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Justbefore the preliminary programof Orbis Scientiae 1998 went to
press the news in physics was suddenly dominated by the discovery
that neutrinos are, after all, massive particles. This was
predicted by some physicists including Dr. Behram Kusunoglu, who
had apaper published on this subject in 1976 in the Physical
Review. Massive neutrinos do not necessarily simplify the physics
of elementary particles but they do give elementary particle
physics a new direction. If the dark matter content ofthe universe
turns out to consist ofneutrinos, the fact that they are massive
should make an impact on cosmology. Some of the papers in this
volume have attempted to provide answers to these questions. We
have a long way to go before we find the real reasons for nature's
creation of neutrinos. Another neutrino-related event was the
passing of their discoverer, Fredrick Reines: The trustees of the
Global Foundation, members of the Orbis Scientiae 1998, dedicate
this conference to Fredrick Reines of the University of California
at Irvine. The late Professor Reines was a loyal and active member
of these series of conferences on the frontiers of physics and
cosmology since 1964. He also sewed as one of the trustees of the
Global Foundation for the past three years. Professor Reines
discovered the most elusive particle, the neutrino, in 1954. We are
proud to say that we recognized the importance of this discovery by
awarding him the J.
Developed from the Global Foundation's International Conference on
Environment and Nuclear Energy, held in October 1997, this volume
examines the impact of nuclear energy on regional and global
environmental issues under a variety of scenarios. These include
competition in deregulated energy environments, constraints levied
upon use of fossil energy, and possible expansion of nuclear power
into energy sectors beyond the generation of electricity, process
heat, and fuels production. It also assesses the overall role of
nuclear energy in meeting future energy needs arising from growing
world populations and economic development.
The annual conferences on energy, which were begun in 1977,
continued to 1992 and resumed again in 1994. The theme of the 1994
conference was "Global Energy Demand in Transition: The New Role
ofElectricity. " Global energy production, distribution, and
utilization is in astate of transition toward an increased and more
diversified use of electricity, which is the safest, most
versatile, and cleanest form of secondary energy. Electricity is
easy to generate, transmit, and distribute, making its use
practically universal. These facts make it urgent to explore the
technological prospects and long term availability of
environmentally benign energy sources for generating electricity.
It is expected that the conference will be useful to the
governments in formulating their energy policies and to the public
utilities for their long term planning. The conference has: 1)
assessed the increase and diversification in the use of
electricity; 2) assessed the technological prospects for clean
energy sources that still require more research and development, i.
e. solar, hydrogen, nuclear (fission and fusion), etc. ; 3)
assessed the roles of non-market factors and possible improved
decision processes on energy and environmental issues; 4) made
concrete recommendations regarding research and development
policies and regulations to expedite the transition to a
dependable, safer, and benign electricity-based energy complex; 5)
studied the cost impact: price, environment, safety, and
international security; 6) provided an analysis of an expected
transition from the fossil fuel transportation to electrical
transportation (e. g.
The International Conference, Orbis Scientiae 1996, focused on the
topics: The Neutrino Mass, Light Cone Quantization, Monopole
Condensation, Dark Matter, and Gravitational Waves which we have
adopted as the title of these proceedings. Was there any exciting
news at the conference? Maybe, it depends on who answers the
question. There was an almost unanimous agreement on the overall
success of the conference as was evidenced by the fact that in the
after-dinner remarks by one of us (BNK) the suggestion of
organizing the conference on a biannual basis was presented but not
accepted: the participants wanted the continuation of the tradition
to convene annually. We shall, of course, comply. The expected
observation of gravitational waves will constitute the most
exciting vindication of Einstein's general relativity. This subject
is attracting the attention of the experimentalists and theorists
alike. We hope that by the first decade of the third millennium or
earlier, gravitational waves will be detected, opening the way for
a search for gravitons somewhere in the universe, presumably
through the observations in the CMBR. The theoretical basis of the
graviton search will take us to quantum gravity and eventually to
the modification of general relativity to include the Planck scale
behavior of gravity -at energies 19 of the order of 10 Ge V.
The 1995 conference was organized around two closely related themes
and focused on the two pivotal aspects of energy, that is,
economics and politics, both of which are decisive in providing
long-term national and international strategies for the next
century. Originally the program was going to include the
participants from the new oil powers in Central Asia and Caucasus,
newly independent from the former U.S.S.R. However, probably both
economics and politics prevented their participation. Global energy
projections, technological changes such as nuclear power and the
fuel geopolitics of the coming century will be the basis for
political and strategic planning. Based on the scenarios of likely
global economic and population growth and of new energy
technologies, what are foreseeable scenarios for the geopolitics of
energy a half century ahead? What fresh worldwide systems should we
start now? The political problems with profound economic impact
could include, for example, the significance of the continuing
worldwide growth of nuclear power, with such issues as the use of
Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) and Plutonium obtained from the
dismantling of U.S. and former U.S.S.R. nuclear weapons; the
urgency of nonproliferation; the disposal of civilian and military
nuclear waste; and, nuclear power alternatives. In spite of U.S.
reluctance, the increasing role of nuclear power is becoming
apparent in several countries, and its potential has become an
important political factor today.
th The 29 International Conference was held as the first one of the
millennium at its Fort Lauderdale venue. These conferences began,
with High Energy Physics being the main topic, by introducing
gradually cosmology into its programs. These proceedings of the
2000 conference reflect the variety of topics and ideas discussed.
