June 2006 Volume 15, No. 6 www.aps.org/apsnews Highlights The Back Page APS NEWS US Nuclear Threat Can Enhance Stability A Publication of the American Physical Society Page 8

Council Statement Registers Concern April Meeting Prize and Award Recipients Over Potential Nuclear Weapons Use At its April meeting, the APS weapon states and for pre-emptive Council passed a statement counter-proliferation purposes. expressing concern over potential Nuclear weapons have not been use of nuclear weapons by the used for more than 60 years, United States, and calling for a reflecting a widespread apprecia- more extensive public debate on tion of the grave human costs and this issue. Of particular concern political and moral consequences was the danger that any change in of crossing the nuclear threshold. US policy would undermine the The American Physical Society Non-Proliferation Treaty regime, urges a prompt, full and informed which seeks to limit the spread of public debate about the circum- nuclear weapons. stances under which the United The statement reads: States might use or threaten to use “The American Physical nuclear weapons, and the conse- Society is deeply concerned about quences for the Non-Proliferation the possible use of nuclear Treaty.” weapons against non-nuclear- Nuclear Weapons continued on page 6

Photo credit: Howard Pearlman Particle Physics at a Crossroads, Front row (l to r): Glen Lambertson, Savas Dimopoulos, Ian Towner, Alysia Marino, Florencia Canelli, Padma Kant Shukla, William Ford, John Heilbron. Middle row (l to r): Nigel Lockyer, Evgenya Smirnova, Academy Study Finds David Miller, Li-Bang Wang, Sergio Ferrara, Mikhail Shifman, Yuri Orlov. Back row (l to r): Paul Richards, John Hardy, Peter van Nieuwenhuizen, Daniel Freedman, John Jaros, David Albright. This is an exciting time in parti- several priorities for US particle cle physics, and the United States physics in the next 15 years. The should increase its investment in main recommendations, in priority the field to maintain leadership, says order, are: JLab Experiment Discovers Some Strangeness a National Academy of Sciences –First, support American scien- report released in April. tists working at the Large Hadron In the Proportion of Strange Quarks The report, titled Revealing the Collider Hidden Nature of Space and Time, –Second, invest in the necessary The proton is not as strange as experiment. Because the electro- gluon matter produced at RHIC said that the field of particle physics research and development in order some people might have thought, magnetic force is mirror symmet- really is a plasma. is now at a crossroads, as several to make a compelling bid to host the according to results reported at ric while the weak force is not, the The RHIC experiments collide major experiments are scheduled International Linear Collider the APS April meeting. Members scientist can separate the effects gold ions together at very high to end soon. The report identified Particle Physics continued on page 3 of the HAPPEx collaboration at of these two forces by noting dif- energies to recreate a state of mat- Jefferson Lab described their most ferences in the number of scat- ter thought to have existed recent findings on the contribution tered electrons when the beam’s microseconds after the Big Bang. CERN Head Says US Should Pay of the strange quark to some of the polarization changes. They then Four detectors analyze the compli- proton’s properties. deduce the contribution of the sea cated mess of particles that spew For Part of LHC Operation Cost Protons are composed of two quarks to the nucleon’s proper- out of the collisions. CERN Director-General Robert quoted. In a clarifying statement to up quarks and a down quark, as ties. At last year’s April Meeting, all Aymar sparked a mini-maelstrom APS News, Aymar said that the well as a sea of virtual quark-anti- “The proton is much less four RHIC detector groups within the US particle physics com- Tribune had conflated his comments quark pairs that flit into and out of strange today than we thought it announced that the soup of quarks munity with comments reported in on two unrelated issues: CERN’s existence. It has been an open was two weeks ago,” said and gluons they had produced in the April 25 issue of the Tribune de current debt, and the US contribution question how much these sea HAPPEx member Paul Souder of these collisions behaved like a Genève. The article quoted Aymar as to the LHC. CERN’s debt was fore- quarks contribute to properties of Syracuse University. Tony nearly perfect fluid of strongly saying that the LHC has caused seen when the LHC was approved in the proton, such as its charge dis- Thomas, JLab’s chief scientist, interacting quarks, rather than a CERN to go deeply in debt, and sin- 1996, and the institution is on sched- tribution and magnetic moment, called the new measurement “the gas of weakly interacting quarks. gling out American stinginess as a ule to repay all loans by the end of said HAPPEx collaborator best test of what the sea of the Now, Jacak and colleagues prime cause. 2010. However, he is concerned that Krishna Kumar of the University nucleon looks like.” JLab continued on page 5 It turns out that Aymar was mis- CERN continued on page 3 of Massachusetts. Some previous theories and A number of experiments have experiments had hinted that the put limits on the strange quark strange quark could contribute as Crowd Packs the Hall for Lisa Randall Public Lecture contribution to the nucleon’s prop- much as ten percent to the proton’s erties. At the April meeting the magnetic moment. HAPPEx collaboration reported Meanwhile, other April that the strange quark contributes Meeting speakers reported on at most 4% of the proton’s mag- some recently discovered surpris- netic moment, and at most 1% of ing properties of the quark- gluon its charge distribution. Both of matter produced at the Relativistic these measurements are consis- Heavy Ion Collider. Barbara Jacak tent with zero. The researchers of SUNY Stony Brook, a member also found that the strange quark- of the PHENIX collaboration at antiquark pairs in the nucleon are RHIC, described some of these on average separated by less than properties during a plenary talk James Riordon Photo credit: about 2x10-17 meters. and press conference. High school students, teachers, and other interested members of the public joined physicists at the APS April The HAPPEx experiment stud- Previous investigation had Meeting in Dallas for "An Evening of String Theory and Cosmology" with Harvard physicist Lisa Randall, author ies scattering of a polarized beam focused on whether quarks and of Warped Passages. In the photo at left, the crowd listens raptly during the lecture. In the photo at right, after of 3 GeV electrons from liquid gluons, normally bound into the lecture Randall signs a copy of her book for Gentrea Hendrickson of Hurst, Texas. hydrogen and from helium, and hadrons, can become free and melt Randall covered the basics of particle physics, string theory, extra dimensions, and the mysteriously measures the elastically scattered into a so-called quark-gluon plas- elusive hypothetical gravitons, while the students in attendance posed an impressively high caliber of electrons. The beam’s polariza- ma, Jacak said. She focused questions during the discussion following the lecture. The evening kicked off with a catered reception at the tion is alternated throughout the instead on whether the quark- Dallas Hyatt Regency, where Randall mingled informally with local high school students and their teachers. 2 June 2006 APS NEWS

This Month in Physics History Members in the Media June, ca. 240 B.C. Eratosthenes Measures the Earth

“I try to show people that I am “The reason for going under- completely normal, that I order the ground is the same reason why 240 B.C., King Ptolemy III varying speeds. So Eratosthenes same beer and so forth. But the poor astronomers look at stars at night." of Alexandria appointed hired bematists, professional guys–when I start talking about –Ken Lande, University of him chief librarian of the surveyors trained to walk with physics, the evening is done.” Pennsylvania, on underground labs, library of Alexandria. equal length steps. They found –Christian Binek, University of Associated Press, May 5, 2006 Known as one of the that Syene lies about 5000 sta- Nebraska, Lincoln, the Journal– foremost scholars of the dia from Alexandria. Star, (Lincoln, Nebraska) April 17, "The conventional view is that all time, Eratosthenes pro- Eratosthenes then used this 2006 of space, time, matter and energy duced impressive works in to calculate the circumference began at a single point ...However, this astronomy, mathematics, of the Earth to be about 250,000 "There are good reasons to think new theory suggests that there's a geography, philosophy, and stadia. Modern scholars dis- that the LHC will produce major dis- continuous cycle of universes, with poetry. His contemporaries agree about the length of the coveries." each a repeat of the last, but not an gave him the nickname stadium used by Eratosthenes. –Michael Dine, University of exact replica. It can be thought of as “Beta” because he was very Values between 500 and about California, Santa Cruz, the Santa a child of the previous universe." good, though not quite first- 600 feet have been suggested, Cruz Sentinel, April 12, 2006 –Paul Steinhardt, Princeton rate, in all these areas of putting Eratosthenes’ calculat- University, on his cyclic universe scholarship. Eratosthenes ed circumference between "It doesn't matter how many col- theory, BBC News online, was especially proud of his about 24,000 miles and about Eratosthenes lisions you have, you can never May 5, 2006 solution to the problem of 29,000 miles. The Earth is now change the specific momenta that are y around 500 B.C., doubling a cube, and is known to measure about 24,900 in the system. That means you never "The maple that is used for bats has most ancient Greeks now well known for developing miles around the equator, lose the features you start out with." just about the exact same properties Bbelieved that Earth was the sieve of Eratosthenes, a slightly less around the poles. –David Weiss, Penn State, on his as the ash that is used for bats, which round, not flat. But they had method of finding prime num- Eratosthenes had made the atomic version of the Newton’s cra- actually somewhat surprised me. They no idea how big the planet is bers. assumption that the sun was so dle toy, which consists of a row of sus- broke about the same, had about the until about 240 B.C., when