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E=mc^2 Verified In Quantum Chromodynamic Calculation

Posted by kdawson on from the tee-shirts-were-right-all-along dept.

chirishnique and other readers sent in a story in AFP about a heroic supercomputer computation that has verified Einstein's most famous equation at the level of subatomic particles for the first time. "A brainpower consortium led by Laurent Lellouch of France's Centre for Theoretical Physics, using some of the world's mightiest supercomputers, have set down the calculations for estimating the mass of protons and neutrons, the particles at the nucleus of atoms. ... [T]he mass of gluons is zero and the mass of quarks is only five per cent. Where, therefore, is the missing 95 per cent? The answer, according to the study published in the US journal Science on Thursday, comes from the energy from the movements and interactions of quarks and gluons. ... [E]nergy and mass are equivalent, as Einstein proposed in his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905." Update: 11/21 15:50 GMT by KD : New Scientist has a slightly more technical look at the accomplishment.

3 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Pretty cool by JonDorian88 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yes, the chalkboard was impressive... But did it run Linux?

    --
    The 14'th amendment was was created to be an option.
  2. Re:I've only got one thing to say... by underpants_gnome · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    comes to mind, and is a good example of that*

  3. Step One Completed by LifesABeach · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Now for step 2? Resolving FTL Travel, Anti Gravity; and my personal favorite, Access to better Servers when I play WOW?