منبع انرژی ماهواره پلانک

ماهواره پلانک که بناست افت و خیز دمایی و قطبش CMB (تابش ریز- موج پس زمینه که از مهبانگ به یادگار مانده) را با دقت فوق العاده زیاد اندازه بگیرد به زودی به فضا خواهد رفت. در مورد آن چه انتظار داریم نتایج پلانک به ما بیاموزد بعدا خواهم نوشت. اینجا فقط یک نکته می خواهم بگویم: منبع انرژی این ماهواره انرژی خورشیدی خواهد بود.

دیده اید که ماهواره ها را در کاریکاتور ها مانند خفاش می کشند؟! بال ها همان آرایه (array) باطری خورشیدی هستند!!

DAMA

همان طوری که در منجوق نوشتم مرکز زلزله ای که در ایتالیا رخ داده نزدیک آزمایشگاه Gran Sassoبوده است.

در این آزمایشگاه, آزمایش های مختلفی صورت می گیرد. یکی از آنها (شاید معروف ترین آنها به خاطر نتایج بحث بر انگیزش) آزمایش DAMA است. آزمایش داما اثری می بیند که می توان به برهمکنش ماده تاریک با نمونه تعبیر کرد. اثر بادرجه اعتماد بالا (بالاتر از 8سیگما) در این آزمایش ثبت شده است !با این حال آزمایش های دیگر در آزمایشگاه های دیگر دنیا این اثر را تایید نمی کنند!! خیلی ها فکر می کنند اثر مشاهده شده در آزمایش داما نتیجه خطای سیستماتیک است. اما هیچ کس نتوانسته در این چند سال ایرادی به داما بگیرد و منشا خطای احتمالی را آشکار کند.

دیروز شوخی می کردم و می گفتم شاید زلزله منشا خطای احتمالی را از بین ببرد و از سال دیگراثری دیده نشود.

البته برخی هم اثر دیده شده را جدی می گیرند و سعی می کنند مدل هایی بسازند که مشاهده اثر در داما و عدم مشاهده آن در آزمایش های دیگر را توضیح دهد. به عنوان مثال مراجعه کنید به این مقاله. (یکی از نویسندگان این مقاله همکلاسی قدیم من در اسلک و همان کس است که من شخصیت او را در داستان بیژن و منیژه آورده بودم!)

سال نومبارک

سال نو را بر نویسندگان و خوانندگان هم وردا تبریک می گویم. امیدوارم در سال جدید خبرهای خوبی در هموردا بخوانیم و بنویسیم. خبرهایی مانند راه اندازی موفقیت آمیز ال-اچ-سی, دیدن آثار فیزیک جدید در آزمایش مگ, خبرهایی جالب از تلسکوپ فرمی , خبر تصویب نهایی آی-ال-سی و... و مهم تر از همه خبر موفقیت ها و شناخته تر شدن محققان ایرانی در جمع های بین المللی.

وبلاگ جديد

من يك وبلاگ جديد شروع كرده ام. از آن دسته از خوانندگان هموردا كه نوشته هاي من در هموردا را مفيد مي دانستند دعوت مي كنم به وبلاگ جديد من سري بزنند.

اصطلاحات "خردفرهنگ" فيزيكپيشگان

كلماتي چونseminar, lecture, colloquium, talk, conference, school, workshop, symposium, meeting هر كدام در جمع فيزيكپيشگان دنيا معناي مشخصي دارد. اگر فيزيكپيشه اي بدون توجه به معناي جا افتاده اين كلمات آنها را به جاي هم به كاربرد "پرت از مرحله" به نظر مي رسد و زياد در جمع جدي گرفته نمي شود. متاسفانه مي بينم عده اي از همكاران جا افتاده
در ايران كه با توجه به موقعيت و مسئوليت و همچنين ادعاهايي كه دارند
از آنها انتظار مي رود كه
به اين تفاوت ها اشراف كامل داشته باشند به طور سيستماتيك اين كلمات را نادرست به كار مي برند. فرض كنيد فرد جا افتاه اي را از يكي از موسسات معتبر دنيا دعوت كرده ايد تا سخنراني كند. اگر برگزار كننده به اين تفاوت ها توجه نكند و كلمات را به اشتباه كار برد سخنران نيز به تنظيم و ارائه مطالب اشتياق زيادي نخواهد داشت. نا خود آگاه باخود مي گويد وقتي برگزار كننده فرق
seminar و lectureرا نمي شناسد من چرا خودم را به زحمت بيندازم. "قدر زر زرگر بداند قدر گوهر گوهري" وقتي اينا چنين تفاوت هايي را نمي شناسند به طور قطع تفاوت
سخنراني متوسط و عالي را هم باز نخواهند شناخت....