Eratosthenes’ most famous far away that its rays were pended steel balls that knock from same properties." Eratosthenes devised a clever accomplishment is his measure- essentially parallel, that side to side, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, –Robert Adair, Yale University, on method of estimating its cir- ment of the circumference of Alexandria is due north of April 13, 2006 baseball bats, The Free Lance-Star cumference. Earth. He recorded the details of Syene, and that Syene is exact- (Fredricksburg, VA), May 9, 2006 It was around 500 B.C. that this measurement in a manuscript ly on the tropic of cancer. While "I feel like the mouse that roared." Pythagoras first proposed a that is now lost, but his technique not exactly correct, these – Kenneth Ganezer, Cal State- "Aplasma cloud is going to be by spherical Earth, mainly on aes- has been described by other assumptions are good enough to Dominguez Hills, on being named nature composed of electrons and thetic grounds rather than on Greek historians and writers. make a quite accurate measure- one of the “hottest” researchers by the ions. When they recombine to form any physical evidence. Like Eratosthenes was fascinated ment using Eratosthenes’ publication Science Watch, Long atoms they're going to release light and many Greeks, he believed the with geography and planned to method. His basic method is Beach Press-Telegram, April 17, 2006 therefore they will glow." sphere was the most perfect make a map of the entire world. sound, and is even used by –Iver Cairns, University of Sydney, shape. Possibly the first to pro- He realized he needed to know schoolchildren around the "I get the whole loot. My ego has on plasma clouds, which may provide pose a spherical Earth based the size of Earth. Obviously, one world today. gotten so big I can barely get through a plausible explanation for some UFO on actual physical evidence was couldn’t walk all the way around Other Greek scholars repeat- the door." sightings, Australian Broadcasting Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), who to figure it out. ed the feat of measuring the –Arthur Rosenfeld, UC Berkeley Corporation, Science Online, listed several arguments for a Eratosthenes had heard from Earth using a procedure similar (emeritus), on receiving the Enrico Australia, May 8, 2006 spherical Earth: ships disap- travelers about a well in Syene to Eratosthenes’ method. Fermi Award and $375,000 pear hull first when they sail (now Aswan, Egypt) with an Several decades after honorarium, San Mateo County “And we can go back in this over the horizon, Earth casts a interesting property: at noon on Eratosthenes measurement, Times, April 28, 2006 machine to like a trillionth of a sec- round shadow on the moon dur- the summer solstice, which Posidonius used the star ond after the Big Bang, recreate the ing a lunar eclipse, and differ- occurs about June 21 every year, Canopus as his light source and "It was nice. I got the crown and conditions that existed then … but we ent constellations are visible at the sun illuminated the entire bot- the cities of Rhodes and good cookies." cannot go to the ultimate cause.” different latitudes. tom of this well, without casting Alexandria as his baseline. But –Arnold Clark, Lawrence –-Roger Dixon, Fermilab, CBS Around this time Greek any shadows, indicating that the because he had an incorrect Livermore National Laboratory News, Chicago, May 7, 2006 philosophers had begun to sun was directly overhead. value for the distance between (retired), on being honored as the believe the world could be Eratosthenes then measured the Rhodes and Alexandria, he oldest member of the Livermore- “Neutrinos just keep going. They explained by natural processes angle of a shadow cast by a stick came up with a value for Earth’s Amador Symphony, the Tri-Valley go under Wisconsin, a little bit east rather than invoking the gods, at noon on the summer solstice in circumference of about 18,000 Herald, April 28, 2006 of Madison, under Lake Superior, and early astronomers began Alexandria, and found it made miles, nearly 7,000 miles too and into Minnesota.” making physical measure- an angle of about 7.2 degrees, or small. "25 percent, if nature's kind." –Marvin Marshak, University of ments, in part to better predict about 1/50 of a complete circle. Ptolemy included this small- –Jay Marx, Lawrence Berkeley Minnesota, describing the MINOS the seasons. The first person to He realized that if he knew er value in his treatise on geog- National Laboratory, on LIGO’s experiment, NPR, All Things determine the size of Earth was the distance from Alexandria to raphy in the second century chance of seeing gravitational waves, Considered, May 3, 2006 Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who Syene, he could easily calculate A.D. Later explorers, includ- The New York Times, May 2, 2006 produced a surprisingly good the circumference of Earth. But ing Christopher Columbus, "Physics explains chemistry, measurement using a simple in those days it was extremely believed Ptolemy’s value and "They're not just Shiva the chemistry explains biology. There's a scheme that combined geomet- difficult to determine distance became convinced that Earth Destroyer; they're Brahma the coherence, and that's what science is rical calculations with physi- with any accuracy. Some dis- was small enough to sail Creator." all about." cal observations. tances between cities were meas- around. If Columbus had –Scott Hughes, MIT, on black –Leon Lederman, Fermilab, on Eratosthenes was born ured by the time it took a camel instead known Eratosthenes holes, which may influence galaxy why physics should be taught around 276 B.C., which is now caravan to travel from one city to larger, and more accurate, development, according to new before chemistry and biology in Shahhat, Libya. He studied in the other. But camels have a ten- value, perhaps he might never research, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, high schools, Baltimore Sun, May Athens at the Lyceum. Around dency to wander and to walk at have set sail. April 29, 2006 9, 2006

Series II, Vol. 15, No.6 Department, American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Treasurer Physics and Society), J. H. Eberly (Laser Science), Leonard Feldman (Materials), Akif Balantekin (Nuclear), June 2006 College Park, MD 20740-3844, [email protected]. Thomas McIlrath*, University of Maryland (emeritus) Editor-in-Chief John Jaros* (Particles & Fields), Ronald Ruth (Physics APS NEWS ©2006 The American Physical Society For Nonmembers–Circulation and Fulfillment Division, Martin Blume*, Brookhaven National Laboratory of Beams), James Drake* (Plasma), Timothy Lodge American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington (emeritus) (Polymer Physics), Gianfranco Vidali, (New York Section), Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Allow at least 6 Past-President Paul Wolf (Ohio Section) Editor ...... Alan Chodos weeks advance notice. For address changes, please send both Marvin L. Cohen*, University of California, Berkeley Associate Editor ...... Jennifer Ouellette the old and new addresses, and, if possible, include a mail- General Councillors ADVISORS Staff Writer ...... Ernie Tretkoff ing label from a recent issue. Requests from subscribers for Christina Back, Janet Conrad, Wendell Hill, Evelyn Hu*, Representatives from Other Societies Special Publications Manager ...... Kerry G. Johnson missing issues will be honored without charge only if received Ann Orel, Arthur Ramirez, Richart Slusher, Laura Smoliar* Kenneth Heller, AAPT; Marc Brodsky, AIP Design and Production ...... Amera Jones within 6 months of the issue’s actual date of publication. International Councillor International Advisors Forefronts Editor ...... Craig Davis Periodical Postage Paid at College Park, MD and at addition- Albrecht Wagner María Esther Ortiz, Mexican Physical Society Proofreader ...... Edward Lee al mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS Chair, Nominating Committee Walter Davidson, Canadian Association of Physicists APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X the right to select and to edit for length or clarity. All corre- News, Membership Department, American Physical Society, Thomas Rosenbaum yearly, monthly, except the August/September issue, by spondence regarding APS News should be directed to: Editor, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Staff Representatives the American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740- Ernest Moniz Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Amy Flatten College Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It 3844, E-mail: [email protected]. APS COUNCIL 2006 Division, Forum and Section Councillors Director of International Affairs; Ted Hodapp, Director contains news of the Society and of its Divisions, President Charles Dermer (Astrophysics), Kate Kirby* (Atomic, of Education and Outreach; Michael Lubell, Director, Topical Groups, Sections and Forums; advance Subscriptions:APS News is an on-membership publication John J. Hopfield*, Princeton University Molecular & Optical Physics) Robert Eisenberg (Biological), Public Affairs; Stanley Brown, Editorial Director; Charles information on meetings of the Society; and reports to delivered by Periodical Mail. Members residing abroad may President-Elect Charles S. Parmenter (Chemical), Moses H. Chan Muller, Director, Journal Operations; Michael Stephens, the Society by its committees and task forces, as well receive airfreight delivery for a fee of $15. Nonmembers: Leo P. Kadanoff*, University of Chicago (Condensed Matter Physics), Richard M. Martin Controller and Assistant Treasurer as opinions. Subscription rates are available at http://librarians.aps.org/ Vice-President (Computational), Harry Swinney* (Fluid Dynamics), Peter institutional.html. Arthur Bienenstock*, Stanford University Zimmerman (Forum on Education), Roger Stuewer (Forum Administrator for Governance Committees Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- Executive Officer on History of Physics), Patricia Mooney* (Forum on Ken Cole ship. Letters must be signed and should include an Subscription orders, renewals and address changes should Judy R. Franz*, University of Alabama, Huntsville Industrial and Applied Physics), David Ernst (Forum on * Members of the APS Executive Board address and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves be addressed as follows: For APS Members–Membership (on leave) International Physics), Philip “Bo” Hammer* (Forum on APS NEWS June 2006 3

Happy Birthday, AIP!

