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3/60Physics World Ju ly 20 13 1

physicsworld.com Contents: Ju ly 2013

Physics World is published monthly as 12 issues per annual

volume by IOP Publishing Ltd, Temple Circus, Temple Way,

Bristol BS1 6HG, UK

United States Postal Identification Statement

Physics World (ISSN 0953-8585) is published monthly by

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Air freight and mailing in the USA by Sheridan Press.

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US Postmaster: send address changes to Physics World,

IOP Publishing, PO Box 320, Congers, NY 10920-0320, USA.

Quanta 3

Frontiers 4Quantum microscope peers into hydrogen atom Do dark-matter discs envelopgalaxies? Novel 3D ghost imaging technique Monster gas cloud could unveilMilky Ways black-hole hub

News & Analysis 6Radiation leak hits J-PARC facility SESAME receives Euro funding Physicisttakes over Russian Academy of Sciences Restart of Japans Monju reactor put onhold Staff lay-offs hit US nuclear lab NASA buys quantum computer Carboncapture in Europe branded a farce Report highlights top physics research Croatia hoping for science boost Update for European particle-physics strategy Heinrich Rohrer: 19332013 Boosting science in Korea: Se-Jung Oh

Comment 15Tackling cancer

Forum 17Tackling space debris head onBrian Weeden

Critical Point 21The Treiman effectRobert P Crease

Feedback 22Readers views on Niels Bohrs philosophy, publication methods and a carbon-dioxide mix-up, plus comments fromphysicsworld.com about Stephen Hawkingsparticipation in an academic boycott

Physics of cancerAn electrical misunderstanding 25Cancerous cells are often described as malignant or as good cells gone bad.But what if tumour cells could be made to act normally, given the right motivation?Jon Cartwright investigates

Breast cells in a spin 28Physics offers novel insights into what makes breast cells become malignant, butcoming up with definitive answers is far from clear cut, asEdwin Cartlidge explains

Killing me softly 33Philip Ball describes how researchers are examining the mechanical propertiesof cancer cells by prodding and pulling on them using the needle-like tip of anatomic-force microscope

Exposing cancers deep evolutionary roots 37Could cancer be an ancient genetic programme with roots in our multicellularpast?Paul Davies outlines a new evolutionary theory of cancer

Reviews 42More ice, less politics Exploring the initial conditions Web life:Do the Math

Careers 46Mixing physics and engineering Steven Lawler Once a physicist: Steven Mackey

Recruitment 50

Lateral Thoughts 56Alice2007Kevlin Henney

In a spin how cancer cells move 2829

Flash fiction cancer gets personal 56

On the coverPhysics of cancer15, 2540(Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library)

Science

Picture

Co/Science

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http://www.glassmaneurope.co.uk/



Quanta

Seen and heard

physicsworld.com

Print your own foodIt may have first appeared on the StarshipEnterprise, but a firm in the US is tryingto bring something akin to the foodreplicator into the real world. Texas-based outfit Systems and MaterialsResearch Corp has been given a $125 000grant from NASA to develop a 3D foodprinter that could create custom meals forastronauts in space. Currently astronautstake with them pre-packaged nosh but thecompany says the new printer would vastlyreduce waste a key factor for future long-distance space missions. The printer wouldcreate synthetic food in a low-gravityenvironment layer-by-layer by combiningpowdered protein, starches, fats andflavours with water or oil. The 3Dprinting system will provide hot and quick

food in addition to personalized nutrition,flavour and taste, the firm wrote in itsproposal to NASA. So when exactly willastronauts be tucking into printed pizzas?Dont hold your breath. These are veryearly-stage concepts that may or may notmature into actual systems, says NASAspokesperson Allard Beutel.

Space fictionStill on space, next month sees the launchof what could be one of the biggest filmsof the summer.Elysium, starring MattDamon and Jodie Foster, is a science-fiction blockbuster set in the year 2159. In

the film there are two classes of people:the very wealthy who live on a spacestation called Elysium and the rest wholive on a ruined Earth fighting povertyand disease. Although the film sounds likethe crazed dream of Virgin Galactic bossRichard Branson, its promoters say it doesfeature some parallels with the real world.One example they quote is the blossomingindustrial space sector depicted whereprivate firms transport people from Earthto the space station and back. Elysiumis also based on a Stanford torus adonut-shaped space station that wasproposed by researchers from StanfordUniversity in 1975. Whod have thought?

The physics of custodyDivorce is a complex matter, even moreso when children are involved. Manycustody arrangements instruct eachparent to have the kids every otherweekend, but what happens when divorcedparents already have children with twoor more ex-partners? Is it still possibleto arrange ones affairs so that everycouple has either all the kids togetheron one weekend or no kids at all? Well,that problem has now been tackled byAndrs Gomberoff from the UniversidadAndrs Bello in Santiago, Chile, andcolleagues who have modelled all thepossible permutations using graph theory(arXiv:1305.0935). They conclude thatno, such custody arrangements are notpossible, saying that the problem turnsout to be equivalent to finding the groundstate of a spin-glass system. Gomberoffsteam is now extending its calculationsto include other real-life issues suchas a parent who must work every otherweekend. We think that these problemsare an important source of stress inmodern life, the authors write.

A musical reunionSome 20 years after

hanging up theirdrumsticks and guitars,the band formally knownas the Spontaneous

Emissions returned in May to perform aset of classic rock and roll at the Universityof Sheffields annual physics Hicks ball.The band was formed in 1991 at Sheffieldby four then-PhD students: Nigel Clarke(drums), John Cockburn (bass guitar andvocals), Lee Elliot Major (rhythm guitarand harmonica) and Chris Hawkins (leadguitar and vocals). Clarke is now head ofphysics at Sheffield, Cockburn is a physicslecturer in the department, while Major is

director of development and policy at theSutton Trust and Hawkins works at thescience consultancy firm Tessella. To thedelight of students at the ball, the quartetplayed a 40-minute set after dinner withhits ranging from Twist and shout toBrown eyed girl. There is even talk ofmore band performances to come, aswell as a possible UK university tour. Yetone band members has some misgivings.Since my most vivid memory of touringis attempting to call the breakdownservices at 2 a.m. after our van ran outfuel following a gig in Hull, Im in no greathurry to repeat the experience! ClarketoldPhysics World.

I am a triumph of modern medicine,

physics and chemistryUS rock musician Lou Reed on FacebookThe 71-year-old former Velvet Underground

frontman took to Facebookto reveal that he

is bigger and stronger than ever following a

successful liver transplant in May.

At heart I am a physicist, I look ateverything in my life trying to findthe single equation, the theory ofeverythingActorWill Smith quoted in New York Magazine

Smith, who recently starred together with his

son Jaden in the science-fiction filmAfter Earth,reveals his affinity to physics, adding that he is a

student of patterns.

I never got into Star Wars, maybebecause they made no attempt toportray real physics. At allNeil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden

Planetarium in New York, talking to Business

Insider

Tyson was commenting after being asked if he

preferred Star TrekoverStar Wars.

Its based on new research thatsbeing done in particle physicsby the young men and women atColumbia UniversityActorDan Akroyd speaking on the Larry King

Now show

Akroyd was speaking to veteran talk-show host

Larry K ing about plans for a Ghostbusters 3 film,

which will apparently be centred on work into

extra dimensions.

Working at CERN is one step up fromhaving any old PhD

Dominic Connor, head of quantitative financerecruitment firm P&D Quant recruitment, quoted

in eFinancialCareers

Connor claims that there are many people who

have doctorates in physics but CERN is the place

to find top PhDs in physics and computing.

You will never think of your breakfastin the same way againPostdocAndong He from Yale University quoted

in a Yale press release

He and colleagues claim to have discovered how

different shapes of cereals join together to form

different patterns when they float in milk.

For the record

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Frontiers

physicsworld.com

Physics World Ju ly 20134

In brief

Ultracold quantum-magnetism simulation

Quantum magnetism has been mimicked orsimulated using ultracold fermionic atoms

for the first time. Researchers in Switzerland

and France placed potassium-40 atoms on

a 2D square lattice created by criss-cross ing

laser beams. By controlling the interactions

between atoms, the team put pairs of atoms

into antiferromagnetic configurations, with

spins pointing in opposite directions. Quantum

magnetism plays an important role in a range of

solid-state phenomena, but it can be diff icult to

calculate its effect on materials such as high-

temperature superconductors. Such quantum

simulations should therefore lead to bet ter

theoretical models of a range of solids and the

team is already collaborating with theorists on

this effort (Science 10.1126/science.1236362).

