Category Archives: Physics

Schwarze Löcher

… sind weder schwarz noch Löcher.

Anlässlich der “Black Hole Week” von NASA veröffentlichte Markus Pössel im April auf seinem Blog eine Reihe zu schwarzen Löchern:

Relativ einfach: Woche der Schwarzen Löcher. 1: Sicherheitshinweise, 2: Akkretion, 3: Schattenrisse mit dem Event Horizon Telescope, 4: Wellenschlag mit LIGO, Virgo & Co., 5: Singularitäten als Wissenslücke.

100SekundenPhysik: Wie schwarze Löcher wirklich aussehen. (YouTube, 4min)

It’s not 2.00233183620 but 2.00233184122

The g-factor of the muon, that is.

Physics Girl: This result could change physics forever. (YouTube, 13min) “Explaining the exciting new Fermilab muon result to my production team.”

Here is the press release: Fermilab: First results from Fermilab’s Muon g-2 experiment strengthen evidence of new physics.

“The accepted theoretical values for the muon are:
g-factor: 2.00233183620(86)
anomalous magnetic moment: 0.00116591810(43)
[uncertainty in parentheses]

The new experimental world-average results announced by the Muon g-2 collaboration today are:
g-factor: 2.00233184122(82)
anomalous magnetic moment: 0.00116592061(41)

The combined results from Fermilab and Brookhaven show a difference with theory at a significance of 4.2 sigma, a little shy of the 5 sigma (or standard deviations) that scientists require to claim a discovery but still compelling evidence of new physics. The chance that the results are a statistical fluctuation is about 1 in 40,000.”

“Always do the right thing for the right reason at the right time with the right people. [And] you will have no regrets for the rest of your life.”

NPR Obituaries: Remembering Allan McDonald: He Refused To Approve Challenger Launch, Exposed Cover-Up.

“On Jan. 27, 1986, Allan McDonald stood on the cusp of history.

McDonald directed the booster rocket project at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol. He was responsible for the two massive rockets, filled with explosive fuel, that lifted space shuttles skyward. He was at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the launch of the Challenger “to approve or disapprove a launch if something came up,” he told me in 2016, 30 years after Challenger exploded.

His job was to sign and submit an official form. Sign the form, he believed, and he’d risk the lives of the seven astronauts set to board the spacecraft the next morning. Refuse to sign, and he’d risk his job, his career and the good life he’d built for his wife and four children.

“And I made the smartest decision I ever made in my lifetime,” McDonald told me. “I refused to sign it. I just thought we were taking risks we shouldn’t be taking.””

Link via MetaFilter.

OK GO: Upside down & Inside Out

I posted about this music video twice before, but the links have since broken. Here’s an update:

OK Go: Upside Down & Inside Out music video (YouTube, 3:21min)

Background material, all YouTube links:

Source: OK GO Videos and OK GO YouTube Channel.