I've just learnt that Fred Chichin, 53, passed away. Very sad news. For the non-french readers, he is one half of the Rita Mitsouko band (the other half being Catherine Ringer). The Rita M. is certainly one of the most inventive and crazy french band over the last 2 decades, a real UMO (Unidentified Musical Object). The duo is (was, I guess) composed of the extravagantissima singer Catherine Ringer and an extremely self-controlled guitarist, Fred. Believe it or not, such an unlikely duo was a couple even outta stage!
I can't resist to post below the tubest "Marcia Baila", which made the band that famous in France. It's about a girl who died of cancer, just like Fred did. The chorus says: "It is is death who murdered you, Marcia".
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Grandma, the quark-gluon plasma, and all that
Among many other things, my lovely grandma Janet, 88, thinks I work in a nuclear plant. I told her that, rather, I was doing particle physics and that it is something which has nothing to do with working in a plant (God only knows what I might be doing there!). Let me be clear: it is of course not infamous to work in a nuclear plant, but simply, that's absolutely not my job. Anyway, I am pretty sure she knows it: I guess she keeps telling that to her (many!) friends more to tease me than from a genuine misunderstanding. Still, I realize that it may not be clear to everyone (including myself sometimes) what I'm doing for a living. This was confirmed to me the other day when my friend Eléonore asked me the question explicitely: WHAT are you doing, EXACTLY?
In what follows, I'll try to explain simply and in a few words what my research field is all about (btw, if some of my colleagues happen to read my blog, please correct/add anything you like). So... once upon a time... no, too sweety. Father atom and mother... childish. That's why I love divulgating science: it's really tough.
Let me start with an atom. That's already pretty small: typically 0.000 000 000 1 meter (in other words, 1 billion atoms next to each other would be 10cm long). We know from Rutherford that is composed of a tiny nucleus, which size is approx. 100 000 times smaller than that of the atom. What makes the atom so BIG, comparatively, comes from the electrons moving around that very nucleus (the so-called electronic cloud). Now forget about the electrons and let's focus on the nucleus itself. It is made of at least one proton plus some neutrons. Quite often the number of neutrons is roughly the same as the number of protons, but that's not always true. The simplest atom is a nucleus composed of one proton (but zero neutron) with an electron moving around: ladies and gentlemen let us welcome the Hydrogen atom.
The protons and the neutrons are quite similar, except for their electric charge (the neutron being... neutral). To know what the atom is made of, say its structure, Rutherford measured how an electron beam scatters on a gas of hydrogen atoms. Much more recently but basically in the very same way, it has been discovered in the 70's that protons and neutrons are themselves composed of more elementary particles: the quarks and the gluons. In the "standard" model of particle physics, quarks and gluons are "elementary" particles, meaning that, unlike the atoms or the protons and neutrons, they are not themselves made of more elementary particles. As a matter of fact, no quark or gluon structure has yet ever been seen experimentally.
Surprisingly, and now it comes slightly more technical but also hopefully more exciting, those quarks and gluons always bind together to form particles like the proton or the neutron (called "hadrons" in the jargon). No one has ever seen a single, unbound, quark or gluon. We say that they are confined. This confinement mechanism is pretty mysterious and its origin is still pretty much unknown (despite many people working on it for years). However, there's a general consensus that when the Universe was extremely hot (roughly 1000 billion degrees), some 0.000 001 second after the Big Bang, the quarks and gluons were able to move freely, without binding together. It is only later -as the Universe kept cooling because of its expansion- that confinement showed up and gave birth to the hadron particles and, among them, the proton and the neutron that we've already met.
As you can see from the length of the post, we're getting close to what I'm doing, but not quite there yet. In short, we would like to observe experimentally the soup (let's call it the plasma, it sounds better) of freely moving quarks and gluons. A soup is always better eaten hot. To heat up the matter up to those extremely high temperatures physicists collide heavy nuclei, such as gold or lead (any element in the bottom lines of the Mendeleev periodic table, for those who may recall what this is). When the collision takes place, at CERN in Geneva for instance, many quarks and gluons are produced and start to interact with each other. Eventually, a gas (some say a liquid but I don't want to go in too much detail here) of quarks and gluons is formed, characterized by a temperature. Just like the Universe, this gas expands and cools and you can guess what happens then: below a "critical" temperature, confinement strikes back and quarks/gluons merge again into hadrons which are much, much later detected experimentally (how to detect a particle would deserve a post in its own). The tricky thing is that everything happens at very short space and time scales: the soup, which we call quark-gluon plasma (cool, isn't it?), is roughly 10 times larger than a proton -pretty small indeed- and its lifetime (before hadrons show up) is as short as 10 millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. Poor guys, not much time to enjoy freedom. You understand of course that it is both way too small and too short to be observed. Rather, we have to focus on some properties of the quark-gluon plasma which could survive well after its extinction (think dinosaurs!). Those indirect signals (we call them signatures) could then give evidence to the formation of the quark-gluon plasma in the very early stage of the collision, before the damned confinement process takes over.
That's basically what my research field is about. What am I doing then precisely? Well, the post is pretty long already and I don't want to confuse my rare and precious readers so I'd better stop here. Let's say I (try to) study some of those signatures, elaborate models and compare with the measurements done in the experiments to be able to tell whether or not, the quark-gluon plasma, sometimes refered to as the "Little Bang", has actually been produced.
You see grandma, that's my job. Now go and impress your friends :-) I hope this was instructive and not too confusing. Please feel free to ask any question. Now let me be back to more prosaic things: find something to eat and check whether some trains circulate this afternoon from Paris to Geneva.
In what follows, I'll try to explain simply and in a few words what my research field is all about (btw, if some of my colleagues happen to read my blog, please correct/add anything you like). So... once upon a time... no, too sweety. Father atom and mother... childish. That's why I love divulgating science: it's really tough.
Let me start with an atom. That's already pretty small: typically 0.000 000 000 1 meter (in other words, 1 billion atoms next to each other would be 10cm long). We know from Rutherford that is composed of a tiny nucleus, which size is approx. 100 000 times smaller than that of the atom. What makes the atom so BIG, comparatively, comes from the electrons moving around that very nucleus (the so-called electronic cloud). Now forget about the electrons and let's focus on the nucleus itself. It is made of at least one proton plus some neutrons. Quite often the number of neutrons is roughly the same as the number of protons, but that's not always true. The simplest atom is a nucleus composed of one proton (but zero neutron) with an electron moving around: ladies and gentlemen let us welcome the Hydrogen atom.
The protons and the neutrons are quite similar, except for their electric charge (the neutron being... neutral). To know what the atom is made of, say its structure, Rutherford measured how an electron beam scatters on a gas of hydrogen atoms. Much more recently but basically in the very same way, it has been discovered in the 70's that protons and neutrons are themselves composed of more elementary particles: the quarks and the gluons. In the "standard" model of particle physics, quarks and gluons are "elementary" particles, meaning that, unlike the atoms or the protons and neutrons, they are not themselves made of more elementary particles. As a matter of fact, no quark or gluon structure has yet ever been seen experimentally.
Surprisingly, and now it comes slightly more technical but also hopefully more exciting, those quarks and gluons always bind together to form particles like the proton or the neutron (called "hadrons" in the jargon). No one has ever seen a single, unbound, quark or gluon. We say that they are confined. This confinement mechanism is pretty mysterious and its origin is still pretty much unknown (despite many people working on it for years). However, there's a general consensus that when the Universe was extremely hot (roughly 1000 billion degrees), some 0.000 001 second after the Big Bang, the quarks and gluons were able to move freely, without binding together. It is only later -as the Universe kept cooling because of its expansion- that confinement showed up and gave birth to the hadron particles and, among them, the proton and the neutron that we've already met.
As you can see from the length of the post, we're getting close to what I'm doing, but not quite there yet. In short, we would like to observe experimentally the soup (let's call it the plasma, it sounds better) of freely moving quarks and gluons. A soup is always better eaten hot. To heat up the matter up to those extremely high temperatures physicists collide heavy nuclei, such as gold or lead (any element in the bottom lines of the Mendeleev periodic table, for those who may recall what this is). When the collision takes place, at CERN in Geneva for instance, many quarks and gluons are produced and start to interact with each other. Eventually, a gas (some say a liquid but I don't want to go in too much detail here) of quarks and gluons is formed, characterized by a temperature. Just like the Universe, this gas expands and cools and you can guess what happens then: below a "critical" temperature, confinement strikes back and quarks/gluons merge again into hadrons which are much, much later detected experimentally (how to detect a particle would deserve a post in its own). The tricky thing is that everything happens at very short space and time scales: the soup, which we call quark-gluon plasma (cool, isn't it?), is roughly 10 times larger than a proton -pretty small indeed- and its lifetime (before hadrons show up) is as short as 10 millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. Poor guys, not much time to enjoy freedom. You understand of course that it is both way too small and too short to be observed. Rather, we have to focus on some properties of the quark-gluon plasma which could survive well after its extinction (think dinosaurs!). Those indirect signals (we call them signatures) could then give evidence to the formation of the quark-gluon plasma in the very early stage of the collision, before the damned confinement process takes over.
That's basically what my research field is about. What am I doing then precisely? Well, the post is pretty long already and I don't want to confuse my rare and precious readers so I'd better stop here. Let's say I (try to) study some of those signatures, elaborate models and compare with the measurements done in the experiments to be able to tell whether or not, the quark-gluon plasma, sometimes refered to as the "Little Bang", has actually been produced.
You see grandma, that's my job. Now go and impress your friends :-) I hope this was instructive and not too confusing. Please feel free to ask any question. Now let me be back to more prosaic things: find something to eat and check whether some trains circulate this afternoon from Paris to Geneva.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Deep Thought
No matter what the water temperature is, I hate this very moment in which the body gets in contact with the water jet when taking a shower. See what I mean?
Monday, November 5, 2007
Helvetic Administration Nightmare (Part II)
Back to my plate story. Last Monday 29 I called again to know what the procedure is, which you better follow in Switzerland. I went first to my insurance company and got rather easily a specific document in which my car plate should not appear (since the Swiss authorities would not only give me new plates but also new NUMBERS). I then went proudly with that document to the "navigation" thing (in another town) and was already prepared to queue a bit, but then to get my new plates/numbers, which I would clip: case closed, move on! The reality turned out to be slightly different, sadly for me. After queueing for an hour or so, I gave all the required document as well as the front plate. When they asked me for my living permit. I then explained my case, that I had one (obviously actually, since without it I wouldn't have gotten the Swiss plates in the first place!), had just quit my job but still had not asked yet for a new one. Then the answer came as a bombshell, categoric: no plates for you, sir. In short, I live in Geneva perfectly legally (at least till Nov 31st, before which I need to ask for another permit), and I drive a car legally. But as soon as my plate is stolen: baby you can't drive your car.
All I had to do was going to another town, Onex, where the "Office Cantonal de la Population", OCP, is. Funnily enough, OCP became "Office de Contrôle de la Population" for the lady at the counter, which is even scarier to what it actually is (even though I must admit that's close to it). Back home after 2 1/2 hours. Still plateless. After several phone calls and lots ofcontradictory information, I finally got all the documents required to submit my living permit request. After getting there and queueing for 1 1/2 hour, I gave that guy all my documents and asked for a certification letter (25 CHF i.e. 16 EUR!). It was 5pm, perfect time to enjoy the traffic jam and go home.
On the next day, I went again to the "Service de la Navigation" with my expensive letter and hoping they would agree to give me my plates. No way. I asked for the permit, but they still don't know whether my request will be accepted. No plates. I insist politely, explained that I've lived and driven legally until this plate loss, that I submit my application within the 3 months, and that I DESPERATELY NEED THE PLATES TO GO TO WORK! My only fault is that someone had the funny idea to steal my plate. In a vibrating excess of zeal, the lady tells me she can only give me temporary plates. Sure, perfect, makes sense! After 1 1/2 day, I knew the story was close to its end, and my car close to its plates. Just one thing to do: "please call your insurance and tell them to fax me immediately a document for temporary plates". OK, no problem. I rushed to the first telephone, filled with excitement. To listen to this: "we don't do temporary plates". What? No way! Don't do this to me!!! Went back to the lady who was not surprised, and who suggested me to ... change my car insurance company (seriously).
Basically, it's hopeless. I just need to wait for the Helvetic Confederation to take a (positive) decision and give me this %@$%^# living/working permit. It should take 3-4 weeks. During which I should not use my car. And therefore not go to work. Because in Switzerland plates are not screwed. But I am, definitely. Let's see this positively: I decided to go for vacation till Nov 11th. God only knows what I'll do when I'm back!
All I had to do was going to another town, Onex, where the "Office Cantonal de la Population", OCP, is. Funnily enough, OCP became "Office de Contrôle de la Population" for the lady at the counter, which is even scarier to what it actually is (even though I must admit that's close to it). Back home after 2 1/2 hours. Still plateless. After several phone calls and lots ofcontradictory information, I finally got all the documents required to submit my living permit request. After getting there and queueing for 1 1/2 hour, I gave that guy all my documents and asked for a certification letter (25 CHF i.e. 16 EUR!). It was 5pm, perfect time to enjoy the traffic jam and go home.
On the next day, I went again to the "Service de la Navigation" with my expensive letter and hoping they would agree to give me my plates. No way. I asked for the permit, but they still don't know whether my request will be accepted. No plates. I insist politely, explained that I've lived and driven legally until this plate loss, that I submit my application within the 3 months, and that I DESPERATELY NEED THE PLATES TO GO TO WORK! My only fault is that someone had the funny idea to steal my plate. In a vibrating excess of zeal, the lady tells me she can only give me temporary plates. Sure, perfect, makes sense! After 1 1/2 day, I knew the story was close to its end, and my car close to its plates. Just one thing to do: "please call your insurance and tell them to fax me immediately a document for temporary plates". OK, no problem. I rushed to the first telephone, filled with excitement. To listen to this: "we don't do temporary plates". What? No way! Don't do this to me!!! Went back to the lady who was not surprised, and who suggested me to ... change my car insurance company (seriously).
Basically, it's hopeless. I just need to wait for the Helvetic Confederation to take a (positive) decision and give me this %@$%^# living/working permit. It should take 3-4 weeks. During which I should not use my car. And therefore not go to work. Because in Switzerland plates are not screwed. But I am, definitely. Let's see this positively: I decided to go for vacation till Nov 11th. God only knows what I'll do when I'm back!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Helvetic Administration Nightmare (Part I)
or to make it short: HAN, in the following. That's what I'm living these days and I have strong indications that it's gonna last for a little while. From a blogging point of view, such an ongoing story is perfect. It keeps the readers (are there any, by the way?) in suspense and I don't have to rack my brain to find little stories to tell. That's a little consolation because in real life, well... it ain't that funny. At all. A real nightmare.
Everything started with my change of status last September 1, when I stopped working for CERN in Switzerland (and I'm not speaking about financial issues, here). The day before, on a sunny Friday, I had to give back my "carte de légitimation", aka The Magic Card. Basically, this document is the living/working permit in Switzerland for anyone working for an international organization (such as CERN, UNO, or many others in Geneva). Without it, I am kindly asked to leave Switzerland unless I want to enjoy a bit more the Swiss life, its mountains and chocolate, in which case I need to ask specifically for another living permit. The request needs to be done in the three months which follow the arrival in Switzerland, or the loss of a previous permit. Still living in Geneva, I therefore have to "submit" my application before Nov 31st, after which I'll know wether I am still allowed to live in Geneva. So far, so good.
Car plates in Switzerland are not screwed, since they are not assigned to a given car but rather to the car owner. That is, should I have another car, I could use the same plates for both cars. A couple of weeks ago, I lost my car rear plate (lost or stolen, doesn't matter). I phoned immediately to the "Service de la Navigation" to know how I should proceed. Simple: I need to wait for 10 days before changing plates just in case these are regained in the meantime. I then ask the GPD, Geneva Police Department, which informs me that they would tolerate that I drive during that period. Meaning actually: as long as a I stay in the Canton de Genève, of course. In other words, I am not supposed to drive in France without a plate, which kind of makes sense of course. Except that I need to go to France because this is where I work, and that there's no way to commute with public transport. Not so good.
Each of the following 10 days, I had a little apprehension when crossing the border, hoping that the French customers would not notice my lack of plate (even though I posted a piece of paper in the rear window). Luckily, they only realize this at the end of that plateless period: the guy was pretty upset, threatened to fine me, but let me go in the end. Of course, I should not try to pass the border again (at least in that specific point customs house) but since the ten days were over, I would retrieve my good old plate or they would provide me with another one. This will be reported in... a coming post!
Everything started with my change of status last September 1, when I stopped working for CERN in Switzerland (and I'm not speaking about financial issues, here). The day before, on a sunny Friday, I had to give back my "carte de légitimation", aka The Magic Card. Basically, this document is the living/working permit in Switzerland for anyone working for an international organization (such as CERN, UNO, or many others in Geneva). Without it, I am kindly asked to leave Switzerland unless I want to enjoy a bit more the Swiss life, its mountains and chocolate, in which case I need to ask specifically for another living permit. The request needs to be done in the three months which follow the arrival in Switzerland, or the loss of a previous permit. Still living in Geneva, I therefore have to "submit" my application before Nov 31st, after which I'll know wether I am still allowed to live in Geneva. So far, so good.
Car plates in Switzerland are not screwed, since they are not assigned to a given car but rather to the car owner. That is, should I have another car, I could use the same plates for both cars. A couple of weeks ago, I lost my car rear plate (lost or stolen, doesn't matter). I phoned immediately to the "Service de la Navigation" to know how I should proceed. Simple: I need to wait for 10 days before changing plates just in case these are regained in the meantime. I then ask the GPD, Geneva Police Department, which informs me that they would tolerate that I drive during that period. Meaning actually: as long as a I stay in the Canton de Genève, of course. In other words, I am not supposed to drive in France without a plate, which kind of makes sense of course. Except that I need to go to France because this is where I work, and that there's no way to commute with public transport. Not so good.
Each of the following 10 days, I had a little apprehension when crossing the border, hoping that the French customers would not notice my lack of plate (even though I posted a piece of paper in the rear window). Luckily, they only realize this at the end of that plateless period: the guy was pretty upset, threatened to fine me, but let me go in the end. Of course, I should not try to pass the border again (at least in that specific point customs house) but since the ten days were over, I would retrieve my good old plate or they would provide me with another one. This will be reported in... a coming post!
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