Me and the condensate.

There they are. Right down the street from my house. Yesterday there was nothing. Today there are two new trees in Fullerton Welcome new trees.
What I really appreciate about advanced physics is that to quote Lewis Carr0l, 'It gets curiouser and curiouser". We all know about virtual particles. Those little things that pop into existence in a vacuum and immediately join together and pop out of existence. What physicist Brian Greene called "quantum jitters". Easy to picture if you don't mind unimaginably small numbers. These things occur at sizes of 33 orders of magnitude smaller than a basket ball. Or the size of a basket ball compared to the size of our galaxy! That's small. But for a moment, consider the vacuum. Empty, a void, nothing. But if you make the vacuum and pass a spark through it there will appear a dark deposit on the walls of the vessel. Out of nothing! If the spark is passed through the vacuum before the quark /anti-quark disappear into the void a condensate is formed. However, these are not virtual particles but instead they are real therefore the condensate. Further examination will show that the deposit, called condensate, is the result of quark /anti-quark pairs popping into existence and the rejoining into the vacuum. The next obvious question is "What is the condensate made of since quarks cannot exist by themselves"?
More to come on quarks and condensate.
Quark /anti-quark pairs are a promise that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

A temperature inversion?

Here it is almost winter and it is warmer in Oshkosh Wisconsin (52 degrees) than it is in Fullerton, CA (48 degrees). Could this inversion at this time of year be a result of the earthquakes in Asia? Pushing the tectonic plates together releases energy in the form of heat. That heat could be focused on Wisconsin by the interior structure of the earth.
Or not.
But the walk was chilly. Jacket weather to stay comfortable.
I'm struggling through Carl Sagan but am constantly drawn to the books on quantum and string theory. Perhaps the problem is that Sagan was an advocate of our terraforming and inhabiting other planets and I've come to the conclusion that we are entitled to screw up only one planet (Earth). So I read one for a while then clear my mind with the other. Time will sort out the truth.
Besides our politicians are more interested in denigrating Obama than in the future of homo sapiens. Only in their own re-election. Or in the case of Republicans, is it their next re-erection?
Things quanta are common enough to remind me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I've got a lot of cogitating to do.

Today I'm glad I'm here rather than in San Francisco. A support cable broke and the Bay bridge is shut down "indefinitely" in the interest of safety. What a traffic disaster that will be.
Here the weather is cool and breezy, forecast to be warm and breezy.
I finishhed the book about string theory and have started the book by Carl Sagan. He is reputed to have been involved in some nefarious scheme but I can't find anything about it. Any help out there?
In the meantime I've got a lot of cogitating to do about the last book and string theory. I have to fit it in with Brian Greene's book "The Elegant Universe". Then I can seek to expand on that.
Not much happened on the walk this morning. There did appear a previously unseen orange tabby. He looked just like Tigger. He was sitting 20 yards away so I wouldn't say he interacted with me but he did trigger a thought. Some traits are gender favored meaning that the trait is more common in one gender than the other. There's a name for it but I can't remember it right now (dimorphism?). Anyway I tell you that to tell you this. A large majority of orange tabbys are male. I can't be any more specific than that except to say it was uncommon enough for the vet to comment on it when I first got Tigger.
Dimorphism is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Halloween decorations and anti-deSitter space

This year the house decorations seem more frequent and elaborate than in the past. It appears that every third house is decorated while in the past the number was closer to one in ten. I'm not sure what this means but perhaps it's the connection to the earthquakes occurring in Asia. Or I could be wrong. In any case the spider shown here is at least three feet across.
The space we are used to and which is used to do most calculations in science is flat or very close. However there are two additional classes of space that are curved. We learned to use these in non-Euclidean algebra classes. Closed space, with a positive curvature, is shaped like a sphere. The third class of space is open space and is shaped like a saddle. This third type of space is call anti-deSitter space after a mathematician named, you guessed it, deSitter. He did a lot of pioneering mathematics studying curved space. I'm not sure who cares about deSitter space but I think it sounds absolutely foul.
Or not.
Both deSitter space and anti-deSitter space are indicators that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Hawking, Susskind and Werner in the same room,

