Nuclear Physics in Norway, 1933–1955

In the late 1940s and the 1950s, Norwegian nuclear scientists, engineers, and administrators were deeply split over their nation’s goals, organization, politics, and tools for research in nuclear physics. One faction was determined to build a nuclear reactor in Norway, while another fiercely opposed the reactor plans and focused on particle accelerators. The first faction comprised scientific entrepreneurs and research technologists, the second academic scientists, most of whom began their research careers in nuclear physics in the 1930s. To understand this conflict, I trace the development of nuclear research in Norway from the early 1930s to the mid-1950s, placing it within an international context. Roland Wittje is working on his habilitation thesis in the History of Science Unit at the University of Regensburg, Germany.     

A study of the reactions KN→Σ(1385)π between 0.6 and 1.2 GeV/c

An energy-dependent partial-wave analysis of the reaction $\text{K}\text{N}\text{→Σ(1385)π}$ has been performed in the energy region lying between 1.65 and 1.85 GeV. The resonant amplitudes of seven well known Y¹ resonances have been determined, and used to compute the corresponding (8) ? (10) SU (3) coupling constants.     

John Bell and the Identical Twins

I present a biographical profile of John S. Bell based upon extensive interviews I had with him. I present Bell‘s views on the quantum theory along with a simple explanation of his identity. Jeremy Bernstein is Professor Emeritus of Physics at the Stevens Institute of Technology and a former staff writer for The New Yorker.     

Exploring the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter; news from SPS and RHIC

Two experimental programs are aiming to study nuclear collisions in the energy regime in order to explore an essential part of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. The programs are motivated by observations that indicate a phase transition to take place in this energy domain: the onset of deconfinement. The STAR collaboration proposes an energy scan in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL. The ongoing program of the NA61/SHINE experiment consists of a two-dimensional energy-system size scan in nuclear and elementary collisions. The goal of both programs is to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement and to eventually discover the conjectured critical point of strongly interacting matter. A comparison of the strengths and limitations reveals the complementarity of the two programs.     

欧洲核子研究中心50年

文章介绍了欧洲核子研究中心创建50年来在科学上所取得的巨大成就,叙述了它对社会的影响,以及与中国的科技交流与合作.     

The Physical Tourist

John Calvin (1509–1564) founded a College and Academy in Geneva in 1559, the latter of which, through the efforts of many of its scholars, was finally declared to be a genuine university, the University of Geneva, in 1872. Meanwhile, thanks to the outstanding achievements of the rich, patrician Genevan scientists, in particular during the 18th century, Geneva secured a prominent place in European learned society. With the appointment of Charles-Eugène Guye (1866–1942) to the University of Geneva in 1900, Genevan research entered resolutely into 20th-century physics, particularly relativity, and continued to gain momentum before and after the Second World War when, in 1953, Geneva was chosen as the site of one of the most prestigious scientific laboratories in the world, CERN. I sketch these developments, pointing out many of the locations where they occurred in Geneva. For an interactive map of Geneva, see the website <www.ville-ge.ch/en/cartes/>. Jan Lacki teaches history and philosophy of physics at the University of Geneva and is a member of the REHSEIS research unit of the CNRS, Paris.     

Lambda polarization in the K− fragmentation region

Results on Λ polarization in the inclusive reaction K^?p→Λ + X at 12 and 16 GeV/c for 0.6<x<1.0, are presented. These results, obtained with the CERN Omega Spectrometer, show that the polarization is important at large x and increases with p_t over the covered range 0<p_t<1.2 GeV/c. The average polarization for 31 857 lambdas with x>0.6 is P_Λ = 0.35 ± 0.02, along the direction $\text{K}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{×}\text{Λ}$. The polarization can be expressed as P(x, p_t) = (0.66±0.03)p_t independent of x in the range covered by the experiment.     

Standard Model theory calculations and experimental tests

To present knowledge, all the physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) can be described in the framework of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. Indeed the newly discovered Higgs boson with a mass close to 125 GeV seems to confirm the predictions of the SM. Thus, besides looking for direct manifestations of the physics beyond the SM, one of the primary missions of the LHC is to perform ever more stringent tests of the SM. This requires not only improved theoretical developments to produce testable predictions and provide experiments with reliable event generators, but also sophisticated analyses techniques to overcome the formidable experimental environment of the LHC and perform precision measurements. The present article proposes an overview of the present theoretical tools and of the experimental results in the field of strong and electroweak interactions.     

Observation of a narrow hyperon state of mass 3.17 GeV

We present evidence for a narrow Y¹ with a mass of 3.17 GeV and a width ? 20 MeV decaying to ΣKK? + pions, ΛKK? + pions and ΞK + pions. The data come from two high statistics K^?p bubble chamber experiments with a sensitivity of ≈100 eV/μbat 8.25 GeV/c and ≈ 45 eV/μbat 6.5 GeV/c.