اگر بخواهيم كار جدي تحقيقي بكنيم بايد ارتباطمان را با دنياي خارج بيشتر كنيم و اگر بخواهيم از اين ارتباط استفاده لازم را ببريم بايد زحمت ياد گرفتن و درست به كار بستن اصطلاحات رايج در بين همكاران خارجي مان را بر خود هموار سازيم. والا حتي اگر ارتباط هم زياد باشد سودي نخواهد داشت. هدف ما تنها
جذب توريست و معرفي فرهنگ ايراني
به همكاران خارجي نيست!صد البته خود اين كار حركتي ارزشمند است و مي تواند به عنوان يك هدف جنبي و ثانويه مورد توجه باشد. اما هدف اصلي از ارتباط حرفه اي پيشرفت در كار است. براي اين كار بايد خود را آماده سازيم. ياد گرفتن اصطلاحات رايج اولين قدم است.



من ابتدا مي خواستم در اين نوشته فرق
lecture و seminar را شرح دهم (چون مي بينم در اعلام برخي سخنراني ها تفاوت بين اين دو مورد توجه قرار نمي گيرد). بعد يادم افتاد كه در جمع رياضيپيشگان معناي lecture و seminar درست برعكس معناي آنها در بين فيزيكپيشگان است و شرحي كه من در اينجا مي دهم ممكن است بيشتر سردرگم كننده باشد.



دوستان بر من خرده مي گيرند كه چرا در نوشته هايم تاكيدم بر روي فيزيكپيشگان است. به هيچ وجه من باور ندارم كه فيزيكپيشگان سري از ديگران سوا دارند. اما نكته در اينجاست كه فيزيكپيشگان (همچون رياضيپيشگان پزشكان وغيره)"خردفرهنگ"
(subculture) مخصوص و اصطلاحات مخصوص به خود دارند كه مثالي كه زدم نمونه اي از آن است. تا جايي كه من از صحبت پزشكان فاميل برداشت كرده ام آنها به هر گردهمايي اي "كنگره" مي گويند در صورتي كه در بين ما فيزيكپيشگان كلمه "كنگره" به ندرت به كار مي رود.

آري! هر حرفه اي "خردفرهنگ" خود را دارد! در مملكت ما متاسفانه
به "خردفرهنگ"ها عموما به ديده ترديد و بدبيني
نگريسته مي شود.
(حكايت بدبيني به خردفرهنگ شهرها و قوميت ها -همان طوري كه مي دانيد-
قصه غصه ها ست.)





اين روزها همه جا صحبت ازGlobalization
است. برداشتي كه من از اين روند دارم اين است كه از گوشه و كنار دنيا
افرادي كه حرفه يا علايق مشتركي در زمينه اي خاص دارند به تدريج "خرد فرهنگ" خود را مي سازند و به زبان مشتركي مي رسند. براي اين كه از قافله عقب نمانيم (مثلا در اين مورد از قافله فيزيكپيشگان دنيا) بايد ابتدا اصطلاحات آنها را ياد بگيريم و درست به كار ببريم.

تعصب يا مدارا؟

بارهاو بارها در هموردا نوشته ام كه جمع بين المللي فيزيكپيشگان نسبت به آداب و مذاهب گوناگون بسيار مدارا مي كند. شايد كلمه مدارا كلمه ضعيفي براي توصيف باشد. بگذاريد مثال بزنم فرض كنيد شما گياهخوار هستيد. دوستان فيزيكپيشه شما نه تنها شما را به خاطر اين كار مسخره نخواهند كرد بلكه وقتي برنامه رفتن به رستوران ترتيب مي دهند با روي باز و بدون كوچك ترين شكايت به دنبال رستوراني خواهند گشت كه معذوريت ديني و يا سنتي شما را مد نظر قرار دهد. اين طرز رفتار در ميان بيشتر غربيان تحصيلكرده رواج دارد و در بين فيزيكپيشگان پررنگ تر است.

