Recent content by ahrkron

In terms of the benefits from this endeavor: 1. The technologies developed for the analysis of the massive amount of LHC data may have a strong impact in the way people use computers (google for "the grid") 2. In the medium term, several thousands of solidly trained scientists will be able to...

If things go well, the first collisions may occur pretty soon, although at a relatively low energy. However, it should already be enough to do several fine-tunning tasks in all systems by searching for some well-known particles so that all instruments can be better calibrated; for example, by...

Either way, my point is that the video linked makes it look as if dimensions 4, 5, etc. have to do with time, histories, universes, and such, while ST refers to space-like dimensions (along which, as in regular special relativity, one can have Lorentz boosts that "mix" them with time,... but...

Not at all... the dimensions of string theory (ST) are ten (or so) space[/color] dimensions. The video you point to departs from possible analogies with String Theory when it starts looking at time as the fourth dimension (the analogy is fine up to then, but it would need to make the point that...

A macroscopic one, involving daily-life-size objects... which pretty much precludes any QM effects to show clearly, The reason locality is so strongly ingrained in our interpretation of the world is that it works so well for our interaction with all of the objects in our usual surroundings.

One interesting point, marginally related with the issue, is that infinitely rigid[/color] objects are incompatible with special relativity[/color]. If you had a 1-km infinitely rigid rod, you could push one end to send a signal instantaneously to the other end.

Also, take into account that "mostly computational work in C++" need not be a boring job. Particle physics is one of the subjects in which you can put to good use most of the advanced multivariate analysis techniques that have been created (neural networks, boosted decision trees, ad-hoc...

LHC is proton-proton. Fermilab's Tevatron is proton-antiproton.

It is possible because, if the Higgs mechanism is the correct description of EWSB, then there should be a particle associated with it (the Higgs boson), the properties of which have been studied extensively for a number of years. A big part of making these measurements has to do precisely...

I don't know the details of CDF electron identification, but I assume electrons are id'd based on calorimeter depositions, while muons depend on the muon chambers. If so, then the extra "debris" from the ppbar collision could have deposited enough energy in the calorimeter to pass the electron...

I think he is referring to the fact that the explanation in terms of stretched nets seems to rely on gravity already working, so that the balls can make the dents. To some extent, such "explanation" is a petitio principii, but it is convenient because it's easy to imagine. The actual formal...

The wikipedia article is a nice starting point for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect There is also a beautiful picture related to it in http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061217.html

You are already assuming then that you knew the original direction of the electron, but let's go on... The main problem here is that, in order to know that the electron came out in the same direction[/color] of the original electron, you again need to make a measurement of its momentum...

The problem is that total the energy in the havy ion collisions is shared among all the protons and neutrons on each ion nucleus, while the important quantity to make a Higgs is the energy of the two particles that interact strongly. Think of each heavy ion nucleus as two bags of marbles...