A week of the strong (force, that is)
An overwhelming urge to explain the strong force -- the force that binds
quarks together -- descended upon some Quantum Diarists recently.
John Ellis celebrates that
the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics recognized the scientists who devised the
theory of the strong interaction. The theory "not only has remarkable
properties, but it is also a startlingly simple theory, in principle, and
one that is also very beautiful."
Tommaso Dorigo describes in more
detail the particles that carry the strong force, known as gluons.
Finally, Peter Steinberg discusses how his lab is probing quarks and the
forces between them by attempting to create
a new form of matter called the quark-gluon plasma.
What physicists want Of course, physicists’ deepest desires are highly personal. But there are some commonalities. Ursula Bassler reports that the European community at Fermilab is lamenting the loss of their beloved Baltic Bakery pumpernickel bread, which has disappeared from local stores.
