“ATLAS and CMS collaborations (the two largest experiments of the Large Hadron Collider or LHC) have managed to exclude the data collected in 2011 Higgs masses in the standard model above about 127 GeV, which represents a breakthrough in this search “, explains to SINC Juan Alcaraz, principal investigator of CIEMAT in the CMS.

Cintíficos experiments ATLAS and CMS were presented today at a seminar at CERN, the status of your search for the Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model of Particle Physics.Their results are based on the analysis of a data amount considerably higher than the results presented at the conference last summer, enough to make significant progress in the search for the Higgs boson, but not to make a strong statement on the existence of this elusive particle.

“In the mass range 114-127 GeV, both collaborations are slight excess, particularly on channel two-photon decay and mass in the 124-126 GeV, but the amount of data collected to date is insufficient to to determine if this really is the Higgs particle or simple statistical fluctuations somewhat higher than expected, “says Alcaraz.

The researcher contextualizes the advance: “These fluctuations are the order of about 2-3 standard deviations, and the common practice in the case of discovery of new particles dictates the observation of at least 5 standard deviations, which would ensure that it is a too stable. It is noteworthy that there is little difference between the capabilities of ATLAS and CMS regarding the detection of the Higgs is concerned. The statistical fluctuations in this quest are now more important than small differences in the characteristics of each experiment. “

The main conclusion

For now, the main conclusion is that if the Higgs boson mass range is likely between 116 and 130 GeV, according to the ATLAS experiment, and between 115 and 127 GeV, according to CMS. Both experiments have been indications in the same mass region, but not strong enough to be considered a discovery.

The Higgs boson, if any, has a very short duration and is broken in many ways. His discovery was based on observing particles which decays more than the Higgs itself. Both ATLAS and CMS have analyzed several decay channels, and excesses have small low-mass region where the presence of the Higgs boson has not yet been excluded.

Separately, none of these excesses is more significant statistically than rolling a die and draw two consecutive six. Interestingly, there are several independent measures that point to the region between 124 and 126 GeV. It is too early to say if ATLAS and CMS have discovered the Higgs boson, but these recent results are generating great interest in the scientific community of particle physics.

“We have restricted the region most likely mass for the Higgs boson of 116 to 130 GeV, and in recent weeks have begun to see a fascinating excess of events in the mass range around 125 GeV,” said the spokesman of the experiment Fabiola Gianotti ATLAS. “This excess can be due to a fluctuation, but it could be something more interesting. At this point we can not conclude anything. We need to study more data. Given the exceptional performance of the LHC this year, we will not have to wait long to have sufficient data and hope to resolve this puzzle in 2012. “

“We can not exclude the presence of the Higgs boson in the Standard Model between 115 and 127 GeV due to a modest excess of events in this mass region that appears, quite consistently, in five different decay channels,” said CMS spokesman, Guido Tonelli. “The excess is most compatible with a Higgs boson of the Standard Model in the vicinity of 124 GeV and below, but the statistical significance is not large enough to say anything conclusive. What we see today is consistent with both a background fluctuation or the presence of the boson. More refined analysis and additional data contributed by the LHC in 2012 will definitely respond. “

Solve the mystery in 2012

In the coming months, both experiments will further refine their analysis ahead of the winter conference of particle physics due in March. However, a definitive statement on whether or not the Higgs boson require more data, and is unlikely to occur until the end of next year.

“The next step is to analyze the data that the LHC will provide in 2012, between 10 and 20 femtobarn reverse, ie, two to four times the current data, and this new sample should help confirm or disprove the existence of this excess, “he adds Alcaraz. “In the case confirmed the existence of a signal, the next step would be to determine more precisely if the number of events is consistent with that predicted by the Standard Model, what is its mass and other properties (its spin is it really zero? ). But if it is confirmed that this is a simple statistical fluctuation, the search would continue until the lowest possible mass (114 GeV). “

Failure to observe the Higgs boson, the search would continue in other models. In many of the popular models that extend it is expected not only one Higgs field, but at least two, with a possible reduction in the number of expected events. The Higgs couplings could also have various other particles, so that the channels seen as more likely may not be true.

Even under the assumption of a complete absence of signal in the 114-600 GeV mass range, it is essential the presence of something with similar properties to the Higgs boson. His absence at low mass is then manifested in the LHC as a detectable increase in the production of pairs of bosons at high collision energies and possibly give rise to new structures in the mass spectrum in the region of the thousands of GeV.

