PLato said,"Look to the perfection of the heavens for truth," while Aristotle said "look around you at what is, if you would know the truth" To Remember: Eskesthai
Published on Jan 1, 2013
SETI Talks archive: http://seti.org/talks
Cosmological observations show that the universe is very uniform on the maximally large scale accessible to our telescopes, and the same laws of physics operate in all of its parts that we can see now. The best theoretical explanation of the uniformity of our world was provided by inflationary theory, which was proposed 30 years ago.See: Multiverse or Universe? - Andre Linde (SETI Talks)
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Figure 3: Left: BICEP2 apodized E-mode and B-mode maps filtered to 50 < ℓ < 120. Right: The equivalent maps for the first of the lensed-ΛCDM+noise simulations. The color scale displays the E-mode scalar and B-mode
pseudoscalar patterns while the lines display the equivalent magnitude
and orientation of the linear polarization. Note that excess B-mode is detected over lensing+noise with high signal-to-noise ratio in the map (s/n > 2 per map mode at ℓ ≈ 70). (Also note that the E-mode and B-mode maps use different color/length scales.)BICEP2 2014 Release Figures from Papers |
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Gravitational waves open up a new window on the universe
that will allow us to probe events for which no electromagnetic
signature exists. In the next few years, the ground-based
interferometers GEO-600, LIGO, VIRGO and TAMA should be able to detect
the high-frequency gravitational waves produced by extreme astrophysical
objects, providing the first direct detection of these disturbances in
space–time. With its much longer arm lengths, the space-based
interferometer LISA will, if launched, be able to detect lower-frequency
gravitational waves, possibly those generated by phase transitions in
the early universe. At even lower frequencies, other experiments will
look for tiny signatures of gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave
background. Source: NASA. Gravity Wave Spectrum |
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Figure 18: Results of far-field beam characterization with a chopped thermal source. Left: Typical measured far-field beam on a linear scale. Middle: The Gaussian fit to the measured beam pattern. Right: The fractional residual after subtracting the Gaussian fit. Note finer color scale in the right-hand differenced map.
BICEP2 2014 Release Figures from Papers |
In 2003 the WMAP craft measured the very small fluctuations – about one part in 100,000 – in the temperature of the cosmic background radiation (coloured regions). These fluctuations, which are in excellent agreement with the predictions of Big Bang theory, originated during inflation and evolved under the influence of both gravity and the pressure of the matter–radiation plasma before particles in the plasma recombined to form hydrogen atoms. Buried in this pattern might also be fluctuations from primordial gravitational waves, but to tease out their signature researchers have to map in detail the polarization of the photons as well as their temperature (white lines represent the electric polarization vector). Since gravitational waves produce a quadrupolar anisotropy and therefore induce polarization without an associated temperature fluctuation, they (and only they) are able to generate a polarization pattern that cannot be expressed as the gradient of a scalar. Source: NASA. See: Sounding out the Big Bang
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Cosmic searches at the South Pole. The BICEP-2
Telescope is the up-facing dish at right. The larger white dish is the
South Pole Telescope (SPT), and the building is the Dark Sector
Laboratory. Both experiments observe in the millimeter-submillimeter
part of the spectrum, mapping polarization patterns in the cosmic
background radiation.
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...... will announce a “major discovery” about B-modes in the cosmic microwave background See: Who should get the Nobel Prize for cosmic inflation?
Closing thoughts -
BICEP2: Primordial Gravitational Waves!
The BICEP result, if correct, is a spectacular and historic discovery. In terms of impact on fundamental physics, particularly as a tool for testing ideas about quantum gravity, the detection of primordial gravitational waves is completely unprecedented. Inflation evidently occurred just two orders of magnitude below the Planck scale, and we have now seen the quantum fluctuations of the graviton. For those who want to understand how the universe began, and also for those who want to understand quantum gravity, it just doesn't get any better than this.
In fact, it all seems far too good to be true. And perhaps it is: check back after another experimental team is able to check the BICEP findings, and then we can really break out the champagne.
Gravitational waves have a polarization pattern that causes objects to expand in one direction, while contracting in the perpendicular direction. That is, they have spin two. This is because gravity waves are fluctuations in the tensorial metric of space-time.