Our future conferences will be designed somewhat akin to the early
Coral Gables Conferences where we shall seek some convergence of
ideas. For this reason various committees have been formed from
among the participating physicists. The committees and their
memberships are listed in these proceedings. We further decided for
the first time to include some graduate student participants in our
future meetings for which also a committee has already been
established. The topics will demonstrate a more activist structure
of the Coral Gables Conferences, for example the duality of the
gravitational forces and expansion of the universe will be
discussed from this point of view since it conveys a convergence to
the ideas of quintessence versus the ordinary theory, which are
considered as the cause of the expansion of the universe. We
further wish to announce that the future conferences will assume a
collective organization where several committees as listed in these
proceedings will have their input into the conference. We have now
introduced new topics and ideas, which referred especially to the
attractive and repulsive nature of the gravitational force. These
proceedings of the conference contain a variety of topics and
ideas.
The Twenty-third Coral Gables conference on Unified Symmetry in the
Small and in the Large was convened February 2-5, 1995. The shift
of the traditional conference time from the last part of January
was caused by the 1995 Superbowl's choice of our preferred date for
their game. The conference was dedicated to reminiscences of Julian
Schwinger. The death of Eugene P. Wigner in the early part of
January 1995 was observed with a deep sorrow during the conference.
At about that time the news of Asim Barut's death made 1995 an
inauspicious year for physicists. In the meantime physics at the
frontiers marched on as it did before. There were no path-breaking
discoveries, but hope and persistence were still there. In 1964
(the first Coral Gables conference) if we had asked a physicist to
give us a sincere opinion on what is "hot" in physics we would have
expected him or her to point out the narrow area of their own
research. The answer to this question in 1995 is still the same as
it would have been in 1964. The mind set is a human quality and
even in physics the physicist can respond like a religious
believer.
The twenty-second Coral Gables conference "UNIFIED SYMMETRY: In the
Small and In the Large" continued with the efforts to unify the
small and the large. The information gathered with the Huble
telescope has in part, in the absence of the SCC , provided a basis
for the physicists to unify cosmology and elementary particle
physics. The congressional cancellation of the biggest experimental
project on the frontiers of physics should not be regarded as an
insurmountable obstacle to progress in theoretical physics. The
physicists' rise to prominence was mostly reached through their
creation of the nuclear era. The post cold war era has somewhat
reduced the political, military, and, in part, the social role of
the physicist. Some in the administration and the Congress would
like physicists to focus on the directly utilitarian aspects of
science. Thus, some people do not realize that this regimentation
of science would inhibit the creativity. The contributions of solid
state physics research to the advancement of technology is the
result of physics freely pursued independently of its applications.
Modern Physics beginning with Newton's theory of gravity has
enabled us to create the space age, to contribute to various
technologies, and to impact on our technological modus vivendi.
This conference proceedings explores issues surrounding the
replacement of existing nuclear power plants when they reach the
end of their useful life. Topics covered include: Nuclear
competitiveness regarding politics and power plant evolution;
social acceptance regarding communication, information, waste, and
safety proliferation; and durability regarding resources and
effects on the environment.
The 25'" Coral Gables Conference was the culmination of the series
that was begun in 1964. The conferences evolved under the titles
that in~lude: Symmetry Principles at High Energy; Fundamental
Interactions; Orbis Scientiae; and, occasionally, Unified Symmetry
in the Small and in the Large. There was a pause after the 2()1h
meeting in 1983 which was dedicated to P. A. M. Dirac. The
conferences were resumed in 1993. Some of the reminiscences
involved the absence of great minds who attended these meetings in
the past and who were no longer with us. The list includes, just to
name a few: Julian Schwinger, Robert Oppenheimer, Lars Onsager,
Robert Hofstater, Abdus Salam, Richard Feynman, Stanislov Ulam, P.
