Closing in on Higgs Boson Certainty, But “Standard Model Higgs” Remains Distant

Posted on March 15, 2013 by David

A Higgs Boson? – Likely

Higgs boson trails

Higgs boson trails

“The preliminary results with the full 2012 data set are magnificent and to me it is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson though we still have a long way to go to know what kind of Higgs boson it is,” said CERN’s CMS Experiment Leader and spokesman Joe Incandela (a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara) at a Particle Conference in Italia.

This is a bold step forward as, in the midst of last year’s Public Relations circus and media firestorm, Prof Incandela was brave enough to say “We don’t know if its a Higgs boson.”

However, some CERN physicists remain concerned that it is still too early to call the particle detection a “Higgs” until the evidence is totally irrefutable. This is in part due to a slight but persistent excess of gamma-gamma decays. They are not alone.
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Complex Computer Programs Weaken COBE Cosmic Microwave “Background” Claim

Posted on March 2, 2013 by David
Rocket Explosion From Software Bug (Ariane 5)

Rocket Explosion From Software Bug (Ariane 5)

Oxymoron: “Bug-Free Software”

  • The $1.4 billion US Air Force B-2 bomber wouldn’t fly on its maiden flight — thanks to a software bug.
  • Later another B-2 bomber crashed and burned due to another software bug.

“If debugging is taking bugs out of software – then programming must mean putting bugs in . . .” – Doug Goodall, Assembly Language Poet, 1989 (1)

This article is to let us ponder the complexity and potential flaws of computer programs used in astrophysics and cosmology.

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Key Cosmology Experiments: Original Papers-Full Text. Part 1

Posted on February 16, 2013 by David
Andromeda Galaxy M31

Andromeda Galaxy M31

One hundred years ago this Spring, the first article on galaxy Spectral-line Redshifts was published by Vesto Slipher which dramatically changed cosmology.

However, few have ever read this original paper, or the several other articles and books considered cosmology landmarks of past century.

These papers are so rarely read perhaps because to find them, it often takes quite a bit of effort and expense.  One sad result is that many of these important papers are seriously misunderstood; particularly about which topics were and were not actually discussed, and whether the papers reported on experiments or observations or were merely theorizing.

To help you clarify this for yourself here are a few primary cosmology papers for your intellectual appetite and entertainment.

Part 1 covers  Spectral Line Redshift,  Galaxy Radial Velocity,  Space Curvature,  Universe Expansion,  Large-scale Structure – Walls, Voids, Sheets and Filaments,  Plasma Cosmology,  Cosmic Microwave Radiation, Observational,  Cosmic Microwave Radiation, Analysis,  Cosmic Microwave Radiation, Whole Sky Map,  Nucleosysnthesis,  Galaxy Rotation Curves Interpreted as Missing Mass and Dark Matter, Steady State model,  Quasi-Steady State model,  Olbers Paradox, and General Relativity.

Redshift, Spectral Line:

“The radial velocity of the Andromeda Nebula,” Slipher, Vesto (1913)

Even earlier, in 1895, a co-founder of Astrophysical Journal, James Edward Keeler, obtained redshifts for Saturn’s rings (A Spectroscopic Proof of the Meteoric Constitution of Saturn’s Rings) — essentially the first use of Doppler effect to measure astronomical object velocity.

Hubble's Original Redshift Graph

Hubble’s Original Redshift Graph

Galaxy Radial Velocity:

“A Relation Between Distance and Radial Velocity Among Extra-Galactic Nebulae,” Hubble, Edwin (1929) Note how this paper does not discuss Universe Expansion. (Hubble in part, used Slipher’s high quality 1913 redshift data.)

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Posted in Basic Astrophysics, Basic Science, Conjectures OverInterpreting Data, Cosmic Microwave Radiation, Dark Matter, Experiments, Models, Observations Change Ideas, Redshift, Spectral Line, Structure | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why Don’t Three Quarks Add Up to One Proton? (and its not even close)

Posted on January 27, 2013 by David

You’ve probably heard a thousand times that a Proton is made up of three Quarks: Two Up-Quarks and one Down-Quark. Right?

So lets just take a quick look to see how they add up.

