Interviewed, for radio show and podcast, regarding physics research

Groks Science Radio Show and Postcast (link) produced a radio show and podcast (link) based on Frank Ling’s interviewing me about my physics research.

The following are specifics.

• Title: It’s Elementary!
• Description: 90 year old problems do not seem older than the day when they were conceived. In physics, these include the question of a periodic table analogue for elementary particles and the nature of dark energy and dark matter. On this episode, Thomas Buckholtz joins us to discuss these classic problems and unified approaches for explaining them.
• Date: February 12, 2020.

I would like to thank Frank Ling for inviting to appear, again, on Groks and to provide this interview.

As of February 2020, approximately two dozen stations carried Grok Science radio shows. (link)

The following is a link to other information about my physics research: link.

Attended Charles Townes 99th birthday event

I attended a celebration of the 99th birthday of Charles Townes, held on his birthday, July 28, 2014, at the University of California, Berkeley.

Charlie and I talked briefly, after the formal part of the event. (Photo below, by Taran Singh) I gave him a copy of “Physics Math Reset.” (Previously, we met via Caltech-related events, I provided him some computer advice, and he and I served on the advisory board for Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public policy.)

It was good to learn more about Charlie’s many accomplishments and interests.

At that event, I met Taran Singh, who is producing a film, Unturned Stones (and link), about Charles Townes. Taran and I plan to stay in touch, regarding the film and perhaps other matters.

It was also good to talk with various people who have had long-term relationships with Berkeley’s Physics Department.

Charles Townes and Thomas J. Buckholtz (photo by Taran Singh)

Spoke on Dark Matter and Dark Energy, for NextNow

Recently, I gave two “Shedding Light on Dark Matter and Dark Energy and More” talks for NextNow.  One talk was July 18 in Berkeley.  The other was July 27 in Portola Valley.  (Each municipality is in the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.)  Here is a link to a video of the second talk.

I was pleased that “non-scientists” seemed genuinely interested and asked good questions.  I discussed (in non-science terms) research that attempts the following.

• Suggest descriptions of dark matter and dark energy.
• Explain quantum gravity and unify it with electromagnetism.
• Compute the mass of the Higgs boson and suggest masses of neutrinos.
• Suggest a basis for P violation, CP violation, … and reframe concepts of such violations.
• Predict undiscovered elementary particles and basic interactions.
• List known elementary particles and find new uses for the Standard Model.
• Provide other results.

I was one of several speakers (4 in Berkeley and 8 in Portola Valley).  Each talk was limited to 5 minutes.  11 of the 12 presentations each had 20 slides, with an automated change of slide every 15 seconds.  The format is called Ignite.  Other speakers discussed software and patents (Randy Farmer), a youth program based on sailing and discussing STEM {science, technology, engineering, and mathematics} (Ian Andrewes, The American Youth Sailing Force), the future of NextNow (Jay Cross), the practice of happiness (Randy Taran – Project Happiness), chocolate and writing (Birgitte Rasine – Birgitte Racine’s author web site), how to write books (Joel Orr), and why smart is sometimes dumb and dumb sometimes wise (Prasad Kaipa).

I would like to thank Bill Daul, Jay Cross, and Tammy Chan for offering these speaking opportunities and recording video.  Bill started NextNow years ago.  I have been privileged to be a member.  Various people, including Jay and Bill, are helping to try to even more invigorate the group.

Coincidentally, CreateSpace (an Amazon.com subsidiary) listed my book, Physics Small and Vast: Basic Interactions (via Create Space), earlier on the day of my presentation in Portola Valley.  And, the book is now available via Amazon at Physics Small and Vast: Basic Interactions (via Amazon.com), Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and Amazon.fr.

Thomas J. Buckholtz talks with NextNow in Berkeley (photo by Jay Cross)

Thomas J. Buckholtz talks with NextNow in Portola Valley, July 26, 2013 (photo by Tammy Chan)

NextNow audience in Portola Valley (photo by Bill Daul)

Setting up for Thomas J. Buckholtz to speak for NextNow in Portola Valley (photo by Bill Daul)

Spoke on Dark Matter and More at an American Physical Society Conference

On April 14, 2013, I presented a talk, “Dark Matter Bosons and Fermions“, at an American Physical Society conference in Denver, Colorado, USA.   (Here are the slides from the talk.)

I provided an overview of how my attempted physics research may provide definitive answers for the following needs.

• Explain gravitation
• Explain dark matter
• Explain dark energy
• Explain rate-of-expansion changes
• Compute Higgs boson mass
• Suggest neutrino masses

I also discussed the following need.

• List known elementary particles

From my research, a similar list of “known” elementary particles applies to each of 24 “ensembles.”  From our perspective, baryonic matter is 1 ensemble, 5 ensembles comprise what we consider to be dark matter, and 18 ensembles comprise what we consider to be “the stuff of dark energy.”  Each of 4 groups of 6 ensembles has its own gravity.

I discussed some possible objections to some of my methods and results, in each case indicating why the possible objections need not be valid.

And, I discussed (in some versions of the talk [more below about multiple versions]) meeting the following needs.

• Explain matter/anti-matter ≠ 1
• Explain size of CP violation

I appreciate having heard other talks at the conference.  I modified my intended remarks to reflect some of what I learned.  And, I appreciate questions and discussion that occurred as a result of my talk.

I gave my talk 4 times during session J8.

• As the third presenter in the session.  (I was scheduled to be the eighth of nine presenters, but some presenters were not present.)
• For people who arrived after each of the present presenters had presented once.
• For people who attended at the scheduled time for my presentation.
• For some people whom an attendee of my third presentation had been unable to find in time for these people to attend the as-scheduled presentation.

(More information about the research can be found via my mathematical physics page.)

Are we part of other beings’ dark energy?

You may want to view a 9-minute video summary of some of my attempted research in physics.

Much of the video summary parallels material I plan to present, on April 14, 2013, at an American Physical Society conference in Denver, Colorado, USA.  The title of the talk is “Dark Matter Bosons and Fermions.”

The research suggests the possibility that other beings in our universe might, in effect, consider that people (you and I) are part of the stuff those beings consider to be dark energy.  (The stuff those beings would be made of is part of what we consider to be dark energy.)

The video summary and the planned talk address the following.

• Explain gravitation;
• Explain dark matter;
• Explain dark energy;
• Explain changes in the rate of expansion of the universe;
• Compute the mass of neutrinos;
• Compute the mass of Higgs bosons.

I do not plan to present, as part of the talk, some of the summary’s material about my book Physics Small and Vast: Complementing the Standard Model.

Talked regarding book “Physics 642b: Patterns, Forces, Particles, and Stuff”

On July 13, 2012, I provided a brief presentation (for the Venture Capital ~ Private Equity Roundtable) regarding my book Physics 642b: Patterns, Forces, Particles, and Stuff.

Several Roundtable members talked about the book with me during the next break in the program or after the end of the formal meeting.

I would like to thank Gloria Guenther for inviting me to make this presentation.