Large Hardon Collider

[Chun Liroy]

For those that care, only miz seemed interested All images I took from the trip, my prof. took like 2k~ and he's gonna upload a lot when he gets back.

http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o...t_X/Galapagos/

[Olo401]

Bump: http://arstechnica.com/science/news/...15-minutes.ars

Earlier this year, a research collaboration at CERN announced that it had created a few dozen atoms of antihydrogen, the antimatter equivalent of the more familiar hydrogen atoms. These anti-atoms were kept in existence for just under 200 milliseconds before they annihilated in collisions with the container walls. Now, the same team is back with the announcement that it has created hundreds of atoms of antihydrogen, some of which were kept around for over 15 minutes—long enough to start contemplating doing some serious science with them.

[Eliseos]

And thus star trek warp cores were invented.

[Rhinox]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sw...ack-holes.html

Nearby Galaxy Boasts Two Monster Black Holes, Both Active06.10.11

A study using NASA's Swift satellite and the Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a second supersized black hole at the heart of an unusual nearby galaxy already known to be sporting one.

The galaxy, which is known as Markarian 739 or NGC 3758, lies 425 million light-years away toward the constellation Leo. Only about 11,000 light-years separate the two cores, each of which contains a black hole gorging on infalling gas.

The study will appear in a forthcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Zoom into Markarian 739, a nearby galaxy hosting two monster black holes. Using NASA's Swift and Chandra, astronomers have shown that both black holes are producing energy as gas falls into them. The object is only the second-known binary active galactic nucleus within half-a-billion light-years. (No audio. Animation begins with visible light view of Markarian 739 and transitions into an artistic rendering of the two black holes. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

"At the hearts of most large galaxies, including our own Milky Way, lies a supermassive black hole weighing millions of times the sun's mass," said Michael Koss, the study's lead author at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the University of Maryland in College Park (UMCP). "Some of them radiate billions of times as much energy as the sun."

Astronomers refer to galaxy centers exhibiting such intense emission as active galactic nuclei (AGN). Yet as common as monster black holes are, only about one percent of them are currently powerful AGN. Binary AGN are rarer still: Markarian 739 is only the second identified within half a billion light-years.

Viewed in visible light, Markarian 739 resembles a smiling face, with a pair of bright cores underscored by an arcing spiral arm. The object is really a pair of merging galaxies. Data from Swift and Chandra reveal the western core (right) to be a previously unknown AGN; past studies already had identified an AGN in the eastern core. The two supermassive black holes are separated by about 11,000 light-years. The galaxy is 425 million light-years away. Credit: SDSS
› Larger image
› Wider view Many scientists think that disruptive events like galaxy collisions trigger AGN to switch on by sending large amounts of gas toward the black hole. As the gas spirals inward, it becomes extremely hot and radiates huge amounts of energy.

Since 2004, the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) aboard Swift has been mapping high-energy X-ray sources all around the sky. The survey is sensitive to AGN up to 650 million light-years away and has uncovered dozens of previously unrecognized systems. Follow-up studies by Koss and colleagues published in 2010 reveal that about a quarter of the Swift BAT AGN were either interacting or in close pairs, with perhaps 60 percent of them poised to merge in another billion years.

"If two galaxies collide and each possesses a supermassive black hole, there should be times when both black holes switch on as AGN," said coauthor Richard Mushotzky, professor of astronomy at UMCP. "We weren't seeing many double AGN, so we turned to Chandra for help."

Swift's BAT instrument is scanning one-tenth of the sky at any given moment, its X-ray survey growing more sensitive every year as its exposure increases. Where Swift's BAT provided a wide-angle view, the X-ray telescope aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory acted like a zoom lens and resolved details a hundred times smaller.

For decades, astronomers have known that the eastern nucleus of Markarian 739 contains a black hole that is actively accreting matter and generating prodigious energy. The Chandra study shows that its western neighbor is too. This makes the galaxy one of the nearest and clearest cases of a binary AGN.

The distance separating the two black holes is about a third of the distance separating the solar system from the center of our own galaxy. The dual AGN of Markarian 739 is the second-closest known, both in terms of distance from one another and distance from Earth. However, another galaxy known as NGC 6240 holds both records.

How did the second AGN remain hidden for so long? "Markarian 739 West shows no evidence of being an AGN in visible, ultraviolet and radio observations," said coauthor Sylvain Veilleux, a professor of astronomy at UMCP. "This highlights the critical importance of high-resolution observations at high X-ray energies in locating binary AGN."