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| WMAP image of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation |
In this example I’m going to map speed to the pitch of the note, length/postion to the duration of the note and number of turns/legs/puffs to the loudness of the note.See: How to make sound out of anything.
In the late 1950s, Weber became intrigued by the relationship between gravitational theory and laboratory experiments. His book, General Relativity and Gravitational Radiation, was published in 1961, and his paper describing how to build a gravitational wave detector first appeared in 1969. Weber's first detector consisted of a freely suspended aluminium cylinder weighing a few tonnes. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Weber announced that he had recorded simultaneous oscillations in detectors 1000 km apart, waves he believed originated from an astrophysical event. Many physicists were sceptical about the results, but these early experiments initiated research into gravitational waves that is still ongoing. Current gravitational wave experiments, such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), are descendants of Weber's original work. See:Joseph Weber 1919 - 2000
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| A recipe for a violin |
Chladni patterns show the geometry of the different types of vibration of violin plates. This site has an introductory explanation of modes of vibration and a library of photographs of the Chladni patterns of the bellies and backplates of two different violins (one mass-produced and one hand-made). It also has photographs of plates with regular geometries which assist in understanding the violin modes. For some related history, see Chladni's law. For some Chladni patterns on metal plates, with sound files, see Acoustics of bell plates. To make your own Chladni patters, try this site.
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Modulating Phases States:Neural Correlates to Consciousness |
Cornell University researchers already have been able to detect the mass of a single cell using submicroscopic devices. Now they're zeroing in on viruses. And the scale of their work is becoming so indescribably small that they have moved beyond the prefixes "nano" "pico" and "femto" to "atto." And just in sight is "zepto."
Members of the Cornell research group headed by engineering professor Harold Craighead report they have used tiny oscillating cantilevers to detect masses as small as 6 attograms by noting the change an added mass produces in the frequency of vibration.
Their submicroscopic devices, whose size is measured in nanometers (the width of three silicon atoms), are called nanoelectromechanical systems, or NEMS. But the masses they measure are now down to attograms. The mass of a small virus, for example, is about 10 attograms. An attogram is one-thousandth of a femtogram, which is one-thousandth of a picogram, which is one-thousandth of a nanogram, which is a billionth of a gram.‘Nano’ Becomes ‘Atto’ and Will Soon Be ‘Zepto’ for Cornell - New Technology
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| Scheme showing the course of the fibers of the lemniscus; medial lemniscus in blue, lateral in red. (Superior olivary nucleus is labeled at center right.) The superior olivary nucleus is considered part of the pons and is a part of the auditory system, aiding the perception of sound. |
Physiology
The sensation of binaural beats is believed to originate in the superior olivary nucleus, a part of the brain stem. They appear to be related to the brain's ability to locate the sources of sounds in three dimensions and to track moving sounds, which also involves inferior colliculus (IC) neurons.[17] Regarding entrainment, the study of rhythmicity provides insights into the understanding of temporal information processing in the human brain. Auditory rhythms rapidly entrain motor responses into stable steady synchronization states below and above conscious perception thresholds. Activated regions include primary sensorimotor and cingulate areas, bilateral opercular premotor areas, bilateral SII, ventral prefrontal cortex, and, subcortically, anterior insula, putamen, and thalamus. Within the cerebellum, vermal regions and anterior hemispheres ipsilateral to the movement became significantly activated. Tracking temporal modulations additionally activated predominantly right prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and intraparietal regions as well as posterior cerebellar hemispheres.[18] A study of aphasic subjects who had a severe stroke versus normal subjects showed that the aphasic subject could not hear the binaural beats whereas the normal subjects could.[19]
Studies have shown a neurological basis of binaural beats perception which have assisted in identifying subcortical regions associated with processing phase differences between sounds. These have been found to be generated by neurons in the inferior colliculus, auditory cortex [15], [16] and the medial olivary nucleus, all of which are thought to be involved in processing and integration of auditory stimuli [17]. The effect of binaural beats on psychological and biological aspects however has been somewhat less clear.