يادم هست روزي با چند تا از خانم هاي ايراني در استنفورد گفت و گو مي كرديم. يكي از آنها خيلي ناراحت بودو مي گفت ظهر كه براي عكس گرفتن به يك عكاسي مراجعه كرده شاگرد عكاس كه جوانكي بوده حسابي مسخره اش كرده چون او حاضر نشده با جوانك دست بدهد ومودبانه عذر خواسته. يكي از دوستان گفت حتما جوانك آمريكايي نبوده چون اگر به آمريكايي ها بگوييم ببخشيد به علت معذوريت مذهبي من متاسفانه نمي توانم دست بدهم نه تنها مسخره بازي در نمي آورند بلكه چند بار هم عذر مي خواهند و مي گويند ببخشيد من از اين موضوع اطلاع نداشتم و الا چنين جسارتي نمي كردم. حدس دوستمان درست بود جوانك بنگلادشي بود نه آمريكايي.

نمونه ديگر يك سري شوخي ها و گفتن برخي جوك ها در" حضور خانم ها" ست. همان طوري كه مي دانيد عده اي از خانم ها با اين مسئله راحت برخورد مي كنند و در اين گونه شوخي ها و جوك ها حضور فعال دارند. و عده ديگر با اين گونه شوخي ها ميانه اي ندارند. درصد دسته اول در ميان غربي ها بيشتراز ما ايراني هااست( اما برعكس تصور برخي نه خيلي بيشتر). من خود از دسته دومم. از اين جور شوخي ها خوشم نمي آيد. اولا به نظرم اين گونه شوخي ها در جمع هاي حرفه اي و همچنين خانوادگي محلي از اعراب ندارند. ثانيا هميشه مي ترسم از اين گونه شوخي ها فتنه اي برخيزد. ما بدون اين گونه فتنه ها هم به اندازه كافي مشكلات داريم!
من خارج هم كه مي روم همين "دختر تبريزي" كه اينجا هستم باقي مي مانم اما تا به حال از اين نظر مشكلي نداشته ام. همكاران اروپايي و امريكايي من در حضور من از اين گونه شوخي ها نمي كنند. اصلا هم بروز نمي دهند كه به خاطر حضور من ادبيات خود را عوض كرده اند ودر نتيجه حوصله شان دارد سر مي رود. (خوشبختانه به اندازه كافي مطلب براي صحبت و سرگرمي پيش مي آيد.) اصراري هم ندارند كه يك زن مدرن و امروزي حتما بايد از اين گونه شوخي ها بكند. چنين اصراري مال هموطناني است كه به زور مي خواهند اداي غربي ها را در آورند. در بين همكاران آمريكايي و اروپايي من اين طرز رفتار من نه عيب و دليل عقب ماندگي محسوب مي شود ونه حسن. هم از نظر آنها و هم از نظر خودم اين تنها يك انتخاب شخصي به حساب مي آيد و بس. و البته به انتخاب شخصي افراد بايد احترام قايل شد.


سئوال كردن در مورد اعتقادات شخصي هم به ندرت و آن هم با احتياط كامل انجام مي گيرد. اگر بخواهند سئوال كوچكي در مورد عقايد مذهبي كسي بكنند ابتدا چند بار مي گويند
Sorry! I am just curious
برعكس چيني هاي" تازه از چين آمده" كه با سئوالاتشان شب اول قبر را تداعي مي كنند!


آنچه كه در بالا گفتم مقدمه اي بود براي اين كه اضافه كنم مداراي فيزيكپيشگان خط قرمزي پررنگ دارد. هر كسي از هر مليتي با وجود هر عقيده و آداب و رسومي مي تواند وارد اين جمع شود و عزيز ومحترم باشد به شرط آن كه عقايدش را در كارش وارد نكند.
در نظر اول اين كار ساده مي نمايد اما آن قدر ها كه فكر مي كنيد ساده نيست. مسئله فقط اين نيست كه شما نبايد از ادبيات مذهبي در مقالاتتان استفاده كنيد و يا دگماتيك به مسائل بنگريد. مسئله فراتر از اين حرف هاست.