Pain and Politics at the Pump By Michael S. Lubell, APS Director first page alone. Although they consumers that the leadership of Public Affairs don’t tell you how many hits they quickly buried the idea. According to gasbuddy.com, get each day, they must be get- Democrats called for investi- the cheapest price for a gallon of ting enough to make money from gations of price gouging, a wind- regular in the DC area is $2.82 their advertising. fall profits tax and suspending at a Sunoco Station in Consumers are clearly feel- the 18.5 cent per gallon highway Woodbridge, Virginia. Inside the ing the pain as they drive around tax. The public hasn’t bought District, gasbuddy says it will in their gas-guzzling SUV’s and that line either. Besides, despite cost you $3.29 at the Exxon Hummers, wondering what hit holding 202 seats in the 435- Station on 22nd and P. I find the them. And when consumers cry, member House, Democrats in Photo credit: Ernie Tretkoff 47-cent spread pretty remark- “Ouch!” politicians don’t think that chamber have little clout, On May 3, the American Institute of Physics celebrated 75 years of able. clearly. Invariably they try for a check that, no clout. service to the physics community with an all-day symposium at the But I find it even more amaz- quick fix. Congress and the White Cosmos Club in Washington. The AIP was founded on May 3, 1931 at ing that there is a website dedi- So what have our elected House have dithered over mean- the Cosmos Club (then at a different Washington location) by the APS, cated to providing such informa- representatives proposed? ingful energy policy for years, the Optical Society of America, the Acoustical Society of America, and tion. Hold on, you say, there’s a Republicans floated the idea of and the public, feeling the pinch the Society of Rheology. It now has ten member societies. Among the website for everything these putting a $100 check on every at the pump and fed up with the speakers at the symposium, entitled "Diverse Frontiers of Science", were days. True, but if you google “gas driver’s seat. That elicited such Iraq war, is now expressing out- AIP CEO Marc Brodsky, Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees of price,” you find ten sites on the hoots of political pandering from Cambridge University, Nobel Laureate Steven Chu of Lawrence Berkeley Inside the Beltway continued on page 7 Laboratory, and APS Past President Marvin Cohen of the University CERN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 of California, Berkeley. In addition, President Bush's science advisor John Marburger gave a featured address, and National Academy of “the Member States have mortgaged ticle physics community for many Shochet is the current Chair of the Sciences President Ralph Cicerone gave the banquet speech. the organization’s future,” since years to come,” Aymar told APS High-Energy Physics Advisory In the photo, Jack Hehn and Margaret Wiley of AIP admire one of CERN will have “limited flexibili- News. “It is reasonable, therefore, Panel (HEPAP), which supplies several special plaques created for the occasion. ty to invest in long-term R&D.” that the running costs be shared equi- guidance on high-energy physics to Aymar does strongly believe that tably between participants. I believe both DOE and NSF. the US should contribute not just to that we have to take this into account Aymar’s comments in the the construction of the facility and its in financing both the construction Tribune de Genève preceded by one Bringing the Universe Down to Earth detectors, but also help offset its and the operation of such facilities.” day the release of a report from the operating costs. "I would like to see Melvyn Shochet of the University National Academy of Sciences, all participating countries contribute of Chicago concurs with Aymar’s Revealing the Hidden Nature of to running costs in proportion to the historical remarks, pointing out that Space and Time: Charting the benefit they stand to gain from the Fermilab’s Tevatron collider-the Course for Elementary Particle LHC," Aymar said."As things stand energy frontier machine for several Physics (see story, page 1). That today, some 751 of CERN's 6775 decades-has hosted many scientists report concluded that "the highest users are Americans, while the US from Europe and Asia. Those coun- priority for the US national effort in will contribute nothing to the running tries contributed to the construction elementary particle physics should of the LHC machine." of the detectors and their operation, be to continue to be an active part- Aymar argues that while tradi- while the US bore the accelerator ner in realizing the physics potential tionally in particle physics, each operating costs. The US contribu- of the LHC experimental program". region has borne the full operating tion to the accelerator construction The report states that "US research costs of its own facilities, times have costs at the LHC is actually unprece- groups that will carry out research changed. The movements of dented, according to Shochet, and the at the LHC need to be adequately researchers from one region to anoth- current agreement calls for acceler- supported, and the US should par- er no longer evens out. ator operating expenses to be born ticipate in upgrades of experimen- Photo credit: http://ve4xm.caltech.edu/Bellan_plasma_page/ “The LHC is a unique facility, by the host (CERN), per the long- tal facilities", but does not call for A "kinky" plasma jet. and will be a focus for the global par- standing tradition. US support of LHC operating costs. Scientists are increasingly turn- bound communications. Michael ing to laboratory-based experiments Brown, a physicist at Swarthmore PARTICLE PHYSICS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 to gain insight into the mechanisms College, has created scaled-down –Third, expand the program in The panel also recommends that the resources will be needed to sustain US that affect plasmas in space. experimental versions of solar phe- particle astrophysics and pursue an US expresses its strong intent that leadership in particle physics. The Speakers at a handful of sessions at nomena in the laboratory, building internationally coordinated program the ILC will be built in the United panel says the budget for particle the APS April meeting in Dallas arrays of wire loops to study in neutrino physics. States. physics needs to increase by at least described some of their recent work magnetic reconnection in Harold Shapiro, an economist and Shapiro noted that this is a risky 2% to 3% per year in real terms. in this area, shedding light on such plasmas. Magnetic fields are forced former President of Princeton strategy, but said that doing nothing The committee also discussed how questions as solar flares, the tem- together, like two strands of a rope, University, chaired the NRC's would be even riskier. If nothing is to avoid the kind of problems that led perature of the sun’s corona, astro- and annihilate each other, produc- Committee on Elementary Particle done, US particle physicists will be to the cancellation of the SSC by physical jets, and the interiors of ing a burst of excess energy. This Physics in the 21st Century which forced to work abroad, and students Congress in 1993. Shapiro said that neutron stars. accelerates the plasma outward to drafted the report. He announced the will lose interest in the field, he said. the committee believes the ILC is on Many of the complex phenom- produce a solar flare. panel’s recommendations at a press Experiments at the Terascale may a better path because it will be an ena seen in space are difficult to Brown's laboratory plasmas are conference April 26 in Washington. soon enable physicists to answer some international collaboration from the understand with existing theories. about one foot tall whereas those on Several major particle physics exciting questions, such as where very beginning. This is partly due to the fact that the sun are about five times the experiments will come to an end particle masses come from, whether The 22-member committee much of the universe is made of diameter of Earth, but the temper- soon, the committee noted. Fermilab the forces of nature are unified at included particle physicists, plasmas, which exhibit highly com- ature of the gas and the strength of is scheduled to shut down around some energy scale, whether space physicists in other fields, and non- plex behavior. Thus, it can be dif- the magnetic field are about the 2010. Shapiro said he had been dis- and time have extra dimensions, and physicists. ficult to come up with good math- same in both cases. Among other appointed to learn that no plan was what makes up the dark matter. The This unusual composition of the ematical models. Physicists can things, such studies may help solve in place for the future. “When we LHC, scheduled to begin operation committee meant that the physicists predict the behavior of individual the mystery of why the temperature looked at the status of high-energy in 2007, could discover the Higgs had to work harder to make the case fluid particles, but plasmas are com- of the sun's corona is so much hot- physics in the US, we were sobered,” boson, evidence of supersymmetric for why particle physics is impor- prised of very large numbers of ter than the core. he said. “We had no compelling fol- particles, or evidence of new physics. tant. particles that are constantly in The jet plumes of plasma emit- low-on program.” The ILC, which will collide electrons Committee member Jonathan motion. They are also charged par- ted by certain galaxies are the focus The report says that the United and positrons, will be able to clarify Bagger of Johns Hopkins University ticles, so their motion is affected by of the laboratory simulations pro- States should play a leadership role and provide more details about any said that it was clear that American electric and magnetic fields, espe- duced by Caltech's Paul Bellan. As in the worldwide effort to study discoveries made by the LHC. particle physics is at a crossroads, cially the magnetic fields of near- matter falls inward toward a star or Terascale physics, and accelerators are “This might be the most exciting and it was important to have people by stars and galaxies. black hole, forming an accretion an essential component of this effort. moment in particle physics in a gen- outside of physics look at the field. Plasma-related phenomena can disk, the jets shoot out along the The panel recommends spending eration” said Shapiro. The report is part of the Physics be seen in the sun's periodic solar axis of the disk. $300 to $500 million over the next In the short run, the panel found, 2010 project, a series of National flares, which eject powerful bursts Even small jets are roughly the five years on research and develop- funds could be reallocated from Research Council studies that will of charged particles so strong they size of our solar system. Bellan's ment for the accelerator for the pro- experiments that are ending in the explore opportunities and priorities for can sometimes interfere with earth- Plasma continued on page 7 posed International Linear Collider. next few years. But an increase in many branches of physics. 