At the University of Michigan, an international team of physicists has begun experimenting with its tabletop-sized super laser, modding it into an antimatter "gun." It's not quite a black hole-firing pistol, but we're slightly terrified nonetheless. Up until now, machines capable of creating positrons -- coupled with electrons, they comprise the energy similar to what's emitted by black holes and pulsars -- have needed to be as large as they are expensive. Creating these antimatter beams on a small scale will hopefully give astrophysicists greater insight into the "enigmatic features" of gamma ray bursts that are "virtually impossible to address by relying on direct observations," according to a paper published at Arvix. While the blasts only last fractions of a second each, the researchers report each firing produces a particle-density output level comparable to the accelerator at CERN. Just like that, the Longhorns/Wolverines super-laser arms-race begins again.
Filed under: Science
Source: Arvix
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Juqe16JsF8I/
patricia heaton arsenic and old lace dionne warwick leslie varez ward solar storms uganda
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.