يك مثال مي زنم. جرم نوترينو بسي كمتر از جرم كوارك تاپ است. يكي از چالش هاي فراروي فيزيكپيشگان توضيح علت اين اختلاف فاحش است. اگر شما بگوييد" خوب اين جوري است ديگه" به شما چپ چپ نگاه مي كنند. اين از نظر آنها يعني شما عقايد شخصي و حتي مذهبي تان را وارد كارتان كرده ايد! به نظر فيزيكپيشگان اين اختلاف را بايد بتوان با يك تقارن تقريبي و يا به صورت ديناميكي توضيح داد. بگذريم كه توضيحاتي كه ارائه مي شود واز قضا مقبول جماعت فيزيكپيشه نيز واقع مي شود به نظر من حواله "خوب اين جوري است ديگه" به يك مرحله ديگر است. مثال هايي از اين دست فراوانند. نمونه ديگر توضيح
baryon asymmetry
است كه شنبه گذشته سر سمينار من درباره اش بحث كرديم.

صراحتا بگويم از نظر علمي منجوق ضعيف تر از آن است كه بخواهد يك مكتب فكري و
school of thought
پر وپا قرص جديد براي رويارويي با اين قبيل مسايل فيزيك به راه بيندازد. درست است كه منجوق كسي نيست كه بتواند همرنگ جماعت شود اما بهتر است كله شقي را به كناري نهد و زبان در كام گيرد. مكتب فكري نو به راه انداختن بماند براي بعد از بازنشستگي!!

ادامه بحث دستمال كاغذي!

ما ايراني ها به دستمال پارچه اي كه در سفره مي گذاريم مي گوييم دستمال سفره. اما به دستمال يك بار مصرف سرميز مي گوييم دستمال كاغذي. تنها وقتي اين دستمال كاغذي نقش و نگار خيلي جالب و زيبا داشته باشد آن را از مقام دست سفله"دستمال كاغذي" به مقام شامخ "دستمال سفره" ارتقا مي دهيم. اما" خارجي ها" مساوات را رعايت مي كنند و به هر دو ي اين ها

Napkinميگويند

جاي سفسطه بازان خالي ! اگر اينجا بودند بحث هاي شبه فلسفي راه مي انداختند و نتيجه مي گرفتندكه علت "ناكامي تاريخي" ما در همين است! من نمي خواهم آسمون ريسمون ببافم. فقط خواستم ياد آوري كنم دستمال كاغذي مورد نظر من

Napkin

است نه

tissue

به علاوه من معني آمريكايي اش را در نظر دارم نه "گلاب به رويتان" معني انگليسي اش را.

اما چند خاطره: تابستاني براي شركت در يك همايش به

Aspen

رفته بودم.

Aspen

منطقه زيبايي است. همايش هايي هم كه در اين شهر برگزار مي شوند استيل مخصوص به خود دارند. تمام تلاش بر اين است تا جو آرام و بدون تنش و غير رسمي باشد. ازجمله اين كه رئيس جلسه براي سمينارها تعيين نمي كنند. به تجربه دريافته اند در چنين جوي ايده هاي بيشتري متولد مي شوند. ايده يكي از مقاله هاي خودمن در جريان بحث در همين همايش شكل گرفت.

روزي در اين شهربا دوستان وهمكاران به يك كافي شاپ رفته بوديم. طبق معمول بحث فيزيك مي كرديم و احتياج به كاغذ شد. بازهم طبق معمول هيچكدام از ما فيزيكپيشگان كاغذ به همراه نداشتيم. دوستم سيلويا شروع به نوشتن روي دستمال كاغذي كرد. همسر يك از همكاران هم با ما بود . (زن و شوهر هر دو يهودي بودند! خانم هاي غير يهودي فيزيكپيشه ها كمتر تحمل بحث هاي بي سر وته ما رادارند و معمولا بحث را بر هم مي زنند!) وقتي صحنه را ديد از كيفش چند ورق كاغذ در آورد اما بقيه گفتند" ممنون اما تا روي دستمال ننويسيم" اصالت" نخواهد داشت.

