Science > Physics > PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE -- Number 709 November 17, 2004 by Phillip F.Schewe, Ben Stein
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PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE -- Number 709 November 17, 2004 by Phillip F.Schewe, Ben Stein |
PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Physics News
Number 709 November 17, 2004 by Phillip F. Schewe, Ben Stein
WHAT PROPELS A BOOK TO THE TOP OF ONLINE SALES CHARTS? Is the
latest bestseller simply the product of clever marketing or has it
truly permeated society? Will its popularity wane as quickly as it
appeared or will the book be a classic for future generations?
Though these questions seem to lay outside the realm of science,
scientists can actually obtain deep insights into these issues by
using the tools of statistical physics, which can predict the rates
at which certain events occur, such as the number of aftershocks
following a major earthquake or the number of large avalanches in a
given sandpile. Using a unique database of the Amazon.com rankings
of book sales, scientists (Thomas Gilbert, UC-Berkeley,
510-642-5295, tgilbert@haas.berkeley.edu) followed the chart
histories of books that reached the top 50 in sales. The
researchers found that the bestsellers generally reach their sales
peaks in one of two ways, which they classify as "exogenous shocks"
(e.g., a rave review in the New York Times) and "endogenous shocks"
(e.g., word of mouth). An endogenous shock appears slowly but
results in a long-lived growth and decline of sales owing to small
but very extensive interactions in the network of buyers. For
example, "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," reached the
bestseller lists two years after it came out (and without a major
marketing campaign) by making the rounds of book-discussion clubs
and inspiring women to form "Ya-Ya Sisterhood" groups of their own.
In contrast, an exogenous shock (rave review) appears suddenly and
propels a book to bestseller status; however, these sales typically
decline rapidly, much more quickly than those that made the charts
via word-of-mouth. In either case, single triggering events (e.g.,
a mention on "Oprah") appear to have much less effect on the sales
history of a book than the actions of interconnected groups of
people, who may pick up the book after multiple conversations with
acquaintances or by hearing about the book secondhand or by
remembering a friend's recommendation months or even years after the
book comes out. According to the researchers, marketing agencies
could apply their method of classifying and analyzing bestsellers to
measure and to maximize the impact of their publicity on the network
of potential buyers. (Sornette, Deschatres, Gilbert, and Ageon,
Physical Review Letters, prob 26 November 2004).
ATOM LITHOGRAPHY, shooting sculpted beams of atoms at a substrate,
can create lines of deposited atoms with widths as narrow as 50 nm.
Two groups in Holland have separately carried out experiments in
which atoms, heated in an oven, released through a baffle, "cooled"
by laser rays striking the beam at right angles, and then focused in
optical microlenses consisting of opposing laser beams. In the case
of physicists at Eindhoven University of Technology (contact Ton van
Leeuwen, 31-40-2474094, k.a.h.v.leeuwen@tue.nl) the best resulting
grid of iron atoms had lines only 50 nm wide and spaced consistently
186 nm apart (see figure at http://www.aip.org/png). The researchers
expect to achieve 10-nm lines, but their chief aim is to move from
producing simple grid patterns to making more elaborate patterns
with holographic and other techniques. They are also pursuing a
"single-point writer" option, in which the full atomic beam will be
focused to a single, very intense spot. What is the advantage of
such slow atom-beam approach to lithography? Mainly it is the
directness of the method for inscribing microcircuitry (no etching
or use of masks) and exercising great control over line width and
spacing. The researchers also admit that there are imposing
technological hurdles to using this approach on an industrial
scale. Short-term applications would most likely be for making
MEMS-like structures (teSligte et al., Applied Physics Letters, 8
November 2004; text at http://www.aip.org/physnews/select; lab website at
http://www.phys.tue.nl/aow). The other Dutch group, at Radboud University
Nijmegen have laid down their own grid of iron atoms with lines 95
nm in width, 186 nm apart, and covering an area of 1.6 x .4 mm^2.
(Myszkiewicz et al., Applied Physics Letters, 25 Oct; contact Theo
Rasing, 31-24-3653102) The two groups are now working together on
some joint ventures.
AN AVALANCHE SPIN-VALVE TRANSISTOR switches a current "on" or
"off"depending on whether the magnetizations of two thin films are
parallel (large current) or anti-parallel (small current). Such a spintronic
transistor is somewhat like the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) read
heads in hard drives, but is 10 to 100 times more sensitive. The
usual drawback of spin-valve transistors, a weak output current, is,
in the Harvard lab of Venkatesh Narayanamurti, overcome by using an
avalanche process much like the one used in photodetectors---an
incoming electron ionizes several secondary electrons, each of which
ionizes still more electrons, adding up in the end to a sizable
current. One of the team members, Kasey Russell
(kasey.russell@gmail.com, 617-496-5471) says that the extra
sensitivity and strong output could lead to use of the device in
magnetic storage technologies. (Russell et al., Applied Physics
Letters, 8 November 2004; lab website at
http://www.deas.harvard.edu/venky/research.html#overview)
***********
PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE is a digest of physics news items arising
from physics meetings, physics journals, newspapers and
magazines, and other news sources. It is provided free of charge
as a way of broadly disseminating information about physics and
physicists. For that reason, you are free to post it, if you like,
where others can read it, providing only that you credit AIP.
Physics News Update appears approximately once a week.
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