The burst, the burster and its lair

Article Abstract:

A gamma-ray burst witnessed on Dec 14, 1997, has provided valuable new information on this subject. GRB971214 took place at an enormous redshift of 3.42 in an actively star-forming galaxy. It was rather obscured by dust. It seems that the optical-to-infrared light from this gamma-ray burst was dimmed and reddened by dust in its host galaxy. This could indicate that the burst took place in a gas-rich environment. It is clear that limitations on physical models of gamma-ray bursts are now starting to emerge, but it may not be possible to draw firm conclusions until it is known whether emission is beamed.

Gamma ray astronomy, Gamma rays, Compton effect

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Thermally activated transitions in a bistable three-dimensional optical trap

Article Abstract:

The brownian dynamics of a sub-micrometre sized dielectric particle contained in a double-well optical trap can be used to directly measure the full three-dimensional confining potential. It has been possible to obtain very good agreement between the predictions of Kramer's theory and the measured transition rates. Detailed information about the overall potential should permit investigations of the escape rate of underdamped particles in the region in which escape takes place by diffusion over energy, in addition to the Kramers turnover region.

Research, Potential theory (Physics)

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