The key for the Standard Model Higgs

The Standard Model is the theory that physicists use to describe the behavior of fundamental particles and forces acting between them. Describe the ordinary matter of which we are made us and all observable. However, it describes 96% of the universe, which is invisible. One of the main goals of the LHC research program is to go beyond this model and the Higgs boson could be the key.

This boson confirm this theory, first introduced in the sixties, but may take other forms related to theories that go beyond. A Higgs boson within the Standard Model may continue to point to new physics through subtleties in behavior that arise only after studying a large number of decays of this particle.

But if you were out, the absence of the Higgs boson in the Standard Model would indicate the presence of vastly new physics in the energy range that is designed for the LHC, 14 TeV (tera) to be achieved after 2014. Whether ATLAS and CMS in the coming months show that the Higgs boson in the Standard Model or not, the LHC program is paving the way for new physics.

“Whatever then no doubt that the LHC will be a great great first step in understanding this concept so natural yet so dark: the mass,” concludes Juan Alcaraz.

The mysteries of the Higgs boson

The Higgs boson is the only particle not yet discovered the so-called standard model. It is a very special particle, essential in the Standard Model to explain the unification of electromagnetic and weak forces, as well as the existence of particles with mass, as observed in the universe around us. Your search has focused LHC in the mass region between 114 and 600 giga-electron volts (GeV), where 1 GeV about the mass of a proton. The mass of

114 GeV corresponds to the lower limit set by LEP experiments, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN electron-positron, who served in the past the tunnel that now occupies the LHC. The mass of 600 GeV corresponds to the limit beyond which it is considered that the Higgs can not be treated as a particle itself, having an excessively high probability of decay and the mass from which appear difficult to interpret in the standard model. The integrated luminosity have collected ATLAS and CMS experiments, around 5 femtobarn reverse, it is sufficient for an efficient search for the Higgs boson in the mass range quoted. (To get an idea, a reverse femtobarn represents something close to 300 million events analyzed in a detector like CMS.)

The Higgs is an unstable particle, which immediately decays into other particles in the same proton collision point.Depending on the mass hypothesis studied decay channels are more suitable than others. In the mass range 130-140 GeV above, the most effective channels correspond to pair the search for the Higgs decay into pairs of W or Z bosons with subsequent decay into four leptons or two leptons and two quarks.

In the low mass range, 114-130 GeV, the most promising channel is the Higgs decay into a pair of photons, although an unlikely channel is much less affected by other background processes. Note that these tests look for signs of dozens of events over a total of millions and, even after applying strict selection criteria, it ends up looking a little too much on a background of hundreds or thousands of events.

Spanish participation

Since the implementation of the ATLAS detector, which involved 3,000 scientists from 174 institutions from 38 countries, researchers at the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC), Joint Center for Scientific Research Council (CSIC) and University of Valencia, the Institut d’Altes Energies Physics (IFAE), a consortium between the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ​​Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), actively participate in operation and maintenance of detectors, with a strong presence on the alignment and calibration activities.

Within the extensive research program of the LHC, the ATLAS Spanish groups involved in a number of lines of research in the analysis of the data, which cover many of the most interesting topics of the program priorities of the LHC. In particular, the search for Higgs boson in the Standard Model, the groups have studied different final states resulting from the decay of the Higgs particle into two photons, two leptons taus and two Z bosons, or W

For its part, CMS, attended by 3,000 scientists from 172 institutes in 40 countries, experimental groups are present at the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA), CSIC-University joint center of Cantabria, the University of Oviedo, the Center for Energy Research , Environment and Technology (CIEMAT) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), involved in the search for the Higgs boson. Stresses the important participation of researchers from the University of Oviedo and the IFCA in the analysis channel of the Higgs boson decay into bosons WW, and CIEMAT researchers in the decay channel ZZ bosons, both very relevant to this search and have been key to exclude its mass is between 127 and 600 GeV.

The participation of the Spanish research groups at the LHC has the support of the Ministry of Education and Science through the National Programme for Particle Physics and National Center for Particle Physics, Astroparticle and Nuclear ( CPAN ), Consolider-Ingenio 2010 whose main objectives are the promotion and scientific coordination of the Spanish participation in international projects, development of joint R & D and training and incorporating new groups of researchers and technicians. The CPAN aims to consolidate these actions by setting up a center in permanent network, similar to those in other countries around us.