The research team also includes Ezequiel Treister and David Sanders at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy in Honolulu, Kevin Schawinski at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and Ranjan Vasudevan, Neal Miller and Margaret Trippe at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Swift, launched in November 2004, is managed by Goddard. It was built and is being operated in collaboration with Penn State University, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and General Dynamics in Falls Church, Va.; the University of Leicester and Mullard Space Sciences Laboratory in the United Kingdom; Brera Observatory and the Italian Space Agency in Italy; plus additional partners in Germany and Japan.

The Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.

I thought this was pretty cool meant to post this a few days ago. Theres a video on the website.

[brisk]

A preview of things to come when we have an awesome time with Andromeda?

And something relevant to the topic title, there is a good chance I might be visiting the LHC in a couple weeks during a study abroad trip in Switzerland. I'm surprised there's people in my group of 20 that know what the hell it is. Pretty pumped if we do go.

[BerenTebogo]

Okay, so, I need halp. As per usual.

Was pretty sure I was done signing up for classes for the fall but every time I look at my schedule it just seems so empty.

I'm torn between taking Partial Differential Equations (MTH471) or Probability (MTH331). I've taken Stats and I loved it, I took Diff Eqs and I hated it (bad instructor but interesting material.) The PDE course is taught by my calc 3 instructor who I also wasn't too fond of.

Probability decription:
A calculus-based introduction to statistics. This course covers probability and combinatorial problems, discrete and continuous random variables and various distributions including the binomial, Poisson, hypergeometric normal, gamma and chi-square. Moment generating functions, transformation and sampling distributions are studied.

PDE:
Introduction to partial differential equations. Topics include: the classification of partial differential equations, the heat equation, the potential equation, separation of variables, Fourier series, the wave equation, and Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problems.



My Modern Physics prof. suggests PDE wholeheartedly and says that advanced stats would be better than probability anyways. My conflicts are #1 PDE with aggravating professor (overall pretty decent grader / teacher but I dislike him overall) #2 PDE time (T/TH 4:00 - 5:15pm. No other classes T/TH) #3 Probability with a prof. I hear is pretty good at a reasonable time. I have friends taking PDEs which helps but I'm kinda torn.

Taking Quantum I, Mech I, Classical Physics I (optics and stuffs) and my research (3 credits of observatory sitting).

If PDE is better for me I'll take it, but I fucking love me some probability and statistics. Hell, I have a BBC special on my external hard-drive called "The Joy of Stats", I'm a fucking geek :D

[Eliseos]

PDEs are going to be used much more often in your classes than probability. QM is one of the only areas you'll use it, and maybe in your thermo class when you get to stat mech. Pretty much everything else requires a good knowledge of PDEs.

Also get used to classes you need being at shitty times.

Edit: Rereading the description for probability, you won't use any of that in QM or stat mech. Go with advanced stats instead. That probability class is more for engineers.

[BerenTebogo]

What are the differences between a Diff. EQ class and PDE? Seems like a lot of the same stuff.

Edit to your edit: Really don't think any of the probability stuff will be useful? I need 3 300+ level math classes for my minor anyways and I'm really not sure what to take besides PDE. I heard that the advanced calculus classes were a total waste of time at my school.

Edit 2: Also, the 300+ level statistics class at my school is this

Mathematical Statistics:

Continuation of MTH 331. Classical estimation methods and hypothesis testing are studied. This course also covers Chi square tests for goodness-of-fit and independence, regression and correlation analysis, and one-way and two-way analysis of variance including factorial designs and tests for the separation of means.

MTH331 (Probability) is the pre-req :\

[Eliseos]

One deals with multi-variables, the other does not.

Also would it be possible to wait on QM until after you've taken the PDE class? QM is hard enough as it is, I couldn't imagine going through it not knowing the math behind it. Except for the heat equation, you'll be using everything in that description in PDE for QM.

[BerenTebogo]

PDE isn't actually a requirement in the physics undergrad for us, just Diff. EQ. Nobody who will be in QM with me (small class, like 15-20 students) will have taken PDE before and only a handful I think are taking PDE this semester. I'm assuming either my DE class went far enough or the math will be introduced to us for the class? I learned all the explicit and general solutions for eigenvector/eigenvalue problems and stuffs already. :\ now I'm scared, damn you Eli.

