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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Ten Top Physics Stories for 2007

In chronological order during the year:
  1. Light, slowed in one Bose Einstein condensate (BEC), is passed on to another BEC (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/812-1.html);
  2. Electron tunneling in real time can be observed with the use of attosecond pulses (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/818-2.html);
  3. Laser cooling of coin-sized object, at least in one dimension (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/818-1.html);
  4. The best test ever of Newton’s second law, using a tabletop torsion pendulum (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/819-1.html);
  5. First Gravity Probe B first results, the measurement of the geodetic effect---the warping of spacetime in the vicinity of and caused by Earth-to a precision of 1%, with better precision yet to come (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/820-2.html).
  6. The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab solves a neutrino mystery, apparently dismissing the possibility of a fourth species of neutrino (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/820-1.html);
  7. The Tevatron, in its quest to observe the Higgs boson, updated the top quark mass and observed several new types of collision events, such as those in which only a single top quark is made, and those in which a W and Z boson or two Z bosons are made simultaneously (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/821-1.html);
  8. The shortest light pulse, a 130-attosecond burst of extreme ultraviolet light (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/823-1.html);
  9. Based on data recorded at the Auger Observatory, astronomers conclude that the highest energy cosmic rays come from active galactic nuclei (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/846-1.html);
  10. And the observation of Cooper pairs in insulators (http://www.aip.org/pnu/2007/split/849-1.html).

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