Source: CERN / CPAN

“The platform consists of the aircraft, a block-based communications and control consists of a very rugged tablet computer and type a command such as video games,” explains Carlos Bernabeu DiCYT statements, founder of trees. The operation is very simple and can be used to monitor military operations or conduct digital mapping.

In the market there are many similar systems, called UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), but the ‘aracnocoptero’ has more advanced features, allowing a vertical takeoff and carry a payload of up to 3 kilograms (too much weight given that the device weighs 3’5) is removable, is carried in small bags and flight allows extraordinary stability compared with other devices of this type, which vibrate too much to take precise images.

In other systems, analog radio communications are tight at 1,000 meters, but “our protocols are digital communications, with a theoretical range of 100 miles in optimal conditions. With digital radio waves, we have all the information in real time on the tablet, where we see the video and the position of the device on a map, “said Bernabeu.

Very resistant

The ‘aracnocoptero’, made of titanium and carbon is very strong, has a camera that shoots his own flight and multiple sensors: pressure to control their height, a sonar to facilitate automatic takeoffs and landings, gyroscopes, magnetometers and accelerometers to win stability. And with GPS are given automatic flight patterns for execution and the information is displayed on the user interface. Additionally, you can add all the necessary tools for the type of work to be performed and the only limit is the ability to load, so it could carry cameras day, night and thermal or measuring systems and laser scanning for profiles topographic.

The sensors are becoming thinner and lighter, electronic flight system is becoming smaller and more efficient batteries, which now hold up to 40 minutes, evolve very quickly to increase the duration of the flight.

Currently, “we have working prototypes and companies are interested,” said the head of Arborea, which currently has its headquarters in the business incubator of technology-based Science Park, University of Salamanca. Fly over Somali pirate ship can be used for military purposes, but in the civil field is used to analyze from the air a monument to be restored or to study the status of power lines with a great saving.

Flight “swarm”

Researchers working on artificial intelligence system in order to imitate the communication model of social species such as birds or swarms of bees to establish flight patterns of these groups smart devices. For example, “if we radioactivity, and deploy multiple devices communicate with each other through this digital protocol, everyone knows where the others and act to cover areas without overlapping. If one detects radioactivity, others go for appropriate measures. “ This multi-agent system mimics the gregarious animal models, since “the logic diagrams are the same.”

(Enlargement of the pituitary tissue created from embryonic stem cells. Image: Yoshiki Sasai)

The adenohypophysis or anterior pituitary functions as an important center of production of hormones. At present, no type of stem cell culture is capable of generating this type of tissue in humans, but Japanese scientists have just successfully in mice and intend to create a human pituitary in the next three years.

One of the authors of the study, Yoshiki Sasai, the group of Neurogenesis and Organogenesis of the Riken Center for Developmental Biology (Kobe, Japan) has explained to SINC that “as an extension of this success, we plan to apply our technology to human stem cells from the ES (embryonic) and IPS (induced pluripotent). We hope to develop an efficient method for producing human pituitary in the coming years. “

The mouse embryonic stem cells were stimulated in a culture that mimicked three-dimensional tissue interactions, to thereby produce the five hormones generated by different cell types present in the pituitary. The corticotrophic, for example, showed they were capable of secreting the hormone adenocorticotrópica in response to corticotropin-releasing hormone.

Other challenges for the medical application of this finding are, Sasai, “find a safe and effective for use in transplantation pituitary failure, a phenomenon found in the pituitary apoplexy, Sheehan’s syndrome or the empty sella “condition in which the pituitary gland shrinks or becomes flattened.

Complex tissues

The transplantation of these tissues in mice with defects in the pituitary resulted in the restoration of normal hormone levels affected. Sasai warns that “it is difficult to say how much we take, but hopefully we can produce human pituitary tissue in the next three years. It will take more time until we can develop methods of transplantation of these cells in animal studies. “

Another positive consequence of this method of organogenesis is that it opens the door to generating complex tissues in other parts of the body. “With regard to the implications,” says Sasai, “the bottom line of many organs, including lungs, pancreas or liver develops from the interaction of different tissues (epithelial, mesenchymal) and the actual achievement will help to develop efficient methods of production of shoots of these organs. “

(The magnificent performance of the LHC has forced upward revision of data to achieve objectives in 2011)

After 180 days of operation and 400 trillion proton-proton collisions, the operating cycle of the LHC in 2011 came to an end at 17:15 pm on 30 October. In its second year of operation, the LHC team has exceeded its operational objectives, constantly increasing the speed at which the LHC has provided the data to the experiments.