در همايش

Moriond

كه همه ساله در كو ه هاي آلپ برگزار مي شود رسم بر اين است كه از شركت كنندگان براي بهتر برگزار شدن همايش در سال آتي نظر خواهي مي كنند.يادمه در اين جلسه يك آقاي ميانسال آمريكايي به عنوان انتقاد گفت

"مگر قرار نيست دستمال كاغذي سفيد باشد". تعجب كردم انتظار نداشتم يك مرد آمريكايي به رنگ دستمال توجه كرده باشد. با توضيحش متوجه ماجرا شدم:" وقتي روي دستمال آبي با خودكار آبي مي نويسيم چيزي معلوم نمي شود.

Back-of-envelope calculation on napkin

در يكي از كوچه- پس- كوچه هاي نزديك پژوهشكده يك پيتزا فروشي دنج و آرام هست كه من و شاهين مشتريش هستيم. بيشتر مشتري هاي اين پيتزافروشي جوانان اهل محل هستند.جمع دوست داشتني اي دارد. يك طرف سالن قفسه كتاب گذاشته اند تا مشتري ها مطالعه كنند.معمولا موسيقي ملايمي پخش مي شود . برعكس غذاخوري هاي متعارف ايراني كه ملت زل مي زنند تا از همديگر ايراد بگيرند (مشتري هاي سنتي به نوعي- مشتري هاي آلا مد به نوعي ديگر) اينجا هر كسي سرش توي كار خودش است. نه كسي به ديگري ايراد مي گيرد كه چرا جوراب سفيد پوشيده و يا با دست پيتزا مي خوردو نه كسي از خوشي و سرزندگي ديگري غضبناك مي شود .... در اين پيتزا فروشي به جاي زل زدن و فضولي در كار ديگران
يكي كتاب مي خواند. ديگري با دوستانش شوخي و خنده مي كند (وكسي هم چپ چپ نگاهش نمي كند). نامزد ها با خلوت عاشقانه شان خوشندو... بالاخره در اين پيتزا فروشي مي توان نشست و بحث فيزيك كرد.

بعد از دو ماه اقامت در ايتاليا شديدا هوس پيتزاي پپروني وطني با سس كچاپ كرده بودم. همان طور ي كه احتمالا مي دانيد ايتاليايي ها اضافه كردن سس به پيتزا را توهين به آشپز مي دانند. به علاوه پپروني شان هم به جز چند تكه فلفل دلمه اي چيز ديگري ندارد. خلاصه نصف عمرشان بر فنا كه فرهنگ پيتزا يي هاي ايراني را ندارند.
خلاصه با شاهين به اين پيتزا فروشي رفتيم. شاهين ازمطالبي كه در كارگاه ونيز مطرح شده بود سئوال كرد و من شروع كردم به بازگويي آنچه كه مهم مي پنداشتم. چون قلم وكاغذ در دست نبود روي دستمال كاغذي
چند تا دياگرام كشيدم. استفاده از دستمال كاغذي در بحث هاي سر ميز بخشي از فرهنگ فيزيك است! به ظاهر چيز كوچكي است اما اشتراك در همين چيزهاي كوچك است كه احساس دوستي و نزديكي را مي سازد. بسياري از ايده هاي جالب روي همين دستمال كاغذي ها خلق شده اند. در نوشته بعدي ام چند تا خاطره دستمال كاغذيانه تعريف خواهم كرد.

Ciao!

This is my last post from Italy. I will be back to Iran tomorrow after 61 days which passed just like 61 seconds. I enjoyed my stay a lot! When I was a student here for two years I did not enjoy it this much. Well, that is natural. I did not understand their culture back then as much as I understand it now. I was foolish enough to keep comparing Iran with Italy instead of relaxing and enjoying all the magnificent things that Italy has to offer to any one, Italian and non-Italian alike. The magnificent gifts of Italy include its beautiful nature, its rich cuisine, the friendliness of its people and their great sense of humor that never fails to entertain you, its long and fruitful history, its superb art, ... and its very very very rich research culture in high energy physics.

When I was a student I could not tell the difference between an excellent talk from a good one.Now that my background knowledge in physics has increased, I appreciate the difference. It is now that I enjoy the seminars I am attending in Italy. Now, I enjoy physics discussion at lunch and coffee tables. Back then I was just a listener ....