OK – an Up Quark weighs in at 1.8 to 3.0 MeV/c2 — Million Electron Volts divided by the speed of light squared. That is its “rest-mass.”

and a Down-Quark weighs in at 4.5-5.3 (MeV/c2)

So Two Up Quarks ~ 3.6 to 6.0 MeV/c2

Added to One Down Quark ~ 4.5 to 5.3 MeV/c2

Total ~ 8.1 to 11.3 MeV/c2

Now a Proton weighs in at 938 MeV/c2.

Whoa ! That doesn’t add up. This means a Proton is more than 83 times heavier that the three quarks !

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Oldest Spiral galaxy BX442 supports Hubble’s belief: Redshift does not mean expansion

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Louis Marmet

(c) Copyright 2012 Louis Marmet

Q2343-BX442: A false color composite image of galaxy BX442 generated with data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. (Credit: David Law/Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics)

Q2343-BX442: A false color composite image of galaxy BX442 generated with data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. (Credit: David Law/Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics)

A team of astronomers have reported the discovery of the oldest spiral galaxy known so far.

What makes this discovery interesting is that this grand-design spiral galaxy already existed only 3 billion years after the Big Bang when the universe was too hot and chaotic to allow such a regular structure to survive long enough to be seen.

Usually, galaxies born this early after the Big Bang look clumpy and irregular. When the astronomers saw the regular spiral arms of this unusual galaxy, they studied it further with the Keck Observatory in Hawai’i. The results confirmed that grand-design spiral galaxies existed at a very early age of the universe.

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Posted in Big Bang Models, Distance Measuring, Models, News, Observations Change Ideas, Redshift, Spectral Line | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

“We don’t know if its a Higgs boson” – yet Theorists rush to claim new physics ground

Posted on July 12, 2012 by David

“There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.” – Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (1)

Gold Rush Prospectors

Gold Rush Prospectors

Q: What’s the difference between a religious fanatic and an extreme science “enthusiast” ?

A: I’m beginning to wonder.

Neither seems to understand that there are boundaries to science.

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Did CERN Find a Higgs ? Well not quite. But they probably found a New Particle ! and extended their funding for years

Posted on July 6, 2012 by David
A proton-proton collision event in the CMS experiment producing two high-energy photons (red towers). This is what we would expect to see from the decay of a Higgs boson but it is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes. © CERN 2012

A proton-proton collision event in the CMS experiment producing two high-energy photons (red towers). This is what we would expect to see from the decay of a Higgs boson but it is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes. © CERN 2012

You might have seen the New York Times Headline on July 4th “Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to Universe”

“I think we have it”

said Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the director general of CERN.

While CERN’s spokespeople were reasonably tentative in their description (they called it “Higgs-like”), they did not exhibit as much caution as the OPERA folks did when announcing the evidence for potentially faster than light Neutrinos. This time CERN went to a lot of skillful effort to make it a media circus – and succeeded.

But did they find a Higgs particle?

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Will a Higgs Boson Discovery be Announced in July?

Posted on June 20, 2012 by David

Higgs Signature Concept - Credit Wikipedia

Higgs Signature Concept – Credit Wikipedia

Today I ran across lots of excited rumors on Particle Physics websites that a Higgs boson might be announced at the upcoming International Conference on High Energy Physics in Australia. (The Higgs Boson is a never-observed particle that allegedly “give mass” to particles essentially creating gravity forces.)

Should you place a bet that a Higgs particle has been found ?

My answer is closer to —

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Good Fun: For Two Years an Article here Voted One of Best Science Articles of the Year

Posted on June 19, 2012 by David

Writing Award 2011 3 Quarks DailyWriting Award 2012 3 Quarks DailyFor the second year in a row an article from this CosmologyScience.com website was voted one of the best science blog articles of the year at 3-Quarks Daily. This is thanks to friends, colleagues and you readers.

This year articles from two authors on CosmologyScience.com were nominated:

 

“Observation of two early yet mature galaxies: Rare objects or is Big Bang model inaccurate?” by the brilliant Louis Marmet of Canada’s National Research Council,

Mature Galaxies - Too Far and

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CERN’s Neutrinos – Now Obeying Speed Limit

Posted on June 9, 2012 by David

Its official – no “Faster than Light” Neutrinos at CERN.

