Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Reaching toward the Big Bang

The Reuters posting is pure hype, with no substance. For a more
sober assessment, recounting the evidence accumulated during a series of
experiments, see:

http://www.cern.ch/CERN/Announcements/2000/NewStateMatter/science.html

Apparently the CERN group wanted to get its two cents in before
RHIC would have a chance to speak up.

My quick reading of the announcement suggests that the status is
"strong evidence", but not "conclusive".
Regards,
Jack

Adam was by constitution and proclivity a scientist; I was the same, and
we loved to call ourselves by that great name...Our first memorable
scientific discovery was the law that water and like fluids run downhill,
not up.
Mark Twain, <Extract from Eve's Autobiography>

On Wed, 9 Feb 2000, Larry Cartwright wrote:

"GENEVA, Feb 10 (Reuters) - For the first time, physicists
have created a new form of matter by recreating the
conditions thought to have existed 10 microseconds after
the Big Bang at the start of the universe, scientists
announced on Thursday. "

"The European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN),
based outside Geneva, said scientists from more than 20
countries conducted a series of experiments which
smashed together heavy lead ions in a fireball to prove a
theory that had only existed on paper for years. "

"This provided "compelling evidence" for the existence of a
new state of nuclear matter, a quark-gluon plasma, which
CERN described as "the primordial soup in which quarks
and gluons existed before they clumped together as the
universe cooled down". "

MORE: <http://www.reuters.com/news/>,
click "Science and Technology",
click "CERN physicists ...".

Best wishes,

Larry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry Cartwright <exit60@ia4u.net>
Physics and Physical Science Teacher
Charlotte HS, Charlotte MI USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~