From Quarks To Black Holes: Interviewing The Universe

From Quarks to Black Holes Interviewing the Universe From Quarks to Black Holes Inter viewing the Universe Richard T. Hammond North Oukota State Universify b World Scientific New Jersey. London Singapore Hong Kong Bangalore Published b y World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. P 0 Box 128,Farrer Road, Singapore 912805 USA ofice: Suite IB, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NJ 07661 UK ofice: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WCZH 9HE British Library Cataloguing-in-PublicationData A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. FROM QUARKS TO BLACK HOLES: INTERVIEWING THE UNIVERSE Copyright 0 2001 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. This book, orparfs thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from fhe Publisher. For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923,USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher. ISBN 981-02-4625-0 Printed in Singapore by Mainland Press To Nancy, Katherine, Jennifer, and Matthew Preface I must admit that the idea of interviewing natural objects was not my own, and in fact would have thought it to be quite impossible, had it not been for a conversation I struck up with a carbon atom. As she told me of her spectacular creation in a remote part of the Universe, her incredible release in a supernova explosion, and her experiences on Earth, I could barely contain my excitement. It took me a while to reach a quasi equilibrium, but when I did I found myself furiously jotting down notes. It was such a wonderful experience I could not suppress the desire to recapture the moment, and to my glee, found an electron, who was much younger, equally willing to share his experiences about his creation in the upper atmosphere, his adventures in household appliances, and his hair-raising brush with a;nnihilation in an accelerator. I jumped at the chance when Jupiter volunteered for an interview, although was taken unawares at his unhappy nature, still brooding at his inability to have been a star. Buoyed with my initial successes, I ventured out a little further, and struck up a conversation with a black hole. This was extremely difficult, and most of my notes are gibberish, as I mistakenly tried to write down many of the equations she put on the blackboard. Unfortunately, I saw many objects falling in, and fearing for my own safety, was forced to bring the interview to a close. The interview with the uranium atom was equally surprising, but for different reasons. It was deeply concerned about being used in weapons of mass destruction, and I found myself on the defensive, surprised that an atom’s concern that, at times, outweighed those of humans. By now the word was spreading, and I had many visitors knocking at my door. In order to accommodate the growing queue, I decided to interview two at one time. This was a mistake, and although the fermion was well behaved, the boson was too self-centered and very rude. Nevertheless, they provided a good discussion on the roles they play in nature. The star I interviewed is, as you might suspect, our sun, but as you might not suspect, after emphasizing that it took the entire universe billions of years to bring together the elements we find on Earth, chides us for wasting this precious gift. viii Pmface The hydrogen atom is also somewhat surprising, and discusses the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics, as well as its more concrete predictions. The quark, however, takes us even deeper