PhysMath Central Blog
We are always interested in new ways of re-interpreting data (that's why we make all of our article data available in xml for data-mining) - but this visualization tool from Mark Holliman at the University of Edinburgh really is special.
PaperScope is a tool developed for graphically exploring the ADS (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/). It is designed to provide astronomers with a user friendly interface for mapping the Reference and Citation connections between published papers that are accessible through the ADS web interface. The visualization that PaperScope provides enables the user to see how papers are connected and therefore gain a better understanding of which papers are of interest to their work. Use it for constructing reference or citation chains, as well as identifying common references/citations between several key papers. It is a tool designed to simplify the process of searching for relevant papers to an astrophysics researcher whether they be a professor, postdoc, or student.
...or publisher looking for potential referees!
I urge you to play with it as a uniquely powerful way to browse and search the ADS, which has spent a long time building up indices which would eventually support such tools as this.
Posted by Chris Leonard at 16:29 Comments (0)
Although the Large Hadron Collider is often portrayed in the press as a 'European' facility, particle physicists are close-knit, international community and the reality is that scientists from many different countries and continents have collaborated on this unique accelerator.
To highlight the USA's involvement in the LHC, the US Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation have launched a new website called US/LHC. To quote from their homepage:
More than 1200 physicists from 90 American universities and laboratories have joined with scientific colleagues from around the world to collaborate in LHC experiments at the horizon of discovery.
You can follow LHC start-up from a US-perspective courtesy of 4 blogs on the site written by Monica Dunford, Pamela Klabbers, Steve Nahn and Peter Steinberg. A combined blog listing and RSS feed is available from here.
Incidentally, the LHC is still on schedule for producing its first results in 2008, according to Robert Aymar.
Posted by Chris Leonard at 11:05 Comments (1)
Queen impressed by massive Diamond
Last week Queen Elizabeth II opened the UK's new national synchrotron facility, Diamond. Based in the Oxfrodshire countryside, Diamond is the largest science facility to be built in the UK in 40 years. It was funded largely by the UK government, but with a significant contribution from the Wellcome Trust.
Seven experimental stations went into operation at its launch:
Extreme conditions beamline for studying materials under intense temperatures and pressures.
Materials and magnetism beamline set up to probe electronic and magnetic materials at the atomic level.
Three macromolecular crystallography beamlines for understanding the structure of complex biological samples, such as proteins.
Microfocus spectroscopy beamline able to map the chemical make-up of complex materials, such as moon rocks and geological samples.
Nanoscience beamline capable of imaging structures and devices at a few millionths of a millimetre.
Posted by Chris Leonard at 12:45 Comments (0)
ASSISTANT EDITOR (Ref: PMC/AE)
BioMed Central Ltd (www.biomedcentral.com),
the pioneering open access publisher, is an independent publishing
house committed to providing immediate free access to peer-reviewed
biomedical research.
PhysMath Central, a division of BioMed Central, requires an Assistant Editor to work on its new open access journals. The role of Assistant Editor will involve management of the peer review process, helping to launch new journals and managing relations with the journals’ editorial board and authors. The ideal candidate will be degree qualified with a background in physics or a related discipline and with knowledge of TeX/LaTeX. Excellent verbal and written communication skills are essential, as are strong administrative and organisational skills, and attention to detail. Previous experience of scientific and/or online publishing would be an advantage but not essential.
Requirements
Applicants must have:
· A degree in Physics or a related discipline
· Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
· Knowledge of TeX/LaTeX
· Strong administrative and organisational skills, and attention to detail.
· Computer literacy, with experience of MS Word, Excel and Outlook.
Previous experience of scientific and/or online publishing would be beneficial, but is not a requirement.
To apply please send your CV and covering letter quoting reference, explaining briefly your interest in the post, and when you would be able to start by clicking below or to: Recruitment, SNG, 34-42 Cleveland Street, London, W1T 4LB, or by email to jobs@sciencenow.com.
Science Navigation Group is an Equal Opportunities Employer
Posted by Chris Leonard at 12:03 Comments (0)
New article pubilshed in PMC Physics A
We are pleased to announce a new article published in PMC Physics A by Massimo Giovannini of CERN Theory Division.