Edit: I've also already worked a lot with infinite and finite square well problems, expectation values, time-dependent and independent schro. equation and some wells and barrier stuffs. My modern professor is the guy who usually teaches 341 (Quantum) so I think he prepared us specifically for that course.

Also, scratch that 15-20, Enrollment Total:11

[Kaylia]

Okay, so, I need halp. As per usual.

Was pretty sure I was done signing up for classes for the fall but every time I look at my schedule it just seems so empty.

I'm torn between taking Partial Differential Equations (MTH471) or Probability (MTH331). I've taken Stats and I loved it, I took Diff Eqs and I hated it (bad instructor but interesting material.) The PDE course is taught by my calc 3 instructor who I also wasn't too fond of.

Probability decription:
A calculus-based introduction to statistics. This course covers probability and combinatorial problems, discrete and continuous random variables and various distributions including the binomial, Poisson, hypergeometric normal, gamma and chi-square. Moment generating functions, transformation and sampling distributions are studied.

PDE:
Introduction to partial differential equations. Topics include: the classification of partial differential equations, the heat equation, the potential equation, separation of variables, Fourier series, the wave equation, and Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problems.



My Modern Physics prof. suggests PDE wholeheartedly and says that advanced stats would be better than probability anyways. My conflicts are #1 PDE with aggravating professor (overall pretty decent grader / teacher but I dislike him overall) #2 PDE time (T/TH 4:00 - 5:15pm. No other classes T/TH) #3 Probability with a prof. I hear is pretty good at a reasonable time. I have friends taking PDEs which helps but I'm kinda torn.

Taking Quantum I, Mech I, Classical Physics I (optics and stuffs) and my research (3 credits of observatory sitting).

If PDE is better for me I'll take it, but I fucking love me some probability and statistics. Hell, I have a BBC special on my external hard-drive called "The Joy of Stats", I'm a fucking geek :D

In the next two years, you will most likely benefit more from PDE than statistics. They are everywhere, and being able to solve them more easily is going to help you tremendously. So if you want an easy [easier] time in the close future, this class might be preferable.

I wouldn't completely dismiss a well done statistics class though. Mastering combinatory, and understanding distributions is something that is very important once you graduate. It's not important in the sense that you constantly do statistics, but these concepts are still fundamental in the nature, and not always the easiest one to grasp (dice rolls are simple, but noticing binomial coeficient in front of every terms of an equation isn't a given, unless you're familiar with this kind of stuff).

The way I see it, PDE is a tool that will be very helpful in nearly every classes, while statistics might help you understanding some of the most fundamental concepts.

What are the differences between a Diff. EQ class and PDE? Seems like a lot of the same stuff.

Change every d for a del
http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/a/5...a1073905e8.png to http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/3/f...4bafdae763.png
then pretend it's new mathematics you're dealing with.

I heard that the advanced calculus classes were a total waste of time at my school.

Don't listen to future dropout. Every single mathematics and physics classes are incredibly useful, especially if you aim for theoretical physcics (stuff like astrophysics). Some might be more useful than other in the close future, but you will use all of them sooner or later.

[BerenTebogo]

Don't listen to future dropout. Every single mathematics and physics classes are incredibly useful, especially if you aim for theoretical physcics (stuff like astrophysics). Some might be more useful than other in the close future, but they are all going to be useful sooner or later, and you will always regret not picking the other class.

Was actually from the president of our SPS chapter, a double major in math and physics with a 3.8 GPA lol. I guess the woman who teaches it is just absolutely terribad.

[Kaylia]

Was actually from the president of our SPS chapter, a double major in math and physics with a 3.8 GPA lol. I guess the woman who teaches it is just absolutely terribad.

If teachers are the issue and you have alternatives, than yeah. The class itself should still have a lot of interesting content though.

[Ferion]

If you're going into theory I would suspect that taking an Advanced Calc. would be pretty useful since it gives you a much deeper understanding of Calc and really helps you with proofs. I've also only taken one physics class in college so this is from a math major prospective. Honestly though, if you need to take a math class just for your minor and the probability class has a good professor, if you have the spare time I would highly recommend it. I've always thought probability is one of the most interesting/useful subjects there is, but my area of focus is completely different than yours. However, doesn't astrophysics (depending on what you do) deal with things like Markov Chains/random walks and other things of that type? It could only be a very small part though. I would listen to Kaylia and Eliseos more than my rambling, but a good understanding of probability has never hurt anyone.