Rethinking the wake pattern for shipsPhysicists in France have studied the V-shaped

wakes created by boats as they move through

water, and claim that Lord Kelvin might have

been wrong to say that the wakes fan out at a

constant angle of 19.47, no matter the speed of

the vessel. Wakes are produced by interference

between water waves created by a boat, but it

has long been unknown why fast-moving boats

produced smaller-angle or narrower wakes.

By analysing images from Google Earth, using

measurements of boats hull lengths and wakeangles, and calculating their velocities, the

researchers have built a new mathematical

model. They found that at higher speeds, boats

cannot produce waves longer than its hull; so the

wake angle then depends only on the speed of

the boat, narrowing as it moves faster (Phys. Rev.

Lett.110 214503).

Pulsars map the way for space missionsA method for navigating spacecraft

autonomously using pulsars has been developed

by a group of researchers in Germany. Although

the idea of using pulsars for stellar navigation

was first proposed in the 1970s, the team

has, for the first time, discussed the type ofpulsars best suited for such navigation and has

determined what sort of detector would be used.

The new work determined that only rotat ion-

powered pulsars are suitable for navigation

and that choosing the detector would depend

on mission specifications, such as size, orbit

and power consumption. A large craft would

be more suited to a radio array; while compact

X-ray detectors would work better with current

missions, where there are space and weight

restrictions (arXiv:1305.4842).

The first direct observation of the orbitalstructure of an excited hydrogen atom hasbeen made by an international team ofresearchers. The observation was madeusing a newly developed quantum micro-scope, which uses photoionization micro-scopy to visualize the structure directly. Theteams demonstration proves that this type ofmicroscopy, which was first proposed morethan 30 years ago, can be experimentallyrealized and can serve as a tool to explorethe subtleties of quantum mechanics.

The wavefunction contains the maxi-mum knowledge that is available about the

state of a quantum system, with its squaredescribing the probability of where exactlya particle might be located at a given time.Although it features prominently in quan-tum theory, directly measuring or visualiz-ing the wavefunction is no easy task, as any

direct observation destroys the wavefunc-tion before it can be fully seen.

In the new work, Aneta Stodolna ofthe FOM Institute AMOLF in the Neth-erlands, along with Marc Vrakking at theMax Born Institute in Berlin, and othercolleagues in Europe and the US directlyobtained the nodal structure of the elec-tronic orbital of a hydrogen atom by placingthe atom in an electric field and exciting itwith laser pulses to a Rydberg state. Theionized electron escapes from the atomand follows a particular trajectory to thedetector. Given that there are many suchtrajectories that reach the same point onthe detector, interference patterns are pro-duced, which the researchers magnified bya factor of more than 20 000 using an elec-trostatic zoom lens. The pattern directlyreflects the nodal structure of the wave-function (a node being where there is azero probability of finding an atom).

As the recorded patterns are on the milli-metre scale, they can be observed with thenaked eye on the 2D detector and recordedwith a camera system. What you see onthe detector is what exists in the atom,says Vrakking. The group observed severalhundreds of thousands of ionization events

to obtain the results, with the same prepa-ration of the wavefunction for each.Having visualized the hydrogen atom,

the team is now analysing the helium atomusing the same method (Phys. Rev. Lett.110 213001).

A new type of dark matter that couldstrongly interact with regular matter toform large discs that would overlap gal-axies has been postulated by a group ofresearchers in the US. Dubbed double-

disc dark matter (DDDM), it has beenproposed by a team led by Lisa Randall atHarvard University. If the matter exists, itwould suggest that leading candidates fordark matter weakly interacting massiveparticles (WIMPs) and axions, which rarelycollide with one another do not tell thewhole story.

By considering the characteristics of thedark matter surrounding our own MilkyWay galaxy, the researchers calculatethat as much as 5% of this invisible stuffmight not be weakly interacting. They alsosay that DDDM would probably dissipateenergy while retaining angular momentumfrom its motion about the galactic centre,

causing it to form a thin disc just as ordi-nary galactic matter does. They work outthat the dark and visible discs would haveabout the same mass, meaning that thedensities of DDDM and normal matter inthe universe would be roughly equal.

According to the team, DDDM discswould contain the dark-matter equivalent

of protons and electrons interacting viaan analogue of electromagnetism, so cre-ating dark atoms. Group member Mat-thew Reece explains that evidence for thedark discs existence could come from thegravitational effect it has on the motionof the billion Milky Way stars, which theEuropean Space Agencys upcoming Gaiamission will study. Annihilating DDDMparticles would, given enough sensitivity,also produce strikingly different signalsfrom those of the ordinary dark matter thatexisting space-based detectors PAMELA,Fermi and AMS-02 are looking out for.Direct detection, however, would be moredifficult (Phys. Rev. Lett. 110 211302).

Quantum peek into hydrogen atom

Dark matter doubles up

Read these articles in full and sign up for free

e-mail news alerts atphysicsworld.com

Eye of the atom Experimental observation of the

nodal structure of a hydrogen atom.

Stodolna

etal.Phys.

Rev.

Lett.



physicsworld.com Frontiers

Astrophysicists in the US think that animmense cloud of gas currently swoopingaround the centre of our galaxy could reveala multitude of small black holes nestled

there. The G2 gas cloud will pass throughthe galactic centre over the next 12 months,where it will encounter the small black holesand produce bursts of detectable X-rayradiation (Phys. Rev. Lett.110 221102).

Since the 1970s astronomers have postu-lated that a hub of small black holes lurksincognito near Sagittarius A* the super-massive black hole at the centre of the MilkyWay. Based on star formation and deathrates, simulations predict as many as 20 000small black holes in the innermost region ofthe galaxy, each with a mass several timesthat of our Sun. With the G2 cloud set tomake its closest approach to Sagittarius A*in early 2014, its impact on the small black

holes could be seen by NASAs NuSTARand Chandra telescopes.

Imre Bartos of Columbia University inNew York, and colleagues, carried out sim-ulations depicting the number and distri-bution of stellar black holes, together withthe predicted trajectory of the gas cloud,

and calculated that G2 should encoun-ter around 16 such objects on its journey.The team looked at how much radiationthese encounters should produce, andthe chances of existing instrumentationbeing able to spot their faint signals from25 000 light-years away.

Bartos stresses that uncertainties linkedto limited information about the clouds den-sity and speed can cause the radiation valueto change by a factor of 100. More promising,perhaps, is the prospect of finding evidencefor so-called intermediate-mass black holes their encounters with G2 would producesignificantly more and brighter radiationthan their smaller counterparts.

Ghostly 3D images taken without a cameraImaging systems could be heading in a more simplified direction, now that a 3D system that does not require a

conventional camera has been developed by researchers in the UK. Baoqing Sun, Miles Padgett and others

from the Universi ty of Glasgow, along with colleagues at the University of Cambridge, created a simple 3D

imaging system using nothing more than a basic light projector, four single-pixel detector s and a

computational imaging technique known as ghost imaging that creates images using intelligent

illumination. The team used the projector to illuminate a polystyrene model of a human head with computer-generated random binary speckle patterns. The light reflected from the head was collected by the detectors,

which are placed at varying angles. Thanks to the random binary speckle patterns which illuminate the object

with a chequered pattern and the varying angles of the detectors, the team was able to see a clear shading

profile in the images. The image above shows different versions of the reconstructed head the lef t head is a

3D view of the greyscale image from the detectors, the middle image is the final reconstructed 3D head, while

the right head shows the binary speckle patterns used by the group (Science10.1126/science.1234454).

Galaxys black-hole hub

Innovation

Hello to acousticallyinvisible wallsA rigid wall can be transformed from a total

reflector of sound to an almost perfect

transmitter by perforat ing it with tiny,

regularly spaced holes covered by a thin

elastic membrane, say researchers in Japan

and Korea. The discovery is an acoustic

analogue to the phenomenon of extraordinary

optical transmission (EOT), which allows

electromagnetic waves to pass almost

unhindered through a lattice of sub-wavelength

holes in a barrier that would otherwise be

opaque in some metamaterials.

It has been known for a while that if the holes

contain a material with a refract ive index close

to zero, the wavelength of light in the holes

becomes extremely long, and thus its velocity

becomes extremely large. The faster a wave

travels, the more energy it carries, allowing

the energy of the entire wavefront to squeeze

through the tiny holes. Such media are called

epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials because

refractive index depends on permittivity a

kind of electrical inertia that represents the

resistance encountered when forming an electric

field in a medium. An ENZ material offers almost

no resistance to such displacement.Now, Sam Lee of Yonsei University in Seoul,

Oliver Wright of Hokkaido University and

colleagues have produced an analogue of

the ENZ metamaterial for sound waves. They

achieved this by covering the holes with a

thin membrane of ordinary cling film. With the

tension tuned so that the membranes resonant

frequency is the same as the f requency of the

incident waves, the membranes resonance

amplifies its oscillations. The resonance moves

the air through the holes as though the air has no

inertia, allowing it to move in response to even a

small displacement, transporting all the energy

of the waves through the barrier.

