An Ear for Science: The Particle Physics Windchime Stanford
physicist Matt Bellis deals in the infinitesimal. As a member of
the BaBar collaboration based at SLAC, he studies what happens
when an electron and a positron collide at certain energies.
Electrons and positrons have opposite electrical charges, but in
all other respects – including mass – they are exactly the same,
and they are very small. As a result, Bellis inhabits a world of
visualizations. Animations, graphs, computer-drawn images,
Bellis uses them all to try to picture the scene when a particle
that weighs about 9x10^-31 kg – that’s a nine multiplied by a
zero-point-thirty more zeros and a 1 – slams into another
particle exactly the same size. Granted, in a realm where mass
and energy intertwine the particles travel at speeds that give
them a little more oomph, but that doesn't change the fact that
no one will ever actually see this – except through the magic of
special effects. Like particle physicists the world over, Bellis
is forced to imp