[BerenTebogo]

As far as I know there is only one person who teaches the modern algebra classes and one who teaches the adv. Calc. I may sign up for adv calc and give it a shot for a week if it fits my schedule.

[BerenTebogo]

I'm gonna sign up for both probability and Adv. Calc I since I refuse to take PDE at the time it's offered this semester. If I like both I'll keep both, if one of the profs aren't my style I can drop the first week. Thanks guys

Edit: So much would be helpful, I emailed my adviser again to check just how much I'd need for the double major. fml.

[Kaylia]

I'm gonna sign up for both probability and Adv. Calc I since I refuse to take PDE at the time it's offered this semester. If I like both I'll keep both, if one of the profs aren't my style I can drop the first week. Thanks guys

Edit: So much would be helpful, I emailed my adviser again to check just how much I'd need for the double major. fml.

I love that thinking...can't choose, get both!.

It's a good idea, but try not to get burnt out.

[Ferion]

I love that thinking...can't choose, get both!.

It's a good idea, but try not to get burnt out.

This. Math is so interesting, but after cramming the major into my last two years at school I am so burnt out. I'm taking my last class I need to graduate right now (Number Theory) and I'm honestly worried I may need to take it again just cause I'm so burnt that I have no motivation to study.

[Woozie]

Okay, so, I need halp. As per usual.

Was pretty sure I was done signing up for classes for the fall but every time I look at my schedule it just seems so empty.

I'm torn between taking Partial Differential Equations (MTH471) or Probability (MTH331). I've taken Stats and I loved it, I took Diff Eqs and I hated it (bad instructor but interesting material.) The PDE course is taught by my calc 3 instructor who I also wasn't too fond of.

Probability decription:
A calculus-based introduction to statistics. This course covers probability and combinatorial problems, discrete and continuous random variables and various distributions including the binomial, Poisson, hypergeometric normal, gamma and chi-square. Moment generating functions, transformation and sampling distributions are studied.

PDE:
Introduction to partial differential equations. Topics include: the classification of partial differential equations, the heat equation, the potential equation, separation of variables, Fourier series, the wave equation, and Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problems.



My Modern Physics prof. suggests PDE wholeheartedly and says that advanced stats would be better than probability anyways. My conflicts are #1 PDE with aggravating professor (overall pretty decent grader / teacher but I dislike him overall) #2 PDE time (T/TH 4:00 - 5:15pm. No other classes T/TH) #3 Probability with a prof. I hear is pretty good at a reasonable time. I have friends taking PDEs which helps but I'm kinda torn.

Taking Quantum I, Mech I, Classical Physics I (optics and stuffs) and my research (3 credits of observatory sitting).

If PDE is better for me I'll take it, but I fucking love me some probability and statistics. Hell, I have a BBC special on my external hard-drive called "The Joy of Stats", I'm a fucking geek :D

I've taken probability. It's very very useless for physics and math people. PDEs can be very useful to know if you get into research. It's used a lot in class too, though it will be re-explained to very thoroughly. So, for example, you will not need to have taken PDEs to solve laplace's/Poisson's equation in E&M. The Sturm-Louville theory will be pretty useful in research and in later physics/math too, and may even help you understand QM a bit more since you'll be used to thinking of differential equations as eigenvalue problems, as well as writing solutions of differential equations in terms of the solutions of the Sturm-Liouville equation. (You wont hear the term "Sturm-Lioville" in QM, but you will be actually using it when you solve the Schrodinger equation for the hydrogen atom, and maybe even for the harmonic oscillator if you learn that particular method of solving it in addition to the creation/annihilation operator approach. In fact, the entire idea of writing functions as infinite linear combinations of other functions [which is done in QM a lot] will be learned and used a lot on PDEs).

Also, it goes without saying that Fourier series/integral is going to be incredibly important for you. That alone is a very very good reason to take PDEs. It's used a LOT in QM and it's something you must eventually study if you want to be a physicist, mathematician, and probably an engineer as well.

[Eliseos]

II refuse to take PDE at the time it's offered this semester.

Seriously, don't let this be the reason to not take a class. It's possible that that is the only time the class is ever offered (that is how my school usually operates), or when/if you do actually take it, it might be at a worse time or during a different class that you have to take.