Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 22, 2005 6:12:14 GMT -6
Physicists create a 'perfect' way to study the Big Bang
Not just any old liquid, either. Its collective movement is rather like the way a school of fish swims 'as one' and is a sign that the fluid possesses an extremely low viscosity, making it what physicists call a perfect fluid. In fact, tentative calculations suggest its extraordinarily low viscosity makes it the most perfect fluid ever created.
Researchers had confidently believed it would be something like 'steam', consisting of free quarks and gluons. "No one predicted that it would be a liquid," said Professor John Nelson from the University of Birmingham, who heads the British involvement in the STAR Collaboration, a multinational experiment. "This aspect was totally unexpected," said Professor Nelson, "and will lead to new scientific research regarding the properties of matter at extremes of temperature and density, previously inaccessible in a laboratory."
Instead of the 'every-particle-for-itself, free-for-all' that is expected from a gas, the researchers saw evidence of collective movement as the hot matter, formed at RHIC, flowed out of the collision site. This indicated stronger interactions between the particles than expected, leading to the belief that the quark-gluon plasma is behaving like a liquid.
More here: www.physorg.com/news5340.html
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I am truely amazed at how staunch maintream astronomers are in beating us over the head on exactly how the universe was created stemming from the big bang. It will be a long time before any confident and conclusive findings will explain it. It changes often.
In the meantime...my mind is open to new theories.