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Closing In On The Quark-Gluon Plasma

Posted by timothy on from the no-cataclysm-yet dept.

Martin writes "A series of presentations and a press conference was held today at Brookhaven National Laboratory about new results from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The latest run was finished only a few weeks ago. The results are a new milestone in the search for the Quark-Gluon Plasma, a new state of nuclear matter. The data were analyzed on large Linux clusters at BNL and in Japan and France, with the biggest cluster of about 1100 dual-CPU nodes located at the RHIC Computing Facility. It's nice to see that results are out so soon after the data were taken. There were previous stories about RHIC on /., here(1), here(2) and here(3)."

18 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. Gluons? by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    I've heard of strap-ons, wouldn't a gluon hurt when removed?

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  2. disappointing by Boromir+son+of+Faram · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was all excited about this at first, but it turns out that it's just a milestone in the search for quark-gluon plasma. I guess I'll have to put up with plain old photon-muon plasma for a couple more years.

    --

    Boromir, son of Faramir, King of Gondor and Minas Tirith
  3. BNL by das_katz_socrates · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The data were analyzed on large Linux clusters at BNL..."

    Who would've thought that the musical group Bare Naked Ladies ran linux.

    --
    This sig has no nutritional value...
  4. Re:Recent events by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Karma whore!

    We want pictures - here is what RHIC looks like from above-

    http://www.agsrhichome.bnl.gov/Images/RHIC.jpg

  5. "Quark-Gluon Plasma" by GoofyBoy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Give Star Trek writers a larger vocabulary.

    "Captian, it will take at least an hour to clean the quantum-transductor of all residual Quark-Gluon plasma!"

    --
    The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
  6. Units? by wcspxyx · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the article:

    The top, purple band is the realm where QGP can exist, at very high temperatures above 1,000,000,000,000 degrees.

    Is that in Celsius or Fahrenheit?

    --
    Sig? What sig? Do I have to have a sig!?!?
    1. Re:Units? by red+floyd · · Score: 2, Funny


      "Top Purple Band" would be a good name for a rock band.
      </DAVE-BARRY>

      --
      The only reason we have the rights we have is that people just like us died to gain those rights. -- Cheerio Boy
  7. Weapons? by handy_vandal · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...what are the practicle applications for this research? How will it benifit mankind?

    More to the point -- what are the military applications?

    --
    -kgj
  8. 1100 dual-CPU nodes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think I've just discovered the root cause for global warming...

  9. Actually... by blamanj · · Score: 4, Funny

    The results are a new milestone in the search for the Quark-Gluon Plasma, a new state of nuclear matter.

    ...it's a 13.7 billion year old state of matter.

  10. Prior art? by foo+fighter · · Score: 1, Funny
    "When two gold nuclei collide head-on, the temperatures reached are so extreme (more than 300 million times the surface temperature of the sun) that the individual protons and neutrons inside the merged gold nuclei are expected to melt...


    Doesn't AMD hold a patent on this?

    --
    obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
  11. The obvious will happen. by pixelgeek · · Score: 2, Funny

    -- The data were analyzed on large Linux clusters at BNL

    Which makes one wonder how long it is before we see Microsoft announce Windows XP Nuclear Collider Edition

  12. Quark by eclectic4 · · Score: 2, Funny


    ...will this new "gluon plasma" be in version 7 then? And how long are we going to have to wait for it THIS time...?

    --

    "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel Boorstin
  13. Re:Coolest name for matter ever! by SteveAstro · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm going to name my band "Quark-Gluon Plasma". All my fans will call it "QGP" for short. It's much cooler than "Bose-Einstein Condensate".

    No, the whole point is QGP is much much HOTTER than a BEC.....

    So you won't be a cool band, you'll be a hot band.

    Steve

  14. Coverage on Ch. 12, Long Island's News Station by StefanJ · · Score: 4, Funny

    Interdimensional Gateway Opens in Suffolk County.

    Elder Gods awake from aeons of slumber.

    Film at Eleven.

  15. Re:Those damn humans! by istewart · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow... sounds like the Genesis Effect from Star Trek II.

  16. Requisite SCO Bashing Humor Post by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 2, Funny
    The data were analyzed on large Linux clusters

    SCO adds the entire branch of physics to their lawsuit maintaining that all discoveries made with Linux software belong to them.

    Their suit against God for creating a world where Linux IP was infringed is on hold while they attempt to hire Dilbert as their process server.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  17. Anomalous reactions... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I just hope they have Gordon Freeman on staff in case the shit hits the fan.