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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1994)
ymammm Wednesday, April 27, 1994 The Battalion Page 3 Scientists find evidence of last quark The Associated Press ’ April?; BATAVIA, Ill. — A team of 440 ientists has successfully conclud- an intensive, 1 7-year search for |ie of the most elusive and myste- ]ous objects in the universe — the p quark. On Tuesday, researchers at the :rmi National Accelerator Labora tory announced they had found the first evidence of its existence. If confirmed, it would support |ur basic understanding of the na- re of time, matter and the uni- se. "If it had not been discovered ... I think the whole picture of the universe would have collapsed,” said physicist Michael Riordan at the Stanford Linear Accelerator !enter in California. The finding also would mark the end of a worldwide search for the six quarks that make up pro- ns and neutrons inside atoms. "We have not yet observed nough examples of top quark production to establish the parti cle's existence beyond question,” laid Melvyn Shochet, a University |of Chicago physicist involved in fthe research. I "Nevertheless, this new evi- “If it had not been discovered ... I think the whole picture of the universe would have col lapsed.’ Michael Riordan, physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California dence points strongly to the exis tence of the sixth and final quark that we have been seeking for so long.” The Fermilab team continues to search for more evidence to verify the top quark’s existence, said Judy Jackson, a spokeswoman for Fer milab. Without the top quark, the Standard Model would collapse, forcing scientists to rethink three decades of research. Five quarks had already been discovered - the last in 197 7 at Fermilab. Since they’re believed to come in pairs, scientists believed a sixth, or top quark, must exist. Its elusiveness “has been a glar ing hole,” said Alan Weinstein, a physicist at California Institute of Technology. He called Fermilab’s efforts “a beautiful and important discovery.” Researchers at Fermilab discov ered the last quark has been hard to find because of its tremendous mass - 35 times heavier than the fifth quark. “It’s the most massive funda mental particle that we know of,” Weinstein said. The more massive a subatomic particle, the more energy is re- a uired to produce it, and the more ifficult it is to find. Despite its mass, the top quark is smaller than a trillionth of the thickness of a human hair, and it exists for only a trillionth of a tril lionth of a second, Riordan said in a telephone interview. Scientists didn’t actually see it, but found evidence that it exists from patterns created by experi ments in Fermilab’s underground Tevatron supercollider. In the four-mile circular collid er, they used an electronic field to accelerate larger particles at nearly the speed of light, then made them colliae. “Because you have so much en ergy,” the collision creates a quark heavier than the original particles, Jackson said. “It’s as if two tennis balls collid ed and a bowling ball flew out,” the spokeswoman said. The first signs of the top quark came last June, but it has taken months to analyze and test the re^ suits, Jackson said. Though the discovery is reas suring to physicists, it raises an other, more mysterious question, Riordan said. “Why is this thinp so colossally heavy? It’s like you re building a home of bricks and every sixth one is made out of lead,” he said. “It must have some intimate re lationship with whatever the ori gin of mass is, but we have no idea why the top quark is so massive,” Weinstein said. The six quarks are named “up” and “down,” “charm” and “strange” and “top” and “bot tom.” A physicist took the word “quark” from a line in James Joyce’s "Finnegans Wake”: "Three quarks for Muster Mark.” UDENT GOIVEIRNMENT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY LISTEN UP, AGS!!! CATCH THE SPIRIT!!! APPLY NOW FOR UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES FOR 1994-95 APPLICATIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT OFFICE 127 JOHN J. KOLDUS BUILDING DEADLINE: 5 pm, TUES., MAY 3rd FOR THOSE STUDENTS WHO WISH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN ’SA-’SS III ourners fall silent as Nixon’s hearse arrives The Associated Press ""itK '*^'1 Special to The Battak s from the pool sidt sday afternoon. He e and Wesley wlio YORBA LINDA, Calif. — Former President I feon flew home Tuesday for the last time. Nixon’s flag-draped casket was flown from 'Jew York, where he died Friday, to El Toro Ma ine Corps Air Station, and was taken 20 miles by notorcade to Yorba Linda, his birthplace and site T his