The book by Leonard Susskind has turned to a discussion of black holes. He had a bet with Stephen Hawking. Hawking had proved mathematically that nothing, including information , could escape from the interior of a black hole. Susskind described the pixy-like smile that Hawking would display when convinced he was right. However Susskind found a hole in Hawkings assumptions and showed how information could escape from a black hole. It has to do with the outer edge of a black hole being a hologram. I have to finish the book to find out whether or not he believes the entire universe (universes?) to be a hologram. Although the book "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot explained a lot of paranormal events, the science behind his position is unassailable. I think I'll move the book up in my sequence of reading to reinforce my understanding of the science supporting Talbot's thesis. Susskind introduces the topic along with his humorous presentation of the ideas and a personal description of some of the outstanding scientists of our generation, Nobel Prize winners among them. The friendly battle between Susskind and Hawking is funny and something I haven't read anywhere else so well. Susskind describes a meeting about black holes between himself, Hawking and several others at Werner Erhardt's mansion in San Francisco. For those who have forgotten, Werner is the originator of EST, a personal growth seminar (which I have attended to my great disappointment). Another of my peripheral connections to this story.
I'll not walk today because my knees are killing me. Neither the Vicodin nor my medical marijuana cut the pain enough to make a walk worthwhile. I don't want to double the Vicodin because I feel antsy and ill at ease when I forget to take it as it is. The ill at ease feeling is a symptom that I'm getting marginally addicted to it. Or not.
Hawking, Susskind and Werner in the same room is proof enough for me that we're all on this flight together.

Publish Post

Dick

I have nothing to say today.

I have nothing to say today.

Dick

Black holes and black squirrels.

The photo is of a squirrel who was playing (or chasing) another squirrel around the tree. I thought, in the early morning light) it was a black squirrel, which we've discussed in the past. On closer inspection I realized it was of the gray persuasion. The black squirrel had disappeared into a black hole and we were left with the gray. Which incidentally is the name of one type of inter-terrestrial creature. The significance of which escapes me. Whatever happened to the squirrel, they are fast little buggers.
The airport was reporting the temperature to be 58 degrees just before my walk this morning. I swear it felt 20 degrees colder. But the pace of my vigorous stumble warmed me a little bit. But the feel of autumn is in the air.
Brother Bob lent me a book written by Carl Sagan. One more book to read as an obstacle to my Hawaiian adventure. The book by Leonard Susskind continues to hold my interest. Why do such tiny things intrigue me so? That's the question of the day.
Unanswerable question are clear indicators that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Particles? Holograms? Hogwash!

As I was on the final stretch of my morning walk a small plane flew overhead. It was climbing out of Fullerton airport and was at a fairly low altitude. A funny though came to mind. I have committed never to fly again because of the risk involved. Suppose that airplane had lost its power and glided to a landing where I was standing and hit me. Imagine the irony of being killed by an airplane on the ground! It didn't happen though. It continued on its merry way. And I completed my walk very aware of the tragedy I had just avoided.
The temperature in Oshkosh Wisconsin is 32 degrees. Just at freezing. Oshkosh is the mecca of small planes, particularly of home built planes such as mine was. But 32 is too cold for all but the most dedicated to flight. I was comfortable in Fullerton with a sweat shirt for my walk.
I finished the book by Leonard Susskind and his thoughts on the recent advances in string theory (or brane theory). At one point in his discussion he suggests that the elementary particles which comprise our universe are HOLOGRAMS! Which brings me back to the 1980 book "The Holographic Universe". The book was written by Micheal Talbot, a physicist who later died at a young age of a brain tumor. It certainly changed the way I look at the word around me. Imagine...... everything around you is but an ephemeral hologram But of what is the hologram comprised? Shades of Star Wars.
Holograms are physical proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The sun is rising later every day.

The weather is reported to be 10 mile visibility and 2800 feet overcast but it seemed much gloomier than that as I left for my daily walk. The sun is rising later every day. Even so, it was T-shirt weather for the walk. But the Parkinson's really slowed me down today.
There were the usual cars parked blocking the sidewalk. Every time I encounter one of these I am reminded of son Ricks suggestion that I stand banging my cane on the car until the owner comes out to move it. It gets funnier every time I imagine it. But I'm not that much of a curmudgeon yet.
I'm learning more about string theory every day. I never realized before that the strings have a quark at one end and an anti quark at the other. They can react with quarks and anti quarks on other strings. And then the multiple interactions.... oh my. Or three tied together at the center like a South American bolo. Picture that! Imagine getting hit by a quantum bolo. Far in, not out!
Quarks in hidden dimensions show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

It must be Sunday.