A final consideration is the use of pink noise, overlaid music or sound, to generate some sort of effect. One study [33] compared music with an embedded binaural beat to music without one and generated a significant decrease in pain medication both during and after an operation, however the study was not controlled as participants were allowed to choose their own music. Also, other studies using pink noise [8], [18] have not detected entrainment, but have found psychological changes previously discussed. Comparing pink noise with a binaural beat, without and a control and subsequent effects on electrophysiological and psychological factors may be of interest.
In conclusion, this study aimed to examine if binaural beats were able to alter psychological processes and entrain cortical frequencies. Furthermore it aimed to examine if personality traits modulated entrainment. No statistically significant changes or relationships were detected between binaural beat stimulation at Beta and Theta frequencies and white noise control conditions in any personality trait, the vigilance task or EEG power spectra analysis. These results suggest that relatively short presentation steady state binaural beat stimulation at Beta and Theta frequencies are insufficient to generate entrainment and in turn this lack of entrainment does not seem to be related to personality traits. Additionally it appears that short presentation stimulation of binaural beats is ineffective at altering vigilance.A High-Density EEG Investigation into Steady State Binaural Beat Stimulation
OBJECTIVE:
Brainwave entrainment (BWE), which uses rhythmic stimuli to alter brainwave frequency and thus brain states, has been investigated and used since the late 1800s, yet many clinicians and scientists are unaware of its existence. We aim to raise awareness and discuss its potential by presenting a systematic review of the literature from peer-reviewed journals on the psychological effects of BWE.A comprehensive review of the psychological effects of brainwave entrainment.
With the discovery of sound waves in the CMB, we have entered a new era of precision cosmology in which we can begin to talk with certainty about the origin of structure and the content of matter and energy in the universe.-Wayne Hu
The Pythagoreans 2500 years ago believed in a celestial "music of the spheres", an idea that reverberated down the millennia in Western music, literature, art and science. Now, through asteroseismology (the study of the internal structure of pulsating stars), we know that there is a real music of the spheres. The stars have sounds in them that we use to see right to their very cores. This multi-media lecture looks at the relationship of music to stellar sounds. You will hear the real sounds of the stars and you will hear musical compositions where every member of the orchestra is a real (astronomical) star! You will also learn about some of the latest discoveries from the Kepler Space Mission that lets us "hear" the stars 100 times better than with telescopes on the ground See:Don Kurtz, University of Central Lancashire-Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Vibration underpins all matter in the universe. No matter can exist without sound and vibration. To see the periodic motions that lie at the heart of matter is to lift the veils that conceal many mysteries of the universe. The CymaScope represents the first scientific instrument that can give us a visual image of sound and vibration - a cymatic image - helping us to understand our world and universe in ways previously hidden from view.
When the microscope and telescope were invented they opened vistas on realms that were not even suspected to exist. Cymascope
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| The sand collected in nodal lines producing symmetrical patterns similar to Hookes flour on the glass plate. It is also important to note that this influenced Faraday in thinking about lines of force in magnetic in his electrical experiments. |
Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni
Born in Wittenburg in Germany, Chladni's Father demanded that he study Law not science. He obtained his law degree in 1782 from Leipzig. After the death of his Farther he vigorously pursued his career in science. Chladni achieved recognition for his pioneering work in the mathematical analysis of acoustics. This research was built on the early experiments of Robert Hooke at Oxford University. On July 8th 1680 Hooke formed the experiment of glass vibrating 6.4.8. places. This was done by putting flour on a glass plate, and bowing on the edge of glass. Hooke had observed that the motion of the glass was vibrate perpendicular to the surface of the glass, and that the circular figure of the flour changed into an oval one way, and the reciprocation of it changed it into an oval the other way. This phenomenon was rediscovered by Chladni in the eighteenth century, and given his name "Chladni figures". What Chladni did was to take thin metal plates and cover them with sand and caused them to vibrate. The sand collected in nodal lines producing symmetrical patterns similar to Hookes flour on the glass plate. It is also important to note that this influenced Faraday in thinking about lines of force in magnetic in his electrical experiments.