On the other side of the barrier, Huygensprinciple dictates that each hole produces

spherical wavefronts. The separation between

the holes is much less than the wavelength of

the sound, meaning the interference pattern

reconstructs the plane wave in much less than

one wavelength, so the barrier is effec tively

invisible to the propagating waves.

The researchers tested their metamaterial

design by placing an acrylic barrier perforated

with four small holes in a tube. They found that

with the barrier perforated by bare holes, only

9% of the waves energy was transmitted. With a

membrane placed over the holes, this proportion

jumped to 81% (Phys. Rev. Lett. 110 244302).

Sun

etal.,

UniversityofG

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News & Analysisphysicsworld.com


Experiments at the $1.5bn JapanProton Accelerator Research Com-plex (J-PARC) have been cancelleduntil further notice following a leakat the facility that exposed workersto small amounts of radiation. It isexpected that J-PARC will not befully online until early next year oncea full investigation has been carriedout. In an English statement on itswebsite, Japans Nuclear RegulationAuthorit y (NRA) says that radia-tion control was not appropriatelymanaged and that the incidentshowed a lack of a proper safety cul-ture at the lab.

Writing to J-PARC users, thefacilitys director Yujiro Ikeda hasapologised for the incident and thefailure to prevent some users andworkers from being exposed tohigher-than-normal levels of radia-tion. He says that a full investigationinto the cause of the accident is now

taking place together with a com-plete review of safety practices andemergency procedures. Our firstpriority is to restore public trust inthe facility by developing and imple-menting measures to prevent thereoccurrence of an accident and toprovide a safe experimental envi-ronment for users and workers, hewrites. Naohito Saito, deputy direc-tor of J-PARC, told Physics Worldthat rebuilding trust within the localcommunity would take some time.

Elevated levels

Lying on the north-east coast ofJapan, 120 km from Tokyo, J-PARCis located in Tokai and is jointly oper-ated by the Japan Atomic EnergyAgency (JAEA) and the KEK parti-cle-physics lab in Tsukuba. The facil-ity boasts three massive machines a200 MeV linear accelerator, a 3 GeVproton synchrotron and a 50 GeVproton synchrotron. These are usedto generate a range of particles suchas neutrons, neutrinos, kaons andmuons by accelerating protons andsmashing them into various targets.

J-PARC also has three big scien-tific labs designed to exploit such

particles. One is the Materials andLife Science Experimental Facility,which uses the 3 GeV proton beamto generate neutrons and muons fora range of experiments in materialsscience and biology. The HadronExperimental Facility produceskaons and antiprotons, while the

Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) neutrinoexperiment fires these almost mass-less ghostly particles some 300 kmthrough the Earth to the Super-Kamiokande detector located 1 kmunderground in the Mozumi mine inthe city of Hida.

The radiation leak occurred on

J-PARC hit by radiation leak

23 May at the Hadron ExperimentalFacility. According to an accidentstatement released on J-PARCswebsite, at 11.55 a.m. a malfunctionoccurred as the proton beam wasbeing delivered f rom the 50 GeVsynchrotron to a gold target thatproduces the subatomic particles.Under normal conditions around3 1013 protons are slowly extractedto the target over a period of 2 s,but the malfunction instead deliv-ered 2 1013 protons in under 5 ms some 400 times the intensity ofnormal operation. This damagedthe 6 6 66 mm gold rod target,causing radioactive material to bedischarged into the target area andbeamline as well as to leak into theexperimental hall, which containsfour experimental stations that wereat the time occupied by users.

Upon detecting an anomalousreading, the machine protection

system, which controls the deliveryof the beam to the Hadron Experi-mental Facility, did stop the beam.However, after almost 10 minutes ofchecks and test shots to the target,engineers reset the beam, thinkingnothing was wrong. Yet gamma-raymonitors located in the HadronExperimental Hall measured anincrease in radiation levels of around4 Sv/hr some 10 times higherthan normal.

Engineers then began to test ifthe detectors were picking up radia-tion from inside or outside the hall

and decided to turn on the ventila-tion fans mounted on the buildingswalls. As this was found to reducethe level of radiation picked up by thegamma-ray monitors, the beam wasturned back on, the thinking beingthat the elevated levels of radiationoriginated from outside. However,when the dose rate increased again45 minutes later, J-PARC engineersstopped the beam once more.

As the radiation rate was still muchlower than the 25 Sv/hr maximumdose as stipulated by governmentregulations, it was assumed therewould be no danger to the environ-

Out of action

Lying on the north-

east coast of Japan,

the $1.5bn Japan

Proton Accelerator

Research Complex

generates and

studies a range of

particles such asneutrons, neutrinos,

kaons and muons.

Japans massive J-PARC physics facility has been shut down after 34 workers were exposed toincreased levels of radiation. Michael Banks reports on the fallout from the incident

J-PARC

June 2002 Delegates attend the g roundbreaking ceremony forthe $1.5bn Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex

June 2008 First neutrons are produced at J-PARCs Materials

and Life Science Experimental Facility

July 2009 Official inauguration of J-PARC in Tokyo is attendedby more than 1000 scientists from all over the world

March 2010 First neutrinos sent from J -PARC are detected atthe SuperKamiokande detector located 1 km underground inthe Mozumi mine in the city of Hida

March 2011 J-PARC is shut down for nine months followinga 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Tohoku, Japan, withroads and buildings at the facility badly hit

23 May 2013 Leak hits the lab, exposing 34 workers toelevated levels of radiation, triggering a temporary closure

The bumpy road for a world -class facil it y


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physicsworld.com

Physics World Ju ly 20 13 7

News & Analysis

A synchrotron radiation facility beingbuilt in Jordan to stimulate regionalco-operation in the Middle Eastis to receive fresh European fund-

ing. The $100m-plus Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science andApplications in the Middle East(SESAME) is to get 75m from theEuropean Commission to buildmagnets at the CERN laboratoryin Geneva, with CERN providingmuch of the necessary manpowerand expertise. The Italian govern-ment, meanwhile, has said it will alsoprovide 71m for the project, subjectto approval of its 2013 budget by aparliamentary commission.

SESAME will be a third-genera-tion synchrotron source producing

intense X-ray beams for use by scien-tists in fields from condensed-matterphysics and chemistry to biology andarcheology. It is being built near theJordanian capital of Amman by anine-member collaboration com-prising Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt,Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, thePalestinian Authority and Turkey and will be the first synchrotronsource in the region (see February2012 pp1213).

Some $50m supplied by host Jor-dan and others has already beeninvested in the project. This includesthe land and building that will house

Europe backs SESAME with magnets and cashthe facility, which was completed in2008, as well as a source and boosteraccelerator recycled from the nowdecommissioned BESSY-1 synchro-

tron in Berlin. However, another$35m is needed to construct thefacilitys 40 m-diameter main storagering, which will use the CERN mag-nets to hold electrons at 2.5 GeV, andto attach four beamlines. With Iran,Israel, Jordan and Turkey each hav-ing pledged $5m last year, the latestEuropean funding still leaves a holeof around $8m. SESAME memberstates will also have to find $10m tocover running costs that they havealready agreed to pay.

The president of SESAMEs coun-cil, Christopher Llewellyn Smith

from the University of Oxford, toldPhysics World he is optimistic thatthe remaining funds can be found or,if necessary, partly deferred mean-ing that the machine could start upby the end of 2015, with experimentskicking off the following year. Hehopes that the US can help to plugthe gap and perhaps also contributesome of the extra $25m needed toincrease the beams intensity and adda further three beamlines once themachine is online. There is a lot ofsupport and goodwill towards SES-AME in the US, he says, althoughhe cautions that budgets are being

cut and a US contribution is by nomeans assured.

Although Llewellyn Smith saysSESAME will not be the worlds

best synchrotron, since it willneither produce the highest ener-gies nor the greatest intensities, hebelieves it will certainly be competi-tive, adding that if you have theright idea you could use it to win aNobel prize. He also thinks that themachines scientific credentials willdetermine its political impact. If itis a first class scientific instrumentthen scientists will want to go there,he says.

