Duke the menace

[Duke of Buckingham]

Wow! signal

The Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal detected by Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977, while working on a SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope of The Ohio State University then located at Ohio Wesleyan University's Perkins Observatory, Delaware, Ohio. The signal bore expected hallmarks of potential non-terrestrial and non-Solar System origin. It lasted for the full 72-second duration that Big Ear observed it, but has not been detected again. The signal has been the subject of significant media attention.

Amazed at how closely the signal matched the expected signature of an interstellar signal in the antenna used, Ehman circled the signal on the computer printout and wrote the comment "Wow!" on its side. This comment became the intensity variation of the signal. A space denotes an intensity between 0 and 1, the numbers 1 to 9 denote the correspondingly numbered intensities (from 1.000 to 10.000), and intensities of 10.0 and above are denoted by a letter ('A' corresponds to intensities between 10.0 and 11.0, 'B' to 11.0 to 12.0, etc.). The value 'U' (an intensity between 30.0 and 31.0) was the highest detected by the radio telescope, on a linear scale it was over 30 times louder than normal deep space.[1] The intensity in this case is the unitless signal-to-noise ratio, where noise was averaged for that band over the previous few minutes.

Two different values for its frequency have been given: 1420.356 MHz (J. D. Kraus) and 1420.4556 MHz (J. R. Ehman). The frequency 1420 is significant for SETI searchers because, it is reasoned, hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, and hydrogen resonates at about 1420 MHz, thus extraterrestrials might use that frequency on which to transmit a strong signal. The frequency of the Wow! signal matches very closely with the hydrogen line, which is at 1420.40575177 MHz. The two different values given for the frequency of the Wow! signal (1420.356 MHz and 1420.4556 MHz) are the same distance apart to the hydrogen line—the first being about 0.0498 MHz less than the hydrogen line, and the second being about 0.0498 MHz more than the hydrogen line. The bandwidth of the signal is less than 10 kHz (each column on the printout corresponds to a 10 kHz-wide channel; the signal is only present in one column).

The original print out of the Wow! signal, complete with Jerry Ehman's famous exclamation, is preserved by the Ohio Historical Society.

Determining a precise location in the sky was complicated by the fact that the Big Ear telescope used two feed horns to search for signals, each pointing to a slightly different direction in the sky following Earth's rotation; the Wow! signal was detected in one of the horns but not in the other, although the data were processed in such a way that it is impossible to determine in which of the two horns the signal entered. There are, therefore, two possible right ascension values:

19h22m24.64s ± 5s (positive horn)
19h25m17.01s ± 5s (negative horn)

The declination was unambiguously determined to be −27°03′ ± 20′. The preceding values are all expressed in terms of the B1950.0 equinox.

Converted into the J2000.0 equinox, the coordinates become RA= 19h25m31s ± 10s or 19h28m22s ± 10s and declination= −26°57′ ± 20′

This region of the sky lies in the constellation Sagittarius, roughly 2.5 degrees south of the fifth-magnitude star group Chi Sagittarii. Tau Sagittarii is the closest easily visible star.

The Big Ear telescope was fixed and used the rotation of the Earth to scan the sky. At the speed of the Earth's rotation, and given the width of the Big Ear's observation "window", the Big Ear could observe any given point for just 72 seconds. A continuous extraterrestrial signal, therefore, would be expected to register for exactly 72 seconds, and the recorded intensity of that signal would show a gradual peaking for the first 36 seconds—until the signal reached the center of Big Ear's observation "window"— and then a gradual decrease.

Therefore, both the length of the Wow! signal, 72 seconds, and the shape of the intensity graph may correspond to a possible extraterrestrial origin.

The signal was expected to appear three minutes apart in each of the horns, but this did not happen. Ehman unsuccessfully looked for recurrences of the signal using Big Ear in the months after the detection.

In 1987 and 1989, Robert Gray searched for the event using the META array at Oak Ridge Observatory, but did not re-detect it.

In a July 1995 test of signal detection software to be used in its upcoming Project Argus search, SETI League executive director H. Paul Shuch made several drift-scan observations of the 'Wow' signal's coordinates with a 12 meter radio telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Green Bank WV, also achieving a null result.