CERN (not OPERA) Research Director Sergio Bertolucci announced yesterday at a Japanese conference that they have re-run the Neutrino experiments on four different machines and all neutrinos seem to be obeying the speed limit.

“Although this result isn’t as exciting as some would have liked,” said Bertolucci, “it is what we all expected deep down. The story captured the public imagination, and has given people the opportunity to see the scientific method in action – an unexpected result was put up for scrutiny, thoroughly investigated and resolved in part thanks to collaboration between normally competing experiments. That’s how science moves forward.”

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Cosmic Microwave Radiation Surprise

Posted on May 31, 2012 by David

(c) Copyright 2012 David J Dilworth

3 Quarks SemiFinalist 2012

This article Voted 3-Quarks Daily Semi-Finalist 2012

What gives more detailed images (higher resolution) – an iPhone 4 or the COBE satellite camera used to propel Big Bang into the leading Cosmology concept?

COBE Satellite - 2nd to Image Whole-Sky Microwave Map

COBE Satellite – Mapped Whole-Sky in Microwaves

iPhone4

iPhone4

News Flash: (June 17, 2012) This article was just voted one of the best science blog articles of the past year at 3-Quarks Daily. Thank you for your votes.

Well lets find out by trying this puzzle: See if you can figure out what fairly well-known astronomical phenomenon this is a photograph of :

COBE Astrophotography Surprise

COBE Astrophotography Surprise

Here’s a hint. This first photograph of the mystery phenomenon is presented with the same angular resolution as the camera on the COBE satellite: Cosmic Background Explorer – Differential Microwave Radiometer (COBE-DMR).

(“Angular Resolution” simply means how much detail is in an image. A camera with more megapixels has a greater angular resolution; more resolution = more information.)

The COBE satellite’s data / images were described as “echoes of Big Bang” and used to first claim cosmic microwave radiation is purely from “background,” not from stars or galaxies or space dust or gas. COBE’s “background” radiation map was used to eliminate the “ Steady-State” cosmology – Big Bang’s popular competitor at the time.

Can’t see anything? Try this sharper version of the same image with a resolution identical to the best NASA technology (WMAP) for cosmic microwave radiation. Continue reading →

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Posted in Basic Astrophysics, Basic Science, Big Bang Models, Cosmic Microwave Radiation, Definitions, Education, Fun | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 33 Comments

Dark Matter Missing in Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies – after thorough searches

Posted on May 10, 2012 by David

Gigantic pillars of Big Bang are creaking and starting to collapse like colossal dominoes. These are tumultuous times in Cosmology.

The voice you hear getting louder is Brünnhilde practicing Götterdämmerung in describing the fruitless and essentially completed search for a scattershot conjecture called “Dark Matter.” What a contrast with a mere five years ago when Dark Matter was expected to be found rapidly. Continue reading →

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Posted in Big Bang Models, Dark, Dark Matter, Observations Change Ideas, Static Models, Structure, UnObserved | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Your Cosmology Hypotheses Invited

Posted on May 3, 2012 by David
Great Ideas Invited

Great Ideas Invited

This is an invitation for you to submit your own Cosmology hypotheses for publication on this website.

You should get thoughtful responses from the several thousand readers of this website.

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Posted in Basic Science, Big Bang Models, Contest, Models, Plasma Models, Static Models, Steady-State Models | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

Electron No Longer a Fundamental Particle ?

Posted on April 20, 2012 by David
Spin-Charge Separation Graph

Spin-Charge Separation Graph
Credit: Nature, Schlappa et al

Amazing news: Researchers in Switzerland have separated an Electron into two smaller quasi-particles – a “Spinon” and an “Orbiton;” meaning they have physically separated the spin and the orbit properties of an Electron.

Until now, standard physics generally accepted that an Electron was a fundamental particle – that it was not made of smaller components.

However, as early as 1980 theorists had predicted an electron could be made of three smaller pieces: A “Spinon” (providing spin), an “Orbiton” (providing the orbit) and a “Holon” (carrying the charge).

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Astronomical Image Enhancements

Posted on March 18, 2012 by David

Astronomical Image Enhancement Engineer Brant Widgeon explaining . . .

