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"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler", Albert Einstein
Browsing All Posts published on »June 18th, 2011«
Multiple Worlds Explained
Quantum physics has proven that the world cannot be described by local realism. Therefore, Many Worlds Interpretations (MWI) are now in vogue. The problem with these interpretations is: they are widely misinterpreted as a sort of real, branching multiverse, like a real tree that exists by itself outside of time and space. Most lay people as well […]
Topological Schrödinger cats
June 18, 2011
Topological defects (such as monopoles, vortex lines, or domain walls) mark locations where disparate choices of a broken symmetry vacuum elsewhere in the system lead to irreconcilable differences. They are energetically costly (the energy density in their core reaches that of the prior symmetric vacuum) but topologically stable (the whole manifold would have to be […]
Newfound Comet Will Swing By Earth in 2013
June 18, 2011
A newfound comet discovered by a telescope designed to hunt for dangerous asteroids will make its closest pass by Earth in 2013 and should be visible to the naked eye when it draws near, astronomers say. Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS 1 telescope detected the comet, which is called C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), on the night of June 5 and 6, […]
Hackers steal quantum code
June 18, 2011
While in principle unbreakable, quantum cryptography is known to have weaknesses in practice. One shortcoming has now been graphically illustrated by physicists in Singapore and Norway, who have been able to copy a secret quantum key without revealing their presence to either sender or receiver. The researchers are now working to remove the loophole they […]
LHC achieves 2011 data milestone
June 18, 2011
Geneva, 17 June 2011. Today at around 10:50 CEST, the amount of data accumulated by LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS clicked over from 0.999 to 1 inverse femtobarn, signalling an important milestone in the experiments’ quest for new physics. The number signifies a quantity physicists call integrated luminosity, which is a measure of the total […]
NASA’s Swift Sees Star Gobbled Up by Black Hole
June 18, 2011
On March 28, NASA’s Swift’s Burst Alert Telescope discovered a series of powerful X-ray blasts coming from a source in the constellation Draco. Astronomers around the world studied the unusual explosion, which is now known as Sw 1644+57. More than two months later, and with high-energy X-rays still coming from the spot, astronomers are convinced […]
June 18, 2011
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