Technological offsprings of particle physics

[ahrkron]

What technologies can be considered as offsprings of particle physics?
(both everyday-life technologies and others).

 

[juvenal]

How about the World Wide Web?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web#Origins

 

[Miserable]

Sychrotrons are now used in hospitals for radiation therapy and the like, and they were developed for particle physics.

And on a mathematical side, some economists tried applying path integrals to the financial markets. Don't think they made any money, though...

 

[ohwilleke]

All electronics that use quantum tunnelling. For example, nearly every computer relies upon it. This page notes the benefits of the PET scan (positron emissions) and laser based particle physics: http://www.europhysicsnews.com/full/16/article3/article3.html

But, I think it is fair to say that some aspects have been more useful than others. The skill base involved in developing precision equipment has been very valuable.

But, I'm not aware of any practical technological application of the fact that protons and neutrons are in fact made of quarks. I'm also not aware of any application where mesons and hadrons from second or third generation quarkers are used (indeed I'd venture that there are probably not more than three or four quark based particles other than protons and neutrinos, if that, with any practical applications), nor of any practical application that uses for the existence of mus and taus and mu-neutrinos and tau-neutrinos for any purpose other than slightly refining the effective constants used in QED calculations. Higher generation particles are universally very energy intensive to make and very short lived.

Indeed, as far as I know, QCD's insights into the strong force, and an increasingly precise understanding of the weak force and the gluons, Ws and Zs that make those forces possible, don't even have any meaningful application to nuclear power or nuclear medicine. Engineers still basically use CRC tables (and more sophisticated equivalents) to determine the properties of nuclear isotypes and pretty much rely on black box models of alpha decay, beta decay, and gamma decay with empirically rather than theoretically determined constants.

I suppose the other place where particle physics provides at least some insight is materials science and solid state physics. Bose-Einstein condensates, insights into possible superconductors and the like probably benefit somewhat from particle physics.

 

[Astronuc]

What technologies can be considered as offsprings of particle physics?
(both everyday-life technologies and others).

Electron microscope and electron beam welding.

 

[quantumdude]

I used to pass out an "SSC Fact Sheet" to my Physics III classes when I taught as a grad student (1996-1999). I am pleased to see that it is still online.

http://www.hep.net/ssc/new/history/factsheet.html

Scroll down to "Technical Spinoffs".

 

[ZapperZ]

I suppose the other place where particle physics provides at least some insight is materials science and solid state physics. Bose-Einstein condensates, insights into possible superconductors and the like probably benefit somewhat from particle physics.

Er... that would be stretching it JUST a little bit. :)

Zz.

 

[ohwilleke]

Er... that would be stretching it JUST a little bit. :)

Zz.

So do you agree with my basic premise that QCD itself is basically without practical application?

 

[ZapperZ]

So do you agree with my basic premise that QCD itself is basically without practical application?

I also won't go that far. While QCD as applied to particle physics may find difficulties in finding practical applications, the form and mathematics of QCD itself has usefulness in many areas - refer to "color superconductivity".

Zz.

 

[marlon]

I suppose the other place where particle physics provides at least some insight is materials science and solid state physics. Bose-Einstein condensates, insights into possible superconductors and the like probably benefit somewhat from particle physics.

Yes that is very true...Many concepts used in QFT are incorporated in the 'less theoretical regions' of physics. Theoretical physics is the most central aspect and has always a use because it delivers the very backbone (ie the formalism) that supports the more applied sciences

regards
marlon

 

[Gokul43201]

Er... that would be stretching it JUST a little bit. :)

Zz.

Stretching...why ? Do you deny the importance of say, Goldstone's work to CM and specifically to Superconductivity ?

 

[ZapperZ]

Stretching...why ? Do you deny the importance of say, Goldstone's work to CM and specifically to Superconductivity ?

No, because if you read my following response, I clearly mentioned an example there. I just don't think the traffic flow is only one way and in fact, may think the traffic flow here is MORE of the opposite way.

BTW, I could have sworn that the concept of "slave boson" has already appeared before the name "Goldstone boson" appears in CM, no?

Zz.

 

[Gokul43201]

BTW, I could have sworn that the concept of "slave boson" has already appeared before the name "Goldstone boson" appears in CM, no?

I don't know. I've come across the term here and there in the context of tJ models, but never bothered to take the time to look harder, or dig out the history.

 

[Astronuc]

What technologies can be considered as offsprings of particle physics?
(both everyday-life technologies and others).

I stumbled across an interesting book -
Condensed Matter Physics: Nuclear Methods and Applications
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The investigation of the properties of condensed matter using experimental nuclear methods is becoming increasingly important. An extremely broad range of techniques is used, including the use of particles, such as positrons and neutrons, ion beams, and the detection of radiation from nuclear decays or nuclear reactions. Nuclear Condensed Matter Physics: Nuclear Methods and Applications is the only book to provide a comprehensive coverage of the nuclear methods used to study the properties of condensed matter. It covers all the key techniques, including the Mössbauer effect, perturbed angular correlation, muon spin rotation, neutron scattering, positron annihilation, nuclear magnetic resonance and ion beam analysis. Numerous examples are given throughout the text to illustrate how each of the experimental methods is used in modern condensed matter physics, and practical details concerning instrumentation are included to help the reader apply each method. Nuclear Condensed Matter Physics: Nuclear Methods and Applications is an invaluable textbook for graduate students of condensed matter physics and chemistry, and is of great interest to those studying materials science and applied nuclear physics. It is also a key reference source for more experienced researchers in these and related fields, including nuclear and condensed matter physicists and solid state and inorganic chemists.

Electromagnetic Properties and Nuclear Decay.
Hyperfine Interactions.
Mössbauer Effect.
Perturbed γ - γ Angular Correlation (PAC).
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).
Nuclear Orientation (NO).
Muon Spin Rotation (µSR).
Positron Annihilation.
Neutron Scattering.
Ion Beam Analysis.

Appendix.
Bibliography of Advanced Topics.
References.
Index.

 

[arivero]

Integral calculus is an offspring of particle dinamics.

 

[selfAdjoint]

Integral calculus is an offspring of particle dinamics.

Say what? The seventeenth century mathematicians derived it from geometry.

 

[arivero]

Say what? The seventeenth century mathematicians derived it from geometry.

Actually the origin of all the stuff is Kepler, who influences Cavalieri, and then the well known history. Cavalieri himself is team with Galileo, no matematicians involved thus. True that Kepler makes its point in a no-mecanical treatise, the Nova Steriometrie. But as he uses it for the Area Law, we can well cheat a bit and to put the discovery under particle theory

 

[James Jackson]

I think the most obvious culturally and socially is the (already mentioned) WWW. Just look at how that's changed modern culture in the decade it's been around...

Fast electronics, data processing and computing will continue, I believe, to be the most accessable spinoffs. Look at the Level 1 Trigger for CMS and CERN; this is going to handle sustained data rates of around 5TB/s. That's a lot. The data management platform is going to ship in the order 15PB of data per year to many worldwide sites, from full Tier 1 backup and processing centres, through to MB sized transfers to individual scientists. That's much more than anyone's ever done before.

Consider that all that data is going to be written, so after a few years of running, there's going to be a lot of data sitting there!

 

[ohwilleke]

I think that it is fair to call the WWW more of a military spinoff than a particle physics spinoff. That is certainly where the start up money came from.

 

[James Jackson]

I believe you are confusing the Internet and the World Wide Web, ohwilleke. The Internet is a descendent of ARPANET, as you say, originally mainly US military. Then came TCP, then TCP/IP, then the WWW sits on top of all of that.