4 June 2006 APS NEWS Letters Religion is Not the Same as Superstition Both as a religious person and er with thoughtful people in other as a scientist, I find myself whole- religions, it is clear that a sort of complementarity principle holds heartedly agreeing with Lawrence At the public lecture in Dallas by Lisa Randall (see story on page 1) survey cards were for religion, that religious belief Krauss's position in the April Back distributed to find out who the members of audience were and how they heard of the event. The attendees were cannot incorporate aspects that are Page on so-called Intelligent about a third physicists from the meeting, a third students, and a third other members of the public. The stu- in contradiction to scientific knowl- Design. What I find grossly unac- dents had mainly heard about the lecture from their teachers (APS Outreach, working with event host Victoria edge. As a simple example, a Jewish ceptable is the gratuitous attack on Smith Downing of the Kilby Foundation, had canvassed many local schools), and the public through flyers tradition forbids one to pray for "religion". The issue is not reli- and other means including the radio. One of the cards, however, was returned with a series of drawings on the something to not have occurred gion, but superstition. There is a back making visual fun of the word "brane." Although the author had not signed his name, the after the fact, because a request for difference between the two. APS crack forensic team determined that it was the work of Todd Tinsley of Rice University, who, when his divine intervention to undo a To the overwhelming majority identity was revealed, graciously allowed us to reproduce some of it for the enjoyment of readers of APS News. of modern religious Jews, togeth- Religion continued on page 7 Scientists' Arrogance Makes Matters Worse It seems to me that Lawrence ing that of earth, and its inhabitants. Krauss (APS News Back Page, April The archeological record is incom- 2006) wishes to add to the contro- plete and the gaps must be filled versy which he denies exists. The with reasonable speculation. If the public perception that there is a con- goal is to educate the public, the troversy is documented by the sta- public must be treated as a partner tistics he quotes. The arrogance of in the education process, not as back- scientists, illustrated so well by this ward bumpkins. essay, fuels the "controversy" and The public (mis)understanding adds to the public distrust of science of science is due, in large part, to the and scientists. Is it to much to ask that manner in which science is present- scientists admit that there are things ed by our system of education. Try unknown to science, that there are to do something about that, but don't limits to the scope and depth of sci- claim infallibility; that claim is usu- ence, and that evolutionary theory is ally made by clerics. Evolution is not Dogma George Valley Worthy of incomplete in its detail, particularly Lighten up, Mr. Krauss. We are Commemoration with respect to the descent of Man. all truth seekers! And we are not In his April Back Page article, believe in evolution. All are One problemn is the time scale of the about to blow up the Supreme Court Lawrence Krauss says, "People who perfectly sane, many impress me I was delighted to see the arti- evolutionary process. It is simply Building. oppose evolution are really trying with the depth of their cle on the George Valley Prize and impossible to repeat the process of Fletcher Gabbard to take a stand against science and understanding of life, and some are the rather brief note of his contri- the evolution of the universe, includ- McKee, KY rationality." It's difficult for me to scientists (in various fields) who butions to the Radiation Laboratory. believe that he really means this. have a respectable list of He was a "systems man" being Origin of Life Still Controversial I know many people who do not Evolution continued on page 7 essential to a number of important Several times in his April unresolved, with no conver- Intelligence Fellowships Go Back to 1979 projects, particularly in the Back Page article, Lawrence gence in sight among the translation from the laboratory I was pleased to learn from the who was both the Director of CIA Krauss states that there is no diverse theories. The Oparin- groups Receiver Components article "APS Member Honored for and the overseer of all 15 controversy in the Darwinian Haldane hypothesis, tested by and Precision Circuits. He was a Intelligence" in the April APS News Intelligence Agencies prior to theory of evolution. How can the Miller-Urey experiments, particular leader in the first radar that Dwight Williams of Defense Congress creating the DNI position anyone claim that there is no is now in disfavor, because bomb sight that alleviated Hap Intelligence Agency's MASINT in 2004. Many scientists (some controversy when the theory of there is no evidence that 3.86 Arnold's inexperience of bombing organization received a DNI APS members) have benefitted how life originated on Earth, billion yrs ago ( when over 30 through overcast; it provided a rel- Fellowship for 2006, and applaud from these fellowships over the 27 the very first step in the process life forms emerged rather atively accurate bombsight to the APS News for recognizing the years of the program. Both myself th of evolution of the species, is Origin of Life continued on page 7 8 Air Force Pathfinder planes, honor. However, I would like to and Dr. L. Dudley Miller (no rela- which previously could only drop Occam's Razor Cuts Out Intelligent Design point out that although these tion) of the Army's National George Valley continued on page 7 Fellowships have just been desig- Ground Intelligence Center were Advocates of creationism and among alternative theories that nated "DNI Fellowships," there DCI Fellows in the 1983 - 1985 fel- Can DNA Code Rewrite intelligent design accuse science explain the same observations, have existed "DCI Fellowships" lowship period. Based largely on Itself? of assuming methodological nat- science applies Occam's razor since 1979. "DCI " designates the knowledge and experience gained uralism (the view that natural and adopts the most parsimo- In his book Darwin’s Black Box, Director of Central Intelligence, Intelligence continued on page 6 effects must have natural causes) nious. This "metaphysically neu- M. J. Behe describes frustration with trying to get the requirement a priori, thereby unfairly exclud- tral" criterion is one that creation- Quark-Gluon Liquid Report Contains Flaws ing their own ideas without a ism and intelligent design fail to that evolutionary molecular hearing. Lawrence M. Krauss meet. The piece "An Ocean of the item. The 4 experimental "white processes be randomly generated in (The Back Page, April 2006), So a theory is not scientific Quarks" in "Physics News in 2005", papers" were largely written in infinitesimal degrees to agree with rather than debunk this accusa- because it is based on "natural" included in the February, 2006 APS 2004 and do not claim the obser- experimental observations. Those tion, concedes their point by concepts like matter and energy. News contains some small errors. vation of a quark-gluon liquid. That observations suggest that the evo- equating methodological natu- On the contrary, such concepts In central collisions at RHIC, claim is newer, most notably from lutionary processes observed when ralism with the scientific method. have come to be regarded as "nat- the total collision energy is at most the talks, press conference and press unicellular organisms mutate occur However, the scientific ural" because they are endorsed 36 TeV, rather than the 40 TeV release at the April, 2005 APS too rapidly to be random and that method does not limit the kinds by science. given in the article. meeting. the changes appear to be in groups of causes that it can invoke when John G. Fletcher In addition, the references given Spencer Klein of simultaneous changes. arriving at a theory. To choose Livermore, CA are a poor match to the content of Berkeley, CA I was impressed with the simi- larity of the behavior of the immune Science is Trying to Silence Religion Show Us the Evidence system with the kind of computer code that generates "popups" on The April Back Page headline, James Hansen's Viewpoint ed to duplicate mean tempera- What really is going on in our an internet web site. If simple bina- "When Worldviews Collide: column in the April 2006 APS tures for that period, then the society is that citizens with a secu- ry code run on a simple silicon- Science and Religion Face Off News had a nice, but misleading model should be able to predict lar bias are trying to silence citi- based CPU can rewrite itself under Again", implies the face-off is and quite inadequate, graph of what has happened since 1900. A zens with a religious bias, even the influence of someone's mouse between science and religion. The annual mean global temperature duplication of known histories is though our Constitution guarantees clicks, why couldn't the more face-off is really between the sec- free exercise of religion for the reli- change showing measured tem- always a firm requirement for the DNA Code continued on page 6 ular and the religious citizens of gious and, I suppose, freedom from perature changes from about 1960 oil and gas reservoir simulations our society. exercising religion for the secular. to present and projections to that I have done. The economic Unexpected Bonus I am a Christian, a Protestant The article in question admits, 2020. If he would really like to stakes are so very much larger My partner and I both enjoyed with Calvinist roots (the worst "science is not inherently atheistic. destroy Michael Crichton's objec- for simulations of our climate playing "Find the Physicists" in the kind), and have always believed The existence of God isn't a scien- tions to the projections for glob- system that it will be difficult to April issue of APS News. But it turns that God reveals himself through his tifically testable proposition." If this al warming, he should display a obtain the level of cooperation out the story has an unexpected works in nature and in special rev- is correct, God may or may not graph showing calculations that needed for greenhouse gas con- extra: Bethe appears twice, not once: elation, for me the Bible. Since exist, and Evolution and Intelligent incorporate the known atmos- trol without compelling evidence "Lomb BET HE could..." and "could these revelations must be compat- Design as a result are on an equal pheric concentrations of carbon that the climate models are right. BE THE judge..."–kudos to the ible, I have never had a problem footing as far as science is con- dioxide since about 1800. If we have the evidence, let's authors for this pleasant way to pass with applying the scientific method cerned. Assuming that the period from, show it! an hour (or so)! to evolution or any other matter of George A. Kuipers say, 1800 to 1900 could be used Stan Robertson John Bechhoefer science. Pittsford, NY to establish the fine tuning need- Weatherford, OK Burnaby, British Columbia APS NEWS June 2006 5

“Starquakes” Reveal Clues About Magnetar Composition At the APS April Meeting in make the measurements of a neu- 12 miles across–by comparing the High School Teachers' Day in Dallas Dallas, Tod Strohmayer of tron star named SGR 1806-20, frequencies from waves travel- NASA’s Goddard Space Flight located about 40,000 light years ing around the crust to those trav- Center demonstrated how the from Earth in the constellation eling radially through it. detailed trace of x-rays arriving Sagittarius. Vibrations from the According to Strohmayer, star- from magnetars can be convert- explosion revealed details about quake seismology is a promising ed into information about seis- the star’s composition, much like method for determining the prop- mic modes shaking the star and how the study of seismic waves erties of neutron stars, and a larg- how properties of the star’s crust on Earth can reveal the structure er explosion detected in X-rays can be deduced from that. Among of our planet’s crust and interior. could reveal the elusive secret of other findings, Strohmayer and “We think this explosion, the the nature of the matter at such a his colleagues have measured the biggest of its kind ever observed, star’s core. That material may be thickness of the crust of a neutron really jolted the star and literally so dense that a single teaspoon star for the first time. started it ringing like a bell,” he would weigh close to 10 million When massive stars explode said. “The vibrations created in tons on Earth. Among other excit- at the end of their lives, they can the explosion, although faint, pro- ing possibilities, the core might leave behind very dense, spin- vide very specific clues about contain free quarks, which could ning neutron stars. Very little is what these bizarre objects are further advance our scientific known about their structure, but made of. Just like a bell, a neu- understanding of the nature of astronomers believe their cores tron star’s ring depends on how matter and energy. may contain a state of matter that waves pass through layers of dif- “Neutron stars are great labo- doesn’t exist anywhere else in the fering density, either slushy or ratories for the study of extreme cosmos, at least not since the Big solid.” physics,” said Anna Watts, Bang itself. Magnetars are a spe- Among other data, Strohmayer Strohmayer’s colleague, who is cific type of neutron star featur- presented fresh analysis of the now at the Max Planck Institute ing colossal magnetic fields, as 1998 and 2004 events, including for Astrophysics in Garching, 15 high as 10 Gauss. These fields the identification of additional Germany. “We’d love to be able Photo credit: Ed Lee might be strong enough to crack vibrational modes. The measure- to crack one open, but since that’s At an APS High School Physics Teachers' Day workshop in Dallas, the crusts of the stars, and this in ments were confirmed using probably not going to happen, William Griffith and Kendra Bonnet explored fractal patterns in a turn could prove to be the