Information+on+particle+physics+and+the+talk+with+Brian+Greene

Another thing that we have started to do these last couple of weeks is step back from looking at all the data and filtering, and just look at some of the discoveries and what is actually happening with particle physics. A couple interesting websites I found while looking up information were : @http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/story/2012-03-07/god-particle-higgs-boson/53396440/1 @http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111222102947.htm These two websites added on more information about how the detector works, and how different particles have been found. This year we have mainly worked with the CMS, which collides two protons together, but there are other detectors on the LHC that do different jobs. A few more are ALICE, ATLAS, and LHC. I read that some collide a proton with an antiproton. This makes it so that different particles can come out of the detectors, and we can find new information. ATLAS was the first detector to come out with a new particle, which is called chi b(3P). This is a boson particle, and it is made by combining a quark with an anti quark, which then stick together. It has a strong force that binds the nucleus. This is different from a Higgs boson particle, which scientists have been looking for, because the Higgs boson particle does not have smaller particles that are made up into it, but a chi b(3P) is made up of the two quarks that are put together. The Higgs that was just mentioned is a particle that was just said to be observed a couple months ago. It is one of the biggest reasons for scientists to look in at the data, because the Higgs boson will go with the general theory of relativity that Einstein has thought of, and we will become closer to understanding how the universe works.

I was able to go to a talk about the universe by Brian Greene and I found it to be very interesting. The talk was about how everything came about, and whether or not we are the only ones in this universe. First, he talked about Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which tries to explain gravity. He gave an example as a blanket holding a bowling ball, and then marbles rolling around it, causing the marbles to move closer to the bowling ball. After this, he brought up many interesting topics such as how we could be in a hologram, we could be an illusion, how space is expanding, and multiverses. I knew a little bit about space expansion from going to the talk by the Nobel prize over at Notre Dame, but it made me think more about how the universe works. The rest of the topics I learned a lot about, but I feel like these topics are still being heavily researched, and that in order to truly understand them, I have to delve in deeper. I find the topic extremely interesting, but I can get lost very easily, and I am planning on researching more about holograms/illusions along with multiverses.