director for mathematical and physical Cosmos: Eleven Science Questions for the sciences at the US National Science New Century". This report contributed to the Foundation (NSF). This $1 billion directorate current US administration's science planning supports research in mathematics, physics, agenda. Turner, who will serve at the NSF for chemistry, materials and astronomy, as well a two-year term, replaces Robert Eisenstein, as multidisciplinary and educational pro who was recently appointed as president of grammes. Turner recently chaired the US the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico National Research Council's Committee on (see CERN Courier June 2003 p29). Institute of Advanced Study announces its next director Peter Goddard is to become the new director what was to become string theory. Goddard of the Institute for Advanced Study, is currently master of St John's College, Princeton, from 1 January 2004. Goddard, a Cambridge, UK, and is professor of mathematical physicist, is well known for his theoretical physics at the University of work in string theory and conformal field Cambridge, where he was instrumental in theory, for which he received the ICTP's helping to establish the Isaac Newton Dirac prize in 1997, together with David Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Olive. This work dates back to 1970-1972, Photograph courtesy of the Institute for when he held a position as a visiting scientist Advanced Study, Princeton. -
Covariance in Physics and Convolutional Neural Networks
Covariance in Physics and Convolutional Neural Networks Miranda C. N. Cheng 1 2 3 Vassilis Anagiannis 2 Maurice Weiler 4 Pim de Haan 5 4 Taco S. Cohen 5 Max Welling 5 Abstract change of coordinates. In his words, the general principle In this proceeding we give an overview of the of covariance states that “The general laws of nature are idea of covariance (or equivariance) featured in to be expressed by equations which hold good for all sys- the recent development of convolutional neural tems of coordinates, that is, are covariant with respect to networks (CNNs). We study the similarities and any substitutions whatever (generally covariant)” (Einstein, differencesbetween the use of covariance in theo- 1916). The rest is history: the incorporation of the math- retical physics and in the CNN context. Addition- ematics of Riemannian geometry in order to achieve gen- ally, we demonstrate that the simple assumption eral covariance and the formulation of the general relativity of covariance, together with the required proper- (GR) theory of gravity. It is important to note that the seem- ties of locality, linearity and weight sharing, is ingly innocent assumption of general covariance is in fact sufficient to uniquely determine the form of the so powerful that it determines GR as the unique theory of convolution. gravity compatible with this principle, and the equivalence principle in particular, up to short-distance corrections1. In a completely different context, it has become clear 1. Covariance and Uniqueness in recent years that a coordinate-independent description It is well-known that the principle of covariance, or coordi- is also desirable for convolutional networks. -
The 60Th Annual DFD Meeting
FALL 2007 Division of Fluid Dynamics NewsletterDFD News A Division of the American Physical Society DFD ANNUAL ELECTION the 5th DFD meeting in 1952, is a popular tourist destination, and known for it’s mountains and Please vote online in the APS DFD election natural beauty. Salt Lake was the host of the website and vote for one of two candidates 2002 winter Olympics and is a 45 minute drive (Juan Lasheras or Robert Behringer for DFD from seven different ski areas, the closest being Vice Chair and two of four candidates for only 25 minutes away. Mid November usually DFD Executive Committee Members-at-Large marks the beginning of the ski season and (Anette Hosoi, Manoochehr Koochesfahani, attendees may wish to extend their stay for early Laurette Tuckerman or Daniel Lathrop). The season skiing on the “greatest snow on earth!” Vice Chair becomes the Chair-Elect the next Conference Website: year and then the DFD Chair the following http://dfd2007.eng.utah.edu year. The Members-at-Large serve for three year terms. You can easily access the election Hotel Reservations website (with a unique address for each current The main conference Hotel is the Salt Lake City DFD member) with the link that was sent to Downtown Marriott, directly across the street you via email on or about September 24, 2007 from the main entrance to the convention center. from the Division ([email protected]). Short Rooms are also reserved at a special conference biographical sketches of the candidates and rate at the Salt Lake Plaza Inn, also across their statements are included on the website. -
Jewish Scientists, Jewish Ethics and the Making of the Atomic Bomb
