ملاحظات
مقدمة
(1)
I will often approximate this as 27
kilometers.
(2)
The Large Hadron Collider is quite big, but it is used to study
infinitesimal distances. The reasons for its large size are described later
on when we discuss the LHC in detail.
(3)
Unlike in the movie, Herman Hupfield’s famous song “As Time
Goes By” written in 1931 began with an unmistakable reference to people’s
familiarity with the latest physics developments:
This day and age we’re living
in
Gives cause for
apprehension,
With speed and new
invention,
And things like fourth
dimension,
Yet we get a little
weary
From Mr. Einstein’s
theory
الجزء الأول: تقدير نطاق الواقع
الفصل الأول: الضئيل في نظرك ضخم في نظري
(1)
Fielding, Henry. Tom
Jones. (Oxford: Oxford World Classics,
1986).
(2)
Quantum mechanics can have macroscopic effects in
carefully prepared systems or when measurements apply to high
statistics situations, or very precise devices so that small effects
can emerge. However, that does not invalidate using an approximate
classical theory for most ordinary phenomena. It depends on
precision as Chapter 12 will further address. The effective theory
approach allows for the approximation and makes precise when it is
inadequate.
(3)
I will sometimes employ exponential notation, which I
will use here to explain what I mean in the middle in terms of
powers of ten. The size of the universe is
1027
meters. This number is a one followed by 27 zeroes, or one thousand
trillion trillion. The smallest imaginable scale is
10−35
meters. This number is a decimal point followed by thirty-four
zeroes followed by a one, or one hundredth of one billionth of one
trillionth of one trillionth. (You can see why exponential notation
is easier.) Our size is about
101.
The exponent here is 1, which is reasonably close to the middle
between 27 and −35.
الفصل الثاني: كشف الأسرار
(1)
Levenson, Tom. Measure for
Measure: A Musical History of Science (Simon &
Schuster, 1994).
(2)
During the Inquisition, the Romans didn’t include Tycho’s
books in their Index, as would have been expected based on his
Lutheran faith, because they wanted his framework to keep the Earth
stationary yet consistent with Galileo’s
observations.
(3)
Hooke, Robert. An Attempt to
Prove the Motion of the Earth from Observations
(1674), quoted in Owen Gingerich, Truth in
Science: Proof, Persuasion, and the Galileo Affair, Perspectives
on Science and Christian Faith, vol.
55.
الفصل الثالث: العيش في عالم مادي
(1)
Rilke, Rainer Maria. Duino
Elegies (1922).
(2)
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Sign
of the Four (originally published in 1890 in
Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine, chapter 1), in which Sherlock Holmes
comments on Watson’s pamphlet, “A Study in
Scarlet.”
(3)
Browne, Sir Thomas. Religio
Medici (1643, pt. 1, section 9).
(4)
Augustine. The Literal Meaning of
Genesis, vol. 1, books 1–6, trans. and ed. by John
Hammond Taylor, S. J. (New York: Newman Press, 1982). Book 1,
chapter 19, 38, pp. 42-43.
(5)
Augustine. On Christian
Doctrine, trans. by D. W. Robertson (Basingstoke:
Macmillan, 1958).
(6)
Augustine. Confessions, trans. by R. S. Pine-Coffin
(Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1961).
(7)
Stillman, Drake. Discoveries and
Opinions of Galileo (Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957) p.
181.
(8)
Ibid., pp. 179-180.
(9)
Ibid., p. 186.
(10)
Galileo, 1632. Science &
Religion: Opposing Viewpoints, ed. Janelle Rohr
(Greenhaven Press, 1988), p. 21.
(11)
See, for example, Gopnik, Alison. The Philosophical Baby (Picador,
2010).
الفصل الرابع: البحث عن أجوبة
(1)
Matthew 7:7-8.
(2)
Blackwell, Richard J. Galileo,
Bellarmine, and the Bible (University of Notre Dame
Press, 1991).
(3)
Quoted in Gerald Holton, “Johannes Kepler’s Universe:
Its Physics and Metaphysics,” American
Journal of Physics 24 (May 1956):
340–351.
(4)
Calvin, John. Institutes of
Christian Religion, trans. by F. L. Battles in
A Reformation Reader, Denis
R. Janz, ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999).
الجزء الثاني: تقدير نطاق المادة
الفصل الخامس: الرحلة الغامضة الساحرة
(1)
For example, in ancient Greece, stadia didn’t have a
fixed length since they were based on different body part lengths in
different regions and in different times.
(2)
There is, of course, an electromagnetic field, but there
is virtually no actual matter.
(3)
Momentum is a quantity that is approximated by the
product of mass and velocity at small speeds but is equal to the
energy divided by the speed of light for objects moving at
relativistic velocities.
(4)
Gamow, George. One, Two, Three …
Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science (Viking
Adult, September 1947).
(5)
Note that this figure corresponds to a more precise
version of unification than was true for the original Georgi-Glashow
theory, in which the lines almost converged, but didn’t quite meet.
This imperfect unification was demonstrated only later on, with
better measurements of the forces’ interaction
strengths.
