Author: John Healy

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Making matter from light – ultra energies and unification of forces

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E = mc² The Holy Grail of modern physics is a so-called theory of everything, a unified field theory, a theory which unifies all known “forces.” That is, unifies all the fundamental interactions of nature. The three “quantum” interactions (electromagnetism, weak, strong) and gravitation. A conventional sequence of theories depicts final unification as occurring at… Continue reading Making matter from light – ultra energies and unification of forces

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Sightseeing near the speed of light – realistic simulation

John Healy3 Comments

Paraphrasing: Just a note before you go,A vision to be learnedTraveling near the speed of lightIt’s easy to get … Imagining how things would look when traveling near the speed of light is an interesting exercise. Using a freeware video game developed by MIT Game Lab (2012), this visualization (below) by The Action Lab is… Continue reading Sightseeing near the speed of light – realistic simulation

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Quantum mechanics math basics – tasting the notation

John Healy1 Comment

[Communicating science series] All hail vector spaces! Imagine walking into an elementary school classroom and finding kids talking about quantum states. Depicting quantum interactions using diagrams and bra-ket manipulatives, for wave functions. Someday, eh. While we may never achieve Ernest Rutherford‘s notion of a quantum theory so simple that we can explain it to an… Continue reading Quantum mechanics math basics – tasting the notation

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Life and the physics of having a moon

John Healy1 Comment

So, today I’m celebrating the Moon. The ancient mythology and modern physics of its stabilizing influence. Both the Moon’s natural prominence in the earthly sky and its regular cycle of phases as seen from Earth have provided cultural references and influences for human societies and cultures since time immemorial. After enjoying the full moon for… Continue reading Life and the physics of having a moon

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DUNE – digging for neutrinos, not spice

John Healy3 Comments

[Big Science, quantum foundations] While already following this Big Science project [1], with construction underway (for the next 3 years), I felt that a specific post was appropriate. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a massive worldwide collaboration between countries, organizations, and over a 1000 scientists. All hail neutrinos! [2] I spent some time… Continue reading DUNE – digging for neutrinos, not spice

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Quest for room temperature superconductivity

John Healy

[Placeholder] [Draft] This is a topic which I’ve followed for decades. A holy grail of physics: room temperature superconductivity. The physics of Cooper pairs: what makes two electrons pair up when their charge actually makes them repel each other? SciTechDaily > “Breakthrough in Understanding the Physics of High-Temperature Superconductivity” by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (May 12, 2020).… Continue reading Quest for room temperature superconductivity

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Black hole systems – communicating the cosmos

John Healy4 Comments

[Communicating science series] Today my post celebrates another science communicator, Fraser Cain, and his YouTube channel by the same name. This week, I noticed his video “Two Supermassive Black Holes Orbiting Each Other. Stephen Hawking Was Right!” (May 11, 2020). Well-done visualization. His channel description says: Space and astronomy news from Fraser Cain, publisher of… Continue reading Black hole systems – communicating the cosmos