At the beginning of the year, the goal for the LHC was to accumulate an amount of data that physicists call a reverse femtobarn during 2011. The first reverse femtobarn was reached June 17, leaving the LHC experiments in a good position ahead of the major scientific conferences and forcing Summer to revise the target upward to acquire data in 2011 to 5 femtobarns inverse . This milestone was achieved on 18 October, with a total for the year of nearly six femtobarns reverse delivered to each of the two major LHC experiments, ATLAS and CMS .

“At the end of the operating cycle with protons of the LHC this year has reached cruising speed,” said Accelerators and Technology Director of CERN , Steve Myers. “To put things in context, the current rate of production of data is a factor of 4 million more than in the first cycle of operation of 2010, and a factor of 30 higher than in early 2011.”

Among the physical milestones achieved in the LHC proton operation is to narrow the search for the Higgs boson andsupersymmetric particles , testing the Standard Model of particle physics increasingly tougher tests and advancing our understanding of the early universe.

“It was an important year and exciting for the scientific community at the LHC, especially for our students and post-docs from around the world. We have a large number of measurements of the Standard Model and agreed to uncharted territory in search of new physics. In particular, we have limited the mass of the Higgs particle to rank as light as possible, if it exists, “said Fabiola Gianotti ATLAS spokesperson. “This mass range is more difficult to study.”

“Looking back at this year’s fantastic, I have the impression of living in a kind of a dream,” said CMS spokesman Guido Tonelli.“We have produced dozens of new measures and significantly restricted the space available for new physics models, and the best is yet to come. Hundreds of young scientists are analyzing the huge amount of data accumulated so far, soon we will have new results and perhaps something important to say about the Higgs boson in the Standard Model. “

“We have the amount of data that we dreamed at the beginning of the year and the results are testing the Standard Model of particle physics through very tough test,” said spokesman LHCb Pierluigi Campana. “So far, the theory has withstood these tests with flying colors, but thanks to the superb performance of the LHC, we are reaching sensitivity levels that can see beyond the Standard Model. The researchers, especially young people, are experiencing a great enthusiastically waiting to find new physics “.

In the coming weeks, the LHC experiments will analyze all 2011 data. Thus, although it is possible that new physics arising from the analysis is also likely to be required for this inverse femtobarns the 10 originally planned for the period 2011-2012.

As in 2010 , the LHC is preparing to four weeks of operation with lead ion collisions, but with a new feature this year, the largest particle accelerator in the world trying to prove they can also be able to collide proton lead ions in two periods devoted to the development of the machine. If successful, these tests will lead to a new operating system of the LHC, using protons to study the internal structure of the ions much more massive lead.

This is important for the program operation with lead ions, which aims to study the so-called “ quark-gluon plasma , “the primordial soup of particles from which evolved the matter that makes up the visible universe.

“To collide lead ions allows us to produce and study small pieces of this primordial soup,” said spokeswoman Alice Giubellino Paolo, “but like any good cook would say, to understand a full recipe is vital to understand the ingredients, which is what that can facilitate the study of quark-gluon plasma. “

MORE INFORMATION:

www.i-cpan.es

(The project aims to help FuturICT “explore and manage our future.” Picture: FuturICT)

“ FuturICT bet that science can catch up with the speed at which new challenges and emerging opportunities in our changing world as a result of globalization, technological changes, demographic and environmental, “he explains to SINC Josep Perello, professor of the University of Barcelona (UB) and responsible for dissemination of FuturICT-Spain, Spanish node of the project.

This European initiative, which already has a hundred scientists from the continent, aims to create an observatory of crisis and social dynamics through the intensive use of new technologies and supercomputing, using ideas from physics, mathematics, biology, sociology, psychology and economy.

“The proposal aims to produce historic breakthroughs and provide powerful new ways of managing global challenges, such as the output of the current financial crisis,” said Perello.

A simple example of possible applications is the recent study of the movement 15 M with the analysis of messages on Twitter , but the researchers hope to major challenges such as socio-political change or predict the effect of a law before its approval. In essence, trying to help “explore and manage our future.”

