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Physics World Digest: October 2002 edition

October 01, 2002

Let the quantum games begin
Imagine Captain Picard and Q from Star Trek playing a "coin-flipping" game on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. But rather than playing with an ordinary coin, which can only be either heads or tails, they are using a "quantum coin" that can be both heads and tails at the same time. To Picard`s dismay and to the detriment of the entire galaxy, Q manages to win every game. That`s because the rules of this particular game - which was dreamt up by US physicist David Meyer in 1999 - allow Q to use quantum physics to manipulate the coin, while Picard can only use classical physics. Chiu Fan Lee and Neil Johnson from Oxford University use the game to illustrate the new field of "quantum game theory", in which quantum mechanics is applied to conventional game theory of the type that featured in the Hollywood hit movie A Beautiful Mind. As the game between Q and Picard shows, playing quantum games can improve your odds of winning. (p. 25)
Contact: Neil Johnson, Oxford University, UK (tel +44 (0)1865 272287; fax +44 (0)1865 272387; email n.johnson@physics.ox.ac.uk)

Inside Aldermaston
"We are not building new weapons, and certainly not with the US." So says Clive Marsh, chief scientist at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, in response to press reports that the Aldermaston laboratory is planning to build a new generation of smaller nuclear weapons that could be used against terrorist groups and rogue states. The reports appeared just as AWE - which is responsible for all aspects of Britain`s nuclear weapons - released plans to revamp its scientific facilities and transform the "industrial factory image" of its main Aldermaston site. Physics World looks behind the company`s plans, which include proposals for a new laser, materials-science labs and a hydrodynamics facility. (p. 8)
Contact: Clive Marsh, AWE Aldermaston, UK (tel +44 (0)118 981 4111; email barbara.evans@awe.co.uk)

Beacon puzzle challenges students
So you`re stranded on a desert island after your cargo plane has crash landed. Some equipment has survived and you`re going to have to build a beacon pretty quickly if you`re going to be rescued. Can you use your knowledge of electricity, circuit design and aerodynamics to show how it could be done? That`s a question that groups of physics undergraduates at Leicester University will be tackling this term as part of a £250,000 pilot scheme to investigate "problem-based learning". Complementing traditional lectures and lab classes, the new form of teaching is designed to "embed ideas and concepts firmly in students` minds," according to project leader Derek Raine. (p. 7)
Contact: Derek Raine, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Leicester University, UK (tel +44 (0)116 252 2075 ; fax +44 (0)116 252 2070; email jdr@leicester.ac.uk)

Optical tweezers: the next generation
When Denis Evans of the Australian National University recently announced that he had defied the second law of thermodynamics over short time intervals, the news made headlines around the world. Evans and his colleague used a laser beam to trap a tiny latex bead on a microscope stage. By repeatedly changing the focus of the beam, the team found that the amount of order occasionally decreased, rather than increased as expected, as the bead moved around. Evans`s work was just one example of how light can be used as "optical tweezers" to grab, move and guide small particles. As Kishan Dholakia, Gabriel Spalding and Michael MacDonald explain, optical tweezers can now even be used to assemble matter in three dimensions and perform a range of experiments in physics and biology. (p. 31))
Contact: Kishan Dholakia, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, UK (tel +44 (0)1334 463184; fax +44 (0)1334 463104; e-mail kd1@st-andrews.ac.uk)

The worst experiment of all time?
Last month Physics World listed the top 10 most beautiful physics experiments of all time. This month Kevin McGuigan - a physicist from Dublin - recalls his worst day in the laboratory. After almost gassing himself to death with a cylinder of pressurized hydrogen, he then managed to pour concentrated hydrochloric acid all over his crotch. Pulling his trousers and boxer shorts down, he raced towards the sink and began dousing his nether regions with copious amounts of water. Just as he thought that things couldn`t get any worse, three physics professors on an impromptu tour of the department walked in. (p. 64)
Contact: Kevin McGuigan, Department of Physics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin (tel +353 1 402 2207; fax +353 1 402 2168; e-mail kmcguigan@rcsi.i.e.)
                                                        
Also in this issue:
Europe launches gamma-ray probe (p. 5)
Livermore lab reaches first 50 years (p. 10)
Have you heard the rumour mill? (p. 15)
Manufacturing firsts in physics (p. 16)
Charmed particles at the double (p. 19)
One-way transport in quantum dots (p. 20)
When electrons decay into spin and charge (p. 22)
Electron antibunching finally made beautiful (p. 23)
New directions with fewer dimensions (p. 37)

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