It must be Sunday. The funny papers are in color.
Even the duck are walking today. 1/4 mile visibility in mist and the ceiling is only 400 feet. But Riverside, 30 miles away, is severe clear and celling unlimited. What we'll have this afternoon. The temperature is just right. Another day in Paradise.This is one of those days in which I'm glad I'm down here wishing I were up there rather than being up there wishing I was down here. There's old pilots and there's bold pilots but there ain't no old , bold pilots. A good landing is any landing you walk away from. There! Now I've got my aviation frustration out for the month. And all it took was a few old cliches.
Today I start to read Leonard Susskind's interpretation of string theory. He is skeptical of most of the claims so I'm looking forward to seeing what he has to say.
Old cliches are evidence that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The Large Hadron Collider has been cooled down

The Large Hadron Collider has been cooled down to its operating temperature and low energy proton beams are expected to collide in the last half of November. This will be the start of something spectacular. Hopefully we'll 'see' the Higgs particle to verify the existence of the theoretically proposed Higgs fields.
I started off my walk this morning to the dulcet tones of Townes van Zandt singing "Freight Train". Which reminded me that of all the drugs of which I have partaken (partook?), cocaine is the only one I consider evil. I've never done heroin but the danger of an overdose aside, it is probably psychologically benign. I could be wrong here. I finished the walk to Emmy Lou Harris singing "Satan's Jewel Crown". Diametrically opposed to evil. Beautiful and elegant.
The weather has been very changeable over the last few days. One day it was a wintry cold and rainy and the very next day the temperature went to 95 degrees. And the following day it was in the 70's. This morning was pleasantly warm and severe clear. Go figure.
The book by Leonard Susskind is very interesting. He posits that mathematical constants in the universe we live in are very demanding to assure the existence of life but refuses to accept the existence of a supernatural power to get those values. He reminds us that we may live in a limited part of the Universe with it's own values of the constants. Very much like Lisa Randall's explanation but from a slightly different perspective.
Confirmation assures me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I have no idea what this is about.

Please excuse my dereliction for the past few days. Earlier in the week I got a flu shot and I have been a little under the weather ever since. And I haven't gotten the swineflu shot yet. Somehow it sapped my strength, what little I have. The vapors kept me from my walk on Wednesday and yesterday it rained. I've always been concerned that I am so sweet I might melt in the rain.
Gold is $1060 per ounce, which says more about the value of the dollar than it does about the value of gold.
One of my new books is "The Cosmic Landscape" by Leonard Susskind. It turns out that he was brought up in the Bronx, for the New York connection and worked at SLAC during the 60's, for the Palo Alto connection. But I tell you that to tell you about the Cosmological Constant.
When Einstein did the math for the Special Theory of Relativity, because something was askew he inserted a constant, the Cosmological Constant, to make things work out properly. And the General Theory of Relativity didn't change it. He later called this his greatest mistake. The Cosmological Constant has the following effect on how everything turns out. If it is zero the universe is static, neither growing nor shrinking. If it is positive it as the effect of causing the universe to grow and if it is negative, the universe will shrink. Much like the analogy of spots on a balloon As the balloon is inflated the dots grow apart. If the balloon shrinks the dots grow together. In a sense, the Cosmological Constant measures the rate and direction of the balloon's size (or our universe). Thence the great concern for the exact value of the Cosmological Constant. It might also be a measure of what we call dark energy since it determines the status of our universe. This is because Einsteins equation E=MC^2 tells us that energy and matter are equivalent and therefore energy should influence us in the same manner as mass which dark energy has been shown to do.
Things that confuse me are proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

This space intentionally...

This space intentionally left blank because it's raining and I have nothing to say.

Dick

It must be Monday.

