omega tau » physics

/46/ The NASA TC4 Project

MaNo — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:57:35 +0000

This is a conversation with Brian Toon about the NASA TC4 project. TC4 stands for “Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling” and deals with the chemical, dynamic, and physical processes occurring in the tropical upper troposphere and tropopause transitional layer. In our conversation we cover some of the scientific goals of the project, the tools and technologies used (aircraft and satellites) as well as the general project organization. A later episode will cover the project from the perspective of an ER-2 pilot.

/41/ Oberflächenmodifizierung

MaNo — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:03:28 +0000

In dieser Episode geht es um Oberflächenmodifikation im Nano-Maßstab. Dazu habe ich mich mit Prof. Dr. Bernd Rauschenbach vom Leibnitz-Institut für Oberflächenmodifizierung unterhalten. In unserem Gespräch geht es unter anderem um Themen wie Formgebung mit Ionen- und Plasmastrahlen, Glättung im Sub-Nanometer-Bereich, Ionen- und Laserstrahl stimulierte Strukturierungsprozesse sowie Biokompatible Oberflächen und dünne Schichten. Wir diskutieren jeweils das physikalische Prinzip sowie Anwendungsgebiete.

/39/ Electron Microscopes

MaNo — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:11:20 +0000

This is an episode about electron microscopes with Bernard van Vlimmeren and Kees Kooijman of FEI Company. Among other things, we talk about the various kinds of electron microscopes, the components that go into electron microscopes, the important role of the sensors and a couple of example applications.

/31/ The Millennium Simulation

MaNo — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:12:49 +0000

This episode is a conversation with Volker Springel about the Millenium Simulation, which at the time was the largest simulation of the growth of cosmic structure, including a detailed model for the formation of galaxies and supermassive black holes. In the episode we talk about the physical/cosmological background, the simulation process and approach as well as some details about the hard- and software.

Volker Springel’s Website
The Millenium Simulation (Wikipedia)
VIRGO consortium
Cosmic Background Radiation (Wikipedia)
COBE Satellite (Wikipedia)
WMAP Satellite (Wikipedia)
Dark Matter (Wikipedia)
Dark Energy (Wikipedia)
Numerical Simulations (Wikipedia)
Fortran and C programming languages (Wikipedia)

/30/ The Large Hadron Collider

MaNo — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:38:07 +0000

This episode is a conversation with CERN’s Rolf Landua about the Large Hadron Collider. We start out by discussing the science and theory behind the LHC what the LHC aims to research, including the higgs boson, the standard model, super symmetry and extra dimensions. We then talked about how the LHC works (proton source, acceleration, superconducting magnets). We conclude the conversation by looking at the LHC experiments and discussing in some detail how the ATLAS detector works.

Rolf Landua website and at spiegel.de
CERNwebsite and info at Wikipedia
The Large Hadron Collider website and at Wikipedia
ATLAS Experiment
CMD Experiment
ALICE Experiment
LHCb Experiment
Big Bang
Peter Higgs
Higgs Boson
Spin
Boson
Fermion
Standard Model
Charm Quark
W and Z bosons
Weak Interaction
Tau Lepton
Neutrino
Super Symmetry
Planck Energy
Graviton
Grand Unified Theory
Superstring theory website, and at Wikipedia
Planck Length
LEP collider
Quarks
Gluons
CP Violation
Silicon Strip Detectors in ATLAS
Calorimeter
Hadronic Shower

/28/ Neutron Science at the ILL

MaNo — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:38:18 +0000

This episode covers neutron science at the Institut Laue Langevin in Grenoble. Helmut Schober and Ulli Köster cover what neutron science is used for, some interesting scientific experiments conducted at ILL as well as the physical fundamentals and the workings of the reactor and the detectors. We conclude the epsiode with a discussion of the ILL as a “research service facility” that offers all-around research support to visiting scientists.

/25/ Aerodynamic Lift Explained

MaNo — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:42:54 +0000

This episode is a bit different. I produced it together with Joe D’Eon from the wonderful Fly With Me podcast. Together, we explored the question of how aerodynamic lift really works – in other words: why airplanes fly. He went out and asked a fellow pilot about what he thinks how lift works. I went to the University of Stuttgart’s Intitute for Aero- and Gasdynamics and talked with Thorsten Lutz. He explained the details of how it works. If his explanation still doesn’t do it for you, take a look at Wikipedia. They have a couple of nice illustrations.

/22/ Nuclear Fusion at MPI für Plasmaphysik

MaNo — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:06:10 +0000

This episode covers my visit to the Max Plack Institut for Plasmaphysik where I spent a couple of hours with Matthias Reich talking about nuclear fusion. The episode has three parts. In part one we talk about the scienfic and physical basics of nuclear fusion. Part two covers some of the ways the MPI facilities work, and part three discusses the ASDEX Upgrade experiment at IPP in Garching.

/11/ Synchrotron Radiation Science at ESRF

MaNo — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:42:57 +0000

This episode is an interesting discussion about the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. I had a chance to talk to Claus Habfast, physicist and head of communications for ESRF. ESRF is an accelerator facility the creates high-energy x-rays that are used for experiments in various areas of science, from biology to physics to materials science and chemistry. In the episode, Claus talks about how ESRF works, highlights a couple of interesting recent experiments and puts ESRF into the context of other accelerator laboratories.