source the Ramaty High Energy observing the effects of a magne- crystal that they had just grown. The workshop was led by Richard of the huge energy bursts–dubbed Spectroscopic Solar Imager, tar hyperflare on a neutron star is Olenick of the University of Dallas. hyperflares–coming to Earth from which also recorded the hyper- perhaps the next best thing.” these dynamic objects. flare and provided evidence for a One such event in 1998 and high-frequency oscillation at 625 Physics Helps Bolster Homeland Security another in December 2004 are Hz, indicating waves traversing believed to have dispatched the the crust vertically. The abun- Many physicists are applying researchers can clearly see the said Richards. largest batch of radiation to be dance of data enabled the basic physics in unexpected ways reactor turning on and off, and However, locating an explo- detected from outside the solar researchers to determine the depth to homeland security problems, they have preliminary indications sion precisely enough is still chal- system. The NASA team used the of the neutron star’s crust–near- and several groups reported their of sensitivity to production of lenging. Richards and others are Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer to ly a mile, assuming a diameter of progress at the April Meeting. plutonium. working on techniques for solv- For instance, a group of If the IAEA could adopt this ing that problem. In addition to Lorentz Invariance Still Stands researchers from Sandia National system, it would allow real-time improving the monitoring of Laboratory and Lawrence monitoring of plutonium produc- nuclear testing, the research is Lorentz invariance expresses in this particular experiment, the Livermore National Laboratory tion that could greatly reduce the also leading to improvements in the proposition that the laws of apparatus involved a pendulum has proposed building small neu- need for inspections, Bowden seismologists’ ability to precise- physics are the same for different made of blocks whose magnetism trino detectors for monitoring says. He and colleagues plan to ly locate earthquakes, he said. observers, for example, an observ- arises from both the orbital motion nuclear reactors. carry out a cost-benefit analysis Richards received the Szilard er at rest on Earth or one who is of an electron around its nucleus Nuclear reactors that produce to determine whether this method Award for his work in this area. rotated through some angle, or trav- and from the intrinsic spin of the electric power must be monitored of monitoring reactors would be Edward Hartouni of Lawrence eling at a constant speed relative to electron itself. to make sure that fissile materi- practical. Livermore National Laboratory the observer at rest. It is the pillar By carefully choosing and als are not diverted for weapons In another example of basic talked about how scientists are of Einstein’s theory of special rel- arranging the blocks, they can cre- purposes. Currently, the science being applied to security working the problem of monitor- ativity, and every experiment con- ate an assembly that has zero mag- International Atomic Energy problems, seismologist Paul ing cargo entering the country to ducted to date has verified it. But netization and yet still has an over- Agency monitors nuclear reac- Richards of Columbia University keep out illicit nuclear material. if new, far more sensitive experi- all nonzero electron spin. Cramer tors with regular detailed inspec- discussed using earthquake Millions of cargo containers enter ments could detect a very faint field calls this condition a “spin dipole,” tions, which are time-consuming detectors to sense nuclear the country each year, and at some pervading the cosmos, one that and likens it to the case of an elec- and costly. explosions. ports as many as ten containers exerts a force on electron spin, that tric dipole, which has zero net Now, Nathaniel Bowden of To a non-specialist, an earth- per minute must be processed. would topple Lorentz invariance. charge, yet possesses a net electric Sandia National Laboratory and quake looks very similar to a Opening and searching each one Fortunately for fans of Einstein field because of a displaced his colleagues have proposed a nuclear explosion, but scientists would be impossible. Radiation and relativity, a new experiment at arrangement of positive and nega- new method for real-time moni- can tell them apart because of the detectors would detect non-threat- the University of Washington tive charge. The existence of a pre- toring of nuclear reactors. A small- different patterns of shear and ening radioactive materials, such sought just such an anomalous field ferred-direction, Lorentz-violating, er version of the same type of compression waves. Even if a as fiestaware. All solutions pro- and came up empty-handed, even spin-related force would have detector that scientists use to study country attempts to evade detec- posed so far have problems, but at an unprecedented energy scale of shown up as a subtle mode in the solar or atmospheric neutrinos tion, tests above 1 or 2 kilotons physicists are continuing to work 10-21, according to results present- rotation of the pendulum. The con- could detect the antineutrinos pro- cannot be confidently hidden, said on better methods of monitoring ed at the APS April Meeting in clusion: any such "quasi-magnetic" duced by nuclear power reactors Richards. There is already a large cargo, said Hartouni. Dallas. This is the most stringent field would have to be weaker than and give a measure of the amount seismic monitoring infrastructure These are all examples of how search to date (by a factor of 100) about a femto-gauss. of plutonium in the reactor core, already in place that can detect scientists working on basic for violations of Lorentz invari- They are also searching for Bowden and colleagues suggest. explosions from a distance, and research can apply their knowl- ance involving electrons. evidence of extra dimensions in the Neutrinos interact infrequent- seismologists can distinguish a edge to problems in homeland Eric Adelberger’s UW group is form of departures from Newtonian ly and are hard to detect, Bowden nuclear explosion from the 200 security, said Hartouni. By sup- conducting an ongoing battery of gravity–such as the inverse-square points out, but they are also earthquakes that occur every day. porting scientists to do basic tests carried out with a flexible and dependence–at size scales of tens impossible to shield, so it would In fact, seismology has turned out research, “we produce a large sophisticated torsion-balance appa- of microns. While the group did be impossible to hide the antineu- to be the most important way of reservoir of knowledge which we ratus. In 2000, they were one of find some strange results at a trinos produced in a nuclear monitoring nuclear explosions, can draw from,” he said. three separate research groups to measurement scale of about 70 reactor. measure the gravitational constant microns, Adelberger conceded Bowden and colleagues have JLAB CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 (“Big G”) to the greatest precision this was most likely due to an already built a prototype detector, to date, although the various meas- experimental artifact. which they have installed about 25 have investigated how the quark- lighter ones, Jacak said. This is sur- urements didn’t agree with each A portion of the above article appeared meters from the San Onofre gluon soup affects heavy quarks. prising because the charm quarks other. in Physics News Update Number 775. nuclear generating station in San Some charm quarks are produced in should be too heavy to be affected by Most recently, they set out to Clemente, Calif. The prototype the gold-gold collisions, but the the quark-gluon matter. She likened test Lorentz invariance with a tor- Visit detector is about 3 m by 3 m by researchers observed that jets of the phenomenon to a river picking up sion pendulum, in hopes that even APS 3 m, and the researchers believe charm quarks coming out of the soup rocks and carrying them along. Jacak a slight departure from expected it could be made even smaller. were suppressed. believes this is evidence that the mat- behavior in spacetime might signal News About 1026 antineutrinos are It seems that the charm quarks ter being produced at RHIC really is an interesting new phase in our Online emitted by the reactor each day, get caught up in interactions in the a plasma of unbound quarks and glu- understanding of the universe. and several thousand interact with mixture of mostly lighter quarks and ons, because quarks bound into According to Clare Cramer, a mem- www.aps. org/apsnews/ a proton in the detector. gluons. In the RHIC matter, heavy hadrons would not be likely to affect ber of Adelberger’s research group, With the prototype, the quarks are flowing along with the charm quarks in this way. 6 June 2006 APS NEWS

CLEO/QELS Meeting Features Latest Photonics Research UCSD Physicist Wants Nuclear Researchers from around the Picometrix presented a fast and optical microscopes have world presented new results in practical real-world system for achieved resolutions as low as Weapons Taken Off the Table optics, photonics and their terahertz (THz) imaging. THz 15 nm, but they required the applications at the 2006 imaging employs a band of use of large particle accelera- CLEO/QELS meeting, held electromagnetic radiation tors called synchrotrons. This May 21-26, 2006, in Long between the microwave and more compact and less expen- Beach, California. The meet- infrared spectrum to penetrate sive system has the potential to ing is co-sponsored by the objects and look inside them. become more widely available Optical Society of America NASA engineers have to researchers and industry. (OSA), the APS Division of already used the Picometrix Orbital Tomography. Laser Science, and the IEEE design to peer through the layer Electrons orbiting an atomic Lasers & Electro-Optics of spray-on foam insulation nucleus are often depicted con- Society (IEEE/LEOS). on the external fuel tanks of cretely but incorrectly as little Three plenary talks featured the space shuttle Discovery planets circling a miniature sun a mixture of speakers and top- and inspect it for defects. The in crisp trajectories. Quantum ics. Don Boroson of MIT terahertz imager is also mechanics provides a more Lincoln Lab explained technol- fast enough for monitoring accurate (but still metaphori- Ernie Tretkoff Photo credit: Jorge Hirsch (center) tries in vain to gain access to the White House. ogy that could allow spacecraft certain high-speed industrial cal) picture: the electrons can't to transmit high rates of data processes. be depicted directly. Rather, In September 2005, Jorge “We are physicists. We know via light waves, rather than with The researchers expect it to only the probability of their Hirsch, a physicist at the about these weapons,” he said. conventional radio waves, and be possible to develop much being at certain places near the University of California San Hirsch then read aloud his let- how this space technology will faster versions of this system nucleus can be rendered and Diego, began circulating a petition ter to President Bush, which says, influence future laser commu- for homeland security applica- even then only as cloudlike opposing US policies that would in part, “Nuclear weapons are nications systems. David tions, such as airline screening blobs. Researchers never had allow the use of nuclear weapons unique among weapons of mass Payne of the University of of passengers and luggage. access to actual images of elec- against Iran. Since September destruction… Using or even mere- Southampton described how Probing Planetary tron clouds–they only calculat- over 700 US physicists have ly threatening to use a nuclear lasers that use fiber optics to Atmospheres. In an advance ed them in theory. Thanks to signed the petition. Over 1000 weapon preemptively against a generate beams may move into that enables heightened moni- breakthroughs with ultrashort non-US physicists, and over 1000 nonnuclear adversary tells the 182 many niches that traditional toring of planetary atmos- laser pulses, these orbitals can non-physicists have signed as non-nuclear weapon countries sig- laser designs currently occupy. pheres, for the first time now be imaged directly. well. natories of the Nuclear Non- Richard E. Slusher (Lucent researchers have designed new David Villeneuve of the Hirsch also brought the issue Proliferation Treaty that their Technologies Inc.) discussed lightweight laser instruments National Research Council of to the attention of the APS and adherence to the treaty offers them how light's quantum properties that make it practical to rou- Canada and his colleagues have urged the Council to make a state- no protection against a nuclear are being exploited for use in tinely measure concentrations helped pioneer a method in ment.