Astronomical Image Enhancement Engineer Brant Widgeon explaining . . .

It is not always made clear that astronomical images are altered or “cleaned-up” before we see them. You know the colors of gasses and dust are “adjusted” so we can more easily see different astrophysical phenomena. You might be surprised to learn everything that goes into making the celestial beautiful.

Well, here’s an interview with an Astronomical Image Enhancement engineer, Brant Widgeon, who describes one of the lesser known phenomena that interferes with so many space photographs.

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“Perfect” Light Speed available with miniscule adjustment to the Second or the Meter Definition

Posted on January 30, 2012 by David

LightSpeed HyperSpace
Currently the speed of light in a vacuum is just a hair under 300,000 kilometers per second (more precisely 299,792,458 kps).

“In 1983, the metre was redefined in the International System of Units (SI) as the distance travelled by light in vacuum in 1⁄299,792,458 of a second.“

Because the speed of light (known as “c” to mathematicians and physicists) does not exactly match 300,000 kilometers per second, it makes calculations for physicists and mathematicians unnecessarily tedious. 

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Is Dark Matter “The Emperor’s New Clothes?”

Posted on January 20, 2012 by David
Cosmology Professor Emeritus Jayant V. Narlikar

Cosmology Professor Emeritus Jayant V. Narlikar

“To claim that you have simulated the Big Bang is like a schoolboy claiming after winning a high jump medal that he is close to jumping on to the moon.”

Esteemed Cosmologist Professor Emeritus Jayant V. Narlikar reports from a Cosmology Conference on the latest developments in Dark Matter, Gravitational Waves, FTL Neutrinos, Big Bang cosmologists hugely overstating their conclusions, and a few other topics. Continue reading →

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Must Faster-than Light Neutrinos Cause Cerenkov Radiation?

Posted on November 22, 2011 by David
Cherenkov Radiation Credit: Wikipedia

Cherenkov Radiation Credit: Wikipedia

A recent criticism of the apparently Faster-than-light (FTL) Neutrinos inspiring a lot of discussion is the claim that if Neutrinos are going FTL – they must cause Cherenkov radiation.

Why? That doesn’t make sense. And its never been observed so how would anyone test that?

Cherenkov Radiation Requires Charged Particles – But Neutrinos Have No Charge

The beautiful blue-violet glow of Cherenkov Radiation is only caused by charged particles, primarily electrons.

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Observation of two early yet mature galaxies: Rare objects or is Big Bang model inaccurate?

Posted on November 6, 2011 by Louis Marmet

Observation of two early yet mature galaxies:

Rare objects or is Big Bang model inaccurate?

(c) Copyright 2011 Louis Marmet

News Flash: (June 12, 2012) This article was just nominated as one of the best science blog articles of the past year at 3-Quarks Daily. In voting it just missed getting in the top 20 of the 107 articles nominated; proving more popular than several Scientific American articles.

Gamma Ray Burst Through Two Extremely Distant Galaxies Credit: European Space Organization (ESO)

Gamma Ray Burst Transiting Two Extremely Distant Galaxies
Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) recently reported a surprise while observing two extremely distant galaxies; at a very high redshift (z = 3.57); so far away that they are seen as they were a long time ago: only 1.8 billion years after Big Bang.

The surprise was to discover that the cool gas in these presumably young galaxies was very rich in heavy elements (all called metals), a chemical composition usually only seen in older galaxies because it takes so long to make heavy elements.

ESO reports that an international team used the flash of a distant gamma-ray burst GRB 090323 as a probe to study the spectra of the two galaxies (G0 and G1). The bright light emitted by the burst was absorbed by the gas in both galaxies. The measured absorption spectrum allowed an evaluation of the density of heavy elements. Continue reading →

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Can Dark Money Theory Explain World Economic Crisis? (spoof)

Posted on November 6, 2011 by David

Here’s a fun article comparing the claims that 96% of the Universe (matter and energy) is missing according to Big Bang conjecture and that 96% of the world’s cash that is missing due to derivatives.
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Not Sure about Uncertainty ;-)

Posted on October 28, 2011 by David

I’m Not Sure about the Uncertainty (Indeterminacy) Principle
(c) Copyright 2011-2017 David Dilworth

Apple Bitten: courtesy Wikimedia

Apple Bitten: courtesy Wikimedia

It is difficult to test the flavor of an apple without biting it or taking some sample out of it. You or I can test or measure its flavor by taking a bite of it or taking a small piece for examination. Either method of testing changes the apple irreversibly. Testing which harms or changes the tested phenomena or materials is called “Destructive Testing.”