Semi-analytical approach to magnetized temperature autocorrelations
Massimo Giovannini
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature autocorrelations, induced by a magnetized adiabatic mode of curvature inhomogeneities, are computed with semi-analytical methods. As suggested by the latest CMB data, a nearly scale-invariant spectrum for the adiabatic mode is consistently assumed. In this situation, the effects of a fully inhomogeneous magnetic field are scrutinized and constrained with particular attention to harmonics which are relevant for the region of Doppler oscillations. Depending on the parameters of the stochastic magnetic field a hump may replace the second peak of the angular power spectrum. Detectable effects on the Doppler region are then expected only if the magnetic power spectra have quasi-flat slopes and typical amplitude (smoothed over a comoving scale of Mpc size and redshifted to the epoch of gravitational collapse of the protogalaxy) exceeding 0.1 nG. If the magnetic energy spectra are bluer (i.e. steeper in frequency) the allowed value of the smoothed amplitude becomes, comparatively, larger (in the range of 20 nG). The implications of this investigation for the origin of large-scale magnetic fields in the Universe are discussed. Connections with forthcoming experimental observations of CMB temperature fluctuations are also suggested and partially explored.
Posted by Chris Leonard at 11:59 Comments (0)
Nobel Prize awarded to hard-disk pioneers
Congratulations are in order for French scientist Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg of Germany, who have won the 2007 Nobel Prize for physics. Their work in giant magnetoresistance allows information to be written and read from hard disks - a very real application of condensed matter research as it used in computer disks, iPods and a myriad of other modern marvels.
BBC News: Disk technology takes Nobel Prize
UPDATE (12 Oct): Research articles by the winners are now available for free to all who want to read them. Seems like the advantages of open access are being recognized by the APS. Of course all research in PhysMath Central is free to read and re-use in any way you wish.
Posted by Chris Leonard at 10:40 Comments (0)
In addition to the publication of the first articles in PMC Physics A this week, we are also very pleased to be able to announce the launch of a second open access journal, PMC Physics B.
PMC Physics B will cover all areas of condensed matter research along with atomic, molecular and optical physics. We are also aiming to be the journal of choice for research at the interface of these two areas.
The journal will have two editors-in-chief, Profs. Peter Hatton and Stephen Buckman.
Professor Peter Hatton is head of the condensed matter research group
at the University of Durham and has published more than 100 papers in
neutron scattering, orbital physics, resonant soft x-ray scattering,
strongly correlated electron systems, superconductors and x-ray
scattering.
Professor Stephen Buckman is Research Director of the Australian
Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Antimatter-Matter Studies,
focusing on absolute scattering measurements of low energy,
electron-driven processes in atoms and molecules, scattering from
excited atoms and molecules, and the elucidation of resonance
excitation mechanisms in electron collisions.
Speaking of his new role, Buckman said, "I am delighted to be working with PhysMath Central and to be one of the editors for this ambitious journal. As well as providing a open access option for scientists to publish their very best work on condensed matter or AMO physics, we are particularly excited to cover emerging areas which were traditionally at the interface of one or the other discipline."
Read the full press release here.
To celebrate the launch of this new journal, publication in PMC Physics B will be free for submissions received before 1 December 2007. Submit your article now!
Posted by Chris Leonard at 16:44 Comments (0)
PMC Physics A publishes first articles
Today sees the publication of the first papers in PhysMath Central's first journal, PMC Physics A. The journal, covering high-energy and particle physics along with cosmology, gravity and associated instrumentation and data analysis - published 4 open access articles earlier today.
To read all of the articles for free, simply visit the journal homepage or click on one of the links below to access the article directly:
Welcome to PMC Physics A
Ken Peach
PMC Physics A 2007, 1:1
Dilaton and off-shell (non-critical string) effects in Boltzmann equation for species abundances
Athanasios B. Lahanas, Nikolaos E. Mavromatos and Dimitri V. Nanopoulos
PMC Physics A 2007, 1:2
Ricci Flow Gravity
Wolfgang Graf
PMC Physics A 2007, 1:3
The luminosity-redshift relation in brane-worlds: I. Analytical results
Zoltan Keresztes, Laszlo A Gergely, Botond Nagy and Gyula M Szabo
PMC Physics A 2007, 1:4
We also have a video interview with PMC Physics A editor-in-chief, Ken Peach, in which Ken explains why open access is important in science in general and physics in particular. To view the video, go to the PhysMath Central homepage.
Posted by Chris Leonard at 19:21 Comments (0)
We are going to publish the first articles on PMC Physics A today, but not quite yet. Check back in hour or two and you'll be able to read all 4 articles for free. UPDATE: we're live!
Posted by Chris Leonard at 13:11 Comments (1)