Dear Iranian physics students, If you happen to be visiting a country such as Italy my advice is that do not waste your time by comparing Iran with the country you are visiting, or talking about politics or.... Just mix up the physicists of that country and engage in physics discussions just in the same way that the best students of that country often do. Eventually, you will learn this culture and find it as one of the joys of your life as well as a way to fulfill your ambitions in your future career

By the way, I was at a meeting in Venice last week. At the last talk (which was given by Nobel laureate, Rubbia) I noticed someone vigorously typing on his laptop, I turned and found the famous Italian blogger, Dorigo. Here you can find his report of the event. I might write my version of the report later on.

Arrivederci!

Altarelli's advice

Two years ago, I arranged for a round table discussion with the prominant physicists that were visiting us on the occasion of a meeting held by our institute on high energy phenomenology.

In the meeting Prof. Altarelli (a distinguished Italian professor who at the time was at CERN) emphasized over and over on the importance of expanding the relations with physicists around the world. Of course, I knew that scientific relations were instrumental for research and developing ideas but back then, I did not understand why he was emphasizing that much on this point.

Altarelli is a smart person and far more experienced than Monjoog. At one glance, he realized subtleties in the isolated physics community in Iran that took three years for naive
Monjoog to realize!

The story was that someone (I do not remember who) told me Altarelli would be interested in visiting Iran. Quite happily I sent him an email inviting him to participate and lecture in our school. He immidiately replied, thanked me for the invitation and asked about the background of the participants to prepare his lectures accordingly. This is the international norm! He came and gave very good lectures (as was expected from him) and after the school (without violating any deadline) he sent his follow-up paper for the proceedings. He, as well as other distinguished lecturers of the school, took our school very serious as they would have taken any school organized in a developed country. As a physicist he treated me as a younger colleague (as I expected him to do) without any arrogance but of course with respecting the due academic hierarchy. As a gentleman, he treated me with the same gallantry that he would have treated European young ladies. I remember that to arrange for listening the music performance by Shahin, a couple of students and I were arranging chairs. Once Altarelli saw this he stepped in and helped us with the chairs. That was while many young Iranian men present there did not bother to step in and watched Prof Altarelli (who was of their father's age) and the rest of us do the job! (Yes, a woman notices such gestures and never forgets!)

Now, about the subtleties that Prof. Altarelli saw in a "mud brick" that took me three years to see in a "mirror". It was the behavior of the so-called senior people. They were jumping up and down to show that Prof. Altarelli was their "Pesar Khaale". One of them who had not even participated in the school suddenly appeared and insisted on taking Altarelli to coffee. Altarelli did not know the guy. He was rather skeptical about him. He asked me if he was trustworthy!

Another one was killing himself to take the credit for inviting Altarelli to Iran....

Such a stupid behavior would not happen in a less isolated atmosphere! Altarelli was too polite and kind to point out his wonder at such manner but he was quite right in diagnosing the syndrome. He was right also about the prescription. We should expand our relations with the outside world. It will bring multi-facted benefits.

Another success story from Palo Alto garages

A while back, I had written a series of posts on the Stanfords. In one of the posts, I mentioned that after one century the university and its intellectual atmophere has inspired the people living close by so much that the area became a hub of creativity in many different subjects. For example, a company as successful as "google" was born in a modest garage at the small town (Palo Alto) where the Stanford Univ is located. Back then I was not aware that about 60 years earlier than the birth of "google", in another humble garage at Palo Alto, the Hewlett-Packard (HP) company was born.

To come over our traditional fatalistic outlook, let us read their success story which is accessable here.

Funny Higgs

To attract attention, some people try their sense of humor in choosing a title for their papers.Considering the fact that Higgs is the name of a mechansim and a hypothetic particle as well as the family name of a well-known physicist, it is a proper ingredient to make jokes. I earlier mentioned that there is a variant of Higgs model which is called "fat Higgs model". Now check this title

."The New Fat Higgs: Slimmer and More Attractive "

Prof. Higgs has written a paper with title

"My life as a boson: The story of 'The Higgs'

He has recently given an interview that is accessable here.