SESAMEs scientific directorHafeez Hoorani admits that thequality of the facilitys experiments

could prove a stumbling block, point-ing out that one of the experimentalstations to be used was first built foranother synchrotron nearly 30 yearsago. He also believes it will provetough attracting scientists from theregions major players Israel, Tur-key and Egypt given their accessto established synchrotron sourcesin Europe and elsewhere. But henotes that the project has had posi-tive effects even before switching on.Scientists from Iran are speakingwith scientists from Israel, he says.This is already an achievement.Edwin Cartlidge

Plugging the gap

The European

Commission is to

provide75m

towards the

construction of the

SESAME synchrotron

in Jordan.

Middle East

ment and so engineers turned theventilation fans back on to furtherreduce the radiation rate in the hall.It was not until 5.30 p.m. that al l

workers were evacuated. Althougharound 100 individuals were inthe controlled area of the HadronExperimental Facility during thisincident, only 34 were exposed tothe higher radiation dose. Their totalexposure was under 1.7 mSv equiv-alent to a computerized tomographyscan of the head but still not exceed-ing that maximum dose as stipulatedby law for nuclear industry workers.

The followi ng day 24 May the JAEAs Nuclear Fuel CycleEngineering Laboratories con-tacted J-PARC to say that three oftheir nearby monitoring posts hadpicked up a slight increase of radia-tion occurring at the same time as

J-PARC began to ventilate the exper-imental hall although the levelswere still within normal range. It wasnot until around 10 p.m. on 24 May

that J-PARC bosses reported theaccident to the NRA and the AtomicEnergy Regulatory Committee alegal requirement.

Minimizing delayIt is unknown when the facil-ity will come back online, but allexperiments at J-PARC have beencancelled until the end of July.According to Saito, J-PARC bossesare not in a position to restart theexperiments and their first priority isto investigate the causes of the acci-dent to develop more robust systemsto prevent other major failures.Indeed, Saito says that J-PARC isplanning to have a long shutdown

later this year to upgrade the linac,which would have run until January.He hopes that this could minimizethe delays to the facility.

Also affected by the shutdown isT2K, which wi ll not receive a beamof neutrinos from J-PARC as longas the accelerator is offline. DaveWark, a high-energy physicist atImperial College London and for-mer international co-spokespersonof the T2K experiment, says that theimpact may not be so bad, given thatthe facility was supposed to be shutdown for an upgrade from the endof July until early February 2014.We already have data for the sum-mer conferences, so we will haveinteresting physics results for thisyear. Hopefully the shutdown wontbe for too long and the impact nottoo severe.

MichaelBanks

Hopefully theshutdownwont be for

too long andthe impact nottoo severe


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physicsworld.com


News & Analysis

Changes ahead

Physicist Vladimir

Fortov is looking tomake reforms to how

the 289-year-old

Russian Academy of

Sciences operates.

Physicist Vladimir Fortov has beennamed as the new president of the

Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) one of the worlds largest researchorganizations. Fortov won 58% ofthe votes of RAS academicians,beating off two RAS vice-presidents:economist Alexandr Nekipelov andthe 2000 Nobel-prize-winning physi-cist Zhores Alferov. Fortov plans toreform the 289-year-old body, whichruns more than 400 institutes andemploys nearly 100 000 scientists.

Fortov is director of the RAS JointInstitute for High Temperatures inMoscow working in areas such asshock waves and detonation, plasmaphysics, and physical mechanics. In1993, during the turbulent period fol-lowing the dissolution of the SovietUnion, Fortov was put in charge ofthe Russian Foundation for BasicResearch, a new government-backedfunding organization outside theRAS. The foundation grew rapidlyunder Fortovs leadership, adoptingwestern methods of peer review andcompetitive funding, despite strongopposition from the RAS.

In 1996 Fortov was made scienceminister and deputy prime minister

at a time when government relations

with the RAS were at a low ebb, buthe managed to keep the peace dur-ing his two years in the job. Theconflict between the ministry andthe academy was a real vendetta, abattle of annihilation, Fortov saidduring the recent election campaign,adding that he wanted to normalizerelations if elected president.

Fortov takes over as RAS bossfrom mathematician Yuri Osipov,who has been in charge since 1991and is widely credited with protectingthe former Soviet Academy duringthe collapse of communism so thatit emerged, largely unscathed, as theRussian Academy. But with govern-ment funding a fraction of what it was

in the Soviet era, researchers have

been left with meagre salaries and lit-tle money to carry out experiments.

Few young people are becomingresearchers and the average age ofRAS scientists is increasing rapidly.

These problems have diminishedthe RASs stature in recent years.Relations between the ministry andacademy have also soured sinceDmitry Livanov was appointed Rus-sian science minister last year. Hesaid he wants to transfer researchactivity from RAS institutes to uni-versities and to create a scientificcouncil to oversee all basic research.

Aleksei Zheltikov, a physicist atthe RAS Photochemistry Centre inMoscow thinks that having a fairfunding system in place to supportresearch in RAS institutes is impor-tant. However, for him one of themost urgent issues to be addressedis the lack of an adequate system ofregular salaries for scientists. Yethopes are high that Fortov can turnthings around. He has an indis-putable academic record in plasmaphysics and is a very good organizerof science, says polymer physicistAlexei Khok hlov, vice -rector ofMoscow State University.

Daniel Clery

Russia

New Russian academy chief targets reforms

Uncertain future

Japans Nuclear

Regulation Authority

has blocked plans to

restar t the troubled

Monju fast-breeder

nuclear reactor in

March 2014.

The restart of Japans Monju experi-mental fast-breeder reactor has beenpostponed due to safety concerns.On 30 May Japans Nuclear Regula-tion Authority (NRA) slapped theplants operator the Japan AtomicEnergy Agency (JAEA) with anorder barring any work towards

restarting Monju until safety pro-cedures are overhauled. AsPhysicsWorld went to press it was unclearwhen the plant would reopen.

Located in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefec-ture, Monju is intended to be a keypiece of Japans nuclear-fuel-cyclestrategy. The reactor, which wentcritical in April 1994, is designed toburn a mixed uraniumplutonium-oxide fuel and produce more fis-sile material than it consumes. ButMonju has been offline for mostof its life. A year after starting up,plant operators tried to conceal theextent of a massive leak of sodium

coolant and the fire that followed.Public and political outrage over thecover-up together with technicalglitches delayed a restart until May2010. Three months later a 3.3 tonnepiece of the fuel-handling system fellinto the reactor vessel during refuel-ling and remained stuck there untilJune 2011.

In the wake of the March 2011disaster at the Fukushima Daiichinuclear power plant, the Japanesegovernment put the Monju project

on hold, pending a review of thenations energy policy. That deci-sion was reversed when the currentadministration came to power lastDecember and the JAEA was aim-ing to restart Monju by March 2014.

However, the NRA has now uncov-ered that there have been inadequateinspections of more than 10 000 keycomponents at Monju, includingsafety-critical equipment. The NRAhas therefore blocked any worktowards a restart, with NRA chair-

person Shunichi Tanaka telling theJapanese press that the JAEA lacksa suitable safety culture. A JAEAspokesperson says that the agencyis now reviewing the NRA orderand that a target date for restartingMonju cannot be set until the investi-gation is complete. Shojiro Matsuura,who took over the JAEA presidencyon 3 June, visited Monju three dayslater and according to the local news-paperFukui Shimbun urged staff toreconsider the meaning of a cultureof safety and work to enhance it.Dennis Normile

Tokyo

Japan

Monju reactor back on hold over safety concerns

MIPT


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News & Analysis

Cutting costs

The Lawrence

Livermore National

Laboratory is

offering voluntary

redundancies to

prepare for budget

cuts in 2014.

The Lawrence Livermore NationalLaboratory (LLNL) in the US has

begun laying off around 10% of its6500-strong workforce in prepara-tion for challenges in the labs 2014budget, which will start on 1 Octo-ber. The labs redundancy offer givesworkers one week of base salary foreach year of continuous service, up toa maximum of 26 weeks. AsPhysicsWorld went to press, 399 individualshad accepted the lay-offs terms.

The Obama administrationsbudget request for 2014 includesabout $1.48bn for the LLNL a sumthat lab director Parney Albright tolda Senate subcommittee last monthwill significantly limit our ability toutilize the National Ignition Facil-ity and undermine [our nuclear]stewardship programme. However,even this figure is uncertain, giventhe political disputes between theDemocratic administration and theRepublicans who have a majority inthe House of Representatives and ablocking minority in the Senate.