burial Wednesday. His coffin was carried by the same blue and white plane that flew the 37 th president to Cali fornia after he resigned as president nearly two decades ago. Hundreds of mourners fell silent as the hearse pulled up to the Richard Nixon Library & Birth place in a thunderstorm. The body was to lie in , state in the library lobby until the funeral, which es in mail ■will be attended by every president to serve since Nixon. First in line for the viewing was Bill Anderson, 47, of Barstow, who left home at 6 a.m. “to show rvice center in Ae [] 0nor to q ie president” and to see his 21 -year- illy after receiving®™ t week. said Tuesday that® ;endiary devices’if line. IRS equipment, mail and have te® g taken to handle t id. erous the devices wt Ve do not believe tl® age.” :ed from Kansas. old son, Albert, a member of the military honor guard. “For any man to give his whole life for this country, I would have to have a strong feeling for him,” Anderson said. “I’m here to pay my respects to my comman der in chief,” said Bernice L. Collins, an 81 -year- old former Nixon campaign worker who sat in a wheelchair nearby. Nixon’s daughters, Tricia Cox and Julie Eisen hower, their husbands and four children accom panied the casket on the flight from Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y. The Boeing 707 touched down about 12:30 p.m. The final journey began at the Vander Plaat Fu neral Home in Wyckoff, N.J., where Nixon’s body was brought after his death in a New York hospital Friday night. The former president was laid out in a blue suit, said William Brock, one of the funeral home owners. When the casket arrived at Stewart, howitzers boomed a 21 -gun salute and a band played “Hail to the Chief” during a 20-minute ceremony. A Marine honor guard stood at attention, holding a gun as a tear streamed down his cheek. In California, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band played “Ruffles and Flourishes,” “Hail to the Chief” and “America the Beautiful” as four howitzer cannon gave another 21 -gun salute. Nixon did not want a Washington funeral, and his family declined to have his body lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. On Thursday, mem bers of Congress marked his death in the Rotunda anyway placing a large wreath at its center, where the coffin would have been. Nixon will be buried next to his wife, Pat, just a few steps from the tiny clapboard farmhouse where he was born 8 1 years ago. Mrs. Nixon died of cancer in June. President Clinton will deliver a eulogy, as will Sen. Robert Dole, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Gov. Pete Wilson. The Rev. Billy Graham, a longtime Nixon friend, will preside. DIPLOMAS Same-Day Framing Stop by Myra's and get your diploma framed. Myra has been framing Aggie Diplomas for more than 20 years. Myra’s Gallery & Custom Framing 404 University E. 693-6894 ; p JJu ir JJu GRADS sd a 1994 be on campus nerf up, you can have it u should stop b/ D of the Deed building between 4:30 p.m. Honda/ day and pay a $5 d handling fee. I not be made on i ebooks not picked ; semester of the ation date. I’piclife editor ’gielife eelilor iports editor DIM, Photo editor Special SectionsedW xrtham, lames Bernse". Iloutier md Drew Wasson ;s, David Birch, Amy and Claudia Zavala ,5 Ortiz and Kristine ndatier, Jenny Mas* /inder en and Gerardo Brooke Perkins Tins the fa" and ,pt University at College Station- I Building, Texas \&M University ,n t orial offices are m" -2047. endorsement b ^ 2690. For class'^ J md office hows a* ORGANIZATIONS REGISTRATION IS NOW GOING ON FOR MSC OPEN HOUSE DON’T BE LEFT OUT! • Pick up a form in your organizations box in the Student Finance Center or in the Student Programs Office in the MSC. • Reserve a table from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Nancy Adams in the Student Programs Office, room 216 MSC. • Cost of tables: $22 for first table, $15 for additional tables (limit 2). Questions? Call Wendy or Liz at 845-1515. ^ MSC Open House is sponsored by the MSC Public Relations Committee, Sr and $50 per full y ear ' DIES 807 Texas Ave. (Next To Red Lobster) 764-8289 Tords I J The Bridal & Tv Tuxedo Store BRIDAL & FORMAL SALE All Bridal Gowns 15% to 50% Off 100's of party & pageant dresses now 50% off Over 500 formals from $19.95 fConoring a Centum of r E?(celImce Package Price $85.00 Tickets are on sale NOW in Rudder Box Office Ring Dance pre-sale photo packages and Senior Weekend t- shirts are on sale NOW in MSC hallway from 11-3. Pictures will begin being taken on April 30th at 10 a.m.-I a.m. in Rudder Auditorium. Starting at 8:00. pictures will only be taken for those holding a Ring Dance ticket. For more information call 845-1515