When I take a photograph inside a building, where the light is dimmer, I usually use a flash.

Using a flash intentionally affects the subject of the photograph in a demonstrable way (a flash changes how someone looks in a photograph), and also in an unintended way — some people react to a strong flash of light in their eyes.

By contrast – photography without a flash does not affect the “model,” at least not with light.

Similarly, while X-rays show us the inner workings of some things, they also harm living photography subjects by damaging the DNA of living tissue.

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Faster than Light Concern – Detecting Only 1 Neutrino per Hour

Posted on October 25, 2011 by David

Regarding the potentially Faster than light Neutrinos, it is vital to realize that only about one (1) Neutrino is detected by Italy’s OPERA every hour; that’s one Neutrino per hour.

Compare that to how every square centimeter on Earth (facing the Sun) encounters some 65 billion solar neutrinos per second.

Neutrino Beam Path

When that single neutrino hits in Italy, its timed arrival is associated (extrapolated back) to a recorded proton pulse at CERN by using the time it would take for a photon to travel the same distance.

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Inflation’s Problems explained well

Posted on October 22, 2011 by David
Inflation Illustration<br>Credit: Jeb

Inflation Illustration
Credit: Jeb

Here’s a very clear article in (relatively) plain English explaining problems with the Cosmological Inflation conjecture by Sean Carroll in Discovery Magazine.

While I disagree with the author’s conclusion that the final ingredients of a “settled” cosmology hypothesis will include Inflation, this article is very well summarized, explained and organized.

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Stars or Sand? Are there more Grains of Beach Sand or Stars in our Visible Universe?

Posted on October 10, 2011 by David

This began as a simple question, but it has intrigued enough people that I decided to feature it as an article and expand it so we can have some fun.

_____________
Carol Charming:

“I have heard people say that there are more stars in the universe than there are the grains of sand ‘on the beach.’

What size is the beach and are the grains of sand coarse or fine? Or does the saying go “all the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches,” something I simply can’t believe to be true.”

Carmel (Charmel) Beach has many more grains of sand than our Milky Way has Stars

Carmel (Charmel) Beach has many more grains of sand than our Milky Way has Stars

Disclaimer —
You and I will work through to get an answer, but be warned — There will never be a definitive, conclusive, absolute, precise or final answer to this question.

For either counting stars or sand grains — there simply is no measurement, or accurate calculation or mathematical proof or method of counting – nor will one ever conceivably exist.

Its even worse than that — we can’t even get approximate numbers for either with much confidence.

We can only roughly estimate the number of stars in our own galaxy. Estimates easily vary by 150 times (more than two orders of magnitude) and estimates of the number of grains of beach sand are even worse.

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How Are Neutrino Flavors Different ? Maybe There Is Only Vanilla . . .

Posted on September 27, 2011 by David
Muon vs Electron Neutrino Decay Tracks Credit: Duke U. Saturday Academy

Muon vs Electron Neutrino Decay Tracks
Credit: Duke U. Saturday Academy

Neutrinos are fundamental particles, more closely related to Electrons than Neutrons because they are not made up of smaller particles (Neutrons are made up of 3 Quarks).

Here are some odd things about Neutrinos.

1. All three flavors (types) of Neutrinos have zero electric charge making them beyond invisible; nearly impossible to detect. They are only affected by the Weak force and Gravity; both effects are extremely difficult to detect at the atomic scale.

What makes Neutrinos unique among particles is that they seem to change structure or “flavor” (called oscillation) . . . in very short distances. (Kind of like the Transformer toys – except instead of changing shape, Neutrinos seem to change mass ! – both up and down – which of course violates the bedrock principle of conservation of mass-energy.)

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Posted in Basic Science, Definitions, Particles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments