Knocking on Heaven's Door (67 page)

simplicity and beauty, 267–68, 269

singularity, 194

skill and talent, 400–401

SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), 100, 105–6,
110

soufflé, 51–52,
52

spacetime, 91, 119, 314, 323–28, 364–65,
365

SpbarpS collider, 130–31

special relativity, 25, 96, 118, 284, 298

spectral lines, 176

speed of light, 8, 103, 228, 245, 251, 277, 282, 346, 349–50, 422
n

Spielberg, Steven, 9

Spiropulu, Maria, 300

spontaneous symmetry breaking, 263–64, 268, 283, 285

spyglass, 32

squark, 308–10,
309

SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device), 385

SSC,
see
Superconducting Super Collider

stadia, 422
n

Standard Model, 97–101, 105–9, 130–31, 181–82, 243–54, 273

and background events, 164, 209

elements of, 114–15,
115
,
242

graphical summary of,
254–55

LHC measurements, 211–13

reaching beyond at LHC, 114–19

search for Higgs boson, 286–96

particles, 222–23, 241–54

and supersymmetry, 302,
303
,
304
, 304–5

Standard Model forces, 88–90,
89

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), 100, 105–6,
110

stars, 32, 34, 174, 346, 358, 369, 390

Star Trek, 169

statistical uncertainty, 203–4

statistics, 200–201, 209

Stelluti, Francesco, 37

stochastic cooling, 109

stock trades, 191–92

strange quark, 247, 249

Streb, Elizabeth, 7, 15–16, 348, 399

string theory, 92–93, 194–95, 333–42, 351

and extra dimensions, 313–18

and landscape, 338–39

and model building, 334, 339–42

and quantum gravity, 54, 92, 335–36

strong force, 82–86, 88, 104, 114,
115

sublime, 40, 41–43,
42

subprime mortgages, 184

Sun, 35–38,
36
,
38
, 349–50

Sundrum, Raman, 167, 170, 175, 314, 322–26,
323
,
327
, 404–5

superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), 385

Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), 137, 138, 145–46

superconductivity, 235, 284

superfluid phase, 139

Supernova Cosmology Project, 372

superpartner, 303, 306, 311

Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS), 133–36,
134

supersymmetry, 92–93, 302–11,
303
, 318

and dark matter, 381–82

and hierarchy problem, 302–3, 306–7, 310–11

and Higgs boson, 288–89, 295–96,
304
, 305–6, 311

supersymmetry breaking, 306, 311, 313, 403

symmetry

in art, 266–67, 268

and Higgs mechanism, 278–80, 283–84, 285

systematic error, 425
n

systematic uncertainty, 203–4, 425
n

systemic risks, 182–83

systems biology, 20

Taj Mahal, 266–67

talent and skill, 400–401

Tale of Genji
, 3

tau, 114, 243–244

Taubes, Gary, 405–6

Taylor, Richard, 100

technicolor, 117, 312, 318

technology, 202–3, 356–58

and Galileo, 31–38, 39

and progress, 414–15

Tegmark, Max, 351

telescopes, 32–36, 218, 350, 391

temperature, 19,
19

and LHC, 129, 139, 155

Tennyson, Alfred, xxi

Tevatron, 109,
110
, 129, 138, 163, 218, 236

theory of forces, 278–79, 283

theory vs. model, 272

thermodynamics, 18–20, 46–47, 272–73

“thinking outside the box,” 407–8

This Time Is Different
(Reinhart and Rogoff), 195–96

thought experiments, and Galileo, 26, 30–31

Tom Jones
(Fielding), 3

Tonelli, Guido, 219

“too big to fail” policy, 190

top-down theories, 333, 334–35

top quark, 104, 247, 250–51

trackers

ATLAS, 225–29

CMS, 225–28,
227

transition radiation, 228–29

transition radiation tracker (TRT), 228

triggers, 163, 196, 236–40

Trinity College (Dublin), 22

truth and beauty in science, 259–75

Tucker-Smith, Dave, 310

Tychonic system, 37–38,
38

uncertainty, xix, 201–6, 412

uncertainty principle, 10, 79–80

UNESCO, 144

unification, 88–90

unified force, 88–90

unified theory, 270, 333–34

see also
Grand Unified Theory

universal constant, 123

universal parameters, 17

universe

Big Bang theory, 352–59, 362–64

edge of, 113–24

scaling the, 70–72

tour of, 346–51

see also
cosmology

University of California, 98–99, 384

University of Dublin, 21–22

University of Padua, 26–28, 74–75

University of Utah, 40, 41

University of Washington, 400

up quark, 82,
83
,
115
, 247

Uranus, 368

vacuum, 280–81, 285

energy, 374–75

valence quarks, 85–86, 110

van der Meer, Simon, 108–9

Vanity Fair
, 128

vector boson, 108–9

vector calculus, 22

Venus, 35–36,
36

VERITAS (Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescopic Array System), 391