Albright adds that there are stil la number of unknowns in the2014 budget request. It is clear thebudget proposal will face an uphill

battle in Congress this summer, hesays. It is our hope that implement-

ing the [redundancy programme]now, rather than waiting for addi-tional details on the 2014 budget,will put the laboratory in a betterposition to address whatever budgetrealities well face. According to labspokesperson Lynda Seaver, thevoluntary redundancy is available toall employees, though some could bedenied due to critical skills.

The lay-offs at LLNL follow morethan 550 permanent employeeshaving accepted severance pack-

ages last year from the Los AlamosNational Laboratory when it faced a

reduced budget and little prospectof increases. LLNL itself offeredvoluntary redundancies in 2008 but,according to Seaver, did not get thenumbers we had hoped for. The labthen resorted to compulsory redun-dancies, which some employeeschallenged in the courts. Indeed, in

late May five lab staff were awardedmore than $2.7m when a local juryfound that the LLNL had violated acontractual promise that it would laythe workers off only for a reasonablecause. The LLNL will reconsider itsresponse to the impending financialsituation which could still includeforced redundancies as soon as itknows its f inal budget for 2014.

Meanwhile, further budget woesare threatening the MassachusettsInstitute of Technologys AlcatorC-Mod fusion project, which facesclosure within a year as the US gov-ernment moves fusion funds fromhome-grown projects to interna-tional collaborations such as ITER.The administrations proposed2014 budget includes no funding forC-Mod and its shutdown would leadto 70 staff losing their jobs and leaveonly two fusion experiments in theUS. The Massachusetts Congres-sional delegation has called for res-toration of funds for the programme,which produces more PhDs in fusionand plasma physics than any otherUS institution.

Peter GwynneBoston, MA

US research

Livermore slashes 10% of workforce

annealing uses quantum tunnellingto cross barriers between localminima to find the absolute minimumin a much more efficient way thanconventional methods.

This approach also differs fromconventional quantum computers

which are kept in a fragile quantumstate throughout the calculation inthat it involves making a transition froma quantum to classical system. As aresult, D-Waves approach may be morerobust to environmental noise thanconventional approaches.

D-Wave says that Google, NASAand the USRA subjected its 512-qubitsystem to a series of benchmark andacceptance tests before installation. Inall cases, the D-Wave Two system metor exceeded the required performancespecifications, in some cases by a largemargin, claims the company.Hamish Johnston

Canadian firm D-Wave Systems hasannounced it will install one of itsquantum computers at the Quantum

Artificial Intelligence Lab, which openedin May at NASAs Ames Research Centerin California. The new 512-qubit system,called D-Wave Two, will be used by

NASA, Google and the UniversitiesSpace Research Association (USRA),

which jointly run the lab. This is only thesecond system that the company hassupplied to a customer, with its first a128-qubit system having been boughtin May 2011 by the US-based defenceand security contractor LockheedMartin in a deal believed to be worthmore than $10m.

According to Vancouver -basedD-Wave, the computer will be availablefor use in October and will be accessibleto researchers via the USRA. Thefirm says that the system will be used

to develop applications for a broad

range of complex problems such asmachine learning, Web search, speechrecognition, planning and scheduling,search for exoplanets, and supportoperations in mission control centres.

Hartmut Neven, director ofengineering at Google, says that the

firm is involved in the project to studyhow quantum computing might advancemachine learning. NASA, meanwhile,says that it is interested in usingquantum computers to solve difficultoptimization problems in aeronautics,earth and space sciences, andspace exploration.

D-Wave Two uses a process calledquantum annealing, which is atechnique for finding the globalminimum of a function. Whensolving such problems, conventionalcomputers often get stuck in a localminimum that has a greater value

than the global minimum. Quantum

D-Wave sells second quantum computer this time to NASA

Industry

LLNL/JacquelineMcBride

Cashing inNASA, Google and

the Universities

Space Research

Association will use

one of D-Waves

quantum computers

to solve a broad

range of complex

problems.

D-WaveSystems


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News & Analysis

literature as well as the number of citingpapers and citations to search forareas of research that are achievingparticular mass and momentum.Pendlebury admits that citation analysisis by definition a retrospective view,but says that by focusing on theresearch fronts with the youngest coreliteratures, we were trying to bringthings as near to real time as possible.

In astronomy and astrophysics the topresearch front is work on the expansionof the universe Galilean cosmology

with 34 core papers and 1584 citations,

followed in second place by papers onthe redshift of galaxies in the HubbleUltra Deep Field, with 31 core papersand 2415 citations. Work on sterileneutrinos at the electronvolt scalecomes third with 41 core papers and2472 citations, again losing out on thetop spot as a result of the older averageage of the core papers.

Another repor t published last monthby Thomson Reuters The Hottest

Scientific Researchers and Research picks out the top papers in 2012 bythe number of citations received overa short time, with research into theHiggs boson occupying the top twospots. Top of the list was a paper bythe ATLAS collaboration, which bagged202 citations by the end of 2012 (Phys.Lett. B 710 49). In second place was apaper on the combined search for theHiggs that had garnered 195 citationsby then (Phys. Lett. B 710 26). In total, 11papers, accounting for more than a fifthof the 51 featured papers in the report,related to work on the Higgs.Andrew Williams

Research into a new breed ofsuperconductors that were onlydiscovered in 2009 is the leading field inphysics, according to analysis from theinformation provider Thomson Reuters.

Work on iron-selenide superconductors

comes out top in the Research Fronts2013 survey, garnering a total of49 core publications papers that arefrequently cited together with the fieldas a whole having around 2000 citationsin total. Work on spin-orbit coupledBoseEinstein condensates is second

with 48 core papers and 1752 citations,while direct detect ion of dark matteris third with 48 core papers and 3285citations edged out as its core papershave an older average age.

The report , co-authored by DavidPendlebury and Christopher King,examines citation patterns including

the size and average age of the core

Iron-selenide superconductivity is top topic

Publishing

Big attraction

An analysis of

citation data has

revealed that work

on iron-selenide

superconductors is

a leading field in

physics.

Scaling back

Although the

European Councilplanned to have as

many as 12

commercial-scale

carbon capture and

storage

demonstration

projects in

operation by 2015,

none has yet been

built.

Ambitious pla ns by Europe todevelop carbon capture and stor-

age (CCS) have lost momentum anddegenerated into a farce, accord-ing to a new report from the CCSadvocacy group ENGO Network.With the development of CCS inEurope now lagging behind otherglobal regions, the report MovingCCS Forward in Europe says CCS isnot getting the same level of political,industrial and non-governmentalsupport as renewable energy, such aswind and solar power.

CCS involves capturing the car-bon dioxide (CO2) emitted fromthe burning of fossil fuels and thentransporting it to secure geologicalstorage sites underground. Cur-rently there are no commercial-scaleCCS projects under construction,even though in 2007 the EuropeanCouncil agreed to have up to 12CCS commercial-scale demonstra-tion projects in operation by 2015.What should have been an interna-tional success story for Europe hasturned into a farce, the report adds.

Chris Littlecott, senior author ofthe report and a policy adviser at theindependent not-for-profit organi-

zation E3G, toldPhysics World thatEU efforts to advance CCS are tooslow, lack strategic vision and are

failing to attract investment. Little-cott adds that if Europe is truly seri-ous about fighting climate change,then CCS policies urgently need tobe refreshed. But that requires abroader vision and creative think-ing to accelerate action. More ofthe same foot dragging wont beenough, he says.

The report suggests two mainpolicy options to accelerate thedevelopment of CCS technology

in Europe. One is a legally bindingEU requirement for member states

to capture an agreed percentage oftheir total CO2 emissions by 2030and the other is a complementaryblend of CCS market incentiveschemes to encourage investmentin CCS projects, such as feed-in tar-iffs, grant schemes, loan guaranteesand capacity auctions.

Antony Benham, a senior geolo-gist and business development man-ager at the Nottingham Centre forCarbon Capture and Storage, agreeswith the arguments outlined in thereport, particularly the need forconcerted action from the EU andother governments to assist in thedeployment of CCS at a commer-cial scale. Noting that CCS can cutCO2 emissions by up to 90%, he saysit is a vital and necessary bridgingtechnology until sufficient electric-ity can be produced from non-fossil-fuel sources. At present, the costsof CCS, principally those associatedwith extracting and concentrat ingthe CO2 from its source, are rela-tively high, he says. However, asmore CCS plants come online, thecheaper the technology will become

in the future.Ned StaffordHamburg

Energy

Europes carbon-capture plans branded a farce

Statoil

EPL


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physicsworld.com


News & Analysis

Sidebands

Brazil builds new synchrotronConstruction has begun on a newsynchrotron in Brazil that will be thefirst high-intensity X-ray source in LatinAmerica. Called Sirius, the $330m

synchrotron is a third-generation lightsource that will generate intense beamsof X-rays for experiments in fields such ascondensed-matter physics and biology.Sirius, which will have a circumferenceof 518 m, will contain 13 beamlinesand is expected to be open for usersin 2017. The 3 GeV synchrotron will belocated at the Brazilian SynchrotronLight Laboratory (LNLS) in So Paulo,which has been operating a smaller93 m-circumference X-ray source since1997, providing 16 beamlines for around1500 users each year.