8 Jewish Scientists, Jewish Ethics and the Making of the Atomic Bomb MERON MEDZINI n his book The Jews and the Japanese: The Successful Outsiders, Ben-Ami IShillony devoted a chapter to the Jewish scientists who played a central role in the development of nuclear physics and later in the construction and testing of the fi rst atomic bomb. He correctly traced the well-known facts that among the leading nuclear physics scientists, there was an inordinately large number of Jews (Shillony 1992: 190–3). Many of them were German, Hungarian, Polish, Austrian and even Italian Jews. Due to the rise of virulent anti-Semitism in Germany, especially after the Nazi takeover of that country in 1933, most of the German-Jewish scientists found themselves unemployed, with no laboratory facilities or even citi- zenship, and had to seek refuge in other European countries. Eventually, many of them settled in the United States. A similar fate awaited Jewish scientists in other central European countries that came under German occupation, such as Austria, or German infl uence as in the case of Hungary. Within a short time, many of these scientists who found refuge in America were highly instrumental in the exceedingly elabo- rate and complex research and work that eventually culminated in the construction of the atomic bomb at various research centres and, since 1943, at the Los Alamos site. In this facility there were a large number of Jews occupying the highest positions. Of the heads of sections in charge of the Manhattan Project, at least eight were Jewish, led by the man in charge of the operation, J. -
Einstein's Equations for Spin 2 Mass 0 from Noether's Converse Hilbertian
Einstein’s Equations for Spin 2 Mass 0 from Noether’s Converse Hilbertian Assertion October 4, 2016 J. Brian Pitts Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge [email protected] forthcoming in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics Abstract An overlap between the general relativist and particle physicist views of Einstein gravity is uncovered. Noether’s 1918 paper developed Hilbert’s and Klein’s reflections on the conservation laws. Energy-momentum is just a term proportional to the field equations and a “curl” term with identically zero divergence. Noether proved a converse “Hilbertian assertion”: such “improper” conservation laws imply a generally covariant action. Later and independently, particle physicists derived the nonlinear Einstein equations as- suming the absence of negative-energy degrees of freedom (“ghosts”) for stability, along with universal coupling: all energy-momentum including gravity’s serves as a source for gravity. Those assumptions (all but) imply (for 0 graviton mass) that the energy-momentum is only a term proportional to the field equations and a symmetric curl, which implies the coalescence of the flat background geometry and the gravitational potential into an effective curved geometry. The flat metric, though useful in Rosenfeld’s stress-energy definition, disappears from the field equations. Thus the particle physics derivation uses a reinvented Noetherian converse Hilbertian assertion in Rosenfeld-tinged form. The Rosenfeld stress-energy is identically the canonical stress-energy plus a Belinfante curl and terms proportional to the field equations, so the flat metric is only a convenient mathematical trick without ontological commitment. Neither generalized relativity of motion, nor the identity of gravity and inertia, nor substantive general covariance is assumed. -
History of Physics Newsletter Volume VII, No. 3, Aug. 1998 Forum Chair
History of Physics Newsletter Volume VII, No. 3, Aug. 1998 Forum Chair From the Editor Forum News APS & AIP News Book Review Reports Forum Chair Urges APS Centennial Participation The American Physical Society celebrates its 100th anniversary in Atlanta, Georgia, at an expanded six-day meeting from March 20-26, 1999, which will be jointly sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers. This will be the largest meeting of physicists ever held, and the APS Forum on the History of Physics will play a central role in making it a truly memorable event. The 20th century has been the Century of Physics. The startling discoveries of X-rays, radioactivity, and the electron at the end of the 19th century opened up vast new territories for exploration and analysis. Quantum theory and relativity theory, whose consequences are far from exhausted today, formed the bedrock for subsequent developments in atomic and molecular physics, nuclear and particle physics, solid state physics, and all other domains of physics, which shaped the world in which we live in times of both peace and war. A large historical wall chart exhibiting these developments, to which members of the Forum contributed their expertise, will be on display in Atlanta. Also on display will be the well-known Einstein exhibit prepared some years ago by the American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics. Two program sessions arranged by the Forum at the Atlanta Centennial Meeting also will explore these historic 20th-century developments. The first, chaired by Ruth H. Howes (Ball State University), will consist of the following speakers and topics: John D. -
Finding the Radiation from the Big Bang
