How ‘UFOs’ Curb Black Hole Growth | Basic Space, Scientific American Blog Network

Artist's impression of a galaxy that is releasing material via two particle jets (red/orange) as well as via ultra-fast outflows (grey/blue), both powered by a black hole. Credit: ESA/AOES Medialab

Here is an excellent post about particle jets that take material from around a black hole, (around one solar mass per year) and eject it at speeds of up to 100,000 kilometers per second. It is these outflows that limit a black hole's growth since that material would otherwise be eaten or released via the primary particle jet.

How ‘UFOs’ Curb Black Hole Growth | Basic Space, Scientific American Blog Network:


'via Blog this'

X Particle Explains Dark Matter and Antimatter

Two of the fundamental mysteries of physics now has a new theory to explain them both.  The "X-Particle" is a hypothetical particle that is thought to decay into matter and neutrons.  Created by the big bang, the X-particle had a companion particle the Anti-X-particle, which decayed into anti-matter and neutrons.  It is these particles which have decayed into the matter which we can see and the dark matter we cannot.  This theory has proposed new concepts that could explain why dark matter is so prevalent in the universe.

X Particle Explains Dark Matter and Antimatter at the Same Time | Wired Science | Wired.com: "out dark matter is that it is mysterious stuff that makes up a quarter of the energy density of the unive"

Are We Inside a Black Hole?

Does the fact that time moves forward mean our universe is inside a black hole?  Interesting theory:


Was our universe born inside a black hole in another universe?


Paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.0587


Credit: By Alasdair Wilkins

Ununquadium: Element 114

Named Ununquadium, the latest addition to the periodic table is an artificial radioactive element that is the heaviest know.  The nucleus decays to lead and the element is known to stay stable for approximately 2.6 seconds before decaying.


Element 114 on the brink of recognition - physics-math - 24 June 2010 - New Scientist


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ununquadium


Photo from the Knight Science Journalism Tracker

BBC News - US experiment hints at 'multiple God particles'

The Higgs Boson is the subatomic particle that physicists theorize as the particle responsible for attributing mass.  However, it has yet to be detected. Summer results from Fermilab, the LHC's US rival, suggest physicists could be hunting five particles, not one. The idea of multiple Higgs-like bosons is supported by results gathered by the DZero experiment at the Tevatron particle accelerator

"The DZero results showed much more significant "asymmetry" of matter and anti-matter - beyond what could be explained by the Standard Model.

Bogdan Dobrescu, Adam Martin and Patrick J Fox from Fermilab say this large asymmetry effect can be accounted for by the existence of multiple Higgs bosons."

BBC News - US experiment hints at 'multiple God particles'

Images from CERN, AAAS

Understanding Clouds: How Much Do We Know?

Clouds are more than just the muse of a poet. They play a major role in climate change yet there are still many unanswered questions. Clouds are known to be the result of "a complex interplay of fluid dynamics, turbulence, convection and mixing" that are not exactly scalable or easy to predict.  Click the link below and hear a podcast on what we know and what we don't.


The Complex Physics of Clouds: Scientific American Podcast
Image by Barto

Physicists Investigate Possibility of an 'Unhiggs'

This figure represents a five-dimensional diagram relevant to how the Unhiggs affects certain parameters in particle physics models. Physicists are calculating the properties of the Unhiggs so that it will be recognized at the LHC, if it exists. Image credit: Falkowski and Pérez-Victoria.


The Unhiggs is the possibility that the Higgs-Boson doesn't exist.  It is the alternate theory which is really a "supermass" of a collection of particles that are in superposition.  So, measuring the mass of something involves defining the space in which that thing encompasses.  If measuring the mass of an orange, you wouldn't measure anything outside of the orange.  


However, in the quantum world, that orange can change to a watermelon, apple, peach or pumpkin during the time of the measurement.  Therefore, the measurement you get is a combination of all those fruit affecting the measurement for the instant that they were there.  This is similar to the Unhiggs theory which says that mass is formed as a combination of these superposition events.  


Physicists Investigate Possibility of an 'Unhiggs'

Seven Questions Unanswered by Modern Physics

These are the seven questions that are unanswered by modern physics.  The discussion was part of "Quantum to Cosmos", a 10-day physics extravaganza, which took place in Canada.


Seven questions that keep physicists up at night - space - 23 October 2009 - New Scientist


Photo Credit: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/joch7c2/Controversy.html

Nuclear Fusion Test Expected in 2010

Two technologies have come together in order for an extraordinary test expected to take place at the end of 2010.  The test will take place in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, located in Northern California.  Testing is slightly delayed by the installation of concrete walls to fortify the laboratory and the addition of new instruments to collect data from the experiment.

The first of two technological advancements is called a hohlraum, which is a metal cylinder containing a fusion fuel pellet.  The pellet is designed to compress it's core to the density required to produce nuclear fusion by using two isotopes of hydrogen known as deuterium and tritium. Under the intense pressure from the second advancement, the isotopes merge and emit energy that is significantly higher than the energy put into the system.

The second advancement is the most powerful laser ever created and heats the hohlraum to 3.3 million °C.  At such a high temperature, the core begins to emit x-rays that cause the core to burst.

Giant laser reaches key milestone for fusion - physics-math - 28 January 2010 - New Scientist

(Illustration: Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory/Department of Energy)

A New Experiment in the Hunt for Neutrinos

Astronomers Suspect High Energy Neutrinos Could be Detected on Moon

This article goes to show that even the largest particle collider has nothing on the moon.  In fact, scientists suggest that the moon acts as a large particle collider that can be used to detect high energy neutrinos.  Neutrinos have no electrical charge meaning that they don't react to magnetic fields.  They are difficult to detect because they pass through matter and are extremely rare.  Best case scenario for detecting neutrinos on the moon occurs only a handful of times per month.

Read more at Suite101: A New Experiment in the Hunt for Neutrinos: Astronomers Suspect High Energy Neutrinos Could be Detected on Moon | Suite101.com 
http://particle-physics.suite101.com/article.cfm/a_new_experiment_in_the_hunt_for_neutrinos#ixzz0Yz2zaX1j


Photo Credit: Berkley Labs