Cambridge plans Maxwell CentreA new 63m centre that will bringbasic research in physics together withindustry is to be built at the University ofCambridge. Called the Maxwell Centre, itis designed to house around 230 peopleand will contain lab space, seminarrooms and interactive spaces whenopen in 2015. Funding for the projec t willcome from the Higher Education FundingCouncil for England as well as from theWinton Programme for the Physics ofSustainability and firms such as Hitachi,Toshiba and Tata Steel. Scientists from

academia and industry will work atthe centre in areas such as scientificcomputing, advanced materials andthe physics of biology and medicine.The centre will also run a graduateprogramme to help students prepare forworking in industry.

Gamma-ray telescope kicks offThe DESY laboratory in Germany hascommissioned the first telescopeprototype for the7150m CherenkovTelescope Array (CTA). Designed at DESY,the prototype will be built in the nextcouple of months before researchers

perform test s on the 12 m telescope.Due to begin construction in 2015,the CTA will study gamma rays withenergies in the 0.1100 TeV range,allowing astronomers to study supernovaexplosions, binary star systems andactive galactic nuclei. CTA telescopeswill be split between the northern andsouthern hemispheres, the sites of whichhave yet to be decided. The northernhemisphere site will contain around2030 telescopes distributed over asquare kilometre while the southern areawill include 70100 telescopes extendedover 10 square kilometres.

Joining the club

Croatian scientists

will be hoping to tapinto more funding

after the country

joins the EU on

1 July.

Af ter 10 years of negotiation anddebate, Croatia this month becomes

the 28th member of the EU. Only thesecond former-Yugoslav state to jointhe bloc after Slovenia, many hopethat Croatias entry to the EU andthe estimated 711.5bn of fundingavailable to the country betweennow and 2020 will help to boostCroatian science and let its research-ers collaborate better with the rest oftheir EU colleagues.

Croatia currently has around 6000full-time scientists and many havealready won cash from the EUs Sev-enth Framework Programme (FP7),which Croatia joined as an associ-ated country in 2006. There have sofar been 232 successful applicationsfor FP7 funding, which correspondsto a success rate of 17.2% slightlybelow the EU average of 21.7%.However, the science ministry pointsout the759m that Croatias scientistsreceived through the seven-year pro-gramme is almost 40% more thanCroatia has contributed to it. Thereis also a new plan in place to raiseCroatias capacity to win more fund-ing from Horizon 2020, the succes-sor to FP7, which will have almost

twice as much cash up for grabs.But not everything is rosy forCroatias scientists, with the countryspending only 0.75% of its GDP onscience compared with the EU aver-age of 2%. Another problem is thatthe success rate for domestic grantapplications in Croatia is 85% afigure many say is far too high to bemeritocratic or promote excellence.

One issue at stake is that manyresearch groups are too small.According to Croatias science min-istry, some 2000 government-fundedresearch projects are worth a total of

just 76500 a year and each involves,on average, only two scientists andone PhD or postdoc researcher.

The problem is that only a rela-tively small percentage of our sci-entific groups are competitive ona world stage, says Stipan Jonjic, amedical researcher from the Univer-sity of Rijeka, the first scientist fromCroatia to be awarded a EuropeanResearch Council grant. This putsus into an inferior place when apply-ing for EU and other scientific funds.

Vlatko Si lobrc i c, a member ofthe Croatian Academy of Sciencesand Arts, says one problem is that

government agencies lack expertiseto support scientists applicationsto EU funds. There are more andmore announcements about work-shops that are supposed to prepareparticipants [for applying to EUfunds], he says. I am not sure thatall of those workshops are run bypeople with real qualifications.

Srete Nikolovski, an electricalengineer from the University of Osi-jek, agrees that there is a problem ofgovernment support for research-ers. His team was the first in Croatiato be awarded a EUREKA Infor-mation Technology for EuropeanAdvancement (ITEA) grant, andhe claims that bad or inconsistentadministration destroyed his pro-jects, with the government cutting or

cancelling its co-funding commit-ment. This meant he had to abandonsome projects that had already beenapproved by the ITEA board.

Our administration and bureau-cracy are not capable of backing upscientists in applications, he says.Government agencies for EU pro-jects are filled with economists whoknow little about specific scienceissues, says Nikolovski, for whom theexperience of working with the agen-cies responsible for co-financing EUfunds was negative and frustrating.

Despite scientists in Nikolovskis

field of information technology andrenewable energy showing theyare capable of getting and conduct-ing EU projects, he plans to avoidapplying for any EU funds adminis-tered by Croatian agencies.

Another issue is that a 2008 min-istry decision to co-fund successfulFP7 projects and reward scientificexcellence for those projects thatreceive over7100 000 was shelved inthe wake of the 2009 economic cri-sis, though the ministry now says itwill co-fund future projects to 15%of their value.Mico Tatalovic

Europe

Croatian scientists look to EU boost

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News & Analysis

One for the future

An update to the

European Strategy

for Particle Physics

stresses the

importance of global

collaboration in

building the next big

experiment in

particle physics.

A series of planned upgrades to theLarge Hadron Collider (LHC) that

wil l enhance the machines poten-tial over the next couple of decadesshould be a top priority for particlephysics, according to an update tothe European Strategy for Parti-cle Physics released by the CERNCouncil at the end of May. The strat-egy also stresses the importance ofglobal collaboration to the futureof European particle physics, par-ticularly in designing a future linearcollider as the next big experiment inparticle physics after the LHC.

Two main options for it are cur-rently on the table including theInternational Linear Collider(ILC), the technical design of whichwas completed last month. If built,it would feature a 31 km-long trackof superconducting cavities that canaccelerate electrons to energies of upto 500 GeV. The other option is theCompact Linear Collider still inthe research and development phase which would operate at higherenergies than the ILC and rely on atwo-beam concept.

Europes original particle-physicsstrategy, which was adopted by the

CERN Council in 2006, focusedon developing the LHC, laying thegroundwork for a linear colliderand investigating the case for futureneutrino experiments. The revisionbuilds on this, taking into accountsubsequent progress notably theLHCs discovery of the Higgs boson.The strategy calls Japans offer tohost the ILC most welcome, add-ing that it looks forward to dis-cussing possible participation withJapan in its bid. A strong interestexpressed in the European Strategyfor Particle Physics will definitelybring in a positive influence on how

our effort is to be received in Japan,Yasuhiro Okada, a trustee at KEK,

Japans high-energy physics labora-tory, toldPhysics World.

The report also stresses the con-tinued importance of investingin outreach, scientific educationand technology transfer to enablethe public to engage better with,and benefit from, particle-physicsresearch. The strategy recognizesEuropes strength [and] depth inparticle physics, says AgnieszkaZalewska, president of the CERNscouncil and member of the groupthat developed the strategy update.

The new European strategy isa tribute to the great strength thatinternational collaboration bringsto science, says Paris Sphicas, aphysicist at CERN and the Univer-sity of Athens, who is chair of theEuropean Physical Societys high-energy and particle-physics division.The update to the strategy, which isfirmly based on the continuation ofthe current successful model, pavesthe way to a road full of promise for arich and exciting physics programmein the coming decades.Ian Randall

Particle physics

Europe prioritizes LHC upgrade and beyond

Atomic pioneer

Heinrich Rohrer

allowed us to see

atoms on surfaces

for the first time.

The Swiss condensed-matter physi-cist Heinrich Rohrer, who shared the1986 Nobel Prize for Physics, died inMay at the age of 79. Rohrer won theNobel prize for inventing the scan-ning tunnelling microscope (STM)at IBMs Zurich Research Labora-tory. Rohrer shared one half of theprize with his IBM colleague Gerd

Binnig, while the other half went toErnst Ruska for his invention of theelectron microscope.

Rohrer was born on 6 June 1933 inthe small town of Buchs in the Swisscanton of St Gallen. The familymoved to Zurich in 1949 and Rohrerstudied physics at ETH Zrich wherehe was taught as an undergraduateby Wolfgang Pauli and Paul Scher-rer. He stayed on to do a PhD on themechanical properties of supercon-ductors and he continued working onsuperconductors at Rutgers Univer-sity in the US.

