Hindi English Translation || Editorial || Let there be light: On the 2023 physics Nobel

Let there be light: On the 2023 physics Nobel

The 2023 physics Nobel prize celebrates techniques to measure changes in the properties of electrons

According to the laws of quantum mechanics, the observable properties of electrons (a stable subatomic particle with a negative electrical charge) in matter — like a fruit or a rock — change in a few hundred attoseconds (it is an astonishingly short unit of time, equivalent to one quintillionth of a second, or 10 to the power of 18 seconds (10-18)). One attosecond is 10-18 seconds. To study these extremely rapid changes, special tools are needed, and Anne L’Huillier, Pierre Agostini, and Ferenc Krausz have received the 2023 physics Nobel Prize for building these tools. From the late 1980s, Dr. L’Huillier led several studies that found that an infrared (it is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light and shorter than radio waves. it is a region of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum where wavelengths range from about 700 nanometers (nm) to 1 millimeter (mm)) beam shone on a volume of a noble gas (a group of six inert (nonreactive) gases (i.e., helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon) on the far right side of the periodic table. They are members of group 18, the last group on the periodic table. The noble gases are tasteless, odorless, colorless, nonflammable, and mostly nonreactive) produced multiple overtones (an overtone is a frequency that is produced by an object or instrument in addition to the fundamental frequency. (A fundamental is the lowest frequency of a sound wave that determines its pitch. It is the primary tone that is produced by an object or instrument, and all other frequencies that are produced by it are called overtones)): waves whose wavelength was an integer-fraction (any fraction, upon division of numerator by denominator, yields a remainder which is equal to zero is an integer. The integers are the set of whole numbers and their opposites) of the ‘original’ light wave. Her team also observed a peculiar (strange, unusual/odd, unexpected) relationship between the original wave’s frequency and the intensity of the overtones, and explained it using the existing laws of quantum mechanics (it is the field of physics that explains how extremely small objects simultaneously have the characteristics of both particles (tiny pieces of matter) and waves (a disturbance or variation that transfers energy). it is the study of matter and energy at the most fundamental level) — a milestone (मील का पत्थर). If the overtone waves’ peaks lined up, they would combine to produce a more intense peak (constructive interference (निर्माणकारी हस्ताछेप)); when one wave’s peak coincided with another’s trough (the highest surface part of a wave is called the crest, and the lowest part is the trough. The vertical distance between the crest and the trough is the wave height), they would cancel themselves out (destructive interference (विनाशकारी हस्तक्षेप)). Physicists realised that this reinforcing (सुदृढ़ बनाना, समर्थन करना) effect could be timed (समय निश्चित करना) such that the gas emitted intense peaks with a pulse duration of a few attoseconds, with destructive interference achieving the cut-off (break-off, shut-off, discontinuation, end). Dr. Agostini and company demonstrated this in 2001 by producing light with a pulse (a single vibration (of sound, light or other wave)) duration of 250 attoseconds. In the same year, Dr. Krausz and company isolated a single pulse, 650 attoseconds in duration, and used it to measure the kinetic energy (गतिज ऊर्जा) of electrons kicked out from krypton (it (Kr, atomic number 36) is one of the noble gases, which as a group have little tendency to react chemically with other elements) atoms by a bunch of photons (it is a subatomic particle with a positive electrical charge. They are found in every atomic nucleus of every element. In almost every element, protons are accompanied by neutrons). Attosecond physics had finally arrived.

The medicine Nobel Prize this year celebrated the invention of mRNA vaccines (टीका) and their effect on the COVID-19 pandemic (महामारी). The utility (उपयोगिता) for people here was straightforward, whereas (जबकि) that for attosecond physics is not. However, the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. The specific dynamics (गतिविज्ञान) of electrons matter in settings with potentially immediate value, including biochemistry, diagnostics (निदान), superconductivity, and manufacturing techniques. Thanks to (as a result of, owing to, due to, because of) the laureates (पुरस्कार विजेता)’ work, scientists have a way to illuminate (रोशन करना) hitherto (अब तक) unknown possibilities with discoveries of phenomena (occurrence, happening, event, incident) that live and die in attoseconds. Then again, humans rarely have all the information required to judge whether a particular discovery or invention could be of value (if something is of value, it is useful or important) later. The 2016 chemistry laureates were feted (honour) for building motors with individual molecules — a feat (achievement, accomplishment, attainment) with no known applications (practical use; relevance, significance, bearing) at the time, but to achieve it, they devised (plan, think up, conceive, formulate, work out) techniques that improved other areas of chemistry. To paraphrase (reword, rephrase, express in other words, express differently, restate) one of these laureates, J. Fraser Stoddard, there is important value in making something that was hard to do before easier to do today, and “we still have the excitement of finding out what [its applications] might be”.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.milestone (noun)

Hindi Meaning - मील का पत्थर
English Meaning - critical point, significant stage, turning point, watershed, major achievement.

2.constructive interference (noun)

Hindi Meaning - निर्माणकारी हस्ताछेप
English Meaning - constructive interference will retain the frequency and double the amplitude when two identical waves of the same period and amplitude that are completely in phase meet.

3.destructive interference (noun)

Hindi Meaning - विनाशकारी हस्तक्षेप
English Meaning - destructive interference occurs when identical waves meet that are completely out of phase because it cancels the signal frequency and the amplitude to zero.

4.reinforcing (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - सुदृढ़ बनाना, समर्थन करना
English Meaning - strengthening.

5.time (verb)

Hindi Meaning - समय निश्चित करना
English Meaning - plan, arrange, organize, schedule.

6.kinetic energy (noun)

Hindi Meaning - गतिज ऊर्जा
English Meaning - the energy of motion, observable as the movement of an object or subatomic particle.

7.vaccine (noun)

Hindi Meaning - टीका
English Meaning - a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease.

8.pandemic (noun)

Hindi Meaning - महामारी
English Meaning - the worldwide spread of a new disease; The illness spreads around the world and typically affects a large number of people across a wide area.

9.utility (noun)

Hindi Meaning - उपयोगिता
English Meaning - usefulness, use, advantage, benefit, value, helpfulness, service.

10.whereas (conjunction)

Hindi Meaning - जबकि
English Meaning - in contrast or comparison with the fact that.

11.dynamics (noun)

Hindi Meaning - गतिविज्ञान
English Meaning - basic/fundamental cause or force that triggers change within a system.

12.diagnostics (noun)

Hindi Meaning - निदान
English Meaning - the process of identifying a disease.

13.laureate (noun)

Hindi Meaning - पुरस्कार विजेता
English Meaning - a person who is honoured with an award for outstanding achievement.

14.illuminate (verb)

Hindi Meaning - रोशन करना
English Meaning - clarify, explain, elucidate, reveal, make clear.

15.hitherto (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - अब तक
English Meaning - until now, up to this point.

16.let there be light (phrase)

English Meaning - used as a metaphor (figure of speech) for the spread of wisdom/knowledge.

17.electron (noun)

English Meaning - a stable subatomic particle with a negative electrical charge.

18.quantum mechanics (noun)

English Meaning - it is the field of physics that explains how extremely small objects simultaneously have the characteristics of both particles (tiny pieces of matter) and waves (a disturbance or variation that transfers energy). it is the study of matter and energy at the most fundamental level.

19.attosecond (noun)

English Meaning - it is an astonishingly short unit of time, equivalent to one quintillionth of a second, or 10 to the power of 18 seconds (10-18).

20.infrared (noun)

English Meaning - it is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light and shorter than radio waves. it is a region of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum where wavelengths range from about 700 nanometers (nm) to 1 millimeter (mm).

21.noble gases (noun)

English Meaning - a group of six inert (nonreactive) gases (i.e., helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon) on the far right side of the periodic table. They are members of group 18, the last group on the periodic table. The noble gases are tasteless, odorless, colorless, nonflammable, and mostly nonreactive.

22.overtones (noun)

English Meaning - an overtone is a frequency that is produced by an object or instrument in addition to the fundamental frequency. (A fundamental is the lowest frequency of a sound wave that determines its pitch. It is the primary tone that is produced by an object or instrument, and all other frequencies that are produced by it are called overtones).

23.integer-fraction (noun)

English Meaning - any fraction, upon division of numerator by denominator, yields a remainder which is equal to zero is an integer. The integers are the set of whole numbers and their opposites.

24.peculiar (adjective)

English Meaning - strange, unusual/odd, unexpected.

25.trough (noun)

English Meaning - the highest surface part of a wave is called the crest, and the lowest part is the trough. The vertical distance between the crest and the trough is the wave height.

26.cut-off (noun)

English Meaning - break-off, shut-off, discontinuation, end.

27.pulse (noun)

English Meaning - a single vibration (of sound, light or other wave).

28.krypton (noun)

English Meaning - it (Kr, atomic number 36) is one of the noble gases, which as a group have little tendency to react chemically with other elements.

29.photon (noun)

English Meaning - it is a subatomic particle with a positive electrical charge. They are found in every atomic nucleus of every element. In almost every element, protons are accompanied by neutrons.

30.mRNA vaccine (noun)

English Meaning - The vaccine is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, which stands for “messenger ribonucleic acid”. Messenger RNA is essentially the blueprint that living cells use to turn gene sequences into the proteins that form their fundamental structures. Once injected, the mRNA in the vaccine is translated into a viral protein, which our immune systems detect. The body generates an immune response in reaction to these viral proteins, which can’t by themselves cause disease, and this provides protection against developing Covid-19.

31.m-RNA technology (noun)

English Meaning - messenger RNA technology; the set of instructions by which cells make all proteins and send them to various parts of the body. mRNA medicines take advantage of normal biological processes to express proteins and create a desired therapeutic effect.

32.superconductor & superconductivity (noun)

English Meaning - superconductor is a material that can conduct electricity with no resistance below its critical temperature (Tc). In 1911, a Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate Kamerlingh Onnes discovered that the electrical resistance of mercury completely disappeared at temperatures a few degrees above absolute zero. The phenomenon became known as superconductivity.

33.thanks to (phrase)

English Meaning - as a result of, owing to, due to, because of.

34.phenomena (plural noun)

English Meaning - occurrence, happening, event, incident.

35.of value (phrase)

English Meaning - if something is of value, it is useful or important.

36.fete (verb)

English Meaning - honour.

37.feat (noun)

English Meaning - achievement, accomplishment, attainment.

38.application (noun)

English Meaning - practical use; relevance, significance, bearing.