Experimental Search for Quantum Gravity (schedule of talks)

[ccdantas]

Dear Starkind,

Thank you for your reply and comments.

Concerning time, I've recently finished reading Henri Bergson's Creative Evolution. It seems to me that he is somewhat like a "forgotten" genius. If we need an ontological revolution concerning the nature of time, his book is the place to start. I repeat, start.


Christine

 

[starkind]

Aaron S. Chou gave a talk on the Auger observatory, including background on the plan and construction of the facility, and went on to discuss in detail the data and how it is analyzed. There were a lot of graphs, formula and statistics, which went into way too much detail for me. However, it was clear that the team at Auger has been very cautious in their program, and done everything in their power to make certain that any reports from their program will be highly reliable. The team at Auger has had this result since May 27 of 2006, and has held onto the report of their finding in order to check every possible error in detection, analysis, or calculation. The probability of a false positive result has been reduced to less that one percent.

The data contain a relatively high density of hits from the Centaurus super cluster, and a low hit density from the Virgo super cluster. The reason for these anomalies is not known. These super clusters are parts of the large scale structure of the visible universe, in which galaxies are known to occur in wall-like groupings with huge voids between them, something like a hugely magnified version of bubbles in expanded polystyrene foam.

Dr. Chou stated that Auger is the only program which has produced data on this topic without using any simulation or modeling in their analysis. Their conclusions come from empirical data. He showed a sample record, in which a high energy event was traced by four ultraviolet telescopes as it came through the atmosphere, and recorded by the ground array of Cherenkov radiation tank detectors as it splashed into the array.

Dr. Chou said that Auger hopes to be able to get information to help determine the GZK effect and to help determine the magnetic fields of our galaxy when a sufficient number of events have been recorded, and assuming that the data suggesting protons from an AGN source is verified by further observations. He said that the team hopes astronomers will use the high energy events which were not correlated with known AGNs as a guide for where to look for the massive black holes which are thought to be the source of the activity.

Centaurus A, 3.14 megaparsecs away, may be useful for calibrations of more distant objects, much as the crab nebula has been used as a standard candle up until now. The data have also ruled out strong radio emitting objects as sources of the high energy gamma ray bursts.

 

[starkind]

The conference has ended and I find myself in shut-down mode. I learned a lot from watching and listening but have convinced myself that my first priority in this endeavor is to get a better grasp of the maths. Unfortunately my brain and my bottom are currently symmetrical in regard to numbness. I have a great longing to be alone with a large body of water.

I see however that I have not completed my attempt at posting a summary of each of the talks. I certainly don’t want to slight any of the speakers, but of course the real slight is my ability to understand what they said. During much of it, I could just as well have been listening to Russian.

I missed reporting on Dr. Niemeyer, Dr. Sudarsky, Dr. Cavaglia, Dr. Sander Bais, Dr. Husain, Dr. Major, Dr. Giddings, Dr. Brandenberger, Dr. Holman, Dr. Danielsson, and Dr. Amelino-Camelia. So I have something here on thirteen participants, while missing eleven. Most of the missing presenters have pages in my notes, but I am suffering from screen fatigue, and am being called back to the road. I am afraid I will have to take a long break before having the necessary focus to return to this, if ever.

I need to thank Dr. Hossenfelder, Dr. Smolin, and Dr. Ng in particular for their kindness during this amazing week. I apologize for my not being more sociable, but I will say that their attentions have gone a long way to easing my customary adherence to the misanthropic principle.

best regards,

S

 

[ccdantas]

Dear Starkind,

I really appreciate your efforts on reporting this workshop. I wish you a nice trip back home.

Best wishes,
Christine

 

[marcus]

THREE CHEERS FOR STARKIND!

"misanthropic principle" heh heh

 

[turbo]

Thanks for your efforts, starkind. They are much appreciated. I have been cherry-picking video presentations based on their abstracts, and it's nice to have your impressions for context.

 

[starkind]

Hi Turbo

I too have found the video presentations at Perimeter worth the considerable effort involved in downloading them and watching them. In fact, imho, their value is immense!

Having said that, I have to regret a couple of shortcommings, if I can do so without slighting the work that has been done to present the videos, for which I am extremely grateful. One is that it is sometimes hard to hear, sometimes hard to see the chalk board, and sometimes one wishes that the frames would change fast enough to allow one to know what the presenter was just then pointing at.

However, having now had the opportunity to actually sit in the auditoreum, I see that being in the gallery has its own problems. The presenters go fast, and there is certainly not enough time to copy out the information. So the video wins, in that it can be played again, over and over if need be. I could wish for more cameras and a highly talented video editor, but I have a friend who does video editing and I know what a difficult job it can be. He sometimes spends hours on just a few seconds of footage. No one has the time to do that for eight hours of lectures a day. It would tax the Disney studios to keep up.

My cheers to the people who do the work of video presentations.

S