Did Dark Matter Power Early Stars?

by Nancy Atkinson


The galaxy cluster Cl 0024+17 (ZwCl0024+1652) as seen
by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Credit: NASA, ESA,
M.J. Jee and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University)

The first stars to light the early universe may have been powered by dark matter, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Michagan, Ann Arbor call these very first stars "Dark Stars," and propose that dark matter heating provided the energy for these stars instead of fusion. The researchers propose that with a high concentration of dark matter in the early Universe, the theoretical particles called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles(WIMPs), collected inside the first stars and annihilated themselves to produce a heat source to power the stars. "We studied the behavior of WIMPs in the first stars," said Katherine Freese and her team in their paper, "and found that they can radically alter the stellar evolution. The annihilation products of the dark matter inside the star can be trapped and deposit enough energy to heat the star and prevent it from further collapse."The philosophy behind this research is that 95% of the mass in galaxies and clusters of galaxies is in the form of an unknown type of matter and energy. The researchers say, "The first stars to form in the universe are a natural place to look for significant amounts of dark matter annihilation, because they form at the right place and the right time. They form at high redshifts, when the universe was still substantially denser than it is today, and at the high density centers of dark matter haloes." The concentration of dark matter at that time would have been extremely high meaning that any ordinary stars would naturally contain large amounts of dark matter.

Dark stars would have been driven by the annihilation of dark matter particles releasing heat but only in stars larger than 400 solar masses. That turns out to be quite feasible since stars containing smaller amounts of dark matter would naturally grow as they swept up dark matter from nearby space. The stars continued, and may still continue to be powered by dark matter annihilation as long as there is dark matter for fuel. When the dark matter runs out, they simply collapse to form black holes. If they exist, Dark Stars should be able to be detected with future telescopes, and if found, would enable the study of WIMPs, and therefore be able to prove the existence of dark matter.

Campaigners condemn Gaza raids

.."Celebrities and politicians have called for an end to Israel's bombardment of the Gaza strip"..

..."Annie Lennox, Alexei Sayle, Ken Livingstone, Bianca Jagger and George Galloway spoke at a press conference organised by the British Muslim Initiative"..

National Demonstration London: Free Gaza protest

All images taken by me...

*Justice in Gaza needs to happen now*

A Man Who Fired The Imagination

by Julia Lafferty posted in the Hackney Gazette


Clapton Cinematograph Theatre Hackney

With the passing of Harold Pinter on Christmas Eve, the world has lost a great dramatist and writer, and a man of deepest principle and humanity. Harold Pinter was born into a working family in Hackney's Jewish community in 1930. His father was a jobbing tailor and the family lived as 19 Thistlewaite Road in Lower Clapton. After a period of war-time evacuation, he attended Hackney Downs Grammar School, where he met schoolteacher Joseph Brearley, who was to prove a major influence on his future development. Pinter relates in his anthology of writings, Various, Various, how he and Joe embarked on a series of walks which continued for years, discussing literature and drama as they went. On Joe Brearley's death in 1977 Pinter commemorated him in a poem which concluded with the lines: "You're gone. I'm at your side, walking with you from Clapton Pond to Finsbury Park, and on and on." Pinter wrote: "Joe Brearley fired my imagination. I can never forget him." Across the world, many are now echoing this sentiment about Pinter himself. His plays are lauded the world over. Works such as The Birthday Party, The Homecoming and The Caretaker occupy an important place in the history of world theatre and have established Pinter as a playwright of international reputation. This was recognised in 2005 by the award to him of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pinter was also passionate about the cinema and was responsible for 22 screenplays, including such classic films as The Servant, Accident, The Go-Between and The French Lieutenant's Woman.

What better and more appropriate tribute to his memory could there be than the establishment of a centre for the cinematic arts at the former Clapton Cinematograph Theatre building at 229 Lower Clapton Road, opposite Thistlewaite Road where Pinter spent his youth. Due to celebrate its centenary in 2010, the old cinema building has stood empty and unused since 2006, and is in danger of falling into dereliction. The recent petition undertaken by The Friends of Clapton Cinematograph Theatre for the restoration and re-opening of the building as a cinema has attracted thousands of signatories already, and a recent poll in the Hackney Gazette, held in conjunction with The Hackney Society, put the Clapton Cinematograph Theatre near the top of the list of historic buildings which readers wished to see restored. More information about the Friends of Clapton Cinematograph Theatre can be found on the http://www.saveourcinema.org/ website. Join us in campaigning to create a centre for the cinematic arts at Clapton Pond - a lasting tribute to one of our greatest dramatists and writers.