In 1963 Rohrer joined IBM

Zurich, where he worked initially onmagnetic materials. He encouragedBinnig to join the lab in 1978 andthe pair studied tiny defects on thesurface of silicon which at the timewere hindering the miniaturizationof electronic devices. To gain a bet-ter understanding of these defects,

Rohrer and Binnig built the firstSTM in 1981.

An STM works by scanning anatomically sharp tip over the surfaceof a sample to create a topographicalmap that reveals individual atoms.The tip is held less than one nano-metre from the surface and a voltageis applied so that electrons can quan-tum-mechanically tunnel betweentip and surface. This tunnellingcurrent depends strongly on the tipsurface separation and this is used ina feedback loop to keep the tip the

same distance from the surface.The STM has become an impor-

tant instrument for surface physicsand materials science. A numberof related microscopy techniqueshave since been developed in labsworldwide, including atomic forcemicroscopy. Rohrer became an IBMFellow in 1986 and he headed thephysics department at IBM Zurichfrom 1986 to 1988. The Binnig andRohrer Nanotechnology Centerwas opened at IBM Zurich in 2011in honour of the two laureates (seeNovember 2012 pp1213).Hamish Johnston

People

Heinrich Rohrer: 19332013

JesseKarjalainen

CERN


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News & Analysis

What is the Institute for BasicScience?The Institute for Basic Science (IBS)is essentially modelled on the MaxPlanck institutes in Germany. Wewill create some 50 research centresby 2017 with each having around50 researchers. Each will have onedirector and then three or four groupleaders with their own PhD studentsand postdocs. Each IBS institute willcarry out research in a specific areaof basic science such as femtosecondlasers or the interface of oxide mate-rials. We want to recruit the best sci-entists and give them full autonomyto carry out their own research.

Where did the idea come from?Everybody in the Republic of Koreaagrees that we should invest more inbasic research. The question is howto do it? Korea has developed rapidlyover the last 40 years or so thanks toour focus on applied commercialtechnologies. However, basic scienceis still lacking. I believe we now needto focus on long-term team-based

research in basic science.

When did the plan start?The idea for the IBS was conceivedby the former president of Korea,Myung-bak Lee. He pledged toincrease the proportion of moneyspent on basic science from 25% ofthe $15bn government R&D budgetin 2012 to 35% over five years, aswell as create an international sci-ence business belt, where scienceand industry can come together. TheIBS initiative took three years to gothrough parliament and in Novem-

ber 2011 it was finally established.

What is the IBSs current status?We have about 150 applications fordirector positions, a third of whichcome from scientists based overseas.So far we have selected 19 directors,with 13 centres already in operationand we are still in negotiations withthe other six. Hopefully by the endof the year we will have 25 directors.

Where will the institutes be based?Some 15 of the 50 centres will be inDaejeon, forming our headquarters,with the rest dotted around the coun-

try at existing institute and univer-sity campuses. Initially they will bebased in university departments, butby 2017 we hope that each institutewill have its own separate building.They will cover all the natural sci-ences mathematics, chemistry, lifescience, physics and earth sciences,for example.

How much funding will each institutereceive?We will support each centre with upto $10m per year and we guaranteesuch support for 10 years. There willbe no need for scientists to apply forother funding, but they can apply forforeign funds if they wish. We hopethis level of support will attract toppeople to work here. Indeed, globali-zation is an increasing factor nowand we have to be able to import thebest brains from abroad to compete.

Can anyone apply?

Yes, and we encourage people to doso. A successful applicants mainpost will be at the IBS and they willalso have a post at a neighbouringuniversity, where they will be able toteach one course per year.

How will you attract more foreignresearchers?We aim to have 30% of IBS research-ers from foreign countries. BothKorean and English are official lan-guages at the IBS, so all documenta-tion will be in English. We will alsogive personal support such as help-ing with moving expenses, providing

housing and subsidizing tuition fortheir children.

Is there a danger the IBS will lure toppeople away from Koreanuniversities?Some people complain that too muchmoney is being spent on the IBS, but

we have to create an environmentwhere we can compete with placessuch as the Max Planck institutes.We dont think the existing Koreansystem can create superstars, such asNobel laureates.

Will funding for basic research atuniversities now fall?I insisted that research grants for theNational Research Foundation, themain grant body in Korea, shouldnot be reduced because of the IBSas we dont want to drain out exist-ing money for universities. Indeed,some scientists prefer the universityenvironment and way of working aswell as the social status and pension.

One major IBS initiative is building arare- isotope accelerator in Daejeon;

what is the status of the project?We are currently in the design phaseof the facility, which will provide awide variety of rare isotopes to carryout research in nuclear and atomicphysics as well as materials science.The $1bn funding for the acceleratoris secure in the long-term spending

plan, but every year we will still haveto apply to get the money. So it couldbe delayed one or two years beyondthe 2017 target, but I am confident itwill be built.

How does Koreas new president viewthe IBS project?President Geun-hye Park pledged inher campaign that she will increasethe basic science budget from 35% to40% of the government R&D budgetover five years. Her government alsocites the IBS as one of the core pro-jects it will support.

It must be an exciting time for you?It is a lot of pressure, but it is excitingto build a new institution. I guess itwill be difficult to make them worldclass in a short time, which may takea number of years.

Is the IBS really about giving Koreaits first Nobel winner in science?We believe it will help foster poten-tial Nobel prize winners. We do notsay this is the purpose of the IBS butrather aim to create an environmentwhere this can happen. www.ibs.re.kr

Creating physics stars

Globalization isincreasing andwe have to beable to importthe best brainsfrom abroad to

compete

Korea has begun an ambitious $5bn plan to create 50 new institutesdedicated to fundamental research. Michael Banks meets physicist

Se-Jung Oh, president of the Institute for Basic Science, to find out more

Institute builder

Se-Jung Oh.

IBS
http://www.ibs.re.kr/http://www.ibs.re.kr/


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Tackling cancerPhysicists are opening up an invaluable new path in the fight against cancer

Why, you might be wondering, is Physics World devoting a special issue to thephysics of cancer. Well, we should first say that this issue is not about the treat-ment, diagnosis or imaging of cancer using X-rays, magnetic fields, protons orother subatomic particles. These are areas where medical physicists have made and continue to make many valuable contributions. In fact, the digital ver-

sion of this special issue includes some recent videoswe created examining these endeavours (see below).

What this special issue instead focuses on is afledgling area of research in which physicists andother physical scientists are trying to bring a newperspective to our fundamental understanding of

cancer. Biologists have spent decades and billions ofdollars chasing an elusive cure for cancer, largely

on the assumption that it is at heart a disease of the genes. Get to grips withthose genetic mutations, the thinking goes, and powerful new therapies willfollow. But despite the massive sums spent, the death rate from cancer in theUS, for example, has dropped by just 11% since the 1950s. Tackling tumourswith drugs, radiation or the surgeons scalpel can, it seems, only get you so far.

Rather than seeing cancer purely in terms of genetic mutations, some physi-cists are instead examining the physical parameters that control how cancercells grow, evolve and spread around the body. Atomic-force microscopists,for example, are exploring the curious finding that cancer cells are softer thanhealthy cells whereas tumours are hard lumps (pp3335). Other researchers are

seeing if tumorous cells can be prevented from proliferating by manipulatingtheir electrical polarization (pp2526). Meanwhile, experiments with confocalmicroscopy suggest that the physical rotation of breast-cancer cells could holdclues as to why they can become malignant (pp2829).

But physics contribution to cancer involves more than just using new tech-niques. It is also about doing what physicists do best: namely looking at a prob-lem (cancer) with fresh, unbiased eyes and seeking its underlying principles.One physicist at the heart of this new effort Paul Davies is even proposing anew theory of cancer (pp3740). He suggests it is caused by malfunctions in themechanisms that instruct cells when to multiply and when to die, which makesthem revert to an ancient genetic sub-routine that dates back to our roots asmulticellular creatures. When this sub-routine is triggered, the cells start actingselfishly and out of control.

Davies might be wrong of course, but surely it is right for physicists like himto bring fresh insights and ask disruptive questions. Their work might not leadto a cure, but it could improve existing treatments, for example by letting drugsbe carried directly to tumours in nanoparticles or by helping physicians to makean early diagnosis of metastasis. Physicists are sometimes accused of arrogancewhen they tread on others turf, but that seems a small price to pay for therewards that could be reaped.

