CERN Courier: June 2000
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Watch this space for cosmophysics
Space, the ultimate scientific frontier, is being opened up by a new generation of satellite-borne precision experiments, many of which use technology perfected in generations of particle physics studies. A workshop organized by CERN and the European Space Agency looked at the prospects for the experiments and for the underlying science.
The grid is set to grapple with large computations
Particle physics has always pushed computing and computing techniques to the limit - witness the World Wide Web developed at CERN. Continuing this tradition, particle physics at CERN will soon provide a crucial testbed for even more powerful network-based information handling systems - the Grid.
Accelerators to span the globe
International collaboration has always played a major role in particle physics experiments. Could this also be applied to the accelerators themselves? Here, Albrecht Wagner,chairman of the directorate of the DESY Laboratory, Hamburg, looks at an innovative scheme for accelerator task sharing.
Muons make the grade as microscopic probes
The technique of muon spin rotation has become a major tool for the investigation of structure of all kinds of condensed matter and has even developed its own research communities. A recent major conference highlighted progress to date.
Opening the door to the quark-gluon plasma
Recent experiments at CERN (April, p13) using high-energy beams of nuclei reported evidence for a quark-gluon plasma. Interpreting such evidence is not straightforward, and this article underlines the physics message.
Between neutrinos and the deep blue sea
For many years, physicists searching for and studying delicate physics effects have been working in the shelter of large underground installations. Now the ocean too is the scene of new physics developments.
Raising the curtain on antimatter
At first sight, physics and theatre are difficult to mix, but this is no reason not to try. Together, the genius of Dirac, the dilemma of antimatter, an unusual setting and some physical and mental gymnastics make good entertainment.
MIT-Bates celebrates 25 years
In 1967, helped by Massachusetts congressman William H Bates, who was then on the US Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, MIT acquired a site for a new electron accelerator, which is still going strong. A recent symposium, held at MIT, marked 25 years of physics operation.
Breakthroughs for radioactive beams
New ideas for radioactive beam experiments, ranging from nuclear physics to low-temperature physics and supernovae, were on the agenda at a CERN workshop in March. Juha Äystöreports.
Dynamic particle physics in the UK
The European Committee for Future Accelerators, which met in London in March, was impressed by the vitality of particle physics in the UK.