(See story on page 1.) attack by a nuclear nation. Many powerful new encryption, com- of atmospheric gases in situ, or which a femtosecond laser Hirsch has continued his are thus likely to abandon the puting, and communications in their natural environments. pulse rips electrons from the activism against possible preemp- treaty. It is gravely irresponsible technologies. Measuring these gases more periphery of molecules. These tive use of nuclear weapons. He for the US as the greatest super- Terahertz Biochip for Drug widely and frequently will give electrons, feeling the electric led a small protest in front of the power to consider courses of Detection. A Taiwan research atmospheric researchers much field of the pulsed light, are White House on April 26. action that could eventually lead collaboration has built a tiny richer information for studying first repelled but then very According to news reports, to widespread destruction of life biochip that can instantly iden- weather, climate change, and quickly recalled to their home President Bush has said that all on the planet. We urge you to tify illicit drugs such as cocaine other phenomena on Earth and molecule by the strong fields options are on the table in dealing announce publicly that the US is and amphetamines in their other planets and moons. of the same pulse which, in its with Iran; he has not ruled out a taking the nuclear option off the natural powdered form. The instruments, known as quick cycling, reverses direc- preemptive nuclear strike. table in the case of all non-nuclear Researchers simply deposit tunable mid-IR laser spectrom- tion. The electrons can then On April 17, Hirsch wrote a let- adversaries.” powder in its natural form into eters, produce light in the mid- recombine into the parent mol- ter to President Bush asking him The entire letter and the list of a small, rectangular glass-and- infrared region, a part of the ecule, and in the process emit to take the nuclear option off the those signing it can be found at plastic biochip containing some spectrum to which all atmos- extreme ultraviolet light of their table. Thirteen eminent physicists, http://physics.ucsd.edu/ electronic components. pheric gases respond in a dis- own, light which can be used to including five Nobel laureates and petition/physicistsletter.html. Inside the biochip, a small tinctive fashion. perform a type of "tomograph- three past APS presidents, joined Hirsch also read the APS transmitter beams electromag- Using a laser spectrometer ic" imaging of the molecule, or Hirsch in signing the letter. Council statement as part of the netic radiation in the terahertz on NASA's high altitude WB-57 more particularly its orbitals. Hirsch read the letter aloud in protest. (THz) range, to which biomol- spacecraft, Christopher Webster Thus the electron is used to Lafayette Park in front of the After reading the letter over a ecules are very sensitive. By of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory image its own domain. White House on April 26. Asmall bullhorn in front of the White recording how much radiation and his colleagues have made House, Hirsch attempted to deliv- INTELLIGENCE group of people gathered to the powder absorbs over a range the first-ever in situ measure- listen. er the letter to President Bush, but of THz frequencies, the ments of different water iso- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 At the protest, Hirsch said that guards at the White House gate did researchers obtain distinctive topes in and out of the clouds during my fellowship tenure, I physicists, as members of the pro- not allow him to do so. He said he chemical fingerprints of the from the troposphere to the went on to chair the Intelligence fession that built nuclear weapons, would not give up, and planned to biomolecules that make up the stratosphere. This information Community's Directed Energy are in a unique position to under- appear at Lafayette Park every powder. is providing a wealth of data Weapons Subcommittee from stand the devastation they can Wednesday until his message is Using this method, the on the still incompletely under- 1990 to 1998, and was awarded the cause. heard. researchers were able to distin- stood origin of cirrus clouds, National Intelligence Medal in guish powders of cocaine and the wispy masses that play a 1999 for work done while in that amphetamine from powders of DNA CODE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 major role in warming Earth. position. Hopefully, more physi- potato starch, flour, and lac- Record-Breaking Tabletop cists will be selected for this honor sophisticated code in molecular an isolated portion in order to cre- tose. In addition, the drug's dis- Microscope. Using state-of- and its unique training experience. systems rewrite itself in response ate an antibody? Perhaps biolog- tinctive THz signatures makes the-art extreme ultraviolet laser Ronald I. Miller to environmental stress? Why ical states are selected by envi- them possible to detect even if technology, Courtney Brewer Huntsville, AL couldn't the "intelligent design" ronmental inputs. This hypothe- they were mixed in with an of Colorado State University Editor's Note: Our sources in be in the cells as part of the DNA- sis is testable. additional ingredient such as and her colleagues have built a the DNI's office tell us that the RNA interaction with the chemi- Isn't there anyone out there who flour. tabletop optical imaging sys- DNI Fellowship is not simply the cal and physical environment? thinks this is a fascinating Forensics is not the only tem that can reveal details DCI Fellowship with a new name. Why not hypothesize that a living possibility? If only I were younger! application for the terahertz smaller than 38 nanometers in It is a new program with different cell could recreate itself by rewrit- J.W. Lane biochip: researchers also size, a world record for a com- rules. ing its DNA much like it rewrites Tallahassee, FL believe it may be very useful for pact light-based optical micro- molecular biology applications, scope. The microscope can NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 such as studying the folding keenly inspect nanometer-scale patterns of proteins, which devices designed for electron- In addition, the Council provid- 'The United States reaffirms that weapon state in association or would be helpful for designing ics and other applications. It ed background information to place it will not use nuclear weapons alliance with a nuclear-weapon new drugs. will also be capable of catching the statement in context. It reads: against non-nuclear-weapon state- state.’” High-Speed Terahertz subtle manufacturing defects in “The American Physical Society parties to the Treaty on the Non- A statement on nuclear use was Imagers. In an approach that today's ultra-miniaturized com- notes that any policy by the United Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, recommended to Council by the has already improved nonde- puter circuits, where defects States to use nuclear weapons except in the case of an invasion or APS Panel on Public Affairs structive evaluation of the space just 50 nm in size that were against non-nuclear weapon states any other attack on the United (POPA). One factor in POPA’s shuttle and can potentially once too small to cause trou- threatens to undermine the Non- States, its territories, its armed decision to bring this issue for- bring about better detection of ble could wreak havoc in the Proliferation Treaty regime. The forces or other troops, its allies, or ward was the strong advocacy on weapons and explosives for nanometer scales of today's current US nuclear-use policy, on a state toward which it has a its behalf by Jorge Hirsch of the homeland security, David computer chips. stated in 1995, and reiterated in security commitment carried out, University of California, San Diego Zimdars of Michigan-based Other state-of-the-art 2002, reads: or sustained by such a non-nuclear- (see story, above). APS NEWS June 2006 7

PLASMA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 ANNOUNCEMENTS lab-based jets are a mere 20 inches the world like "spider legs." The tall, and while he admits it is not an attractive forces concentrate the exact model, nonetheless they exhib- current into a jet, and the repulsive Estate Planning M. Hildred Blewett Now Appearing in RMP: it the same underlying physics, and magnetic forces speed it up so the Handouts Now Available Scholarship for Recently Posted Reviews can therefore provide insight into spider legs get bigger and bigger. Women Physicists and Colloquia the mechanisms at work in the large- Eventually the jet undergoes a In addition to the many You will find the following scale jets. "kink instability," coiling up like a research talks at the 2006 This scholarship has been in the online edition of Magnetic lines of force are twisted telephone cord and shooting March meeting in established to enable women to Reviews of Modern Physics at believed to both drive astrophysi- outward. Baltimore, an estate plan- return to physics research careers http://rmp.aps.org ning session was once after having had to interrupt those cal jets and cause their collimated University of Iowa physicist John Optics in the again offered for attendees careers for family reasons. The profile. The lab-sized jets are pro- Goree is creating small-scale ver- relativistic regime and local members. Led by scholarship consists of an award duced through magnetic lines of sions in the lab of so-called "dusty G. Mourou, T. Tajima and S. Jerry McCoy, an attorney of up to $45,000. The applicant force, generated via lots and lots of plasmas," and using them to simu- Bulanov from the DC area well- must currently be a legal resident power: on the order of 200 million late and study the propagation of With advances in laser technol- known for expertise in or resident alien of the US or watts in the laboratory simulations. waves through the plasma–which ogy, peak field intensities have estate tax law, the session Canada. She must be currently Bellan's lab cuts down on those costs appear to behave much like the shock increased to the point where electrons provided APS members in Canada or the US and must by using short, extremely powerful waves generated along the crusts of are accelerated to relativistic veloc- with tips and tax savings have an affiliation with a research- magnetic pulses every few seconds. neutron stars (see story, page 5). ities within a single optical cycle. ideas for use in planning active educational institution or To create his plasmas in the lab- Dusty plasmas make up the tails of This article reviews the techniques for the long term distribu- national lab. She must have com- oratory, Bellan uses a copper disk comets and the rings of Saturn. for producing ultrahigh intensities tion of their property to pleted work toward a PhD. and an annulus to simulate the Goree creates his mini-dusty plas- highlighting the fundamental and family, friends and chari- Applications are due June 1, accretion disk that surrounds a mas by dropping polymer micros- technological limitations. The ulti- table interests. Handouts 2006. Announcement of the award black hole. A coil provides the pheres–the "dust"–into a glow mate conceivable goal with present from the session, including is expected to be made by August initial "seed" magnetic field for discharge plasma. The dust can laser media is the zettawatt laser, informational brochures on 1, 2006. the confined gas, which can be absorb electrons and ions because its which would have a peak intensity a broad range of estate Details and online application broken down to form a plasma by the particles are so much heavier, of 1029 W/cm2. Also a description of planning topics, are avail- can be found at judicious application of giving the dusty plasmas a present and future scientific and able to all interested mem- http://www.aps.org/educ/ several kilovolts of electric current negative charge and changing technological applications extend- bers from Darlene Logan cswp/blewett/index.cfm across the disk and annulus. The their behavior. Goree then ing the realm of optics from the eV current first flows along the path videotapes the particles' behavior, at [email protected]. Contact: Sue Otwell in the APS office at [email protected] to conceivably the TeV range is created by the seed magnetic field, which mimics that of dusty presented. creating a pattern that looks for all space plasmas.