Higgs

As you may already know, Higgs boson is a hypothetic particle that the state-of-the-art experiment LHC at CERN is going to search for. Higgs is named after the British physicist Higgs whose photo you can see on the left.

In the recent years, various types of Higgs mechanism is developed by physicists around the world: Little Higgs, Fat Higgs and etc. All sorts of Higgs jokes are also common among the physicists. For example, once they want to discuss the fat Higgs model they show this photo in a strechted form which looks fatter!

In the school and workshop that we are going to hold in Ordibehesht, the various Higgs models will be reviewed. One of the lecturers is Professor Espinosa who is a well-known expert on such topics.

To learn these topics from someone who has dedicatedly worked on the models for years is an opportunity that no serious high energy physicist would want to miss!

Miramare

These are some photos of Miramare castle and garden located close to ICTP in Trieste, Italy.Trieste belonged to Austrian empire for centuries and this castle was the residence of an Austrian Duke named Maximillian. Maximillian was the empror of Mexico for some period of time.

ICTP prize ceremony

In addition to the COMSTECH

prize, Shahin (M.M. Sheikh-Jabbri) was awarded ICTP prize for year 2007. These are the photos of the ceremony which took place last week in Trieste, Italy. More details about the prize are available here.

Announcement

There will be a two day meeting on high energy physics phenomenology. PhD students working on high energy physics are especially encouraged to participate. The topics include:

- Neutrino Physics
- Leptogenesis
- Electroweak Symmetry Breaking
- Various Higgs Models.

For more information, visit the website at here.

Priorities

To make a reasonable choice for voting, we have to first determine what are our priorities and what are the most important plans we expect the politicians to carry out.

From any perspective I look, my first priority is stability and then economic growth. Of course, stability is a pre-requisite for both economic and scientific sustainable development.

As a result, I would not vote for any radical candidate whose controversial policies might stir turmoil. I will vote to candidates that tend to give firm plans rather than disclose the misdeeds of their rivals even if they are right about their claims.

As far as disclosing family and personal scandals are concerned, I believe nobody's personal life is my business! About financial scandals, I still think such kind of revelation is more destructive than preventive. What is the outcome of all these revelations?! Experience shows that the "big" heads will transfer their money to Swiss banks and only minor accomplices receive punishments. In the process, the subsequent instability deteriorates the economy.

Such kind of revelations are also harmful from the political perspective. A politician must be a master of compromise. S/he should compromise with anybody who wields power to meet demands of the citizens who have voted for her/him.

So I will vote for someone who although herself/himself from financial point of view is fairly decent but is willing to compromise with all wo/men of power and capital.

Perhaps, what I am saying sounds like a surprize to those who know me in person , because I am an individual who very hardly compromises, even if that means I will lose many privileges. But this is as far as all is at stake is my own personal privileges. If I am in a situation that my decision might put some other individual's privileges at risk, I certainly reconsider being stubborn.

It is not just politics. When you assume some responsibilty, even as small as the chairmanship of a science department, that involves other people, you do not have the luxury to boast " I never compromise

You are a failure if you don't and your failure makes others suffer.

The school

In reply to one of the comments on the previous post, I mentioned that the nationalist movement and its achievements could not be possible without the constitutional movement taking place half a century earlier. I should explain what I meant by this claim, especially that we all know that the leaders of the movement had all sorts of ups and downs with the parliament and even attempted acts which were considered an infringement of the constituition at the time.

What I mean is that the leaders, long before the movement, had learned the necessary skills as parliament members. Of course the parliament was not perfect. It had many shortcomings and was harassed by the king and other powers over and over; however it served as a school for the talented ones.

Suppose the constituinal movement had not taken place and Mosaddeq and his friends after obtaining their PhD in Europe returned to the same backward feudal society of before the consititutional movement. No matter how smart and illuminated they were, after a while they would lose their spirit and would become one like many others. Even that restricted democracy brought about the opportuinity to learn the skills and find out how in practice what they have learned in classroom has to be applied in real political life.

That is very important! Only those can bring about profound reform that have already rolled up their sleeves and done something at a smaller scale. I am skeptical of all who promise to change the world up-side down without any practical experience as an insider before. Even if they are not imposters, in practice they will find out things are not so easy that they had thought of. I prefer someone who already worked in the system and displayed reasonable competence and knows the unwritten laws of the sophisticated mechanisms behind the scenes.