In 1995 and 1996, Gray also searched for the signal using the Very Large Array, which is significantly more sensitive than Big Ear.

Gray and Simon Ellingsen later searched for recurrences of the event in 1999 using the 26m radio telescope at the University of Tasmania's Mount Pleasant Radio Observatory. Six 14-hour observations were made at positions in the vicinity, but did not detect anything similar to the Wow! signal.

Interstellar scintillation of a weaker continuous signal—similar, in effect, to atmospheric twinkling—could be a possible explanation, although this still would not exclude the possibility of the signal being artificial in its nature. However, even by using the significantly more sensitive Very Large Array, such a signal could not be detected, and the probability that a signal below the Very Large Array level could be detected by the Big Ear radio telescope due to interstellar scintillation is low. Other speculations include a rotating lighthouse-like source, a signal sweeping in frequency, or a one-time burst.

Ehman has stated his doubts that the signal is of intelligent extraterrestrial origin: "We should have seen it again when we looked for it 50 times. Something suggests it was an Earth-sourced signal that simply got reflected off a piece of space debris."

He later recanted his skepticism somewhat, after further research showed an Earth-borne signal to be very unlikely, due to the requirements of a space-borne reflector being bound to certain unrealistic requirements to sufficiently explain the nature of the signal. Also, the 1420 MHz signal is problematic in itself in that it is "protected spectrum": it is bandwidth in which terrestrial transmitters are forbidden to transmit due to it being reserved for astronomical purposes. In his most recent writings, Ehman resists "drawing vast conclusions from half-vast data"—acknowledging the possibility that the source may have been military in nature or otherwise may have been a production of Earth-bound humans.

[Duke of Buckingham]

Iceland Volcano: Lava Explodes From Ice Cap


Fire and Ice
Photograph by Ragnar Axelsson, AP

Ash and roughly thirty-story-tall lava fountains shoot from a half-mile-long (0.8-kilometer-long) rupture in the icy cap of southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced AY-uh-full-ay-ho-kul) volcano early Sunday.

Because volcanic ash can cripple jet engines, flights were not allowed in Icelandic airspace Sunday. As of Monday, air travel was gradually returning to normal, the Associated Press reported.

The geology of Iceland, though, is anything but normal. The volcanic island lies just south of the Arctic Circle atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where two tectonic plates are forever pulling apart.

Magma from deep inside Earth rushes upward, filling the gaps and fueling Iceland's volcanic eruptions, which occur about once every five years.


Lava Fountains
Photograph by Ragnar Axelsson, AP

No damage or injuries have been reported as a result of the Icelandvolcanic eruption (pictured early Sunday), despite pooling magma, ash clouds, and towering lava fountains—as well as hundreds of small earthquakes felt by area residents this month, according to the Web site of the London Times.

The last volcanic eruption in the Eyjafjallajokull glacier area took place in 1821 and continued for roughly two years, according to the Associated Press.


Lava Glow
Photograph by Halldor Kolbeins, AFP, Getty Images

Seen from a distance, Sunday's eruptions greet the Icelandic countryside like a sunrise.

The lava fountains on Eyjafallajoekull volcano, which is 5,466 feet (1,666 meters) tall, threatened to melt parts of the adjacent Eyjafjallajokull glacier, sparking fears of flooding in the sparsely populated farmland below.

"We estimate no one is in danger in the area, but we have started an evacuation plan, and between 500 and 600 people are being evacuated," Sigurgeir Gudmundsson of Iceland's civil-protections agency told the AFP news service Sunday.

Late Sunday some residents from the outskirts of the evacuation zone were permitted to go home as floods failed to materialize. Scientific overflights Monday aimed to determine whether the rest of the evacuees could do the same, the Associated Press reported.


Volcanic Chain Reaction?
Photograph by Hans Strand, Corbis

Not far from Eyjafjallajokull glacier, the much larger Mýrdalsjökull glacier (satellite map) hides the fiery, gently sloping Katla volcano that lies under the ice.

Considered one of Iceland's most dangerous volcanoes, Katla last erupted in 1918 and could be roused by the nearby rumblings that began over the weekend, scientists warned Monday.


