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Carbon nanotubes are the hottest topic in physics, according to a new way of ranking the popularity of different scientific fields. Nanowires are second, followed by quantum dots, fullerenes, giant magnetoresistance, M-theory and quantum computation. The new ranking has been developed by Michael Banks, a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Solid-State Physics in Stuttgart, Germany. He thinks the index could be a quick and simple way of determining the most important subject areas in physics and could even help graduate students choose which field to do their PhD in (physics/0604216).
The new index is based on the "Hirsch index", which was devised last year by Jorge Hirsch of the University of California at San Diego as a way of quantifying the performance of individual scientists. Hirsch's h-index is derived from the number of times that papers by a particular scientist are cited. A scientist with an h-index of 10, say, will have published 10 papers that have received at least 10 citations each. The best researchers should therefore have the highest h-indexes.
The hottest topic in physics currently is the search for a theory of everything, which would unify all of the fundamental forces in the universe.
Dark matter is an elusive substance that makes up about 85% of the total matter in the universe. Its existence is inferred based on its gravitational effects on visible matter, but it has yet to be directly detected. Understanding dark matter is important because it plays a critical role in the formation and evolution of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the universe.
Quantum computing is a form of computing that utilizes the principles of quantum mechanics to perform calculations. Unlike classical computers, which use bits to represent information as either 0 or 1, quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits that can exist in multiple states simultaneously. This allows quantum computers to perform certain calculations much faster than classical computers.
The Higgs boson is a subatomic particle that was first theorized in the 1960s and was finally discovered in 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider. It is significant because it is responsible for giving mass to other particles in the universe and its discovery confirmed the validity of the Standard Model of particle physics.
Einstein's theory of relativity is a fundamental theory of physics that revolutionized our understanding of space and time. It consists of two main theories: special relativity, which explains the relationship between space and time for objects moving at constant speeds, and general relativity, which describes the force of gravity as a curvature of spacetime. This theory has been confirmed through numerous experiments and is used to explain many phenomena in the universe, such as black holes and the expansion of the universe.