ScienceP

hotoL

ibrary

Dont miss our series of films we made at the Massachusetts GeneralHospital in Boston one of the leading medical centres in the US aboutthe pioneering ways in which its researchers are improving the treatment ofcancer patients using the powerful technique of proton therapy. The filmsare embedded in the digital issue and can be viewed atphysicsworld.com.
mailto:[email protected]://physicsworld.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.iop.org/http://physicsworld.com/http://physicsworld.com/http://physicsworld.com/http://physicsworld.com/http://www.iop.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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physicsworld.com Comment: Forum

Tackling space debris head on

Space junk is increasingly becoming ahousehold term. Indeed, it features in arecent US Air Force TV advertisement andis even the main protagonist in the new filmGravity starring George Clooney and San-dra Bullock. The two stars play astronautswho must f ight to return to Earth after awayward piece of space debris destroystheir space shuttle, with passion and dra-matic twists no doubt soon to follow.

While the Hollywood depictions of spacejunk may be long on the drama and shorton the physics, space debris and collisionsin space are a real problem that is gettingan increasing amount of attention. Thereare more than 22 000 pieces of human-generated space debris bigger than 10 cmcurrently being tracked in orbit, and anestimated 500 000 pieces as small as 1 cm

that are currently too small to track regu-larly. With the relative velocities betweenobjects in orbit routinely approaching10 km/s, even these small objects pose asignificant hazard to active satellites (seeJune 2012 pp2832).

Recent events such as the 2009 collisionbetween an active US commercial commu-nications satellite and a defunct Russianmilitary communications satellite have cre-ated thousands of new pieces of debris insome of the most highly used and congestedregions of Earth orbit. Satellite operatorshave already seen an increase in the fre-quency of close approaches between space

junk and the 1000 or so active satellites.Indeed, in 2012 operators performed morethan 70 manoeuvres to reduce the probabil-ity of a collision between their satellites andanother object in orbit.

Clean-up operationsScientists at some of the worlds biggestspace agencies have been examining thegrowth in the space debris population fornearly 30 years now. At a recent confer-ence on space debris in Darmstadt, Ger-many, the results from six different spaceagencies were presented that confirmed thebad news. Even without any new satellitelaunches, the existing debris population

in low Earth orbit (LEO) will continue togrow over the next few decades throughdebrisdebris collisions. Such collisions aremostly the result of small pieces of spacedebris hitting larger pieces, such as deadsatellites and spent rocket bodies, which

creates many more pieces of small debris.This process raises the collision threat incertain regions of Earth orbit, and ulti-mately the cost and risk of space activities.

Delegates in Darmstadt also agreed onthe need to begin removing space debrisfrom orbit to help mitigate this collisionalcascade process. Computer models showthat reducing the amount of debris createdfrom current operations as well as post-mission disposal of satellites is not enough.But combining these activities with remov-ing 510 large objects per year from themost congested regions of LEO could

greatly reduce the growth in the debrispopulation over the next two centuries. Keyquestions include which objects should beremoved, when do they need to be removed,what the best methods of removal are andwho will pay for the removal.

A centra l element in all of these ques-tions is the international nature of theproblem. More than 60 countries currentlyoperate at least one satellite, and 12 coun-tries have demonstrated the ability to placeobjects in orbit. Breaking the debris popu-lation down by mass, Russia is responsiblefor roughly 40% of space junk, followed bythe US (30%), China (20%) and the rest ofthe world (10%). Under the current inter-national legal framework, a space objectis owned by the launching state, or states,which placed it in orbit. This means thatone country cannot just grab any piece ofspace debris and do what it wants with it.

Tackling the space debris problem is thusgoing to require international coopera-tion at some level. At the very least, it willinvolve discussions between scientists frommany countries to decide which objects arethe most pressing priority to remove. It willalso involve further development of con-cepts for removing large objects, most ofwhich have yet to be demonstrated in space.Finally, there is the question of money.Although there may be situations wherecountries decide to remove one or more oftheir own objects with their own funding, itis likely that the financial burden will not beevenly distributed. Countries will have tonegotiate who will be responsible for what,

The rapid growth of space junk

in low Earth orbit threatens todestroy existing and future

satellites, Brian Weeden

calls for more international

co-operation to deal with

the danger

Junk alert This image released in April maps all known man-made space objects

ESA

A space object isowned by the state

which placed it inorbit. One countrycannot just grab any

piece of space

debris it wants


20/6018 Physics World Ju ly 2013

physicsworld.comComment: Forum

and how to provide incentives for countriesto either remove their own space objects orgive permission for others to do so.

Building space awarenessA technical demonstration mission toremove a large piece of space debris thatinvolves multiples countries would be a

significant step forward. It would enablefurther progress on the technical andoperational side, as well as providing a spe-cific example with actual legal and policyissues to sort out. Currently, much of thelegal and policy debate revolves aroundnotional scenarios that get bogged downin hypotheticals. An actual mission wouldpresent a concrete set of problems to solveand enable a more functional discussion.

The foundation for all these activities isspace situational awareness (SSA), com-monly defined as information about thespace environment and activities in space.SSA helps keep scientists informed aboutthe evolution of the space debris populationand develop better models of its long-termgrowth. SSA also helps satellite operatorspredict close approaches between their sat-ellites and other space objects that couldresult in collisions, and plan manoeuvresto reduce that probability.

SSA has historically been a mission per-formed for national security reasons and

currently the US military operates the larg-est network of radars and optical telescopesfor tracking space objects. However, moreinternational cooperation is needed hereto both expand the geographic coverageof these tracking efforts and combine thetracking with the positional data that satel-lite owners have on their own satellites.

The development of a single, interna-tional entity to provide SSA for all satel-lite operators is probably not the optimal

technical or political solution. Rather, weshould have multiple analysis hubs thatshare data, which is likely to be a morepragmatic and workable solution. Shiftingthe responsibility for aspects of SSA essen-tial to safety of spaceflight away from themilitary and towards civil agencies will alsohelp reduce the barriers to cooperation and

data sharing that currently exist.Taken together, improving SSA, devel-

oping and testing the technologies forremoving large debris objects, adoptingbest practices for minimizing the crea-tion of debris during space operations, andcommitting to properly disposing of satel-lites and rocket bodies at the end of theirusable life present the best way to dealwith the threat of space debris. This is notsomething that one country can implementalone. Rather, it will take an internationaleffort and actions by multiple countries toensure that humanity can continue to usespace for all the many benefits it providesin the future.

Brian Weeden is a technical

adviser at the Secure World

Foundation based in Broomfield,

Colorado, e-mail bweeden@

swfound.org

Danger zoneThis forecast of space debris density in

2055 shows that the highest debris collision risk is

at the poles, now and in the future.

ESA

Next month

in Physics WorldRedefining temperatureHow researchers at the National Physical Laboratory haveused the Boltzmann constant to make a new and moreaccurate definition of the kelvin in the quest for morerobust SI units

Optimal support

Naturally occurring self-similar structures that are lightbut strong, such as mother of pearl, are of interest tophysicists keen to figure out how to design syntheticversions with similar properties

Open all areas

Open-access publishing is fast becoming a reality forscientific research, but how is it being implemented at apractical level?

Plus News & Analysis, Forum, Critical Point, Feedback,

Reviews, Careers and much more

physicsworld.com

MichaeldePodesta/NPL
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physicsworld.com Comment: Robert P Crease

Critical Point The Treiman effect

The art of discovery comes in two versions.One is the formal textbook version oftenpromoted by my philosophical colleagues.The other is messy real ity. The latter, how-ever, has few phenomenological traits thatmight help us construct a theory aboutdiscovery in general. A rare instance issomething I call the Treiman effect, namedafter the late Princeton University theoristSam Treiman.

I met Treiman just once and thatwas only brief ly at a conference yet theencounter was enough to make me admirethe way he was not content with the usualformal and tidied-up pictures of scientificdiscovery. Ive also spoken with many of hisformer students, who remember his deepand intuitive grasp of scientific practice.One of them, my colleague Alfred Gold-haber, recalls that whenever Treiman fin-ished discussing some extraordinary newdiscovery, he would often say, almost as acatchphrase, Sowe are inv ited to jumpto two conclusions at the same time. Oneconclusion would be about the discovery

itself. The other would be that the routeto the discovery has more than one conse-quence, and finding those consequencesreinforces ones confidence in them all.

As an example, Goldhaber cites NielsBohrs famous trilogy of papers of 19131914, in which he proposed the then seem-ingly far-fetched idea that electrons in anatom can exist only in specific, discreteor

Documents

PWJul13 Cancer Special Issue