Julia Lafferty,
Secretary,
Friends of Clapton Cinematograph Theatre,
32 Ickburgh Road,
Hackney
London
E5 8AD

Old cinema could be a memorial to Pinter

Harold Pinter in The Hothouse (1995)

A fitting tribute, say campaigners

by Russ Lawrence for the Hackney Gazette

Calls have been made to resurrect a crumbling former Lower Clapton cinema as a lasting tribute to Harold Pinter, the Nobel Prize-winning Hackney born playwright, actor and author, who died last week aged 78 after a long battle with cancer.

Pinter widely regarded as one of the greatest post-war playwrights, was born in 1930, the only son of immigrant Jews who ran a tailor's shop in Stoke Newington. He spent his youth growing up in Thistlewaite Road, Lower Clapton - a stone's throw from the old Clapton Cinematograph Theatre, which opened in 1910. It later became the Kenninghall Cinema before shutting in 1979 - and, more recently, was the troubled Palace Pavillion nightspot. The building has stood empty and derelict for two years following Hackney Council's decision to revoke the nightclub's licence. Residents have been campaigning since last year to restore the cinema to its former glory and say it will be a fitting memorial to the acclaimed dramatist, who during a career spanning five decades wrote more than 60 plays and screenplays as well as scripts for cinema and television.

"Pinter plays are rightfully lauded the world over and masterpieces such as The Birthday Party, The Homecoming (which borrows from events in his own Hackney upbringing) and The Caretaker have earned him an important place in world theatre history," said Julie Lafferty, secretary of the Friends of Clapton Cinematograph Theatre. "He was so passionate about cinema and wrote 22 screenplays, including such classic films as The Servant, Accident, The Go-Between and The French Lieutenant's Woman." "What better and more appropriate way to honour his memory and his Hackney roots than to establish a centre for the cinematic arts in the former cinema and providing a lasting tribute to one of Hackney's most famous sons and one of our greatest dramatists and writers," she added.

Pinter's natural intellect as a schoolboy saw him earn a place at the former Grocer's Company's School in Downs Park Road where he was a pupil from 1944 until 1948. The Victorian school building was destroyed by fire in 1963 and in 1966 it became Hackney Downs comprehensive before the government closed it as a failing school in 1995. It is now the site of the Mossbourne Academy. Pinter was inspired to write by his English teacher, Joe Brearley, and his love of drama blossomed in Shakespeare roles which included Macbeth and Romeo. He was also self-taught and spent many hours studying in Hackney Central Library, now the site of the closed Ocean music venue. He was a rebel from an early age, declaring himself a conscientious objector and refusing to do national service. He began his acting career in provincial theatres in 1959 and The Caretaker established him as a commercial and critical success, making him one of Britain's foremost dramatists. He was made a CBE in 1966 and a Companion of Honour in 2002, joining an exclusive order which has only 65 members at any one time. He won many awards for his plays, the greatest of which was the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he received in 2005. He was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in 2002 and underwent a major operation and a course of chemotherapy. A small private funeral attended by just family and close friends was held yesterday (Wednesday).

Venice Beach California 2006

All images taken by me...

I will be back one day...

Two thousand and strange: offbeat stories of the year

courtesy of Yahoo news...

.."An idealistic young British man with good media skills informed the world that he intended to walk all the way to India without once using money in any shape or form. He gave up at the first hurdle, complaining that officials in the French Channel port of Calais didn't understand English"..

.."Welsh-speakers in the town of Swansea were bemused by a road sign which read "I am not in the office at the moment." The text, which should have read "No entry to heavy goods vehicles", had been e-mailed to a translator who was... not in the office at the moment"..

.."An 78-year-old woman who misread instructions at Sweden's main airport was whisked down a baggage chute when she placed herself, rather than her luggage, on the conveyor belt"..