Exactly because of such considerations, I personally prefer to stay out of politics and

restrict my activity in this field to voting for those who, in my opinion, are better than the rest.

Back in my time...

Although in the early years after revolution and during Khatami's term in office, atmosphere of the universities in Iran was extremely politics-oriented and politically polarized, in the first half of 70's (right before Khatami elected for presidency) political apathy prevailed in universities.

When I entered Sharif Univ. most of my colleauges were more indifferent about politics than they are now. In those years, I read a book on the history of the constitutional movement (Engelaab-e mashroote) and became aware that how much sacrifice has been made to make the vote a possibility, I started to believe that ignoring this right is a sort of ingratefulness to those men and women who have put everything they possessed at risk to make this happen.We are taught not to throw away even smallest fragments of bread. Of course, we know that small parts of bread will not solve the food crisis in the world. But, bread is a symbol of blessing and has to be respected. Symbols are important! For me, my vote holds the same place of honour as fragments of bread do. I would have been particular about storing the fragements of bread even if, while I had only bare bread for dinner, the rest of the world were enjoying lobster and caviar.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting voting is a religious or even patriotic duty.

For me voting is completely a personal choice. For me, voting is a symbol and symbols are important! I emphasize again that I am not trying to convince anybody to vote. Otherwise, I would have chosen a different wording! I am just expressing my personal opinion.

As I mentioned in the beginning of the present post, the indifferent mindset of early 70's passed and was replaced by politics-dominated atmosphere of after the "dovvom-e khordaad" era. It is likely that the present phase will also pass and lead to another politically polarized period. Learning each other's opinions on politics in a cool atmosphere can make us immune against potential clashes in a heated one.

Balance and maturity

In early years after revolution as well as during Khatami's administration, the Iranian society was quite politically sensitive. They closely followed the political news and engaged in heated political debates in many occasions. Politics dominated the mindset of educated class and undermined non-political arts, peotry, literature, humanity sciences and, to some extent, unfortuantely, even physics.In early months that Shahin and I had returned from abroad to Iran (which was the last year of Khatami's presidency), it often happened that some people in the middle of a quite serious physics seminar started talking politics. Shahin and I strongly protested against such a trend and (at the cost of falling from grace!!) we put an end to it. Yes, in fact we fought to make this change but this change would not be possible if the younger generation did not support us.

Too much of politics can pollute scientific atmosphere. On the other hand, complete apathy towards politics has its negative consequences, too. There must be a balance. The question is what is the balance and who has the right to determine it. As Sa@di has said "hame kas aql-e khod be kamaal binad-o farzand-e khod be jamaal!"But, we must be aware that anybody who proclaims himself as the gauge for "balance is no different from the one who claims he has the truth and the whole truth and therefore has a divine right to lead. Such people and such claims are dangerous.

In an established scientific atmosphere where there is a natural academic hierarchy, balance is in the air and this question does not arise.
Let me explain what I mean by natural academic hierarchy. In an established stable scientific institute, more senior people (even though might not anymore be active)have considerably higher insight about both science and science administration. No matter how smart younger ones are or how hard they work and educate themselves, still their insight does not equal those of the more senior people. The reason is simple. In such institutes,only the professors reach seniority that are smart, devoted to work and have accumlated experience in research and scientific administration for a lifetime. Of course, younger generation can have new ideas that are encouraged by the senior people if their insight tells them the idea is worth investing on. Such senior people "aardhaashoon-o bikhtand, alakaashoon-o aavikhtand". They are mature enough not to wage war against junior people or make a fuss over nothing. In case the junior ones make a mistake or cross a line, through a face to face conversation and a little of explanation they make them aware of their mistakes.
In such an atmosphere and with such seniors who can set the example, the balance is already determined.

In a less established atmosphere, the balance should be determined through discussion and reaching a consensus.

New year is approaching. Happy new year to all of you. As the new year's wish,I hope that we can work next year towards achieving a better established atmosphere such as the one I described. This is not possible unless we try to have a more mature behavior than we had before.
I am telling this mostly to myself rather than anyone else.By making it public, I will feel stronger obligation to keep trying.