Finding The Radiation from the Big Bang P. J. E. Peebles and R. B. Partridge January 9, 2007 4. Preface 6. Chapter 1. Introduction 13. Chapter 2. A guide to cosmology 14. The expanding universe 19. The thermal cosmic microwave background radiation 21. What is the universe made of? 26. Chapter 3. Origins of the Cosmology of 1960 27. Nucleosynthesis in a hot big bang 32. Nucleosynthesis in alternative cosmologies 36. Thermal radiation from a bouncing universe 37. Detecting the cosmic microwave background radiation 44. Cosmology in 1960 52. Chapter 4. Cosmology in the 1960s 53. David Hogg: Early Low-Noise and Related Studies at Bell Lab- oratories, Holmdel, N.J. 57. Nick Woolf: Conversations with Dicke 59. George Field: Cyanogen and the CMBR 62. Pat Thaddeus 63. Don Osterbrock: The Helium Content of the Universe 70. Igor Novikov: Cosmology in the Soviet Union in the 1960s 78. Andrei Doroshkevich: Cosmology in the Sixties 1 80. Rashid Sunyaev 81. Arno Penzias: Encountering Cosmology 95. Bob Wilson: Two Astronomical Discoveries 114. Bernard F. Burke: Radio astronomy from first contacts to the CMBR 122. Kenneth C. Turner: Spreading the Word — or How the News Went From Princeton to Holmdel 123. Jim Peebles: How I Learned Physical Cosmology 136. David T. Wilkinson: Measuring the Cosmic Microwave Back- ground Radiation 144. Peter Roll: Recollections of the Second Measurement of the CMBR at Princeton University in 1965 153. Bob Wagoner: An Initial Impact of the CMBR on Nucleosyn- thesis in Big and Little Bangs 157. Martin Rees: Advances in Cosmology and Relativistic Astro- physics 163. -
Lost in the Tensors: Einstein's Struggles with Covariance Principles 1912-1916"
JOHN EARMAN and CLARK GL YMOUR LOST IN THE TENSORS: EINSTEIN'S STRUGGLES WITH COVARIANCE PRINCIPLES 1912-1916" Introduction IN 1912 Einstein began to devote a major portion of his time and energy to an attempt to construct a relativistic theory of gravitation. A strong intimation of the struggle that lay ahead is contained in a letter to Arnold Sommerfeld dated October 29, 1912: At the moment I am working solely on the problem of gravitation and believe 1 will be able to overcome all difficulties with the help of a local, friendly mathemat- ician. But one thing is certain, that I have never worked so hard in my life, and that I have been injected with a great awe of mathematics, which in my naivet~ until now I only viewed as a pure luxury in its subtler forms! Compared to this problem the original theory of relativity is mere child's play.' Einstein's letter contained only a perfunctory reply to a query from Sommerfeld about the Debye-Born theory of specific heats. Obviously disappointed, Som- merfeld wrote to Hilbert: 'My letter to Einstein was in vain . Einstein is evidently so deeply mired in gravitation that he is deaf to everything else? Sommerfeld's words were more prophetic than he could possibly have known; the next three years were to see Einstein deeply mired in gravitation, sometimes seemingly hopelessly so. In large measure, Einstein's struggle resulted from his use and his misuse, his understanding and his misunderstanding of the nature and implications of covariance principles. In brief, considerations of general covariance were bound up with Einstein's motive for seeking a 'generalized' theory of relativity; mis- understandings about the meaning and implementation of this motivation threatened to wreck the search; and in the end, the desire for general covariance helped to bring Einstein back onto the track which led to what we now recognize *Present address c/o Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn, U.S.A. -
Ay 21 - Galaxies and Cosmology Prof
Ay 21 - Galaxies and Cosmology Prof. S. G. Djorgovski Winter 2021 Cosmology* as a Science • A study of the universe as a whole, its global geometry, dynamics, history, fate, and its major constituents - galaxies and large-scale structures, their formation and evolution • A basic assumption: the physical laws are the same at all times and everywhere – Some aspects of this are testable – But a new and unexpected physics can show up, e.g., dark matter, dark energy • Only one object of study, and all we can do is look at the surface of the past light cone • Observations tend to be difficult, and subject to biases and selection effects * From Greek kosmos = order; see also cosmetology … The Evolution of the Cosmological Thought … From magical and arbitrary to rational and scientific Folklore to theology to philosophy to physics … Away from anthropocentric/anthropomorphic The Copernican revolution … From final and static to evolving and open-ended The Darwinian revolution … From absolute certainty to an ever expanding sphere of knowledge and a boundary of unknown Cosmology today is a branch of physics Dust Off Your Astronomical Units! • Distance: – Astronomical unit: the distance from the Earth to the Sun, 1 au = 1.496Í1013 cm – Light year: c Í1 yr, 1 ly = 9.463 Í1017 cm – Parsec: the distance from which 1 au subtends an angle of 1 arcsec, 1 pc = 3.086 Í1018 cm = 3.26 ly = 206,264.8 au • Mass and Luminosity: 33 – Solar mass: 1 M = 1.989 Í10 g 33 – Solar luminosity: 1 L = 3.826Í10 erg/s Fluxes and Magnitudes For historical reasons, fluxes in the optical and IR are measured in magnitudes: m = −2.5log10 F + constant Usually integrated over some finite bandpass, e.g., V band (l ~ 550 nm): € fl mV = −2.5log10 F + constant flux integrated over the range l of wavelengths for this band € If the flux is integrated over the entire spectrum, then m is the bolometric magnitude.