Physics and Astronomy

A significant milestone for British and European science occurred today [8th July 2002] when the Council of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) met in London. At this historic meeting the UK was formally welcomed into ESO by the other nine member states. The UK, one of the leading nations in astronomical research, now joins what is probably the world`s leading astronomical observatory. British astronomers now have access to some of the world`s most advanced telescopes and a major

Anything over eight feet tall, six feet wide and weighing over 20 tons might be expected to have a healthy appetite. But no traditional foods are ingested by this behemoth. For the BigBite magnet, the nourishment of choice is subatomic particles, and lots of them. The BigBite spectrometer, which consists of the magnet along with its detectors, will be able to discern scattered particles over a range of energies and angles far greater than can be obtained with the other spectrometers used in Jefferson

It’s a conundrum that’s confounded the curious for several decades. In the past, some called it a crisis. More recently, it’s come to be known as a puzzle: a mystery that has occupied the minds of thousands of researchers worldwide.

Call it the Case of the Missing Spin. A mathematical property of all subatomic particles, including quarks, spin is roughly equivalent to the physical rotation of an object in the macroscopic world.

Physicists have long wondered how the

What questions will it answer; what opportunities will it offer?

History doesn’t record the moment when fully conscious humans asked the first question. The incessant push of human curiosity has nevertheless changed the world. Even so, despite the seemingly inexorable march of science and technology into the current century, questions don’t seem in short supply. Gwyn Williams, basic research program manager for Jefferson Lab’s Free-Electron Laser (FEL), suspects some im

Scientists at Oxford University are developing a new Doppler Global Velocimetry (DGV) technique that will enable three-dimensional fluid velocity fields to be imaged reliably and accurately.

Over the last twenty years, a number of techniques have been explored to enable clear imaging of fluid flows, with the most advantageous being those that are non-intrusive. To date, one of the most important techniques has been particle image velocimetry (PIV). However, there is a major disadvantage wit

The basic technology that produces X-rays has remained essentially the same for a century, but now scientists and physicians at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Applied Nanotechnologies Inc. say they should be able to improve it significantly.

Experiments the team conducted have shown they can cause carbon nanotubes, a new form of carbon discovered about a decade ago, to generate intense electron beams that bombard a metal “target” to produce X-rays. Researchers say they