October 12, happy Indigenous Peoples Day!
The funny papers were in color and one night has come and gone so it must be Monday. The picture is of a new cat in the neighborhood. It looks a lot like Budda but had more white. He was just sitting behind a bush when I passed and sat quietly while I juggled the cane in one hand and the Sunday paper nestled under the other arm . Meanwhile I tried to retrieve the camera from my pocket and get it turned on with one hand. Talk about a one armed paper hanger! And just when I got the whole thing together, off he strolled. So here's his rear view.
Just when I thought I had symmetry in hand along comes supersymmetry. Damn! But I know it will all come together somewhere.
Indigenous Peoples Day leaves room to question whether or not we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The Higgs mechanism and me.

The photo is one of a house I pass on my daily walk. Imagine waking up to this. And the street trees were covered. Talk about overkill!
The last song on my iPod on the walk was Townes van Zandt finger picking "Cocaine Blues". Truly a finger picking masterpiece. It transports one to a new level. And the music is cheaper than the real thing.
The Higgs mechanism is the process which gives fundamental particles their mass. The Higgs field, which is a field like a magnetic field or an electric field only different, causes the renowned Higgs particle. The traditional image of gravity is a stretched rubber sheet which is normally flat. Mass (like the sun) causes a dimple in the sheet (or spacetime). My mental image of the Higgs mechanism is that the Higgs field is like the stretched rubber sheet. But in this case the particle is caused by the dimple in the Higgs field rather than the particle causing the distortion. In any case, without the Higgs field there could be no particles and without particles there could be no me... or you. A horse, a horse, my Kingdom for a horse (or the Higgs mechanism).
Or maybe not.
I'm probably full of shit but that's proof enough that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I'll never win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

I'll never win the Nobel Prize in Physics but Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize, bless his heart. An indication that the European elite, as well as the rabble rousers respect him as opposed to their feelings about his predecessor. It's a shame to politicize the Nobel Prize but what the hell. I've expressed my disappointment in Obamas performance up to now. His wrongful following through with the bank bailout, not having resolved the 'civilian combatant' and Guantanamo problem and his disappointing position with regard to healthcare reform may be masterful chess playing. Why he puts up with republican intransigence in hopes of a long gone bipartisanship I'll never figure out unless it's a part of his chess game. I hope it is. Or there could be a conspiracy preventing him from doing as he pleases. Or not.
The weather this morning is 9 miles visibility and 1900 ft ceiling. But it really looks dreary. I'm glad I'm down here and not up there.
I'm re-reading the book on hidden dimensions. The last time I thought I was confused by the use of symmetry. Now I realize it's not the why about symmetry but the how. I think the problem is that I don't see the math behind it and how to treat symmetry mathematically, which is the root of the symmetry. Oh well, we all have our own brand of faith.
The beauty of symmetry is hidden proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Earthquakes caused by the rising price of gold?

Earthquakes caused by the rising price of gold? The recent spate of quakes in Asia have not resulted in any connection with my cats or their actions. However, they may result in an earthquake locally by inducing stresses in the 'Ring of fire'. In any event it is more than a coincidence that the price of gold has risen sharply in the last week. Connection? I think so. Or it could be that earthquakes are caused by the rising price of gold rather than the other way around. Keep an eye on this. According to a recent program on the History Channel on the electric TV, Isaac Newton (of gravity fame) prognostized that Armageddon would start in 1944 and then the year 2012 appears again. That magic year. The prognostications of Nostradamus could be interpreted to be in accord with that. I had known that Isaac Newton was very religious but did not know of his prognostications. But he predicted this in 1630.
Isaac Newton gave us science and that reminds me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I'm re-reading "Warped Passages".

I've been asked by Kaiser to present myself for a physical. Since I've also got some shopping to do, with its attendant activity, I skipped the walk in favor of reading.
I'm re-reading "Warped Passages", the book about hidden dimensions. It is just as exciting the second time as the first. The part about special relativity peaked my curiosity. Looking at the equations which cause gravity (mathematically acceleration), the thought occurred to me that one could devise an anti gravity machine if one could make the equation negative. Without making the output of the equations negative, one would float around aimlessly in space.
There I've given you the concept. Now its just a trivial engineering detail on your way to fame and fortune.
Trivial engineering details venture to show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

We used to have a 'fire season'.

