Archive for October, 2009

Oct 30 2009

Lab Partner

Published by under Astrophysics

On the Fermi Blog it says: “We see the Sun, the Moon and the Earth shining in high energy gamma-rays.”*  So instead of “the quiet Sun” in the days of EGRET, the more sensitive Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope tracks the Sun across the sky, sensing gamma rays >100 MeV.  In the YouTube lecture of January 2008 I explained this and basically foretold that GLAST (former name) would see the Sun in high energy gamma rays and more from the Earth than with EGRET.

To the FGrST people, try looking under your feet!  And oh, that lab partner sitting next to you, he’s throwing and catching gamma rays as well.

Sadly, the day GLAST launched, a tornado went through KSU.  The tornado went from engineering to physics, and that is what I am trying to do also.

* http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/GLAST

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Oct 26 2009

Schrödinger’s Cat

Published by under Quantum Mechanics

Thirty five minutes before or after a quantum measurement, part of Schrödinger’s cat could be part of the planet Jupiter, because gravitons travel at the speed of light in a vacuum.  One point of view that agrees with gravity is that the cat is not the same cat, no matter the time differential, as long as the time differential is not zero.

Erwin Schrödinger came up with his thought experiment in 1935, and by now part of the original cat may be headed back.  Since the moon and Jupiter are in fairly close alignment right now it may end up part of the moon instead of part of the cat again.

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