On the value of particle physics

Abstract

The naive letter by John Waymouth (PHYSICS TODAY, September 2011, page 10) claims that particle physics has never “produced permanent jobs for anyone except high-energy physicists and their acolytes and assistants.”My group at Vanderbilt University designed and built high-field magnets to measure the Σ hyperon’s magnetic moment in experiments at Caltech and at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Using those magnets and teaming up with Oak Ridge National Labora-tory, we were able to demonstrate the superconductivity of niobium–tin at fields of up to 14 T, which was 6 T higher than had been previously observed.Several of my students made careers in applied superconductivity. For example, A. D. McInturff has designed superconducting magnets at Brookhaven, Fermilab, and CERN; his PhD thesis included the first measurement of the Σ hyperon’s magnetic moment. A magnet-stabilization technique that he first suggested has transformed medical practice.Rapid communication between experimental groups was very expensive when I worked at CERN. A group led by Tim Berners-Lee in the computer division developed the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which is used to modify networks to provide inexpensive, rapid internet communication.The recent detection of the Ξ−b decays11. V. M. Abazov et al. (D0 collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 052001 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.052001 may be of limited public interest, but the ability to data-mine 500 trillion collisions and find the 25 candidates is important in many areas. There is no shortage of jobs for anyone with the ability to select the significant information from the vast flood of raw data available today.My retirement project uses computer and sensor technologies developed for particle physics to make industrial sorting machines. These machines identify and sort postconsumer PET (polyethylene terephthalate) beverage bottles in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Recycled PET is made into new bottles or polyester fiber used in clothing and carpets.Particle physics is a major source of innovation and economic growth in areas as diverse as medicine, recycling, data management, and the internet. I do not know if the Higgs particle exists, but I am confident that future jobs and technologies will result from the efforts to find it.REFERENCESSection:ChooseTop of pageREFERENCES <<1. V. M. Abazov et al. (D0 collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 052001 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.052001 , Google ScholarCrossref© 2012 American Institute of Physics.