If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes. Saturday and Sunday the temperature was in the 90's. This morning it was 55 degrees on my walk. Almost too cool for the turtle neck shirt I wore. I'm not complaining mind you just that the coolity came as a surprise. The up side of the coolarity is that fire fighters got a little respite. It used to be that we had a 'fire season' but no more. The fire season runs all around the calendar now.
There has been several major earth quakes, mostly in Asia, in the last week. The lack of odd behaviour by the cats is startling. Is it possible to connect the quietude of the cats retroactively with the earth quakes? Now I'm pretty sure that when the cats are quiet there will have been a spate of earthquakes a week ago. Take that Nostradamus!
I saw a crawl on the electric TV that the 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams 35 to 0. That's what they get for running away with their tails between their legs. Los Angles indeed.
I ordered a book on Amazon about string theory. They of course, suggested several other pertinent books. I ended up buying three more books to read before I embark on the Grand Flight. Will I ever get to Hawaii or is this an Aristotelian paradox?

Cool weather serves to emphsize that we're all on this flight tgether.

The Grand Flight to Hawaii.

The picture is of the lily that greets me randomly in the morning. For weeks it is rolled up tight then all of a sudden, for no discernible reason, it blossoms forth in all its glory. Maybe it's related to all the earthquakes that have been going on around the world.
The paper has been read. The funny papers were in color so it must be Sunday but the 49ers aren't on the electric TV. The war in Afghanistan goes on and the war in Iraq has been privatized. Heath care reform is i trouble and there is no effort to turn global warming around. Jose always talked of retiring to the Virgin Islands (for obvious reasons), my goal is to make the Grand Flight to Hawaii in a light plane for more obtuse reasons. Maybe it's time.
But not yet. I've started to re-read the book hidden dimensions so I will understand it better and then I have to re-read The Elegant Universe about string theory one more time. Thence back to The Holographic Universe which posits that what we see, feel and other wise experience exists as a giant hologram. The book was written in 1980 and the author Michael Talbot died in the 90's at a young age. But he explained the possibility of paranormal events as a science as well as being an excellent primer on holograms. If I feel it's still not time for the Grand Flight after that I'll re-read The Tao of Physics, which I should anyway. Then there's the possibility of re-reading Michu Kaku's books on black holes and parallel universes.
All that is far enough in the future that I don't have to concern myself regarding my commitment not to fly again.
Reading about the cosmos reminds me that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

Brian Greene, a real hero.

Wow! I haven't driven after dark in the last three years. There doesn't seem to have been anything worth the stress of driving at night. But last night Brian Greene, the author of "The Elegant Universe" was speaking in Claremont, CA. That's too close to miss the chance to hear him live. It was worth it! Aside from being a leading authority on string theory, he is an entertaining speaker. Totally apart from all the college age young women in the audience. The talk was lively and informative. I've read his book but still there were things to learn. All in all it was worth the drive many times over. I was home by 10:30.
I thought there was to be an event at Historic Flabob Airport today but checking the Internet I found it was LAST WEEK! It was a gathering of Stardust builders which is an aerobatic stressed biplane. The original Stardust kits were sold out of the Far West hangar, which is where I finished 'The Sound Of Freedom" before I flew it to my incident.
Making the 471st entry in this blog reminds me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

anti de Sitter space and me (and you)

anti de Sitter space is spacetime with constant negative curvature. This is different than spacetime with constant zero curvature (flat). Or spacetime with constant positive curvature. But what difference does it make to you and me? It turns out quite a bit. It makes the difference of whether the universe in which we live is suitable to human life (or life of any sort) or totally unsuitable. But the reason for writing about anti de Sitter space is because it sounds so exotic to my ears. The more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that the appeal of quantum mechanics and string theory is that the entire concept is so bizarre. Something must exist because we're here. But what is it that is here? anti de Sitter space! And it all sounds so fascinating. Quarks, muons and tau and Z particles... and Kaluza-Klein particles that are the result of gravity in the 5th dimension. Does any of that mean everything to our daily lives?
Or not?
Dimensional quandaries assure me that we're all on this flight together (in three dimensions anyway).
Dick

There's warm a-blowin' in the wind.

There's warm a-blowin' in the wind. Does that remind anyone of a Dylan tune? Be that as it may... it bodes ill for the firefighters. If a fire starts in this kind of weather, it's bye bye baby.
But it's clear, probably to bumpy for a comfortable flight today.
I'm still deep in the hidden dimensions. What a wondrous world we live in. And are totally unaware of it. I'm peaked at trying to peek at the wizard behind the curtain.