(6)
Although it comes close, we now know that unification
won’t occur within the Standard Model. However, unification can
happen in modifications of the Standard Model, such as the
supersymmetric models considered in Chapter 17.
الفصل السادس: الإيمان بما «نراه»
(1)
Feynman, Richard. The QED Lecture at University of Auckland
(New Zealand, 1979). See also: Richard Feynman
Lectures, Proving the Obviously Untrue.
(2)
Quoted, for example, in Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Simon
& Schuster, 1986).
(3)
Particle physicists measure energy in units of
electronvolts and those are the units I will use throughout. An
electronvolt (eV) is the energy acquired by a free electron when
accelerated through an electric potential difference of one volt.
More commonly, I will refer to the units GeV, which is a billion
electron-volts, and a TeV, which is a trillion electronvolts.
(4)
Ironically, the plot of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons centers on
antimatter, whereas the LHC is the first CERN collider for which the
initial states are purely matter.
الفصل السابع: حافة الكَوْن
(1)
Overbye, Dennis. “Collider Sets Record and Europe Takes U. S.
Lead.” New York Times, December 9,
2009.
(2)
In 1997, the European Physical Society recognized Robert
Brout, François Englert, and Peter Higgs for their achievement, and
the three were once again awarded in 2004 with the Wolf Prize in
Physics. François Englert, Robert Brout, Peter Higgs, Gerald
Guralnik, C. R. Hagen, and Tom Kibble all received the J. J. Sakurai
Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics from the American Physical
Society in 2010. I will refer only to Higgs and Peter Higgs
throughout the text, as my focus is the physical mechanism and not
the personalities. Of course if the Higgs is discovered, only three
at most will receive a Nobel Prize and priority issues will be
important. For an overview of the situation, see, for example, Luis
Álvarez-Gaumé and John Ellis, “Eyes on a Prize Particle,” Nature Physics 7 (January
2011).
(3)
It is ambiguous whether the Standard Model should also
include the very heavy right-handed neutrinos that are likely to
exist and play a role in neutrino masses.
الجزء الثالث: الماكينات، والقياسات، والاحتمالية
الفصل الثامن: الحلقة الحاكمة
(1)
Its original purpose was to accelerate protons and
antiprotons, but currently only protons, in its current use as the
SPS accelerator at the LHC.
الفصل العاشر: ثقوب سوداء تبتلع العالم
(1)
Physical Review D,
035009 (2008).
الفصل الحادي عشر: عمل محفوف بالمخاطر
(1)
See, for example, Taibbi, Matt. “The Big Takeover: How
Wall Street Insiders are Using the Bailout to Stage a Revolution,”
Rolling Stone, March
2009.
(2)
This point is also addressed, for example, in J. D.
Graham and J. B. Wiener, Risk vs. Risk:
Tradeoffs in Protecting Health and Environment
(Harvard University Press, 1995), especially Chapter
11.
(3)
See also, for example, Slovic, Paul. “Perception of
Risk,” Science 236, 280–285, no.
4799 (1987). Tversky, Amos, and Daniel Kahneman, “Availability: A
heuristic for judging frequency and probability,” Cognitive Psychology 5 (1973): 207–232.
Sunstein, Cass R., and Timur Kuran. “Availability Cascades and Risk
Regulation,” Stanford Law Review
51 (1999): 683–768. Slovic, Paul “If I Look at the Mass I Will Never
Act: Psychic Numbing and Genocide,” Judgment
and Decision Making 2, no. 2 (2007):
79–95.
(4)
See also, for example, Kousky, Carolyn, and Roger Cooke.
The Unholy Trinity: Fat Tails, Tail
Dependence, and Micro-Correlations, RFF Discussion
Paper 09–36–REV (November 2009). Kunreuther, Howard, and M. Useem.
Learning from Catastrophes: Strategies
for Reaction and Response (Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Wharton School Publishing). Kunreuther, Howard. Reflections and Guiding Principles for Dealing
with Societal Risks, in The
Irrational Economist: Overcoming Irrational Decisions in a
Dangerous World, E. Michel-Kerjan and P. Slovic,
eds., New York Public Affairs Books 2010. Weitzman, Martin L.,
On Modeling and Interpreting the
Economics of Catastrophic Climate Change, Review of
Economics and Statistics, 2009.
(5)
See, for example, Joe Nocera’s cover story on “Risk
Mismanagement” in the New York Times Sunday
Magazine, January 4, 2009.
(6)
The problem of irreversibility has been addressed by some
economists, including Arrow, Kenneth
J., and Anthony C. Fisher, “Environmental Preservation, Uncertainty,
and Irreversibility,” Quarterly Journal of
Economics, 88 (1974): 312–319. Gollier, Christian,
and Nicolas Treich, “Decision Making under Uncertainty: The
Economics of the Precautionary Principle,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 27 no. 7 (2003).
Wiener, Jonathan B. “Global Environmental Regulation,” Yale Law Journal 108 (1999):
677–800.
(7)
E.g., Richard Posner, Catastrophe: Risk and Response (Oxford University
Press 2004).
(8)
Leonhardt, David. “The Fed Missed This Bubble: Will It
See a New One?” New York Times,
January 5, 2010.