Vicente, Mark, 10–11, 201

violet light,
77
, 77–78

virtual particle, 84–85, 87, 288, 289, 298

visible light, 95–97

visible universe, 350–51

vision, 94, 95–97

volume, 19,
19

Vulcan, 367

W
boson, 108

Wagner, Walter, 167, 181

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 409

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog
(Friedrich),
42

warped extra dimension, 322–30,
323
, 404–5

warped geometry,
323
, 324–30,
326

Warped Passages
(Randall), xvii, 247, 338, 411, 417

wavelengths, 95–97

wave theory of light, 23–25

weak boson,
see
weak gauge boson

Weakbrane,
323
, 324–26,
325

weak energy scale,
115
, 118–19

weak force, 108–9, 114, 130, 251–54, 268, 280, 283–85, 425
n

weak force carrier
see
weak gauge boson

weak gauge boson (weak boson, weak force carrier, weak vector boson), 108–9,
115
, 116–17, 130, 251–54,
252
, 281–82, 292,
292

weak mass scale, 296, 298, 319, 327, 377, 380–82

weak vector boson,
see
weak gauge boson

Weinberg, Steven, 26

Weiner, Neal, 384

West Side Story
(musical), 247–49,
248

What the Bleep Do We Know!?
(movie), 10–11

white dwarfs, 174

Wilczek, Frank, 263

Wilkinson, David, 364

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), 364–66, 372

Wilson, Robert, 356–58

WIMP (weakly interacting massive particle), 381, 383

wino, 305

Witten, Edward, 26

World Wide Web (WWW), 239–40

xenon experiments, 384, 385, 387–88

XENON10 Dark Matter Search Experiment, 386, 387

XENON100 Dark Matter Search Experiment, 384, 386, 387–88

Young, Thomas, 23–24

Zanonato, Flavio, 27

Z
boson, 108–9, 130, 251–54, 281–82, 292

ZEPLIN-III Dark Matter Detector, 384

Zinn, Kai, 401

Zweig, George, 82, 262

Zwicky, Fritz, 369

Zwirner, Fabio, 26–27

This book covers a lot of ground and I was fortunate to have had many wonderfully generous and thoughtful people providing guidance throughout. Knowing I could count on keen minds to reflect on even early incarnations of this work was a powerful incentive when moving forward. I am especially grateful to Andreas Machl, Luboš Motl, and Cormac McCarthy, all of whom read more than one draft of the book and provided valuable feedback during its different stages. Cormac’s high standards, patience, and belief in “my project,” Luboš’s precision as a physicist and care for science communication, and Andreas’s wisdom, enthusiasm, and consistent support were invaluable.

Others’ edits, input, and enthusiasm also mattered a great deal. Anna Christina Buchmann was delightfully insightful, smart, and kind with her suggestions and contributions; Jen Sacks helped me through moments of indecision with wisdom and care; Polly Shulman provided important direction and encouragement early on; Brad Farkas’s interest and sharp editorial pen helped solidify my enterprise; and the keen eye and overwhelming skill of my British editor, Will Sulkin, improved some key chapters at a critical stage. Thanks, too, are owed to Bob Cahn, Kevin Herwig, Dilani Kahawala, David Krohn, and Jim Stone for their proofreading and suggestions after reading a more final draft.

For helping get details of both the LHC machine and the ATLAS and CMS experiments correct, I am very grateful to the physicists Fabiola Gianotti and Tiziano Camporesi, who know their detectors as well as is humanly possible. And who could be better than Lyn Evans for reading over my writing about the LHC and its history? Thanks also to Doug Finkbeiner, Howie Haber, John Huth, Tom Imbo, Ami Katz, Matthew Kleban, Albion Lawrence, Joe Lykken, John Mason, Rene Ong, Brian Shuve, Robert Wilson, and Fabio Zwirner who also generously commented on some of the physics sections. Thanks as well to my 2010 and 2011 Harvard freshman seminar classes for their input about their understanding of the LHC.

Religion and science was somewhat new territory for me, which I could tread much more confidently equipped with the advice and wisdom of Owen Gingerich, Linda Gregerson, Sam Haselby, and Dave Thom. I am also grateful to others who helped with science history—Ann Blair, Sofia Talas, and Tom Levenson—all of whom made my story more accurate.

Topics like risk and uncertainty can be risky (and uncertain). Thanks to Noah Feldman, Joe Fragola, Victoria Gray, Joe Kroll, Curt McMullen, Jamie Robins, Jeannie Suk, attendees at the Harvard Law School Colloquium, and particularly Jonathan Wiener for sharing their expertise, and also to earlier conversations with Cass Sunstein. Creativity can be another slippery topic and I’m grateful to Karen Barbarossa, Paul Graham, Lia Halloran, Gary Lauder, Liz Lerman, Peter Mays, and Elizabeth Streb for sharing their insights. Special thanks also to Scott Derrickson for his conversations that were key to the first chapter, and for correcting me when his memory was better than mine. Thanks to the organizers of 2010 Techonomy for inviting me to join the opening panel—preparing for it contributed to the book’s conclusions. Thanks, too, to the others whose conversations were mentioned in the text. Thanks also to Alfred Assin, Rodney Brooks, David Fenton, Kevin McGarvey, Sesha Pratap, Dana Randall, Andy Singleton, and Kevin Slavin for their generous feedback and thoughts, and to A.M. Homes and Rick Kot for advice and encouragement.