A. M. Dirac, Lord C. P. Snow, Eugene P. Wigner, Vladimir K.
Zworykin, and Dixie Lee Ray. Most of these people were among the
architects of modern physics and had participated in many of the
early Coral Gables Conferences. We miss them. These conferences
have contributed to the progress in high energy physics and
cosmology. This year, again, papers were presented on familiar
topics, such as neutrino masses, age and total mass of the
universe, on the nature of dark matter, and on supersymmetry. The
latter has now become a perennial issue. Like the weather, we all
talk about it, but, so far cannot do anything to affect it. Another
favorite subject was so-called monopoles, which theoretically
participate in phenomena like condensation, confinement of electric
charge, confinement of monopoles themselves, etc.
The first part of the conference explores two major environmental
concerns that arise from fuel use: (1) the prospect that the globe
will become warmer as a result of emissions of carbon dioxide, and
(2) the effect upon health of the fine particles emitted as
combustion products. The conference focused on the fact that there
was lack of data direct enough to enable us to predict an entirely
satisfactory result, and that makes policy options particularly
difficult. With regard to (1) above, in the second half of the 20th
century there were major increases in anthropogenic C02 emissions,
and it is generally agreed that these were responsible for an
increase in C02 concentrations. But the relationship between global
temperature and CO2 concentrations remains murky. The principal
problem is that water vapor is a more important greenhouse gas than
C02 and that the concentrations of water vapor vary widely in time
and space. The approach to this problem is probably, but not
certainly, a positive feedback effect: as temperature increases so
does the water vapor leading to further temperature increases.
Scientists associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) tend to believe the general features of the models.
Other scientists are often less convinced.
Sponsored by the Global Foundation, Inc., these proceedings are
derived from the International Conference on Orbis Scientiae II.
Topics covered include: gravitational mass, neutrino mass, particle
masses, cosmological masses, susy masses, and big bang creation of
mass.
"International Energy Forum 1999" was held in Washington D.C.
during November 5-6, 1999 in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Crystal
City. Once again the main topic was Nuclear Energy. Various papers
presented contained pros and cons of Nuclear Energy for generating
electricity. We were aiming to clarify the often discussed subject
matter of the virtues of Nuclear Energy with regard to Global
Warming as compared to using fossil fuels for the generation of
electricity. The latter is also currently the only way to operate
our means of transportation like automobiles, planes etc. Therefore
emission into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases constitutes the
main source of Global Warming, which is absent in the case of
Nuclear Energy. These arguments are often put forward to promote
the use of Nuclear Energy. However not all is well with the Nuclear
Energy. There are the questions of the waste problem so far
unsolved, safety of Nuclear Reactors is not guaranteed to the
extent that they are inherently safe. If we aim to construct
inherently safe reactors, then the economics of a Nuclear Reactor
makes it unacceptable.
Held December 16-919, 1999, this proceedings is derived from the
Global Foundation Inc.'s Orbis Scientiae 1999. Topics include:
cosmological parameters, unifying elementary particle physics,
cosmology, superstrings, and black holes.
This volume, proceedings of a symposium on global warming and
energy policy, explores two major environmental concerns that arise
from fuel use: the prospect that the globe will become warmer as a
result of emissions of carbon dioxide, and the effect upon health
of the fine particles emitted as combustion products. In regards to
the former, in the second half of the 20th century there were major
increases in anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and it is generally
agreed that these were responsible for an increase in CO2
concentrations. However, the relationship between global
temperature and CO2 is unclear. It is known, though, that water
vapor is a more important greenhouse gas than CO2 and that the
concentrations of water vapor vary widely in time and space. It is
generally believed that as temperature increases so does the water
vapor, leading to further temperature increases. Some scientists
agree with this model, and some disagree with it. This volume (a)
outlines the situation of predicting temperature rise, (b) outlines
the present situation on the effect of temperature on economic
activity, (c) discusses what steps can be taken to clarify this
situation, and (d) discusses what society might do while waiting
for these steps to produce results. In regards to the effect of
combustion products on health, the situation in this case is less
global, although many parts of the world are affected. Depending on
epidemiological study alone, it is hard to be sure about a risk
caused by a substance unless it at least doubles the frequency of
an outcome which occurs naturally. The scientific uncertainties,
therefore, remain almost as large as those for global warming.
th The 29 International Conference was held as the first one of the
millennium at its Fort Lauderdale venue. These conferences began,
with High Energy Physics being the main topic, by introducing
gradually cosmology into its programs. These proceedings of the
2000 conference reflect the variety of topics and ideas discussed.
Our future conferences will be designed somewhat akin to the early
Coral Gables Conferences where we shall seek some convergence of
ideas. For this reason various committees have been formed from
among the participating physicists. The committees and their
memberships are listed in these proceedings. We further decided for
the first time to include some graduate student participants in our
future meetings for which also a committee has already been
established. The topics will demonstrate a more activist structure
of the Coral Gables Conferences, for example the duality of the
gravitational forces and expansion of the universe will be
discussed from this point of view since it conveys a convergence to
the ideas of quintessence versus the ordinary theory, which are
considered as the cause of the expansion of the universe. We
further wish to announce that the future conferences will assume a
collective organization where several committees as listed in these
proceedings will have their input into the conference. We have now
introduced new topics and ideas, which referred especially to the
attractive and repulsive nature of the gravitational force. These
proceedings of the conference contain a variety of topics and
ideas.
