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What could explain the gallium anomaly?

quantamagazine.org

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Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#61

Post by a3n »

bawolff wrote: post #48
geuis wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that "nice"? The fact that 3 years in we are still collaborating with Russia on the ISS and in other scientific programs is deeply disturbing. I get that the ISS is a special circumstance and a difficult knot to unravel. That's an extremely unique situation and it's not worth digging into at length for this situation. Life support onboard for all occupants relies on a continuing collaboration. Beyond the ISS s…

I hate the russian regime and what its doing to ukraine too. Still there is something comforting about putting aside our differences, petty and otherwise, to do science. After all, its not like the Russian scientists involved personally ordered the invasion.

Everyday Russians, including scientists, should feel consequences for their government's murders.

Except for the ISS (complicated, as noted), I'm astounded that anything goes in or out of Russia: people, goods, services, atoms, electrons.

Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#62

Post by lazide »

geuis wrote: post #47
jpgvm wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is these joint scientific efforts were and continue to be effective tools to diffuse more dangerous possibilities. In case you have forgotten Russia is still the 2nd largest nuclear power and their arsenal is enough to eliminate pretty much all life on Earth. The war in Ukraine is terrible but don't underestimate how much worse things could get. If things do get worse it's back channels like space collabo…

Glad we agree on China at least. I highly disagree about Russia being a modern nuclear power. China and Israel are really the only countries that have the modern infrastructure required to maintain significant nuclear presences other than the US. Russia today is mostly living off of the remnants of pre-1985 Soviet energy infrastructure investments. They have some nuclear capability, but it's far, far below what the U…

They’d have no issues producing a dozen Tsar Bombas even today, no question.

Plenty enough to ruin everyone’s day.

Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#63

Post by namibj »

a3n wrote: post #61
bawolff wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the russian regime and what its doing to ukraine too. Still there is something comforting about putting aside our differences, petty and otherwise, to do science. After all, its not like the Russian scientists involved personally ordered the invasion.

Everyday Russians, including scientists, should feel consequences for their government's murders. Except for the ISS (complicated, as noted), I'm astounded that anything goes in or out of Russia: people, goods, services, atoms, electrons.

For non-restricted goods, it's still the fastest non-air transport route from China to Germany.

We'll have to at least pay for the track maintenance and electricity usage caused by that, so why should we listen to a country that isn't affected? BTW the next best option would be to send war ships to the red sea and put the shipping corridor under effectively European control, would that be preferred?

Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#64

Post by justinator »

lazide wrote: post #62
geuis wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glad we agree on China at least. I highly disagree about Russia being a modern nuclear power. China and Israel are really the only countries that have the modern infrastructure required to maintain significant nuclear presences other than the US. Russia today is mostly living off of the remnants of pre-1985 Soviet energy infrastructure investments. They have some nuclear capability, but it's far, far below what the U…

They’d have no issues producing a dozen Tsar Bombas even today, no question. Plenty enough to ruin everyone’s day.

Tsar Bombas aren’t realistic weapons.

Russia is having trouble producing modern tanks and planes. Its ships are being blown up by radio controlled boats with explosives on them.

Russia absolutely excels at one thing: the relentless use of its human meat grinder. Nothing fundamental has changed since Stalingrad.

Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#65

Post by lazide »

justinator wrote: post #64
lazide wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’d have no issues producing a dozen Tsar Bombas even today, no question. Plenty enough to ruin everyone’s day.

Tsar Bombas aren’t realistic weapons. Russia is having trouble producing modern tanks and planes. Its ships are being blown up by radio controlled boats with explosives on them. Russia absolutely excels at one thing: the relentless use of its human meat grinder. Nothing fundamental has changed since Stalingrad.

Russia also excels at MAD. And suffering.

Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#66

Post by jlarocco »

a3n wrote: post #61
bawolff wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the russian regime and what its doing to ukraine too. Still there is something comforting about putting aside our differences, petty and otherwise, to do science. After all, its not like the Russian scientists involved personally ordered the invasion.

Everyday Russians, including scientists, should feel consequences for their government's murders. Except for the ISS (complicated, as noted), I'm astounded that anything goes in or out of Russia: people, goods, services, atoms, electrons.

There aren't many "innocent" countries out there. In your opinion we should all focus our energy on shunning and hating each other because of it?

Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#67

Post by booleandilemma »

a3n wrote: post #61
bawolff wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate the russian regime and what its doing to ukraine too. Still there is something comforting about putting aside our differences, petty and otherwise, to do science. After all, its not like the Russian scientists involved personally ordered the invasion.

Everyday Russians, including scientists, should feel consequences for their government's murders. Except for the ISS (complicated, as noted), I'm astounded that anything goes in or out of Russia: people, goods, services, atoms, electrons.

I'm a US citizen, and I recognize my country has done some terrible things, but I shouldn't have to personally feel the consequences for those things.

At the same time, I wouldn't want random Russian citizens to have to feel the consequences for things their government has done.

Your bad argument is the same one that spurs Islamic terrorists into stabbing random people.

Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#68

Post by pavel_lishin »

qnleigh wrote: post #50

Is there any reason to think that Gallium would be a particularly good source of sterile neutrinos? Or is it more that if regular neutrinos oscillate into sterile neutrinos, then this would be the first experiment that could detect so at this scale?

The gallium isn't what's producing the neutrinos; there's a radioactive source that the gallium is being irradiated by, and I believe that's the source:

> In an underground lab shielded by a mountain of rock, highly radioactive material sits inside a vat of liquid gallium, blasting out particles called neutrinos that break the gallium down into atoms of germanium.

Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#69

Post by gus_massa »

qnleigh wrote: post #50

Is there any reason to think that Gallium would be a particularly good source of sterile neutrinos? Or is it more that if regular neutrinos oscillate into sterile neutrinos, then this would be the first experiment that could detect so at this scale?

Gallium is not a source of sterile neutrino. Gallium is a good "electonic neutrino" target.

The problem is that they only detect the 80% of the "electonic neutrino" that they expect and they have no clue of the cause. One of the posibilities is that the other 20% of the "electonic neutrinos" mutate to "sterile neutrinos" during the trip.

(Note that there are 3 types of neutrinos and it's possible that there are also a few types of sterile neutrinos (3 is a good guess).)

Re: What could explain the gallium anomaly?

#70

Post by jfengel »

booleandilemma wrote: post #67
a3n wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyday Russians, including scientists, should feel consequences for their government's murders. Except for the ISS (complicated, as noted), I'm astounded that anything goes in or out of Russia: people, goods, services, atoms, electrons.

I'm a US citizen, and I recognize my country has done some terrible things, but I shouldn't have to personally feel the consequences for those things. At the same time, I wouldn't want random Russian citizens to have to feel the consequences for things their government has done. Your bad argument is the same one that spurs Islamic terrorists into stabbing random people.

Our government is doing some terrible things. I voted for this government and I feel I should take some responsibility for it. I accept that there may be consequences, potentially awful ones.

I am afraid we are about to vote in a government that will do even more harm -- including to me personally. I think that a lot of people are choosing that harm deliberately. But even worse is a lot of people who are willing to accept that harm to me but without feeling any responsibility at all.

The world is difficult. We make hard choices to live together. We do our best, or at least most of us do. I wish there were more empathy, and I accept that this means I feel guilt.

The Russians are not really a democracy and their understanding of the world is severely warped by their media. And even those more clear on the situation can do only a little. But the more they individually feel a responsibility, the sooner they can collectively do something.

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