RELIGION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 INSIDE THE BELTWAY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 consequence of nature is considered still question whether he understands rage in opinion polls. On May 9, blasphemous. Human beings have evolution sufficiently well to provide on the United States. Gasbuddy might be able to President Bush, whose approval thought about religion for several a cogent summary of why it is the By then, we were importing save you half a buck a gallon, but rating has been in free fall all year, thousand years longer than anyone only scientific explanation or what 35% of our oil, and within hours, you’re still going to pay about hit a new low of 31% in a USA has thought about physics. There is exactly it explains. the price of a barrel of black gold $75 to fill up your Lincoln Today/Gallup poll (18% on his far more to "religion" than the claims When someone talks about "reli- shot up 70%. Two months later it Navigator. So what to do? In the handling of gas prices). But he made in its name by the Taliban or gion" and selects the most brutish had doubled again, sending gaso- short term, consumers are going was well above the 23% that by the intelligent design proponents. and the most ignorant people claim- line prices soaring to more than $3 to have to pay the price for poor Congress garnered. I am offended by the self-right- ing to be religious to stereotype reli- a gallon in 2006 inflation-adjust- public policies, lousy leadership If this were the first time soar- eous arrogance of many of my col- gion in general, we are not faced ed dollars. and their own extravagance. And ing oil prices threatened our way leagues, especially in physics, who with science; we are faced with dem- Responding to consumer pain, members of Congress may well of life, I could understand the make derogatory statements about agoguery. I seriously doubt whether Congress enacted the Corporate find themselves paying the price hand-wringing, the angst and the things about which they have obvi- any self-respecting editor of a peer- Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) at the real polls in November. political paralysis. But it isn’t. ously not thought enough and about reviewed scientific publication Standards in 1975, and for the Long term, we must focus on In the days before Lee which they are inadequately would recommend publishing next two decades auto efficiency policies that promote efficiency Raymond was at ExxonMobil’s informed. I doubt that Krauss would unsubstantiated statements about improved dramatically, and the and conservation, spend money helm and the company was called attempt to perform neurosurgery religion based on a sample that is as size of cars shrank. But as gas on research to make alternate Esso, McCann Erickson, a pre- with what he knows, or whether he biased as the worst examples of prices gradually fell to less than sources of energy economically mier Madison Avenue firm, would be able to pass peer review superstition. a dollar a gallon, the public and and environmentally acceptable helped the Standard Oil Company for a biology grant. As much as I Walter Schimmerling politicians lost interest in serious and come to the realization that of New Jersey launch one of the concur with his damnation of ID, I Arlington, VA energy reform, even as we became the true cost of gas is far higher most productive advertising cam- 65% dependent on oil imports. than the price you pay at the paigns in the history of corporate GEORGE VALLEY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 The automakers discovered that pump. If you include the hundred America. The slogan was, “Put a they could boost their bottom lines plus billions of military dollars bombs on "targets of opportunity" books. The APS Prize is most tiger in your tank.” by selling gas guzzling SUV’s we have had to spend each year with the Norden optical bombsight. appropriate and much appreciated. That was in 1964. It was an and Hummers that carried high to keep the foreign wells pump- George was an organizer also of Britton Chance era when all you needed was a profit margins. And consumers ing and the sea lanes open, gas the Radiation Laboratory series of Philadelphia, PA 389 cubic inch engine and sex were happy to oblige–until now. hasn’t been cheap for years. appeal to sell a car, when Detroit sat on top of the world, and what ORIGIN OF LIFE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 EVOLUTION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 was good for General Motors real- accomplishments. They have no for evolution. The evidence is ly was good for America. Back rapidly), the Earth did not have another major controversy problem with science in general and impressive. Science doesn't have to then gas was cheap, or at least it a reducing atmosphere, there is between ontological natural- have great respect for scientific depend on hyperbole to make its seemed so, and every eighteen- no evidenceof a prebiotic soup, ism and a religious world view. methodology. They have one char- case. And science needn't be as nerv- year-old filled up on premium, and the earth was under heavy Science continually raises acteristic in common, however. ous as Krauss makes it appear to be. just to impress his girl, even if meteoritic bombardment dur- philosophical questions that go They refuse to march in lock-step Let's not blow it by becoming hys- his car didn’t need it. Gas was ing that period, hostile to life. beyond the competence or with a theory that they believe has terical. Religion, if we dare use this also mostly an American prod- A recent edition of Science purview of science, specially not yet been fully tested. term in a collective manner, has a uct: we imported less than 25% of (Vol 312, 14 April 2006, pg those dealing with origins. The article's general belliger- difficult time proving its case. Its the oil we used. 179) reports on the current I wonder if the real driving ence doesn't help. A temperate evidence is purely subjective– Less than a decade later, on debate whether deep sea vents, force behind ID-ers is not approach in any discussion always which doesn't mean that it is not October 6, 1973, half a world or warm little ponds and any whether it should be called sci- makes it more believable. When true–and each person must judge away from Main Street, Egypt number of other chemical stew ence or not, but rather the fact science becomes an emotional issue, Bible creation for himself or herself and Syria launched another pots could have assembled that evolutionists like objectivity is lost. The great danger and come to his or her own conclu- campaign, a surprise military molecules leading to life. And Dawkins, and many others, use in an emotional embrace of any the- sion. As Krauss accurately states, its offensive against Israel on the then come the astrobiologists evolution to make philosoph- ory is that if a crack appears in the rightness or wrongness cannot be Jewish high holy day of Yom who speak of panspermia, with ical statements, such as "the theory it is not noticed. Emotion fought out in the scientific arena. Kippur. With American assistance, meteorites bringing to Earth Darwinian world view makes blinds one from seeing its faults. But let's not elevate the theory of Israel, after initially the first amino acids. This not belief in God unnecessary or What if Newton had demanded that evolution into being dogma so we suffering significant losses, considered controversy? impossible". The issue is not his laws of motion be enshrined defend it by edict and not by test. pushed the invading Arab armies Add to this the next big puz- between creation vs evolution and never be challenged? The That would back across the borders. The zle: where, when and how (and but rather creationism vs evo- answer is simple: we would have not be following scientific Organization of Petroleum even if) the earliest hominids lutionism, neither of which is never seen Einstein's theory of methodology. Exporting Countries (OPEC), became homo sapiens with "a science! relativity. Leonard C. Aamodt dominated by Arab nations, struck living soul", and you would Kenell J. Touryan Science has a very strong case Harrisonburg, VA back by imposing an oil embargo immediately be getting into Indian Hills CO 8 June 2006 APS NEWS The Back Page US Nuclear Threat Can Enhance Stability

a non-nuclear state? Does the ten lower yield warheads with disarmament? n an occasional basis, APS News will publish Doctrine represent a change in US near-perfect reliability and GPS-like A: Improving some of the capa- Oconversations with individ- policy? accuracy. If you had your choice, bilities of the stockpile is not in con- uals deeply involved in policy A: I don’t think there’s been any which would you prefer as a flict with the long-term objective of issues relevant to the APS significant change in our national deterrent? total disarmament. Frankly, I’m not membership. In this first conversa- policy in that respect. Fundamentally, Q: Rep. David Hobson (R-OH), sure that the world will ever be capa- tion, Francis Slakey, Associate Director of Public Affairs and nuclear weapons will always remain Chair of the Energy and Water ble of achieving that idealistic objec- Jennifer Ouellette, APS News a weapon of last resort in our nation- Appropriations Subcommittee, tive. Nuclear weapon technology Associate Editor, met with Admiral al strategy. The ability to pre-empt has recently said, “We cannot advocate cannot be disinvented. Imagine a Richard Mies, Commander in always existed but has never made for nuclear nonproliferation around world where no one had nuclear Chief of Strategic Command, the operational commander of US any rational sense especially during the globe while pursuing more usable weapons, except for one rogue nation nuclear forces, from 1998 until 2002. the Cold War. I believe we would nuclear weapons options at home.” that acquired a small number of Mies helped shape post-9/11 US only consider pre-emption under very Do you share his concern? nuclear weapons. That would be a nuclear strategy. extraordinary conditions: where we A: I strongly disagree with the very dangerous world compared to had no other capabilities at our dis- contention that nuclear weapons are the one we presently live in. Even Q: What is the nation’s nuclear use Admiral Richard Mies policy, as you understand it? posal to prevent dire consequences more usable just because they have though there are a larger number of A. The primary value of nuclear from happening to the