The pilot project FuturICT is one of the six nominations for the initiative FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) Flagship of the EU, which will finance with 1,000 million euros in 10 years or finalists. The other five candidates also highlight graphene revolution, the human brain, the development of energy self-sufficient systems, robotics and personalized medicine.

FuturICT seeks to integrate the work of hundreds of the best scientists in Europe from three fields: ICT, Science of Complexity and Social Sciences, to investigate and improve the social life that takes place on Earth. The project promoters often refer to him as an “accelerator of knowledge”, by analogy with particle accelerators in physics.

Meeting in Barcelona, ​​the Spanish node

Regarding the Spanish node so far about 20 research centers, business R & D and cultural center have joined FuturICT-Spain. Its members have gathered in Barcelona between 5 and 7 October to publicly present this project in our country.

“The meeting served to make clear the interest and support of public research organizations (MICINN, CDTI, CSIC), some companies (Telefónica, Yahoo, Indra, Satec, Ibermatica, Atos …) and the local administration Barcelona City Council, “said spokesman FuturICT-Spain, Maxi San Miguel, a researcher at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Physics and Complex Systems (CSIC-UIB).

The spokesman stressed that the national node focuses on five aspects: “large-scale computing infrastructures (Supercomputing and Grid), important records in data communication and telephony networks, internationally recognized researchers in complex systems (particularly in social simulation) to consolidate the network of scientific collaborations established in this area, and awaken the interest of companies established in Spain by the new technologies. “

Between 22 and 25 November will be a meeting in Warsaw (Poland) with representatives from the European Commission, ICT committees of member countries and the six candidates for FET Flagship to analyze the development of their activities.Applicants must submit a final report in April 2012. Thereafter, the Commission shall decide on the selection and implementation of this initiative.

(Artist’s impression of protoplanetary disk of TW Hydrae. Image: ESA / NASA / JPL-Caltech)

Scientists think that a good part of the water on our planet came aboard comets struck the Earth during its early formative stages. This hypothesis has been supported recently with the discovery by Herschel of water similar to Earth on a comet (103P/Hartley 2).

Now the same space telescope, thanks to the HIFI instrument has also detected water vapor emission throughout the disk swirling around TW Hydrae, a star formed about 5-10 million years and located at 176 light years the Earth. The discovery shows that there are significant reserves and water in protoplanetary disks surrounding some stars.

TW Hydrae is in the last stage of his training and is surrounded by a disk of dust and gas condensed to be completed to give rise to a whole system of planets.

The researchers believe that the emissions are produced when ultraviolet radiation heats the interstellar ice grains embedded in dust in the disc. This reserve of water could be an important contribution to the planets that form will be completed around this young star.

“The phenomenon could be similar to what happened in our own solar system, in which charged dust grains of ice were added to form comets,” says Michiel Hogerheijde the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, which has led the study. “We thought that comets were an important source of water for the planets in our solar system.”  

Simulations to find the volume of ice

Scientists have performed simulations that combine these new results with the observations made ​​above ground and with the data the telescope Spitzer at NASA, which has allowed them to calculate the volume of ice reserves the protoplanetary disk. The results indicate that the disk around TW Hydrae stored so much water that would fill several thousand oceans.

“We have already booked observation time of Herschel to study three protoplanetary disks around other stars, “confirms Hogerheijde. “We find similar results to those of TW Hydrae, even as now study objects that are up to three times farther away, it will take many more hours of observation.”

This research opens the door to a new understanding of the role of water in protoplanetary disks, and offers a new field of scientific tests to investigate how water came to our planet.

“With Herschel we can trace the water through every step of the process of formation of stars and planets, “says Göran Pilbratt, project scientist for Herschel to the ESA.

“In TW Hydrae are watching the ‘raw material’ from which new planets will eventually form, which helps us better understand how the Solar System formed in which we live,” explains the researcher.

(The book highlights that more needs to be done to address gender inequality in science. Picture: UPO)

“We have to influence the causes of structural, stereotypes and practices in the institutional and personal biases and barriers which generate negative effects on women’s careers are very real,” said Cristina Garmendia, Minister of Science and Innovation.

The book highlights that more needs to be done to address gender inequality in science, especially in the highest levels of the academic hierarchy, while intended as a background document to help work on correcting the imbalance is the low representation of women in science.