الفصل الثاني عشر: القياس والشك
(1)
In this book, I use the term “systematic uncertainty,”
rather than the more commonly used term “systematic error.” Errors
are often associated with mistakes, whereas uncertainty refers to
the inevitable level of imprecision, given your apparatus.
(2)
Again, people commonly use the term statistical error to
refer to an uncertain measurement due to finite
statistics.
(3)
Kristof, Nicholas. “New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and
Cancer,” New York Times, May 6,
2010.
الفصل الثالث عشر: تجربتا اللولب المركب للميوونات وكاشف أطلس
(1)
This quote has also been attributed to Robert Storm
Peterson and Niels Bohr.
الفصل الرابع عشر: التعرُّف على الجسيمات
(1)
This table includes separate entries for left- and
right-handed particles. These particles are distinguished by their
chirality, which for massless particles tells the spin along the
direction of motion. Masses mix the two—such as a left- and right-handed
electron. The precise distinguishing feature is less important for this
table than the difference in their interactions. If all particles were
massless, the weak force that changed up-type into down-type quarks and
charged into neutral leptons would act only on left-handed particles.
The strong and electromagnetic forces, on the other hand, act on both,
with only the quarks charged under the strong force.
(2)
The three types of neutrinos get paired via the weak
force with the three charged leptons. However, once they are
produced, neutrinos can oscillate into each other, no longer
remaining identified solely by the charged lepton with which they
are paired. The neutrinos will sometimes be labeled simply with
numbers to refer to their relative mass and sometimes with labels
referring to the charged lepton according to the
context.
(3)
If the initial b meson
is neutral, you instead see a track that originates from the decay
point, with no precursor track from the neutral initial
state.
(4)
The interaction among the W, the top quark, and the bottom quark is however
the reason the top can decay into a bottom and a W.
(5)
One can also define a relativistic mass that depends on
momentum and energy, but the implication is the
same.
(6)
Notice that this spread distinguishes bosons and
fermions, classes of particles distinguished by quantum mechanics.
Force carriers and the hypothetical Higgs particles are bosons. All
other Standard Model particles are fermions.
الجزء الرابع: بناء النماذج والتنبُّؤ وتوقُّع النتائج
الفصل الخامس عشر: الحقيقة والجمال ومفاهيم علمية خاطئة أخرى
(1)
Quoted in Stewart, Ian. Why Beauty Is
Truth (Basic Books, 2007).
الفصل السادس عشر: بوزون هيجز
(1)
On WNYC’s The
Takeaway, March 31, 2007.
(2)
Sometimes people also debate whether right-handed
neutrinos belong in the Standard Model. Even if present, they are
likely to be extremely heavy and not very important for lower-energy
processes.
الفصل السابع عشر: أفضل النماذج المحتملة
(2)
This is discussed in much greater detail in Warped Passages.
(3)
Again, this is discussed at length in Warped Passages. The original paper is
Lisa Randall and Raman Sundrum, Physical
Review Letters 83 (1999): 4690–4693.
(4)
Arkani-Hamed, Nima, Savas Dimopoulos, Gia Dvali,
Physics Letters B429 (1998):
263–272; Arkani-Hamed, Nima Savas Dimopoulos, Gia Dvali, Physical Review D59: 086004,
1999.
(5)
Randall, Lisa, and Raman Sundrum, Physical Review Letters 83 (1999):
3370–3373.
الجزء الخامس: تقدير نطاق الكَوْن
الفصل التاسع عشر: رحلة نحو الخارج
(1)
Original short film Powers of
Ten by Ray Eames and Charles Eames, 1968; Powers of Ten: A Flip Book by Charles
and Ray Eames (W. H. Freeman Publishers, 1998); also Philip Morrison
and Phylis Morrison and the office of Charles and Ray Eames,
Powers of Ten: About the Relative Sizes
of Things in the Universe (W. H. Freeman Publishers,
1982).
الفصل العشرون: الضخم في نظرك ضئيل في نظري
(1)
See e.g., Alan Guth’s The
Inflationary Universe (Perseus Books, 1997) for a
more extensive discussion of this point.
الفصل الحادي والعشرون: زوَّار من الجانب المظلم
(1)
Some dark matter particles are their own antiparticles,
in which case they need to find other similar
particles.
الجزء السادس: كلمة أخيرة
الفصل الثاني والعشرون: التفكير عالميًّا والعمل محليًّا
(1)
Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi pioneered the concept of flow
to describe this phenomenon in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Random
House, 2002).
(2)
Brooks, David. “Genius: The Modern View,” New York Times, April 30,
2009.
(3)
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The
Story of Success (Little Brown & Co.,
2008).
(4)
Gell-Mann, Murray. The Quark and
the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex
(W.H. Freeman & Company, 1994).
(5)
Teacher’s Edition of Current
Science 49, no. 14 (January 6–10,
1964).
خاتمة
(1)
Verborgene Universen in
German.
(2)
In German, “rand” means “edge” and “all” means
“universe.”
(3)
See, too, for example, Susan Jacoby, The
Age of American Unreason
(Pantheon, 2008).
