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Science
Friday > Archives
> 2001
> February
> February 9, 2001:
Hour One: NEAR Landing / Particle Physics Update
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Researchers at Brookhaven National Labs recently announced that
they had created the highest energy density yet achieved in a
lab - if only for a few fractions of a second. The work was done
using a new particle accelerator known as RHIC (Relativistic Heavy
Ion Collider), which slams gold ions into each other at near-light
speeds.
The collisions recently announced were 70% more energetic than
those seen in similar experiments at the CERN accelerator in Switzerland.
By creating collisions with such a tremendously high energy density,
RHIC researchers hope to eventually create a "quark-gluon
plasma," recreating a state of matter that is believed to
have last existed millionths of a second after the Big Bang.
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End-on view of gold ion collision.
RHIC STAR project/ Brookhaven image.
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In this hour of Science Friday, we'll talk about the latest in particle
physics research, including the work at RHIC. We'll discuss the possible
sighting of the Higgs boson (a subatomic particle thought to be responsible
for giving matter mass) last year at CERN, and the decision to shut
down CERN's LEP collider before the sighting could be definitively confirmed.
As CERN works on building a new particle accelerator, to be known as
LHC (Large Hadron Collider), the coast is clear for another research
team to try to definitively locate the elusive Higgs particle.
We'll also find out about an announcement made on Thursday of what
some researchers are calling evidence for a "possible violation
of the standard model." An ultra-sensitive measurement of the magnetic
moment of the muon found results that don't match up with those predicted
by the standard model of particle physics. Why does it matter - and
what does it mean? We'll find out.
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Plus, we'll talk about a daring effort to eke out a little more
information from the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft.
After 5 years in space, one of them spent in orbit around the
asteroid 433 Eros, the managers of the craft have declared all
the scientific goals of the mission to have been met. Now, rather
than let the craft gradually run out of fuel, they've decided
to try to go out with a bang - attempting a controlled landing
of the craft on the asteroid's surface.
NEAR was never designed to land on anything, and so the attempt
has a high chance of failure. However, the team hopes to at the
very least use the maneuver to get some extra-close-up images
from Eros in the mission's final minutes. We'll find out more.
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Eros, target of the NEAR mission.
(NEAR image team mosaic)
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A trip to an asteroid -- and a trip back to the early moments of the
universe -- all on this hour of Science Friday. Call in with your thoughts
and comments at 1-800-989-8255, and share your opinions online in our
Listeners' Lounge
(registration
required)
Guests:
Andrew Cheng
Project Scientist
Near Earth Asteroid Rendevous Mission
Applied Physics Laboratory
John Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
Timothy Hallman
Physics Department
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, New York
Edward "Rocky" Kolb
Author,
"Blind Watchers of the Sky"
Cosmologist, Theoretical
Astrophysics Group
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Professor, Astronomy and Astrophysics
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
Brookhaven
press release: Possible Violation of Standard Model
RHIC
AIP
News Release:RHIC Begins Operation
Quark
Matter 2001
CERN
Fermilab
SLAC
Particle Adventure
SLAC
Library - Online Particle Physics Information
Near
Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Mission
Descent to Eros
NEAR
Information
This segment produced by: Annette
Heist
Web Producer: Charles
Bergquist
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