"Historically, we know of three eruptions in Katla linked to eruptions in Eyjafjallajokull," Magnús Tumi Gudmundsson, a professor of geophysics and civil-protection adviser, told the AFP news service. For now, though, the giant's sleep appears undisturbed.


Slow Burn?
Photograph by Halldor Kolbeins, AFP, Getty Images

Burning brightly above the rim of the 2.5-mile-wide (4-kilometer-wide) Eyjafallajoekull volcano crater, lava fountains in Iceland showed few signs of stopping on Sunday.

The unpredictable eruption could fizzle tomorrow or flourish for two years, geophysicist Magnús Tumi Gudmundsson said at a press conference Monday, according to Iceland Review Online.

[Duke of Buckingham]

“A single death is a tragedy;
a million deaths is a statistic.”

Joseph Stalin

[Duke of Buckingham]

Every day's a perfect gift of time for us to use. Hours waiting to be filled in any way we choose. Each morning brings a quiet hope that rises with the sun. Each evening brings the sweet content that comes with work well done.

You can come in here and be one of us, serve mankind and feel the happyness of a job well done.

[Duke of Buckingham]

Funny Pictures

[Duke of Buckingham]

Higgs found
Last particle in physics' standard model falls into place

By Alexandra Witze
Web edition : Wednesday, July 4th, 2012

Finally, physics’s zoo of subatomic particles is full. Scientists have almost certainly snared the Higgs boson, the last particle waiting to be roped into the fold.

Decades after it was proposed, the Higgs emerged in the shards of particle collisions at the world’s most powerful accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN laboratory near Geneva. Physicists announced the discovery on July 4 during a seminar at the lab.

“We have now found the last missing cornerstone of the standard model,” said Rolf-Dieter Heuer, CERN’s director-general. “It’s the beginning of a long journey to investigate all the properties of this interesting particle.”

The particle’s mass is around 125 billion electron volts, or about 133 times the mass of a proton. CERN captured the Higgs in two huge experiments, each of which independently reached the gold-standard statistical level for confirming the particle’s discovery.

One of the theorists who first proposed the particle nearly five decades ago joined in the all-around congratulations. “It really is an incredible thing that it’s happened in my lifetime,” said Peter Higgs of the University of Edinburgh.

In one respect, finding the Higgs simply confirms the standard model, physicists’ framework for understanding the particles that make up the universe and the forces that govern them. But the discovery also opens new areas to explore, including alternate versions of the standard model that could explain some of the biggest unanswered questions about the cosmos.

The Higgs traces back to 1964, when several physicists independently dreamed up the idea of an energy field that would have permeated the early universe (and persisted to the present). “In all honesty we were trying to solve a more modest problem,” said theorist Carl Hagen of the University of Rochester in New York. In certain theoretical calculations, particles with zero mass kept inconveniently popping up: In trying to get rid of those particles, Higgs, Hagen and others realized that once the universe cooled enough from its initial Big Bang, this energy field would have had to emerge.

Like a puddle of molasses, the field resists the motion of particles moving through it. Such resistance to motion, or inertia, is the defining quality of mass. Subatomic particles therefore acquire differing amounts of mass depending on how strongly they interact with the energy field.

Known as the Higgs field, its existence also required a new particle — the Higgs boson. (Bosons are a class of fundamental particles defined by their quantum properties.) Finding the Higgs was a major goal of the Superconducting Super Collider, an atom-smasher that was being built beneath Waxahachie, Texas, when the U.S. Congress canceled it under budget pressures in 1993. The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, in Batavia, Ill., also chased the Higgs until shutting down its biggest machine last year.

Today, CERN scientists hunt the Higgs by smashing two beams of protons together at the $10 billion LHC. Out of a trillion proton-proton collisions, perhaps one will create a Higgs particle, which then decays almost instantaneously into other particles. Sensitive detectors placed at the sites of these smashups look for signatures of several ways the Higgs might have decayed. “It’s not a needle in a haystack — it’s much worse than a needle in a haystack,” said Joe Lykken, a theoretical physicist at Fermilab.

