Fall 2006

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  Universal Attractions

  What do fermions in atomic nuclei, neutron stars, and ultracold trapped gases have in common? They have the same fundamental behavior. [Continue Reading]

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  The South Broadway Shootout

  In the race to develop the world's best optical atomic clock, accuracy and precision are what count. Accuracy is the degree to which a measurement of time conforms to time's true value. Precision is a gauge of the exactness, or reproducibility, of the measurements. [Continue Reading]

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  Planetary Shakeup

  For astrophysicists working to discover the origins of stars and planets, a small clue can go a long way. They can't get a close look at distant stars and planets, so they only know the barest details about other planetary systems.
  [Continue Reading]

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  Molecule Magic

  Under ordinary circumstances, making new molecules can be simple and straightforward — just a matter of mixing together some highly reactive chemicals and letting nature take its course. However, when the reactants are a few millionths of a degree above absolute zero, the creation of new molecules requires the sophisticated tools of modern experimental physics. [Continue Reading]

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  Team Photon

  When illuminated by X-ray and infrared light beams in tandem, electrons can tap dance off a platinum surface because they've actually grabbed a photon from both beams simultaneously. As you might have guessed, there is more going on here than the ordinary photoelectric effect, which Albert Einstein explained more than a century ago. [Continue Reading]

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  Running Backwards

  Does the electron have an electric dipole moment (eEDM)? If it does, the standard model of elementary particle physics says this dipole moment is many orders of magnitude below what can be measured experimentally. As Fellow John Bohn quips, "It's a darn small one." [Continue Reading]

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  Seeds of Creation

  There is an enormous black hole at the center of every galaxy, gobbling up matter over eons of time — some for as long as 13 billion years. One of the great questions of modern astronomy is: Where did the seeds for all these black holes come from? [Continue Reading]

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  BEC Pancakes

  Pancakes of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of polar molecules are repulsive and potentially unstable. However, the physics of these dipolar condensates is delicious, according to research associate Shai Ronen, graduate student Daniele Bortolotti, and Fellow John Bohn. [Continue Reading]

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  Imaging the Nanoworld

  If you want to "see" physical objects whose dimensions are measured in nanometers and simultaneously probe the electronic structure of the atoms, molecules, and surfaces populating this nanoworld, you just might have to invent a new microscope. In fact, that's exactly what Fellow David Nesbitt's group recently accomplished. [Continue Reading]