The minister said the government has actively worked to correct this imbalance with such important initiatives as the new Law on Science, Technology and Innovation, “which gives an important step in promoting the role women should play, incorporating gender perspective. ” He also wanted to stress that this law incorporates obligations aimed at ensuring that the Spanish system of science, technology and innovation moving towards a situation of gender equality effectively.

“We can say without hesitation that we have today in our country a model of a legal framework. This was recently recognized professor at Stanford University, Londa Schiebinger, a world expert in this area when he said that if the Spanish law is properly applied in the future, Spain will head to the country a model of good international practice, “said Garmendia.

The head of science has emphasized the need for further work in this line with action at the highest political level of decision. “In this sense, the book reveals that although 60% of people in the Spanish university graduates are women, and graduate with better records than men, only 23% of the research faculty of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and 15% of university professorships are occupied by women, “he added.

The White Paper also notes that in the last 20 years the percentage of women professors has only increased by 6%. Garmendia said that without active measures such as the Government has taken with the Law on Science, Technology and Innovation, the presence of women in the scientific advances not only in proportion to the number of qualified women to access jobs highest in the race, but in some cases and at times can even go back.

Measures the change in scientific intituciones

In today’s event was also presented the report “Structural Change in scientific institutions: excellence, equity and efficiency in research and innovation ‘, published by the European Commission.

The data provided in this report broadly coincide with those of the “White Paper on the status of women in Spanish science.” According to this document, although 45% of European graduates are women, only 30% of research careers are women (37% for Spanish). The statistics get worse in leadership positions, only 8% of full professors and 13% of university presidents are women.

The paper proposes structural changes in scientific institutions, so that decisions are more transparent, unconscious biases are removed gender in institutional practices to modernize the human resource management considering the implications of gender, to promote excellence through diversity, and enhance research and innovation through the integration of gender analysis.

(Future linear colliders will take over the circular.Image: UGR/LCWS11.)

The Palacio de Congresos de Granada hosts between 26 and 30 September the International Congress on Future linear colliders ( LCWS11 or Future International Workshop on Linear colliders) . It is a world congress on linear accelerators, the next generation of particle accelerators to be built after the Large Hadron Collider (LHC, for its acronym in English). In this type of facility scientists collide subatomic particles to study the building blocks of matter and answer fundamental questions of physics.

At the congress in Granada, organized by the Department of Theoretical Physics and the Cosmos, University of Granada (UGR) with support from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the National Center for Particle Physics, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics (CPAN ) involved 350 scientists from 30 countries. The opening was attended by the director of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Rolf Heuer, an organization that operates the LHC, and the rector of the University of Granada, Francisco González Lodeiro.

Heuer, for example, report the latest results from the LHC.Other speakers include Barry Barish, director of Design Effort ILC-GDE/Global-organization that studies the design of new accelerators, and Atsuto Suzuki, president of the ICFA ( International Committee for Future Accelerators ) and director of KEK, the Japanese Physics Laboratory particles.

The LCWS11 have three lines of work: it will be the design of future linear accelerators, the type of detectors to be placed around the collision point and particle physics that you can study in them.

Unlike the current accelerator, built in a circular, the next generation is designed in a linear fashion. This, together with other characteristics such as the type of particles will collide, making them much more precise instruments than at present.

Thus, while the LHC is a machine to discover new territories in physics and answer fundamental questions as the origin of mass (which would be responsible for the so-called “Higgs boson”), or the nature of dark matter, accelerators allow linear details of this “new physics”.

The upcoming linear accelerator project is a great challenge to the international community gathers in particle physics grouped into three regions: Europe, Americas and Asia. Each region has an annual conference, which adds a great annual world congress in coordinating the three regions.

This is the first time the world congress held in Spain, in this case in Granada, which is a recognition of the role of the Spanish scientific community in the process of building the future linear accelerator. Currently seven research centers and universities involved in the Spanish two existing projects: the International Linear Collider (ILC, for its acronym in English) and Compact Linear Collider (CLIC).

Participation of Spanish researchers

The ILC has the participation of major research centers in this area: in addition to CERN, other laboratories involved are DESY (Germany), Fermilab and SLAC (U.S.) and KEK (Japan). On the Spanish participation by the Institute of Physics Corpuscular (IFIC, CSIC-Universidad de Valencia), the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA, CSIC-Universidad de Cantabria), the Center for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT), the Center National Microelectronics (CNM-IMB-CSIC), the Instituto Tecnológico de Aragón (ITA) and the Universities of Barcelona, ​​Granada and Santiago de Compostela.

