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    Brian H
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    There is interesting new research on plasma, “most abundant form of matter in the universe” (with the possible exception of Dark Matter?).

    Molecular Plasma

    Recently, a handful of laboratories have begun work on a new class of plasma so simple that it promises to take our understanding to a new level. Termed ultracold plasmas, these systems start with trapped atoms, cooled to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, to form clouds of ions and electrons that are nearly standing still. With this control, scientists have found it possible to study the elementary steps by which atomic plasmas are born and grow.

    UltraCold Plasma allows slo-mo study of interactions:

    As the results of those experiments began to surface in April, 2005, RHIC experimenters found that “the cigar shaped plasma looked very much like the cigar- shaped cloud in our trap,” Thomas said. That cloud also expanded anisotropically in keeping with what theorists in the field had predicted. Researchers also found that this plasma behaved as an almost-perfect fluid. Meanwhile, further work by Thomas’s group has documented almost viscosity-free fluid states in its cold fermion gases.

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