US or our bilities to ensure our deterrent remains improved capabilities and are tai- nuclear weapons, our situation is far weapons is not in their use; it’s in the allies, and where we also had perfect credible against emerging threats. lored to a broader range of threats. The more stable. As we move toward this threat or potential of their use. They intelligence that would enable us to This is the great paradox of nuclear history of our stockpile was one of idealistic goal of disarmament, we are primarily instruments of war pre- be absolutely certain that unless we weapons: you need weapons with improved capabilities throughout the need to be realistic and never lose vention rather than war fighting and used a nuclear weapon, this dire event credible capabilities not so you Cold War. Those weapons helped sight of the principle of enhancing sta- in my estimation, serve only as would happen. I view nuclear pre- increase the likelihood of their use, keep the Cold War cold. Nuclear bility. That ought to be the over-rid- weapons of last resort when deter- emption as a very implausible option but rather, so you have a more cred- weapons with tailored capabilities ing criterion. As Sir Michael Quinlan rence has failed. Our nation’s nuclear considering the wide range of non- ible deterrent and thereby never have are more likely to deter your adver- has stated: “The absence of war weapons policies are intended to deter nuclear options available and the to use them. Of what deterrent value saries than simply maintaining a between advanced states is a key potential adversaries’use of weapons imperfect nature of our intelligence. are weapons that lack credible capa- stockpile that was designed against success. We must seek to perpetuate of mass destruction and even large- Q: The enemy the US faces today bility? The Cold War stockpile we a very different Cold War threat. The it. Weapons are instrumental and scale conventional aggression against includes terrorist organizations and have inherited was designed largely threshold for using a nuclear weapon secondary; the basic aim is to avoid the US and our allies. In the wake of states that sponsor terrorism. How on the threat of relatively large-scale is very, very high. It’s a taboo that has war. Better a world with nuclear the Cold War, our Nation is attempt- does nuclear deterrence fit into this attacks of relatively high yield existed for over 60 years, and it is one weapons but no major war than one ing to develop a deterrent strategy new context? weapons with moderate accuracy and that no President will break lightly. with major war but no nuclear with lower nuclear salience, reduced A: Deterring terrorism is a greater reasonable reliabilities. That world no These will always be weapons of last weapons.” warhead numbers and less adversar- challenge than deterring a specific longer exists today. Hence, the preser- resort. Q: North Korea and Iran are mov- ial character. nation-state. You may not be able to vation of our capability to adapt our Again, the great paradox of ing toward the development of Q: What is the chain of command deter an individual suicide bomber deterrent forces to a rapidly chang- nuclear deterrence is that we must nuclear weapons. Do nonprolifera- that oversees the potential use of from ultimately completing his mis- ing and unpredictable future is criti- have credible and hence usable tion policies need to be changed or nuclear weapons? sion; but, there are ways to think cal. In my view, we need to adapt our weapons so we never have to use strengthened? A. Only the President has the about deterring terrorism as a net- existing forces to provide a limited them. Consider the attached chart A: There needs to be continued authority to direct the use of a nuclear work–including state sponsors, terror- number of weapons with combina- which roughly illustrates the percent- assertion and reinforcement of those weapon. The situations that might ist organizations and infrastructures, tions of distinct attributes such as age of human deaths as a result of principles. The nonproliferation involve the potential use of nuclear and terrorist funding sources. We lower yield, higher accuracy, greater warfare over a long history (see chart). regime has had a fairly good record weapons are very scenario-depend- must think about how to tailor our reliability, greater stand-off capabil- ent; but as a general rule there is a con- capabilities and policies to deter a ity, and improved earth-penetrating ference involving a number of both more uncertain, faceless, and more capability. In so doing, we could tai- senior military and civilian partici- opaque spectrum of adversaries. lor any response to a wider range of pants, including the commander of There are a number of diplomatic, potential adversaries under varying US Strategic Command, the economic, and military means of scenarios. For example, improved Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and achieving deterrence; it’s far broad- accuracy would enable us to employ the Secretary of Defense. The purpose er than nuclear weapons. And it’s far lower yields and minimize the poten- is to assess the situation and discuss broader than a national concern. tial of greater collateral damage. with the President a wide range of Many European countries are vul- Q: The Moscow Treaty requires strategic options available to him nerable to terrorism. So I think it’s a the US to reduce its arsenal to below including but not necessarily limited concern that we all share. Again, the 2200 operationally deployed war- to potential nuclear options. goal is to create uncertainty in our heads by 2012. Do the improvements Q: Could you explain the role of potential adversaries’ minds as to in capabilities you describe fit with- “calculated ambiguity” in deter- whether they would be able to achieve in those numbers? A: Easily. This doesn’t require rence? their objectives and still survive as an Chart of the percentage of human deaths as a result of warfare A: The concept of deterrence is to entity. Astate that sponsors terrorism new warheads. We can adapt the create uncertainty in a potential adver- against the US would have to be con- existing stockpile and the existing Around 1945, there’s a dramatic despite Iran and North Korea. To the sary’s mind, such that he can’t be cerned about the possibility that the delivery systems to provide those decrease in deaths in combat as a degree that we can maintain a cred- fully confident that he can achieve his US may retaliate in some capabilities at reasonable cost. But I percentage of the world’s popula- ible nuclear deterrent without under- objectives without a strong retaliation unacceptable way. Terrorist organi- think there’s an over-fascination with tion. Warfare has fundamentally ground testing, I support the current from the US with unacceptable con- zations that attempt to employ WMD numbers of warheads rather than their changed in the nuclear era. In earli- moratorium. But there’s a great dan- sequences to him. If you can create could also anticipate a very strong capabilities. There is a naive and mis- er history, warfare didn’t have the ger when you lock yourself into enough uncertainty in his mind, then international response that may not taken belief that the “nuclear dan- potentially dire global consequences treaties that attempt to establish deterrence is likely to be successful. be conducive to the survival of their ger” is directly proportional to the that it has today. Today, the level of absolutes such as the Comprehensive The calculated ambiguity–under what organization. number of nuclear weapons and, conflict may escalate beyond a Test Ban Treaty. There are certain circumstances and when and how Q: During the Cold War the accordingly, lower is inevitably bet- nation’s control and lead to unac- legitimate scenarios where we might the President may authorize the use weapons were designed for a massive ter. As we reduce our strategic forces ceptable consequences, giving nations have to perform a limited test if we of strategic capabilities including exchange against the Soviet Union. to lower levels, numerical parity or pause. I would argue that one of the had grave concerns about the relia- nuclear weapons–plays a large role Some military analysts claim that the numbers alone become less and less primary reasons for the dramatic bility of our stockpile. It’s not that we in fostering that uncertainty. yields of these weapons are so high important. We must preserve suffi- decrease is the existence of nuclear want to conduct nuclear tests. But Q: The 2005 draft of the US mil- that a state that sponsors terrorism cient deterrent capability to respond weapons has caused great nations to we’ve always held as a principle that itary’s Doctrine for Joint Nuclear might assume we’ll never use them. to future challenges, to provide a behave more responsibly and to even we will take whatever actions are Operations states: “Geographic com- A: I think there’s a grain of truth cushion against imperfect intelligence seek to avoid conventional war for prudent and necessary to defend batant commanders may request in that. It’s a very different world and surprises, and to preserve a recon- fear it could potentially escalate into ourselves. As a nation, we are very presidential approval for use of today. Deterrence is a function of stitution capability as a hedge against a nuclear one. reluctant to surrender that right of nuclear weapons for a variety of con- credibility and will. Apotential adver- unwelcome political or strategic Q: Does developing a new inven- self-protection. We are wary of ditions. Examples include an adver- sary must believe you have a credi- developments. At the end of the day, tory of nuclear weapons with a locking ourselves into international sary intending to use weapons of ble capability, and also must believe capabilities are far more important different set of capabilities violate agreements that could constrain us mass destruction against the US.” that you have the will to use that then simply numbers. Ten large yield the terms of the nonproliferation should we need to exercise that right, Is this saying the US might preemp- capability. There is a legitimate con- warheads with 90% reliability and treaty: that those countries with in some unforeseen world that we tively use nuclear weapons against cern that today we lack some capa- moderate accuracy count the same as weapons should be working toward can’t predict today.

APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected].