Posted on 04/19/2005 2:26:32 PM PDT by neverdem
The unexpected finding could provide insight into the creation of the universe, scientists say.
Researchers smashing gold atoms together to mimic conditions in the first microseconds after the creation of the universe have observed an unexpected new state of matter.
Instead of the thin, fiery gas of quarks and gluons that they expected, they found instead a dense drop of the elementary particles that behaves like a hitherto unseen "perfect fluid."
It is "a truly stunning finding," said Raymond L. Orbach, director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science.
Quarks are the fundamental building blocks of protons, neutrons and other subatomic particles, held together in pairs and triplets by mysterious particles called gluons, whose attractive force is so overwhelming that neither quarks nor gluons have ever been seen separated from one another in nature.
When the universe was created, however, it consisted only of a massive swarm of gluons and quarks, a so-called quark-gluon plasma, which quickly condensed into conventional matter.
Four separate international teams now believe that they have created a small, short-lived quark-gluon plasma whose behavior will provide insights into the moments after the big bang that started everything off.
"We think we are looking at a phenomenon [similar to what happened] in the universe 13 billion years ago when free quarks and gluons … cooled down to the particles that we know today," said Sam Aronson of Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., where the experiments were performed.
Aronson spoke Monday at a news conference at a meeting of the American Physical Society in Florida, where the results were presented.
"The matter that they are seeing is even more interesting … than we thought it would be," said theoretical physicist Berndt Mueller of Duke University. "They have presented a compelling case for the achievement of an...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Quarks and Gluons.........I prefer a single malt myself.
I believe one Jack Daniels beat them to this
It's too bad the corporation that now owns Jack Daniels has changed the recipe ant the Old no 7 is now just 80 proof. Old jack is rolling in his grave bout now. I for onw will not drink my beloved Jack Daniels until they go back to the orginal recipe. Talking heads at the company say they did it because their customers wanted a lower proof drink, yea right.
I'm sure there are people that not only understand this stuff, but actually believe it ... right?
So it's their religion, newly discovered and founded against my spiritual relationship with Jesus.
I'm the nut and they're not?
Gluons, ... indeed.
Quarks and gluons have been seen?
They've already spent the billions on the hardware - let them use it and report on their results for God's sake.
Cleanup needed in aisle 25.
.
"Talking heads at the company say they did it because their customers wanted a lower proof drink, yea right."
More likely they figured they could slightly lower their duty and increase their market marginally by doing this. As you have noted, suits at drinks conglomerates care absolutely nothing for tradition nor brand loyalty when it opposes a number on a page.
Another good example, taking off the guinness pic above, was when Guinness quit bottle-conditioning their Guinness extra stout bottles maybe 13-14 years ago. The taste change was dramatic, and for me has only gone downhill since then. Given the complexity found in the bottle conditioned-drink, drinking the present incarnation is not nearly as fun.
The classic example must surely be the move from real coca-cola to corn-syrup coca-cola "classic'" Does ANYONE like corn syrup better than sugar coke? Not that KO cares...
"When the universe was created,..."
There is a line that I never thought that I would see in the LA Times.
If they reported correctly I would have no problem.
We have seen evidence recently that the standard models are wrong - flat out wrong.
First, remote galaxies are spinning too fast or too slow, I'm unsure which.
So they invent "dark matter".
Then, the detectable rate of expansion of the universe turns out to be too big.
So they invent "dark energy".
Now, they have found structure in remote galaxies that could not have possibly formed in such a short time after the big bang.
So I guess next will be "dark time".
As long as they look for new particles and new states of matter, they will find them. They are eigenvalues.
I could have stuck with physics. But the academic side is intolerable.
"The perfect fluid" - A politician’s excuses.
the atom smasher is probably leaking oil....
JD was tired of being associated with getting falling-down f&*%#ed up.
There are "low-cost" experiments underway to locate dark matter particles streaming through local space by the effects of rare collisions with atoms in a crystal lattice.
My understanding is that the dark matter effects can also be explained by 10-dimensional string theory which also explains why gravity is so weak from our point of view - gravity is dispersed in other dimensions ("bulk space").
But I defer to Physicist...
I had heard that was an urban legend – until I dug out an old Jack bottle (empty) and saw that it was 86 proof.
What the heck – it still taste good.
Guinness is good, but not so aromatic or complex. Good beer for burnt grain. The Irish were too busy being soccer hooligans and hurried for the next pint so they hurried the roasting. No time to gather the elements properly.
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