Very Different, but so Similar

(Contribution from Dr. Towell)

I’ve always been amazed when two things that are extremely different have so much in common.  While examples are abundant, I’d like to highlight two.

Example one:  Our sun and the state of matter created in the collision of gold nuclei traveling at almost the speed of light.  Both of these are sometimes loosely referred to as ‘fireballs’ because they are hot and round.  Studying these objects helps us learn more about how the basic forces in nature work and how matter is structured.  Of course studying these objects, especially the inside of these objects is extremely difficult.  So these two objects have lots in common.

If you’d like to know a bit more about the core of the collision of nuclei, check out this story.  We call this state of matter a quark-gluon plasma or QGP.

On the other hand, these objects are worlds apart.  The core of the sun is hot, about 16 million degrees.  The core of the collision of nuclei is 250,000 times hotter.  That means the QGP is about 4 trillion degrees.  There is also a size difference.  The sun is about 1,400,000,000 meters in diameter.  The QGP formed in the collision of gold nuclei is about 0.000 000 000 000 001 meters in diameter.  That’s right.  The sun is about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times bigger than the QGP.  I don’t even know the name of that number.

So how do we study something as small and as hot as the QGP?  We build big detectors and study the particles that are emitted from it.  Again, this is similar to studying the sun since we don’t have the option of getting close to or inside of it either.  So we study the sun by viewing the particles it emits.

At this point I should admit that this example was brought to my attention by an email from a fellow PHENIX collaborator.  Don’t let some of his technical questions distract you from enjoying the beautiful pictures of the sun he points to.

************************** Copied Email  ********************************

Hello,

I couldn’t help but notice some similarities between our sun, the other nearby nuclear furnace, and our quark gluon plasma at RHIC that are too pretty not to post and see what people think.

1. If you prefer small angle correlations ponder this movie of a solar ‘jet event,’ a collision of a wave front with a sunspot.  It’s clear how dramatic the surface structure plays a roll in how the energy gets ‘transferred to the medium.’   You can imagine the sunspots as inductors that get charged up by the event, while the less ‘robust’ features get diffused across the surface.

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/hotshots.php?v=item&id=1

<…snip…>

2. For fans of large angle two, three, n particle, correlations you can correlate by eye with the ‘corona’ lense on soho:

http://sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/soho_movie_theater

For example, select LASCO C2 and see the sun working hard through the weekend with back to back explosions on saturday and sunday:

begin date: 2010-06-18

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are jet deflections, mach cones, et cetera mutually exclusive?  Perusing the deluge of data from soho it seems that for our sun at least not much is prohibited with respect to jet dynamics.  Can QCD do anything but increase the possibilities?

Marveling at the complexity of the universally yours,

Nathan Borggren

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This brings me to my second example of how different things are so similar.

Example two: Religion and Science.

I assume if you are reading the Physics blog from Abilene Christian University, you’ve thought about how science and religion are related and maybe you are now tempted to stop reading.  I hope you’ll stick with me just a bit longer.

This past semester Colter Lane led an excellent series of SPS chapels that focused on how physics (or science) and religion are related.  We considered how many people view these to be polar opposites.  We also heard from several Christian scientists that are respected for both their faith and success as scientists.  I’ll not repeat everything that was said, but merely point out one way the two are for me forever linked.  Studying this world that God made as a scientist routinely causes me to marvel at his creation.  I don’t know anything about Nathan’s faith, but his words of “Marveling at the complexity of the [universe]” remind me of Romans 1:20.

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”

Our God is an Awesome God and I am blessed to be allowed to study his creation and discover more of its hidden beauty.

-Rusty Towell