In its lifetime, the LHC has created some 500 trillion collisions overall. If each collision were represented by a grain of sand, the total number of those collisions would fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, said Joe Incandela, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a spokesman for one LHC experiment. Yet the grains from the signals of interest — the possible Higgses — would cover only the tip of your finger.

Both experiments looked at multiple ways the Higgs could decay, such as into two photons or into two Z particles.

One of the LHC’s two main detectors, the CMS experiment, found signs of a particle with a mass of 125.3 billion electron volts, plus or minus 0.6 billion electron volts, Incandela said. The statistical strength of a signal is measured by a quantity called sigma: A five-sigma result, considered the standard to claim a discovery, means there is a 1-in-3.5 million chance that a statistical fluke could have created a signal of that magnitude or greater.

In three of five decay paths studied, CMS found the Higgs with a statistical significance of 5.1 sigma. Adding in the other two channels, which have relatively little data, lowered that to 4.9 sigma — but the results are still consistent with a Higgs being there, said physicist Elizabeth Simmons of Michigan State University.

The competing ATLAS experiment spotted a new particle with a mass of 126.5 billion electron volts, with a statistical uncertainty at a 5.0 sigma level when combining the decay paths it examined. Independent physicist Philip Gibbs combined data from both ATLAS and CMS, using only the decay in which the Higgs produces two photons, to come up with an unofficial six-sigma signal.

The Higgs masses found by both experiments are consistent with one another given the uncertainty ranges in each measurement, said ATLAS spokeswoman Fabiola Gianotti (though she did not give a numerical error range for her experiment). Both teams will also present their work this week at the International Conference on High-Energy Physics in Melbourne, Australia.

“It’s a great day for particle physics and it’s really a profound discovery about how nature works,” said Pier Oddone, director of Fermilab.

CERN won the transatlantic race to find the Higgs after Fermilab’s proton-antiproton accelerator shut down last September. On July 2, in their final analysis, Fermilab physicists reported that their data could narrow the Higgs mass range only to between 115 billion and 135 billion electron volts, with a statistical significance of 2.9 sigma (SN Online: 7/2/12).

Since April the LHC has been colliding beams at energies of 8 trillion electron volts — 4 trillion electron volts in each beam — at four times the energy of Fermilab’s machine. Lab officials have decided to extend the LHC’s current run by up to three months to gather as much data as possible before it shuts down for two years for a major upgrade to 14 trillion electron volts.

Now that the Higgs has almost certainly been found, scientists are looking forward to learning more about it. So far, the particle seen in the experiments looks like the Higgs as predicted by the standard model, Heuer said, but slight differences could still exist. He compared the task to trying to determine from afar if a person approaching is your best friend or your best friend’s twin. Only when the person gets close enough can you determine which one it is. LHC measurements should soon reveal whether the particle’s properties match those predicted by the standard model, or whether new physics might be at work.

“Confirmation of theory is satisfying, but it would be more eventful if there were significant disagreements and controversies to resolve,” said Frank Taylor, an MIT physicist who works on the ATLAS collaboration.

One well-loved extension of the standard model is a theory known as supersymmetry, which holds that all known particles have a heavy supersymmetric partner as yet unseen. The concept opens up all sorts of areas to explore. One version of supersymmetry, for instance, predicts that at least five kinds of Higgs boson should exist, although only the lightest would be detectable at the LHC. Other supersymmetric particles may account for dark matter, the mysterious stuff that makes up most of the matter in the universe but which scientists have yet to identify.

If supersymmetry is right, the LHC has a shot at detecting many of these new particles as it continues its Higgs-refining quest. “It’s the path to answer these other questions,” said Gordon Kane, a theoretical physicist at the University of Michigan whose work has predicted a Higgs in the mass range found.

Fermilab’s Rob Roser said far more is yet to come from the LHC. “They’re in a new regime of energy and statistical precision, and this may not be the only surprise we have this year from them.”

A computer visualization depicts one array of particle debris that physicists would expect from the decay of the Higgs boson in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator. After years of effort, officials at the European laboratory CERN report that the Higgs apparently exists and has characteristics in line with the standard model of particle physics. Credit: © 2012 CERN

[Duke of Buckingham]

Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something.

Thomas A. Edison