Biology sees no possible reduction to the physics of thinking, that I have to wonder if they might of thought of the correlation here, as distinctive elements have distinctive sounds?
I just finish spending the last 8 days with two of my seven grandchildren. One had passed just a couple of days after being born.
Yes "Happy feet" has become a intricate part of my days visiting as these children are mesmerized by the hearts songs and uniqueness of being borne learning to tap instead of singing. It's trials and tribulations of being different. See:It's a Penquin?
For example, in 1704 Sir Isaac Newton struggled to devise mathematical formulas to equate the vibrational frequency of sound waves with a corresponding wavelength of light. He failed to find his hoped-for translation algorithm, but the idea of correspondence took root, and the first practical application of it appears to be the clavecin oculaire, an instrument that played sound and light simultaneously. It was invented in 1725. Charles Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus, achieved the same effect with a harpsichord and lanterns in 1790, although many others were built in the intervening years, on the same principle, where by a keyboard controlled mechanical shutters from behind which colored lights shne. By 1810 even Goethe was expounding correspondences between color and other senses in his book, Theory of Color. Pg 53, The Man Who Tasted Shapes, by Richard E. Cytowic, M.D.
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On July 8, 1680, Robert Hooke was able to see the nodal patterns associated with the modes of vibration of glass plates. Hooke ran a bow along the edge of a glass plate covered with flour, and saw the nodal patterns emerge.[4][5]As I was scraping a brass plate with a sharp iron chisel in order to remove some spots from it and was running the chisel rather rapidly over it, I once or twice, during many strokes, heard the plate emit a rather strong and clear whistling sound: on looking at the plate more carefully, I noticed a long row of fine streaks parallel and equidistant from one another. Scraping with the chisel over and over again, I noticed that it was only when the plate emitted this hissing noise that any marks were left upon it; when the scraping was not accompanied by this sibilant note there was not the least trace of such marks.[3]
This multi-colour all-sky image of the microwave sky has been synthesized using data spanning the full frequency range of Planck, which covers the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 857 GHz.
The grainy structure of the CMB, with its tiny temperature fluctuations reflecting the primordial density variations from which the cosmic web originated, is clearly visible in the high-latitude regions of the map, where the foreground contribution is not predominant - this is highlighted in the top inset, from the 'first light' survey.See: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=47343
PURPOSE: To show the two-dimensional standing waves on the surface of a square or circular plate.
With the discovery of sound waves in the CMB, we have entered a new era of precision cosmology in which we can begin to talk with certainty about the origin of structure and the content of matter and energy in the universe.Polarization
Our view of the universe is about to change forever. Since science began, all our knowledge of what lies above, below and around us has come from long-familiar forms of energy: light, produced by distant astrophysical objects; and matter, in the form of particles such as cosmic rays. But we are now in a position to study the universe using an entirely different form of energy that until now has never been directly detected – gravitational waves.
Gravitational waves open up a new window on the universe that will allow us to probe events for which no electromagnetic signature exists. In the next few years, the ground-based interferometers GEO-600, LIGO, VIRGO and TAMA should be able to detect the high-frequency gravitational waves produced by extreme astrophysical objects, providing the first direct detection of these disturbances in space–time. With its much longer arm lengths, the space-based interferometer LISA will, if launched, be able to detect lower-frequency gravitational waves, possibly those generated by phase transitions in the early universe. At even lower frequencies, other experiments will look for tiny signatures of gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background. Source: NASA. 
The flow of energy in a cosmic phase transition is similar to that in a waterfall, with turbulence in the cosmic fluid generating a gravitational-wave background today.Modern cosmology has sharpened questions posed for millennia about the origin of our cosmic habitat. The age-old questions have been transformed into two pressing issues primed for attack in the coming decade: How did the Universe begin? and What physical laws govern the Universe at the highest energies? The clearest window onto these questions is the pattern of polarization in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), which is uniquely sensitive to primordial gravity waves. A detection of the special pattern produced by gravity waves would be not only an unprecedented discovery, but also a direct probe of physics at the earliest observable instants of our Universe. Experiments which map CMB polarization over the coming decade will lead us on our first steps towards answering these age-old questions.