Held December 16-919, 1999, this proceedings is derived from the
Global Foundation Inc.'s Orbis Scientiae 1999. Topics include:
cosmological parameters, unifying elementary particle physics,
cosmology, superstrings, and black holes.
"International Energy Forum 1999" was held in Washington D.C.
during November 5-6, 1999 in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Crystal
City. Once again the main topic was Nuclear Energy. Various papers
presented contained pros and cons of Nuclear Energy for generating
electricity. We were aiming to clarify the often discussed subject
matter of the virtues of Nuclear Energy with regard to Global
Warming as compared to using fossil fuels for the generation of
electricity. The latter is also currently the only way to operate
our means of transportation like automobiles, planes etc. Therefore
emission into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases constitutes the
main source of Global Warming, which is absent in the case of
Nuclear Energy. These arguments are often put forward to promote
the use of Nuclear Energy. However not all is well with the Nuclear
Energy. There are the questions of the waste problem so far
unsolved, safety of Nuclear Reactors is not guaranteed to the
extent that they are inherently safe. If we aim to construct
inherently safe reactors, then the economics of a Nuclear Reactor
makes it unacceptable.
This conference proceedings explores issues surrounding the
replacement of existing nuclear power plants when they reach the
end of their useful life. Topics covered include: Nuclear
competitiveness regarding politics and power plant evolution;
social acceptance regarding communication, information, waste, and
safety proliferation; and durability regarding resources and
effects on the environment.
Developed from the Global Foundation's International Conference on
Environment and Nuclear Energy, held in October 1997, this volume
examines the impact of nuclear energy on regional and global
environmental issues under a variety of scenarios. These include
competition in deregulated energy environments, constraints levied
upon use of fossil energy, and possible expansion of nuclear power
into energy sectors beyond the generation of electricity, process
heat, and fuels production. It also assesses the overall role of
nuclear energy in meeting future energy needs arising from growing
world populations and economic development.
Sponsored by the Global Foundation, Inc., these proceedings are
derived from the International Conference on Orbis Scientiae II.
Topics covered include: gravitational mass, neutrino mass, particle
masses, cosmological masses, susy masses, and big bang creation of
mass.
The International Conference, Orbis Scientiae 1996, focused on the
topics: The Neutrino Mass, Light Cone Quantization, Monopole
Condensation, Dark Matter, and Gravitational Waves which we have
adopted as the title of these proceedings. Was there any exciting
news at the conference? Maybe, it depends on who answers the
question. There was an almost unanimous agreement on the overall
success of the conference as was evidenced by the fact that in the
after-dinner remarks by one of us (BNK) the suggestion of
organizing the conference on a biannual basis was presented but not
accepted: the participants wanted the continuation of the tradition
to convene annually. We shall, of course, comply. The expected
observation of gravitational waves will constitute the most
exciting vindication of Einstein's general relativity. This subject
is attracting the attention of the experimentalists and theorists
alike. We hope that by the first decade of the third millennium or
earlier, gravitational waves will be detected, opening the way for
a search for gravitons somewhere in the universe, presumably
through the observations in the CMBR. The theoretical basis of the
graviton search will take us to quantum gravity and eventually to
the modification of general relativity to include the Planck scale
behavior of gravity -at energies 19 of the order of 10 Ge V.
The annual conferences on energy, which were begun in 1977,
continued to 1992 and resumed again in 1994. The theme of the 1994
conference was "Global Energy Demand in Transition: The New Role
ofElectricity. " Global energy production, distribution, and
utilization is in astate of transition toward an increased and more
diversified use of electricity, which is the safest, most
versatile, and cleanest form of secondary energy. Electricity is
easy to generate, transmit, and distribute, making its use
practically universal. These facts make it urgent to explore the
technological prospects and long term availability of
environmentally benign energy sources for generating electricity.
It is expected that the conference will be useful to the
governments in formulating their energy policies and to the public
utilities for their long term planning. The conference has: 1)
assessed the increase and diversification in the use of
electricity; 2) assessed the technological prospects for clean
energy sources that still require more research and development, i.
e. solar, hydrogen, nuclear (fission and fusion), etc. ; 3)
assessed the roles of non-market factors and possible improved
decision processes on energy and environmental issues; 4) made
concrete recommendations regarding research and development
policies and regulations to expedite the transition to a
dependable, safer, and benign electricity-based energy complex; 5)
studied the cost impact: price, environment, safety, and
international security; 6) provided an analysis of an expected
transition from the fossil fuel transportation to electrical
transportation (e. g.
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