In its initial design, the ILC will be 35 kilometers long. The location and construction will be decided in the period 2012-2014, taking into account the possible findings and discoveries of the LHC at the time. In developing the 1600 ILC researchers involved 300 laboratories and universities around the world.

For its part, CIEMAT, IFIC and the University of Barcelona participate in R & D at CERN to develop the technology to build the CLIC. The linear accelerator is designed to reach higher energies than the ILC, although the state of technology is less advanced.

Given the complexity and requirements of the construction of these large accelerators, the committee brings together the international community in the field of experimental particle physics tries to find synergies for the development of these projects.

Granada LCWS11 Congress has the support of the National Center for Particle Physics, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics (CPAN), Consolider-Ingenio 2010 project that promotes the Spanish participation in international scientific projects in these areas of physics, besides the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) of CERN and the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY).

In parallel, on Tuesday 27 (at 19:00) organized an informative lecture on the Science Park entitled “Journey to the heart of the matter”, hosted by François Richard, a researcher at the Linear Accelerator Laboratory in Orsay (France).

(Those with deficiencies of vitamin B12 in the blood were found to have less brain volume. Photo: Tom Haex.)

“Vitamin B12 deficiency is a potential risk factor for brain atrophy and may contribute to cognitive impairment,” said Christine C. Tangney, author of the study conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago (USA) and published in the journal Neurology .

The analysis of results obtained from older people, who had concluded that deficiencies of vitamin B12 in their blood scored lower on cognitive tests and were found to have less total brain volume. “A British team has done another study using vitamin B which has obtained data that support these results” confirms Tangney.

The study involved 121 people over the south side of Chicago who, for 4 ½ years, underwent several blood tests to identify changes in their levels of vitamin B12. They were also tested to measure their memory and cognitive ability. At the end of the process, MRIs were performed on patients to assess the state of his brain and brain volume.

The expert acknowledged that low levels of vitamin B12 in elderly may be difficult to detect if only taking into account the data obtained from blood tests.

The research also presents possible solutions. “Increasing levels of vitamin B12 in older people through diet or supplements could prevent these problems,” says Tangney, while acknowledging that it is too early to confirm. Foods from animals such as fish, meat – especially the liver-, milk and eggs are sources of vitamin B12 and its consumption could serve as a method of compensation.

(Recreation of the asteroid after the collision that defragmented. Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech)

New data collected by the Infrared Explorer mission of NASA’s Wide Field (WISE, for its acronym in English: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) Seem to discard the theory that pointed to a particular family of asteroids as responsible for the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

“After investigation WISE science team, the disappearance of dinosaurs remains an unsolved case,” said Lindley Johnson, program director Observing Near Earth Objects (NEO, for its acronym in English) of the seat NASA in Washington (USA).

The theory, proposed in 2007, argues that some 160 million years, the asteroid collided with another Baptistina called main belt between Mars and Jupiter. After impact, large size fragments spread and one of them ended up crashing into the earth and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

“With the infrared, WISE has been able to perform some calculations more accurate and has put in question the temporary data on family theory Baptistina. With Initial calculations with visible light, we estimated the size and age family members Baptistina. We now know that these calculations were not accurate, “explains Johnson.

The question raised now astronomers is the origin of the asteroid, to family owned and how he ended up on Earth. “We are working on a tree with asteroid families,” said Joseph Masiero, author of the study.

“65 million years ago, the fragments formed after the collision had no time to travel to a resonance zone where the gravity of Jupiter and Saturn would have rocketed to Earth,” says Amy Mainzer, co-author of the study and principal investigator of NEOWISE the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena (California, USA).

Size and reflectivity

Observations by WISE detect infrared light from the asteroid, which in turn is related to its temperature and size. Once you know the size, the reflectivity of the object can be recalculated by combining data from infrared light to visible light data above. If you know the reflectivity of the asteroid’s surface is difficult to accurately size.

For the study NEOWISE team measured the reflectivity and the size of about 120 000 main-belt asteroids, of which 1056 were Baptistina family members. The scientists calculated that the original ancestor of this family broke for about 80 million years, half of what was proposed initially.

The new findings have revealed that a fragment of the original asteroid Baptistina family took less time to collide with Earth than originally thought – only about 15 million years – and to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs.