title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf first reached a FIDE rating above 2000 in January 2000 at the age of 12, having been rated 2087 on that list. She rose to a rating of 2100 in the middle of 2002 at age 14 mainly from two second-place finishes at the First Saturday FM B tournament in Budapest and the under-20 Hungarian Junior Girls' Championship in Paks. She scored 4/8 in Budapest in a field of six competitors. She scored 6/9 in Paks, only behind Lili Tóth. Although she only scored 3½/8 against her rated opponents at the Pula Open in Croatia the next month, she also gained 25 rating points there as well. Rudolf rose another 100 points again the following year, reaching 2200 in July 2003 at age 15. Her best performance during this span came at the Zalakaros Cup Open in May, where she scored 5½/9 against opponents with a much-higher average rating of 2304 to gain 45 rating points. In the second half of the year, Rudolf had one of her best results in both national and international competitions. First, she won the under-16 Hungarian girls' national championship with an unbeaten 5½/6, which was 1½ points ahead of second place. Several months later, she entered the under-16 girls' division at the World Youth Championship in Kallithea in Greece and finished equal fourth with a score of 7½/11, one point behind the leaders.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf maintained a steady rating of around 2200 for a three-year period from mid-2003 until mid-2006. At the 2004 under-20 Hungarian Junior Girls' Championship, she finished in third place for the second consecutive year. She played the under-18 the following year in 2005, and also finished in third place. During 2005, Rudolf was awarded the Woman International Master (WIM) title. She resumed rising in rating in large part from another strong performance in Zalakaros, where she scored an even 4½/9 against opponents with a much-higher average rating of 2387 to gain 32 rating points. Rudolf closed out the year with a good performance at the World Junior Chess Championship in Yerevan in Armenia, scoring 8½/13 in the girls' division to finish in equal fifth, just a ½ point behind the leaders. She finished 2006 with a rating of 2279, having just turned 19 years old.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: During 2007, Rudolf fulfilled both her norm and rating requirements for the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title. At the beginning of the year, Rudolf won the under-20 Hungarian Junior Girls' Championship, scoring 1½ points ahead of second place with 8/9 and gaining enough rating to cross 2300, the threshold for the WGM title. In April, she earned her first two WGM norms as a double norm at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship, scoring 6½/11. After a poor performance at the World Junior Chess Championship in Yerevan where she lost 51 rating points with 5/11, Rudolf produced the best result of her career by performance rating at the 2007 Vandœuvre Open in late December. She won the first four rounds of the event, including victories over Christian Bauer and Cyril Marzolo, the former of which was the top seed and a GM rated 2634, and the latter was an IM rated 2478. After a loss to the eventual tournament winner Thorsten-Michael Haub, she won a fifth game against Vera Nebolsina and finished in ninth place with 6/9. She faced the most difficult opposition in the tournament with her opponents having an average rating of 2421. She squandered an opportunity to finish equal first by losing her last game, which she had needed to win, against Ilmārs Starostīts. The tournament became enshrouded in controversy when three Latvian players, including her opponent Starostīts, falsely accused Rudolf of cheating by hiding a computer in her lip balm. Starostīts in particular asked the arbiter to confiscate her belongings and refused to shake her hand before their game, an action which could have been penalized. Marie Boyarchenko, another player at the event, believed these actions were key factors in Rudolf losing that last-round game. Overall, Rudolf compiled a performance rating of 2541, second only to the winner Haub and sufficient for both her final WGM norm as well as her first IM norm. She was officially awarded the WGM title in 2008.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Over the next four years, Rudolf won the Hungarian women's national championship three times in 2008, 2010, and 2011. Her first national championship in the 2008 event came in a knockout tournament in which she won the final against Veronika Schneider. After the tournament switched to a 10-player round robin, she won the 2010 event easily by 1½ points over Tóth and Melinda Göcző with a score of 7½/9. The 2011 event was more competitive, ending with three players tied for first with 6/9 and Rudolf winning over Schneider and Ticia Gara on the tiebreak criteria.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Overall, Rudolf maintained a rating near 2300 for about three years from when she first achieved it through March 2010. She reached a new career-best rating of 2337 in the middle of 2008 by following up her excellent performance at the Vandœuvre Open with good results at the Open International de Cappelle in February, the Kaupthing Open A in May, and the Hungarian Team Championship Final that was played twice a month from October through May. Rudolf's last major rating climb occurred in the middle of 2010. In February, she participated in the Talent and Courage IM tournament in Szentgotthárd in her home country, a ten-player round robin for talented young players that was held in conjunction with a GM tournament. As only the seventh-highest rated player, she won the event with a score of 6½/9, a ½ point ahead of Attila Gergacz, who with a rating of 2421 was the highest-rated player participating. She was undefeated at the tournament, and won her games against both the second and third place finishers. With a performance rating of 2499, she also earned her second IM norm. This helped her reach another career-best rating at 2344 in May 2010.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: In the next list for July 2010, Rudolf rose to a rating of 2393, the highest published rating of her career and putting her among the top 100 women's players at No. 71 in the world. This climb of nearly 50 points was primarily from winning her second national championship as well as another good performance in the half-year-long Hungarian Team Championship Final. She entered her first tournament of the next rating period, the Heart Of Finland, needing seven rating points to reach 2400. After a last-round win against Mikael Agopov, a Finnish IM rated 2436, she reached an unpublished rating of 2397.80, having gained 4.80 points at the event. She then began her next event, the Open Internacional Hotel Avenida de Canarias in Spain, with two wins against much lower-rated players. As a result, Rudolf reached an overall career-best unpublished rating of 2401.25, passing the 2400 threshold required for the IM title, and only needed one more IM norm to qualify for the title. Nonetheless, she did not finish that tournament well and ended up keeping a rating of around 2350 through the end of 2011.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf was unable to match her success in the Hungarian women's national championship the remaining times she participated. As the two-time defending champion in 2012, she finished in joint fourth with a score of 5/9, 1½ points behind the winner Petra Papp. The following year, she finished in third place with 5½/9, but two points behind the winner Anita Gara.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf kept a steady rating in the low 2300s and high 2200s for about four years from mid-2012 through mid-2016, having fallen slightly from her peak in 2010. At the 2012 Open International de Cappelle, Rudolf won a game against Yaroslav Zherebukh, a GM who with a rating of 2642 was the highest-rated player she ever defeated. In the middle of 2014, Rudolf earned her final IM norm in the Master Open at the Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland. She scored 6/11 and was able to count her performance of 5½/9 in the first nine rounds towards a norm. She was awarded the International Master title in 2015.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: In the middle of 2016, Rudolf had her first significant longterm drop in rating in years. After only scoring 4/11 at the European Individual Women's Chess Championship, highlighted by losses against lower-rated players in the last three rounds, she lost 54 rating points. Because she only participated in a few tournaments thereafter, she kept a rating near 2250 for a little over a year. Nonetheless, Rudolf was able to regain that lost rating and more in the last two events of her career in late 2017. At her penultimate tournament, she scored 5½/7 at the CE Division de Honor in Spain, a team club competition. Although she and her teammate Yuriy Kuzubov were among three players who tied for the highest individual score among all participants, her team did not perform well. For her last event, Rudolf played the Isle of Man International Masters, one of the world's leading open tournaments. She scored 4½/9 against opponents with an average rating of 2466, a performance above the level needed for IM norms. Her three wins included one against Harika Dronavalli, a GM who is one of the leading women's players. Between these last two events, Rudolf gained 65 rating points to finish her competitive playing career with a rating of 2325.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf was a member of the Hungary Chess Olympiad women's team from 2008 to 2012. She made her debut at the 2008 Dresden Olympiad on the fourth board, playing behind Hoang Thanh Trang, Szidonia Vajda, and Ildikó Mádl. She had an average performance, scoring 5/9 as Hungary finished in 14th place out of 112 teams with a team score of 14 points (–3=2). Rudolf was again on the fourth board at the 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Olympiad behind the same three teammates, with Mádl swapping boards with Vajda. As a team, Hungary produced a near-identical result with the exact same team score and a 15th-place finish. Rudolf did not have as good of a performance, scoring 2½/5 and being substituted for reserve player Ticia Gara in the other six rounds. Rudolf made her last Olympiad appearance at the 2012 Istanbul Olympiad, this time on the third board behind Hoang and Ticia Gara and ahead of Anita Gara as well as Papp, who was given a significant number of games as a reserve. Hungary again had the exact same team score, this time putting them in 17th place. Rudolf scored better than her other Olympiads with 5/8, but still performed slightly below expectation based on her rating.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf also represented Hungary in the women's division at the European Team Chess Championship from 2009 to 2015, an event that is held every two years like the Chess Olympiad. At her first event, she played the second board behind Szidonia and ahead of the Gara sisters. She had a good performance, scoring 4/7 and gaining 10 rating points. Hungary finished in 10th place out of 28 teams with 10 points (+4–3=2). Rudolf's best performance at the event came in 2013. Although she was the reserve player, she had the opportunity to play all but one round and scored 6½/8, compiling a performance rating of 2395 and gaining 20 rating points. Hungary also produced their best result in the years Rudolf participated, finishing in sixth place with 11 points (+4–2=3).


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf primarily plays 1.e4 (the King's Pawn Game) compared to 1.d4 (the Queen's Pawn Game) or other first moves. When playing against 1.e4, she prefers to respond with the French defense (1.e4 e6), which she often continues with the Tarrasch Morozevich variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Be7). When facing 1.d4, she commonly defends with the Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6).


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf began her online instructional career by creating a video series for chess24 in 2013. The following year, she teamed up with fellow International Master Sopiko Guramishvili to launch the long-running "Miss Strategy and Miss Tactics" video series on chess24 in which they aim to combine strategical and tactical approaches to chess with Rudolf as "Miss Strategy" and Guramishvili as "Miss Tactics".


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf had already begun to combine teaching chess with her playing career when she moved to Spain and settled in Madrid in 2010. On chess24, she presents content both in English and in Spanish. She has also released several online training courses, including one titled the Anna Rudolf Method and another via the Chessable course website on attacking strategies in chess.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf is one of the leading chess commentators. Alongside Judit Polgár, she co-hosted the official coverage of the 2018 World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana. She has also commentated on the Grand Chess Tour. In addition to over-the-board events, she is also a regular commentator for online events hosted on Chess.com such as the PRO Chess League finals that feature professional chess players and the Pogchamps tournaments that feature popular streamers relatively new to chess.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf launched her own YouTube channel in 2016, and began streaming on her own Twitch channel in 2018. She complements her focus on chess on her YouTube and Twitch channels with variety content as well.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: Rudolf has been in a relationship with Irish YouTuber Kevin O'Reilly, better known as CallMeKevin, since 2019. They were introduced to each other by Irish-Canadian YouTuber Daniel Condren, better known as RTGame, earlier that year. In early 2020, she began living with O'Reilly in his home city of Cork. In July 2021, the couple moved to Spain, where Rudolf has permanent residency from living there previously. Rudolf later revealed that she had never "officially" left Spain, and was actually visiting O'Reilly in Ireland when COVID-19 lockdowns prevented her from leaving.


title: Anna Rudolf

text: In 2017, Rudolf was named "Outstanding Athlete of the City" in her hometown of Bátaszék during its 875th anniversary celebration.


title: Hungaroring

text: The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone wanted a race in the USSR, but a Hungarian friend recommended Budapest. They wanted a street circuit similar to the Circuit de Monaco to be built in the Népliget – Budapest's largest park – but the government decided to build a new circuit just outside the city near a major highway. Construction works started on 1 October 1985. It was built in eight months, less time than any other Formula One circuit. The first race was held on 24 March 1986, in memory of János Drapál, the first Hungarian who won motorcycle Grand Prix races. According to a survey put together by the national tourism office of Hungary, Mogyoród ranks third among Hungarian destinations visited by tourists, behind the Danube Bend area and Lake Balaton, but ahead of Budapest. The circuit has FIA Grade 1 license.


title: Hungaroring

text: The Grand Prix is held in the middle of summer, which is usually extremely hot and dry in this region. Its first wet Grand Prix race was in 2006. The circuit is normally dusty due to underuse throughout the rest of the year and its sandy soil. As the circuit is in a valley about 80 percent of it can be seen from any point.


title: Hungaroring

text: Normally, an underused circuit becomes faster over the weekend as the track surface gathers more rubber residue; however, with the Hungaroring this generally does not happen, because the track can get dusty so quickly. The track frequently becomes faster during a qualifying session, which leads competitors to try for their best lap as late as possible.


title: Hungaroring

text: The twisty and bumpy nature of the circuit makes overtaking very difficult in dry conditions, the circuit is nicknamed "Monaco without the buildings" for this reason. Nonetheless, the Hungaroring has been the scene of several memorable races such as the duels of Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell's win from 12th on the grid after a dramatic pass on Ayrton Senna in 1989, Damon Hill's almost victory with Arrows in 1997, and Michael Schumacher's change in strategy to beat the McLarens of Häkkinen and Coulthard in 1998. More recently, it has seen events such as Jenson Button triumphing over Fernando Alonso in the wet in 2006, Daniel Ricciardo scything through the field from sixth on the grid in 2014, Lewis Hamilton's late overtake on Max Verstappen to take the win in 2019, and Alonso producing a defensive masterclass to deny Hamilton a chance of victory in 2021. Maiden wins at the track include Hill in 1993, Alonso in 2003, Button in 2006, Heikki Kovalainen in 2008, and Esteban Ocon in 2021.


title: Hungaroring

text: The first change in the track's layout was carried out in 1989, when the chicane after the actual turn three (a temporary measure put in during construction due to the discovery of a spring where the direct route was due to run) was removed by culverting the stream. In 2003, the main straight (turn one, see diagram) was lengthened by roughly to , and the hairpin at the end of the straight was also tightened in an attempt to facilitate more overtaking opportunities, as well as a tightening of what was turn 12.


title: Hungaroring

text: Hungaroring has crowned two drivers in its 37-year history: both Nigel Mansell in 1992 and Michael Schumacher in 2001 were able to win the World Championship title. Moreover, the WilliamsF1 Team and Scuderia Ferrari also secured the Constructors' Championship at the Hungaroring, Williams in 1996 and Ferrari in 2001, 2002, and 2004.


title: Hungaroring

text: Both Hungary's Zsolt Baumgartner and Poland's Robert Kubica made their debut on this track as the first F1 drivers of their countries.


title: Hungaroring

text: The 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix was the first wet grand prix at the Hungaroring. This saw the retirement of many drivers including championship rivals Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher and gave Jenson Button and the reborn Honda F1 team their first win. Fernando Alonso also earned his first Grand Prix victory at this in 2003, declaring it his favourite track as a result.


title: Hungaroring

text: According to statements and interviews, drivers have different opinions on the track. While many, like Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso claimed to love it, many others consider the track too slow, hot and demanding.


title: Hungaroring

text: The technical driving center of the Hungaroring held former racer Gerhard Berger's name from 1998 until 2005 but later it was changed to Allianz.


title: Hungaroring

text: The track also has named curves: Turn 4 is named after Nigel Mansell, due to him losing a wheel there during the 1987 Hungarian Grand Prix. Turn 11 is named after Jean Alesi following his massive crash there during qualifying for the 1995 Hungarian Grand Prix.


title: Hungaroring

text: On Saturday, 25 July 2009, in the second round of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix at Hungaroring, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa's head was injured, though protected by his driver's helmet, he was struck by a suspension spring that had fallen from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car while driving at high speed. He was knocked unconscious, and subsequently crashed head-on into a tyre barrier. Massa was thereafter airlifted to the military hospital in Budapest, where he underwent surgery in the area surrounding his left eye. His condition was initially described as "life-threatening but stable", but improved rapidly. Massa was discharged from hospital the following week and returned to Brazil. After further tests it was decided that Massa needed a titanium plate inserted into his skull to strengthen it for racing in Formula One again.


title: Hungaroring

text: While most of the foreign fans are from Germany and Austria, the Hungaroring has traditionally seen a large influx of Finnish fans as well. With the loss of the Austrian Grand Prix in 2003, this became the closest Formula One event for fans from other Central European countries. However, the Austrian Grand Prix returned again in 2014. The 2006–2010 races saw many spectators from Poland due to the participation of Robert Kubica. Michael Schumacher‘s success in the 1990s brought tens of thousands of German fans to Hungaroring each year. The trend began in 1992 and continued throughout the 2000s until his retirement in 2006. Schumacher won at Hungaroring in 1994, 1998, 2001 and 2004, finishing second in 2000 and 2002.


title: Hungaroring

text: The contract is prolonged until 2027, although profits from tobacco advertising have been cut from the equation since such advertising was banned in 2007.


title: Hungaroring

text: The Hungaroring is the home of Hungarian motorsport. Besides Formula One, it has also hosted the DTM and FIA GT Championship races. Since 2011, it also hosts the races of WTCC and WTCR as FIA WTCC Race of Hungary, a public drag race event takes place every month.


The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth is a 2004 real-time strategy video game developed by EA Los Angeles for Microsoft Windows. The first part of the Middle-earth strategy game, It is based on Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, in turn based on J. R. R. Tolkien's original novel. The game uses short video clips from the movies and a number of the voice actors, including the hobbits and wizards. It uses the SAGE engine. The sequel, "", was released on March 2, 2006.


title: The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth

text: The official game servers for "The Battle for Middle-earth" were permanently closed on December 31, 2010 by EA Games, due to the expiration of "The Lord of the Rings" video game license, however the players can still play it online using unofficial game servers.


text: "The Battle for Middle-earth" is a real-time strategy game. Warring factions gather resources, then use them to construct military bases and armies on-site. In "The Battle for Middle-earth", buildings may only be constructed on the building slots of predefined plots. Plots range from farmhouses to full-fledged castles, with different slot arrangements and available buildings, and plots can be purchased when they're in the sole presence of a side's forces. The only resource are the nebulous "resources," which are produced inexhaustibly in dedicated buildings. Four factions on two sides wage the War of the Ring: Representing the Free Peoples are the horse-lords of Rohan, and Gondor with its forges and battlements. The Forces of Darkness are the fighting Uruk-hai of Isengard, and Mordor's orc hordes, bolstered by Haradrim, Mûmakil, and Trolls.


text: Keeping with the trends of contemporary RTS titles, basic units operate in groups, significant characters are represented by "hero units", and the destruction of units gathers points for the purchase of special abilities. There is also a unit limit. Unit strengths and weaknesses form a sort of rock-paper-scissors system. Cavalry beats archers as they do not have a lot of time to shoot and are then forced to close quarters fighting, Pikemen beat cavalry, swordsmen beat pikemen and archers beat swordsmen. Fire beats Ents, Mumakil, and Trolls. Units gain experience and levels, becoming hardier and more dangerous. Squads replace lost members when rank 2 or higher without losing experience.


text: Most normal units have purchasable upgrades and may also have abilities such as changing formation, changing weapons, combining with other squad types, Ranger stealth and orc cannibalism. Heroes are unique, far more potent units (and Hobbits and Gollum) that lack upgrades but do have multiple, elaborate abilities, and can be purchased back if killed. Most hero abilities require certain experience levels. Good has the advantage in the quantity and quality of heroes; Gandalf at the peak of his strength is an anti-army device. Buildings also gain experience and may become able to build new units, research new upgrades, or bestow better passive bonuses such as a reduction in cavalry build costs.


text: The player's special powers are purchased from a small tree. They can be utilitarian ("Vision of the Palantír", reveals an area), supportive ("Healing"), or able to call in temporary units ("Summon Eagles", "Summon Balrog"). They are usable indefinitely once acquired, with recharge times but no cost. Both factions on a side share the same powers, and the tree is much larger (and slower to climb) in campaign mode than it is in skirmishes. Good has some powers that boost the ability of a single hero ("Power of the Istari", "Andúril"). Evil receives aid in resource harvesting ("Industry, Fuel the Fires").


text: The Heroes for Gondor are Pippin, Faramir, Boromir, and Gandalf. Rohan's heroes are Merry, Eowyn, Eomer, Theoden, Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn, and Treebeard (he is bought at an Entmoot). Isengard's heroes are Lurtz and Saruman.


text: Mordor's heroes are Gollum, two Nazgûl-riding Ringwraiths, and the Nazgûl-riding Witch King of Angmar. Frodo, Sam and Shelob are playable at various stages of the good and evil campaigns, but cannot be used in skirmish battles.


text: The good and evil forces of Middle-earth each have a campaign. They take place on an animated map of western Middle-earth, where each battle represents the defense/sacking of a territory. Armies and characters move on the map, and moving the cursor over them shows snippets of the movies (whereas battle cutscenes use the game engine).


text: Some mandatory missions represent important events. Between these the player must take enough nearby territories in skirmish battles, variations on the theme of building a base and killing everyone. Each territory provides a permanent increase of power points, the unit limit, and/or a multiplier for acquired resources. Units, their upgrades and purchased powers also persist between battles.


text: The good campaign follows the story of the "Lord of the Rings" movies with an emphasis of traditional, scripted missions, from Moria to Lórien, the fight at Amon Hen, the Battle of the Hornburg, the Ents' conquest of Isengard, the siege of Osgiliath, Sam's search for Frodo in Shelob's lair, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate.


text: The evil campaign begins with Isengard's betrayal and then continues with Saruman's conquest of Rohan signified by the fall of Helm's Deep and the deaths of Theoden and Eomer. It then switches to Mordor's assault on Gondor and concludes with the successful destruction of Minas Tirith and total victory for Sauron. It provides an alternative storyline to the book and film.


text: "The Battle for Middle-earth" features score from "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy composed by Howard Shore, as well as original music in Shore's image by Jamie Christopherson and Bill Brown. "The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth (Soundtrack from the Video Game)" was released via digital sellers on August 28, 2006, featuring 22 tracks of cues from the game by Christopherson & Brown spanning 44 minutes.


text: The development environment and "extreme crunch time" for "The Battle for Middle-earth" led to a high-profile labor lawsuit by programmers that was settled by Electronic Arts for US$14.9 million in 2006.


text: According to Electronic Arts, "The Battle for Middle-earth" was a commercial success, with sales above 1 million units worldwide by the end of 2004. In the United States, the computer version of "The Battle for Middle-earth" sold 230,000 copies and earned $9.4 million by August 2006, after its release in December 2004. It was the country's 89th best-selling computer game during this period. It received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.


text: The critical response to "The Battle for Middle-earth" was fairly positive. The video game review aggregator GameRankings displays an average critic score of 82.5%, with about two-thirds of the reviews in the 80%s. IGN praised the game for its visual flair and impressive audio, but pointed out its lack of depth in gameplay, giving out a score of 8.3 to the "decent, if not spectacular, game. GameSpot, with a score of 8.4, also commented on the visuals and sound effects as well as its focus on large-scale battles that "befits the source material". GameSpy gave 4 stars out of 5, calling the game "a perfect example of a license enhancing the final product."


text: "The Battle for Middle-earth" won three awards: the E3 2004 Game Critics Awards award for Best Strategy Game, the 2005 award for Best Strategy Game, and the GameSpy award for Best of E3 2004 Editors Choice.


text: "The Battle for Middle-earth" was nominated for "X-Play"s "Best Strategy Game" and "PC Gamer US"s "Best Real-Time Strategy Game 2004" awards, both of which ultimately went to "". It also received a runner-up placement for "GameSpot"s annual "Best Game Based on a TV or Film Property" prize.


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: Pride and Prejudice is a 1940 American film adaptation of Jane Austen's 1813 novel "Pride and Prejudice", starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, the screenplay was written by Aldous Huxley and Jane Murfin, adapted specifically from the stage adaptation by Helen Jerome, in addition to Jane Austen's novel. The story is about five sisters from an English family of landed gentry who must deal with issues of marriage, morality and misconceptions. The film was released on July 26, 1940 in the United States by MGM and was critically well received. "The New York Times" film critic praised the film as "the most deliciously pert comedy of old manners, the most crisp and crackling satire in costume that we in this corner can remember ever having seen on the screen."


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: Mrs. Bennet (Mary Boland) and her two eldest daughters, Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan) and Elizabeth (Greer Garson), are shopping for new dresses when they notice two gentlemen and a lady arriving outside, exiting from a very expensive carriage. They learn that the men are Mr. Bingley (Bruce Lester), who has just rented the local estate of Netherfield, and Mr. Darcy (Laurence Olivier), both wealthy eligible bachelors, which excites Mrs. Bennet's interest. Collecting her other daughters, Mrs. Bennet returns home, where she tries to convince Mr. Bennet to visit Mr. Bingley, but he declines, explaining to her minutes later that he has already made his acquaintance.


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: At the next ball, Elizabeth sees how proud Darcy is when she overhears him refusing to dance with her. Elizabeth also meets Mr. Wickham, who tells her how Darcy did him a terrible wrong. When Darcy does ask Elizabeth to dance with him, she refuses, but when Wickham asks her in front of Darcy, she accepts.


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: The Bennets' cousin, Mr. Collins (Melville Cooper), who will inherit the Bennet estate upon the death of Mr. Bennet, arrives looking for a wife, and decides that Elizabeth will be suitable. Invited to a garden party by Charles Bingley at Netherfield Park, Collins keeps following Elizabeth around, who tries her best to avoid him, as he won't leave her alone. Darcy aids her and directs Collins away. Elizabeth surprisingly outshoots Darcy in archery; later he escorts her to the dance floor, but after seeing questionable behavior of her mother and younger sisters, he leaves her again, making Elizabeth angry with him once more. The next day, Mr. Collins asks her to marry him, but she refuses his persistent proposals. Later, Collins becomes engaged to Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte Lucas (Karen Morley).


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: Elizabeth visits Charlotte in her new home. She is introduced to Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Edna May Oliver), Mr. Collins' "patroness", and during her visit she also encounters Mr. Darcy once again. At Charlotte's insistence, Elizabeth sees Darcy who asks her to marry him, but she refuses, partly because of the story Wickham had told her about Darcy, partly because he broke up the romance between Mr. Bingley and Jane, and partly because of his "character". They get into a heated argument and he leaves.


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: When Elizabeth returns home, she learns that Lydia has run away with Wickham but they were not married. Mr. Bennet and his brother-in-law unsuccessfully try to find Lydia. Darcy learns of this and returns to offer Elizabeth his services. He tells her that Wickham will never marry Lydia. He reveals that Wickham had tried to elope with his sister, Georgiana, who was younger than Lydia at the time. After Darcy leaves, Elizabeth realizes she loves him but believes he will never see her again.


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: Lydia and Wickham return to the house married. A short time later, Lady Catherine arrives and tells Elizabeth that Darcy found Lydia and forced Wickham to marry her by providing Wickham with a substantial sum of money. She also tells her that she can strip Darcy of his wealth if he marries against her wishes. She demands that Elizabeth promise that she will never become engaged to Darcy. Elizabeth refuses. Lady Catherine leaves in a huff and meets outside with Darcy, who had sent her to see Elizabeth to find out if he would be welcomed by her. After Lady Catherine's report, Darcy comes in and he and Elizabeth proclaim their love for each other in the garden. Mr. Bingley also meets Jane in the garden and takes her hand, all while Mrs. Bennet spies on both couples.


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: Filming was originally scheduled to start in October 1936 under Irving Thalberg's supervision, with Clark Gable and Norma Shearer in the leading roles, but pre-production activity was suspended following Thalberg's death on September 13, 1936. In August 1939, MGM had selected George Cukor to direct the film, with Robert Donat now cast opposite Shearer. The studio considered filming in England, but these plans were changed at the start of the war in Europe in September 1939, which caused the closure of MGM's English operations. Cukor was eventually replaced by Robert Z. Leonard due to a scheduling conflict.


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: The Motion Picture Production Code prompted some changes in the film as well. Because Mr. Collins, a ridiculous clergyman in the novel, could not seem to criticize men of the cloth, the character was changed to a librarian. Some scenes were altered significantly. For example, Mr. Wickham was introduced at the beginning of the movie. The archery scene was a figment of the filmmakers’ imagination. In the confrontation between Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Elizabeth Bennet, near the film's end, the former's haughty demand that Elizabeth promise never to marry Darcy was changed to a hoax to test the mettle and sincerity of Elizabeth's love. (In the novel, the confrontation is an authentic demand, motivated by Lady Catherine's snobbery and her ardent desire that Darcy marry her own daughter.)


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: According to MGM records, the film earned $1,849,000, resulting in a loss of $241,000, despite the fact that its budget was $1,437,000.


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: The film was critically well received. Bosley Crowther, reviewing for "The New York Times", described it as "the most deliciously pert comedy of old manners, the most crisp and crackling satire in costume that we in this corner can remember ever having seen on the screen." He also praised the casting, and noted of the two central protagonists:


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: In the 21st century, "TV Guide" called the film "an unusually successful adaptation of Jane Austen's most famous novel... Although the satire is slightly reduced and coarsened and the period advanced in order to use more flamboyant costumes, the spirit is entirely in keeping with Austen's sharp, witty portrait of rural 19th century social mores." It continued:


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 7.58/10.


title: Pride and Prejudice (1940 film)

text: "Pride and Prejudice" received an Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White (Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse).


title: Dean DeLeo

text: Dean DeLeo (born August 23, 1961) is an American guitarist known for his work with rock band Stone Temple Pilots. DeLeo is also known for his role in the short-lived bands Talk Show and Army of Anyone. He is the older brother of Robert DeLeo, who plays bass for Stone Temple Pilots.


title: Dean DeLeo

text: DeLeo's playing has received strong critical acclaim over the years. Stone Temple Pilots' second album, "Purple", released in 1994, was ranked at #73 on "Guitar World"s 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All-time list.


title: Dean DeLeo

text: DeLeo and his younger brother Robert were both born in New Jersey and raised in the Jersey Shore community of Point Pleasant Beach. They are the younger half-brothers of late actor Scott Marlowe.


title: Dean DeLeo

text: Dean's younger brother Robert met future vocalist Scott Weiland at a Black Flag concert. Robert soon after introduced Dean to Scott and an idea of forming a band was brought up. Dean was a guitarist and Robert managed to convince him to join. They eventually hooked up with drummer Eric Kretz, and the band was formed. They took the name Mighty Joe Young, inspired by the movie of the same name. They played gigs in many bars around San Diego and the Hollywood area, and eventually landed a record deal with Atlantic Records in 1992. However, they were forced to change their name, as the name "Mighty Joe Young" had already been taken by a blues musician. Weiland decided on the name "Stone Temple Pilots"; although he stated that it has no real meaning, he just liked the initials "STP".


title: Dean DeLeo

text: The band quickly rose to fame with the release of their debut album "Core", which sold over 8 million copies. The record sales were propelled by the release of the singles "Sex Type Thing" and "Plush", and helped establish Stone Temple Pilots as one of the many popular grunge bands in the early 1990s. However, they were ripped by critics for jumping on the bandwagon and profiting from the grunge mania. With their second album "Purple", they challenged critics and became a genuine commercial rock act. Stone Temple Pilots went on to record five studio albums and managed to sell over 30 million copies worldwide. In 2008, after over five years apart, the band reunited. On May 25, 2010, the band released their sixth album, "Stone Temple Pilots", the first album released after the band reunited.


title: Dean DeLeo

text: The DeLeos and Eric Kretz formed a new band, Talk Show, which released one album. DeLeo worked with Laughter Train in the late 1990s. Stone Temple Pilots soon released two more albums, and disbanded once again in 2002. Weiland became the lead singer of Velvet Revolver, Kretz opened a studio in California, and the DeLeo brothers began to work with Richard Patrick, lead singer of the band Filter to compose songs for Filter's fourth album. The end result was a song that the three liked, so they contacted Ray Luzier, a famed session drummer, and Army of Anyone was formed. The band's debut was released on November 14, 2006, and they broke up in May 2007.


title: Dean DeLeo

text: In 2021, he teamed up with Tom Bukovac for a new project, Trip The Witch. Debut single "Saturn We Miss You" features Jon Anderson on vocals.


title: Dean DeLeo

text: DeLeo and his younger brother Robert produced Stone Temple Pilots' 2010 album, "Stone Temple Pilots". The DeLeo brothers also produced the album "TruANT" by Alien Ant Farm.


title: Dean DeLeo

text: DeLeo owns numerous guitars, and he is an avid collector of vintage guitars. Some of his more notable guitars include:


title: Dean DeLeo

text: DeLeo's live equipment has been described as "simple yet effective", and allows him to replicate the sounds he gets in studios. He primarily uses a modified Dunlop Cry Baby and a BOSS CE-1 stereo chorus pedal. For a number of years his rig was switched via a Rockman midi pedal, has since been replaced by a RJM Mastermind midi pedal.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: Alice Marie Johnson (born May 30, 1955) is an American criminal justice reform advocate and former federal prisoner. She was convicted in 1996 for her involvement in a Memphis cocaine trafficking organization and sentenced to life imprisonment. In June 2018, after serving 21 years in prison, she was released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Aliceville, after the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, exercised executive powers to grant clemency, thereby commuting her sentence, effective immediately.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: Johnson was born in Mississippi, and her memoirs recount growing up as one of nine children of sharecroppers, becoming pregnant as a sophomore in high school, and later working as a secretary. At the time of her arrest, she was a single mother of five children.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: Johnson told "Mic" in 2017 that she had become involved in the drug trade after she had lost her job at FedEx, where she had worked for ten years, due to a gambling addiction; this was followed by a divorce and the loss of her youngest son in a motorcycle accident. She filed for bankruptcy in 1991, and foreclosure of her house followed.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: Johnson was arrested in 1993 and convicted in 1996 of eight federal criminal counts relating to her involvement in a Memphis, Tennessee-based cocaine trafficking organization. In addition to drug conspiracy counts, she was convicted of money laundering and structuring, the latter crime because of her purchase of a house with a down payment structured to avoid hitting a $10,000 reporting threshold. The Memphis operation involved over a dozen individuals. The indictment, which named 16 defendants, described her as a leader in a multi-million dollar cocaine ring, and detailed dozens of drug transactions and deliveries. Evidence presented at trial showed that the Memphis operation was connected to Colombian drug dealers based in Texas. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in 1997. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Julia Gibbons said that Johnson was "the quintessential entrepreneur" in an operation that dealt in 2,000 to 3,000 kilograms of cocaine, with a "very significant" impact on the community. Co-defendants Curtis McDonald and Jerlean McNeil were sentenced to life and 19 years in federal prison, respectively. A number of other co-defendants who testified against Johnson received sentences between probation and 10 years. Following her conviction, Johnson acknowledged that she was an intermediary in the drug trafficking organization, but said she did not actually make deals or sell drugs.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: Johnson became a grandmother and great-grandmother while imprisoned. She exhibited good behavior in prison. In a memoir written after her release, she wrote that she served time at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell, the federal prison hospital in Texas, where she became a certified hospice worker, and was subsequently transferred to FCI Aliceville to be closer to family. In letters supporting her bid for clemency, staff members at FCI Aliceville wrote that Johnson did not commit any disciplinary infractions during her incarceration at FCI Aliceville. Johnson participated in a pilot program, introduced in 2016 by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, that provided videoconferencing access to certain female federal prisoners. The program allowed the online publication "Mic" to record a video interview with her that went viral and brought her case to public attention. She also used Skype while imprisoned to speak at Hunter College, Yale, and other audiences. During her time in prison, she became an ordained minister, and credited her grant of clemency to divine intervention.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: A campaign in support of her release was launched by the American Civil Liberties Union and the website "Mic"; activists who supported her release argued that the punishment was excessive and an example of disproportionate impacts on African Americans. A number of individuals and organizations supported Johnson's bid for clemency, including U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen, Bennie Thompson, and Marc Veasey, law professors Marc Morjé Howard and Shon Hopwood, and "Orange is the New Black" author Piper Kerman. According to her lawyer Shawn Holley, the warden supported her release.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: Johnson's was one of the 16,776 petitions filed in the Obama administration's 2014 clemency project. In 2016, she wrote an op-ed for CNN asking for forgiveness and a second chance. Her application was denied just before Obama left office. In 2018, Kim Kardashian and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner sought to persuade Trump to grant clemency to Johnson. In late May 2018, Kardashian met with the President in the Oval Office to urge him to pardon Johnson. On June 6, 2018, following Kardashian's appeal, Trump commuted Johnson's sentence, and Johnson was released. The commutation was one of a series of acts of clemency made by Trump in a "few high-profile cases brought to him by associates and allies." The "Washington Post"s "Wonkblog" described the pardon as somewhat surprising given Trump's past statements in favor of executing drug dealers.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: When Trump delivered his State of the Union address on February 5, 2019, Johnson was a guest of the president. Trump asked her to stand up to be recognized, and she received a standing ovation from members of Congress. On August 28, 2020—one day after Johnson spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention—Trump granted her a full pardon.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: Since her release, Johnson has become an advocate for criminal justice reform in the United States, often invoking her personal experience. The month after her release, in July 2018, she called for an end to mandatory sentencing. In September 2019, she met with Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee to promote greater access to expungement and prisoner education and reduction in barriers to reentry, and to express concerns about the cash bail system.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: Johnson also advocates for the inclusion of female voices in the conversation around criminal justice reform. Ahead of International Women's Day 2019, UN Women featured her story as part of its "Courage to Question" series.


title: Alice Marie Johnson

text: In May 2019, memoirs written by Johnson with Nancy French, entitled "After Life: My Journey From Incarceration To Freedom", were published by HarperCollins, with a foreword written by Kim Kardashian. A Kirkus review of the autobiography described the work as "A moving, inspirational story that makes a powerful argument for sentencing reform."


title: Mathematical formulation of the Standard Model

text: This article describes the mathematics of the Standard Model of particle physics, a gauge quantum field theory containing the internal symmetries of the unitary product group . The theory is commonly viewed as describing the fundamental set of particles – the leptons, quarks, gauge bosons and the Higgs boson.


text: The Standard Model is renormalizable and mathematically self-consistent, however despite having huge and continued successes in providing experimental predictions it does leave some unexplained phenomena. In particular, although the physics of special relativity is incorporated, general relativity is not, and the Standard Model will fail at energies or distances where the graviton is expected to emerge. Therefore, in a modern field theory context, it is seen as an effective field theory.


text: The standard model is a quantum field theory, meaning its fundamental objects are "quantum fields" which are defined at all points in spacetime. These fields are


text: That these are "quantum" rather than "classical" fields has the mathematical consequence that they are operator-valued. In particular, values of the fields generally do not commute. As operators, they act upon a quantum state (ket vector).


text: As is common in quantum theory, there is more than one way to look at things. At first the basic fields given above may not seem to correspond well with the "fundamental particles" in the chart above, but there are several alternative presentations which, in particular contexts, may be more appropriate than those that are given above.


text: Rather than having one fermion field , it can be split up into separate components for each type of particle. This mirrors the historical evolution of quantum field theory, since the electron component (describing the electron and its antiparticle the positron) is then the original field of quantum electrodynamics, which was later accompanied by and fields for the muon and tauon respectively (and their antiparticles). Electroweak theory added formula_2, and formula_3 for the corresponding neutrinos. The quarks add still further components. In order to be four-spinors like the electron and other lepton components, there must be one quark component for every combination of flavour and colour, bringing the total to 24 (3 for charged leptons, 3 for neutrinos, and 2·3·3 = 18 for quarks). Each of these is a four component bispinor, for a total of 96 complex-valued components for the fermion field.


text: An important definition is the barred fermion field formula_4, which is defined to be formula_5, where formula_6 denotes the Hermitian adjoint of , and is the zeroth gamma matrix. If is thought of as an matrix then formula_4 should be thought of as a matrix.


text: where formula_10 is the fifth gamma matrix. This is very important in the Standard Model because "left and right chirality components are treated differently by the gauge interactions".


text: In particular, under weak isospin SU(2) transformations the left-handed particles are weak-isospin doublets, whereas the right-handed are singlets – i.e. the weak isospin of is zero. Put more simply, the weak interaction could rotate e.g. a left-handed electron into a left-handed neutrino (with emission of a ), but could not do so with the same right-handed particles. As an aside, the right-handed neutrino originally did not exist in the standard model – but the discovery of neutrino oscillation implies that neutrinos must have mass, and since chirality can change during the propagation of a massive particle, right-handed neutrinos must exist in reality. This does not however change the (experimentally-proven) chiral nature of the weak interaction.


text: Furthermore, acts differently on formula_11 and formula_12 (because they have different weak hypercharges).


text: A distinction can thus be made between, for example, the mass and interaction eigenstates of the neutrino. The former is the state which propagates in free space, whereas the latter is the "different" state that participates in interactions. Which is the "fundamental" particle? For the neutrino, it is conventional to define the "flavour" (, , or ) by the interaction eigenstate, whereas for the quarks we define the flavour (up, down, etc.) by the mass state. We can switch between these states using the CKM matrix for the quarks, or the PMNS matrix for the neutrinos (the charged leptons on the other hand are eigenstates of both mass and flavour).


text: As an aside, if a complex phase term exists within either of these matrices, it will give rise to direct CP violation, which could explain the dominance of matter over antimatter in our current universe. This has been proven for the CKM matrix, and is expected for the PMNS matrix.


text: Finally, the quantum fields are sometimes decomposed into "positive" and "negative" energy parts: . This is not so common when a quantum field theory has been set up, but often features prominently in the process of quantizing a field theory.


text: Due to the Higgs mechanism, the electroweak boson fields formula_1, and formula_14 "mix" to create the states which are physically observable. To retain gauge invariance, the underlying fields must be massless, but the observable states can "gain masses" in the process. These states are:


text: The field is the photon, which corresponds classically to the well-known electromagnetic four-potential – i.e. the electric and magnetic fields. The field actually contributes in every process the photon does, but due to its large mass, the contribution is usually negligible.


text: Much of the qualitative descriptions of the standard model in terms of "particles" and "forces" comes from the perturbative quantum field theory view of the model. In this, the Lagrangian is decomposed as formula_18 into separate "free field" and "interaction" Lagrangians. The free fields care for particles in isolation, whereas processes involving several particles arise through interactions. The idea is that the state vector should only change when particles interact, meaning a free particle is one whose quantum state is constant. This corresponds to the interaction picture in quantum mechanics.


text: In the more common Schrödinger picture, even the states of free particles change over time: typically the phase changes at a rate which depends on their energy. In the alternative Heisenberg picture, state vectors are kept constant, at the price of having the operators (in particular the observables) be time-dependent. The interaction picture constitutes an intermediate between the two, where some time dependence is placed in the operators (the quantum fields) and some in the state vector. In QFT, the former is called the free field part of the model, and the latter is called the interaction part. The free field model can be solved exactly, and then the solutions to the full model can be expressed as perturbations of the free field solutions, for example using the Dyson series.


text: It should be observed that the decomposition into free fields and interactions is in principle arbitrary. For example, renormalization in QED modifies the mass of the free field electron to match that of a physical electron (with an electromagnetic field), and will in doing so add a term to the free field Lagrangian which must be cancelled by a counterterm in the interaction Lagrangian, that then shows up as a two-line vertex in the Feynman diagrams. This is also how the Higgs field is thought to give particles mass: the part of the interaction term which corresponds to the nonzero vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field is moved from the interaction to the free field Lagrangian, where it looks just like a mass term having nothing to do with the Higgs field.


text: Under the usual free/interaction decomposition, which is suitable for low energies, the free fields obey the following equations:


text: These equations can be solved exactly. One usually does so by considering first solutions that are periodic with some period along each spatial axis; later taking the limit: will lift this periodicity restriction.


text: In the periodic case, the solution for a field (any of the above) can be expressed as a Fourier series of the form


text: In the limit , the sum would turn into an integral with help from the hidden inside . The numeric value of also depends on the normalization chosen for formula_33 and formula_34.


text: Technically, formula_35 is the Hermitian adjoint of the operator in the inner product space of ket vectors. The identification of formula_35 and as creation and annihilation operators comes from comparing conserved quantities for a state before and after one of these have acted upon it. formula_35 can for example be seen to add one particle, because it will add to the eigenvalue of the a-particle number operator, and the momentum of that particle ought to be since the eigenvalue of the vector-valued momentum operator increases by that much. For these derivations, one starts out with expressions for the operators in terms of the quantum fields. That the operators with formula_6 are creation operators and the one without annihilation operators is a convention, imposed by the sign of the commutation relations postulated for them.


text: An important step in preparation for calculating in perturbative quantum field theory is to separate the "operator" factors and above from their corresponding vector or spinor factors and . The vertices of Feynman graphs come from the way that and from different factors in the interaction Lagrangian fit together, whereas the edges come from the way that the s and s must be moved around in order to put terms in the Dyson series on normal form.


text: The Lagrangian can also be derived without using creation and annihilation operators (the "canonical" formalism) by using a path integral formulation, pioneered by Feynman building on the earlier work of Dirac. Feynman diagrams are pictorial representations of interaction terms. A quick derivation is indeed presented at the article on Feynman diagrams.


text: We can now give some more detail about the aforementioned free and interaction terms appearing in the Standard Model Lagrangian density. Any such term must be both gauge and reference-frame invariant, otherwise the laws of physics would depend on an arbitrary choice or the frame of an observer. Therefore, the global Poincaré symmetry, consisting of translational symmetry, rotational symmetry and the inertial reference frame invariance central to the theory of special relativity must apply. The local gauge symmetry is the internal symmetry. The three factors of the gauge symmetry together give rise to the three fundamental interactions, after some appropriate relations have been defined, as we shall see.


text: A free particle can be represented by a mass term, and a "kinetic" term which relates to the "motion" of the fields.


text: where the notations are carried from earlier in the article. can represent any, or all, Dirac fermions in the standard model. Generally, as below, this term is included within the couplings (creating an overall "dynamical" term).


text: for a given gauge field (here we use ), with gauge coupling constant . The quantity is the structure constant of the particular gauge group, defined by the commutator


text: where are the generators of the group. In an Abelian (commutative) group (such as the we use here) the structure constants vanish, since the generators all commute with each other. Of course, this is not the case in general – the standard model includes the non-Abelian and groups (such groups lead to what is called a Yang–Mills gauge theory).


text: where the traces are over the and indices hidden in and respectively. The two-index objects are the field strengths derived from and the vector fields. There are also two extra hidden parameters: the theta angles for and .


text: The electroweak sector interacts with the symmetry group , where the subscript L indicates coupling only to left-handed fermions.


text: Where is the gauge field; is the weak hypercharge (the generator of the group); is the three-component gauge field; and the components of are the Pauli matrices (infinitesimal generators of the group) whose eigenvalues give the weak isospin. Note that we have to redefine a new symmetry of "weak hypercharge", different from QED, in order to achieve the unification with the weak force. The electric charge , third component of weak isospin (also called or ) and weak hypercharge are related by


text: (or by the "alternative convention" ). The first convention, used in this article, is equivalent to the earlier Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula. It makes the hypercharge be twice the average charge of a given isomultiplet.


text: where formula_50 is the electric current and formula_51 the third weak isospin current. As explained above, "these currents mix" to create the physically observed bosons, which also leads to testable relations between the coupling constants.


text: To explain this in a simpler way, we can see the effect of the electroweak interaction by picking out terms from the Lagrangian. We see that the SU(2) symmetry acts on each (left-handed) fermion doublet contained in , for example


text: This is an interaction corresponding to a "rotation in weak isospin space" or in other words, a transformation between and via emission of a boson. The symmetry, on the other hand, is similar to electromagnetism, but acts on all ""weak hypercharged"" fermions (both left- and right-handed) via the neutral , as well as the "charged" fermions via the photon.


text: The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) sector defines the interactions between quarks and gluons, with symmetry, generated by . Since leptons do not interact with gluons, they are not affected by this sector. The Dirac Lagrangian of the quarks coupled to the gluon fields is given by


text: where and are the Dirac spinors associated with up and down-type quarks, and other notations are continued from the previous section.


text: The mass term arising from the Dirac Lagrangian (for any fermion ) is formula_55 which is "not" invariant under the electroweak symmetry. This can be seen by writing in terms of left and right-handed components (skipping the actual calculation):


text: i.e. contribution from formula_57 and formula_58 terms do not appear. We see that the mass-generating interaction is achieved by constant flipping of particle chirality. The spin-half particles have no right/left chirality pair with the same representations and equal and opposite weak hypercharges, so assuming these gauge charges are conserved in the vacuum, none of the spin-half particles could ever swap chirality, and must remain massless. Additionally, we know experimentally that the W and Z bosons are massive, but a boson mass term contains the combination e.g. , which clearly depends on the choice of gauge. Therefore, none of the standard model fermions "or" bosons can "begin" with mass, but must acquire it by some other mechanism.


text: The solution to both these problems comes from the Higgs mechanism, which involves scalar fields (the number of which depend on the exact form of Higgs mechanism) which (to give the briefest possible description) are "absorbed" by the massive bosons as degrees of freedom, and which couple to the fermions via Yukawa coupling to create what looks like mass terms.


text: where the superscripts and indicate the electric charge () of the components. The weak hypercharge () of both components is .


text: where and , so that the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking can be used. There is a parameter here, at first hidden within the shape of the potential, that is very important. In a unitarity gauge one can set formula_61 and make formula_62 real. Then formula_63 is the non-vanishing vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field. formula_64 has units of mass, and it is the only parameter in the Standard Model which is not dimensionless. It is also much smaller than the Planck scale and about twice the Higgs mass, setting the scale for the mass of all other particles in the Standard Model. This is the only real fine-tuning to a small nonzero value in the Standard Model. Quadratic terms in and arise, which give masses to the W and Z bosons:


text: As previously mentioned, evidence shows neutrinos must have mass. But within the standard model, the right-handed neutrino does not exist, so even with a Yukawa coupling neutrinos remain massless. An obvious solution is to simply "add a right-handed neutrino" resulting in a Dirac mass term as usual. This field however must be a sterile neutrino, since being right-handed it experimentally belongs to an isospin singlet () and also has charge , implying (see above) i.e. it does not even participate in the weak interaction. The experimental evidence for sterile neutrinos is currently inconclusive.


text: Another possibility to consider is that the neutrino satisfies the Majorana equation, which at first seems possible due to its zero electric charge. In this case the mass term is


text: where denotes a charge conjugated (i.e. anti-) particle, and the terms are consistently all left (or all right) chirality (note that a left-chirality projection of an antiparticle is a right-handed field; care must be taken here due to different notations sometimes used). Here we are essentially flipping between left-handed neutrinos and right-handed anti-neutrinos (it is furthermore possible but "not" necessary that neutrinos are their own antiparticle, so these particles are the same). However, for left-chirality neutrinos, this term changes weak hypercharge by 2 units – not possible with the standard Higgs interaction, requiring the Higgs field to be extended to include an extra triplet with weak hypercharge = 2 – whereas for right-chirality neutrinos, no Higgs extensions are necessary. For both left and right chirality cases, Majorana terms violate lepton number, but possibly at a level beyond the current sensitivity of experiments to detect such violations.


text: It is possible to include both Dirac and Majorana mass terms in the same theory, which (in contrast to the Dirac-mass-only approach) can provide a “natural” explanation for the smallness of the observed neutrino masses, by linking the right-handed neutrinos to yet-unknown physics around the GUT scale (see seesaw mechanism).


text: Since in any case new fields must be postulated to explain the experimental results, neutrinos are an obvious gateway to searching physics beyond the Standard Model.


text: This section provides more detail on some aspects, and some reference material. Explicit Lagrangian terms are also provided here.


text: The Standard Model has the following fields. These describe one "generation" of leptons and quarks, and there are three generations, so there are three copies of each fermionic field. By CPT symmetry, there is a set of fermions and antifermions with opposite parity and charges. If a left-handed fermion spans some representation its antiparticle (right-handed antifermion) spans the dual representation (note that formula_69 for SU(2), because it is pseudo-real). The column "representation" indicates under which representations of the gauge groups that each field transforms, in the order (SU(3), SU(2), U(1)) and for the U(1) group, the value of the weak hypercharge is listed. There are twice as many left-handed lepton field components as right-handed lepton field components in each generation, but an equal number of left-handed quark and right-handed quark field components.


text: Upon writing the most general Lagrangian with massless neutrinos, one finds that the dynamics depend on 19 parameters, whose numerical values are established by experiment. Straightforward extensions of the Standard Model with massive neutrinos need 7 more parameters (3 masses and 4 PMNS matrix parameters) for a total of 26 parameters. The neutrino parameter values are still uncertain. The 19 certain parameters are summarized here.


text: The choice of free parameters is somewhat arbitrary. In the table above, gauge couplings are listed as free parameters, therefore with this choice the Weinberg angle is not a free parameter – it is defined as formula_70. Likewise, the fine-structure constant of QED is formula_71. Instead of fermion masses, dimensionless Yukawa couplings can be chosen as free parameters. For example, the electron mass depends on the Yukawa coupling of the electron to the Higgs field, and its value is formula_72. Instead of the Higgs mass, the Higgs self-coupling strength formula_73, which is approximately 0.129, can be chosen as a free parameter. Instead of the Higgs vacuum expectation value, the formula_74 parameter directly from the Higgs self-interaction term formula_75 can be chosen. Its value is formula_76, or approximately formula_77 GeV.


text: The value of the vacuum energy (or more precisely, the renormalization scale used to calculate this energy) may also be treated as an additional free parameter. The renormalization scale may be identified with the Planck scale or fine-tuned to match the observed cosmological constant. However, both options are problematic.


text: From the theoretical point of view, the Standard Model exhibits four additional global symmetries, not postulated at the outset of its construction, collectively denoted accidental symmetries, which are continuous U(1) global symmetries. The transformations leaving the Lagrangian invariant are:


text: The first transformation rule is shorthand meaning that all quark fields for all generations must be rotated by an identical phase simultaneously. The fields and formula_82 are the 2nd (muon) and 3rd (tau) generation analogs of and formula_83 fields.


text: By Noether's theorem, each symmetry above has an associated conservation law: the conservation of baryon number, electron number, muon number, and tau number. Each quark is assigned a baryon number of formula_84, while each antiquark is assigned a baryon number of formula_85. Conservation of baryon number implies that the number of quarks minus the number of antiquarks is a constant. Within experimental limits, no violation of this conservation law has been found.


text: Similarly, each electron and its associated neutrino is assigned an electron number of +1, while the anti-electron and the associated anti-neutrino carry a −1 electron number. Similarly, the muons and their neutrinos are assigned a muon number of +1 and the tau leptons are assigned a tau lepton number of +1. The Standard Model predicts that each of these three numbers should be conserved separately in a manner similar to the way baryon number is conserved. These numbers are collectively known as lepton family numbers (LF). (This result depends on the assumption made in Standard Model that neutrinos are massless. Experimentally, neutrino oscillations demonstrate that individual electron, muon and tau numbers are not conserved.)


text: In addition to the accidental (but exact) symmetries described above, the Standard Model exhibits several approximate symmetries. These are the "SU(2) custodial symmetry" and the "SU(2) or SU(3) quark flavor symmetry."


text: For the leptons, the gauge group can be written . The two U(1) factors can be combined into where l is the lepton number. Gauging of the lepton number is ruled out by experiment, leaving only the possible gauge group . A similar argument in the quark sector also gives the same result for the electroweak theory.


text: These charged currents are precisely those that entered the Fermi theory of beta decay. The action contains the charge current piece


text: For energy much less than the mass of the W-boson, the effective theory becomes the current–current contact interaction of the Fermi theory, formula_89.


text: However, gauge invariance now requires that the component formula_90 of the gauge field also be coupled to a current that lies in the triplet of SU(2). However, this mixes with the U(1), and another current in that sector is needed. These currents must be uncharged in order to conserve charge. So neutral currents are also required,


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Adrian Sutil (; born 11 January 1983) is a German-Uruguayan racing driver who raced in Formula One for seven seasons: from 2007–2011, then 2013–2014. He drove for the Spyker F1 Team, Force India F1 Team and the Sauber F1 Team. He was also the reserve driver for the Williams F1 Team in .


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil started karting at the age of 14 and moved into single seater racing in 2002 in the Swiss Formula Ford series where he won the title. He moved up into Formula Masters Austria and started 1 race before stepping into Formula BMW ADAC in 2003. Sutil then raced in the Formula 3 Euroseries where he was the runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in 2005. He went to Japan in 2006 to race in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship and also finished 3rd in the Macau Grand Prix.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Having been involved in the Midland F1 test team, Sutil was promoted to a race seat for the new Spyker F1 team in 2007. Sutil continued to race with the team under their new guise Force India in 2008 where he remained until 2011. Having made his return to the sport in 2013 again with Force India, he competed in the 2014 season with the Sauber team.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Born in Starnberg, West Germany, Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers, named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 75 kilograms (165 pounds) and is 183 centimeters (6 feet) tall. A talented pianist, Sutil speaks fluent German, English, and Spanish and a little Italian.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: On the evening following the April 2011 , Sutil was involved in an incident with Genii Capital CEO and owner of the Lotus F1 team Eric Lux in a nightclub in Shanghai. Sutil struck Lux with a champagne glass, causing a wound in his neck which required 24 stitches. Sutil apologised for the incident, which he described as unintentional. Lux's lawyers filed a criminal complaint for physical assault and grievous bodily harm against Sutil. Force India owner Vijay Mallya refused to take action against Sutil until the case proceeded further, but on 16 December 2011 Force India announced they had opted not to renew Sutil's contract for 2012, and would field reserve driver Nico Hülkenberg alongside di Resta.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: On 13 January 2012, German prosecutors announced that Sutil would stand trial over the incident, charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. Sutil was convicted of the charge on 31 January 2012, and received an 18-month suspended prison sentence, along with a €200,000 fine that was to be donated to charities "of the court's choosing." Sutil initially had planned on appealing his conviction but eventually decided not to.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Lewis Hamilton, among Sutil's friends at the time, was also present in the nightclub that night. He was named as a defence witness by Sutil's side, but Hamilton did not appear in court because the trial coincided with the launch of his team's car. He stated he could attend a retrial, should one take place, as he would not be occupied on the scheduled day, but as a result, the friendship of the two drivers ended, with Sutil branding Hamilton a "coward."


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Adrian Sutil is a prolific car collector, owning a large collection of significant and expensive cars. He has the largest car collection of any Formula 1 driver past or present.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: On 30 July 2020, Sutil crashed his McLaren Senna LM into an electricity pylon at the side of the road in Monaco after losing control of the car. Sutil's Senna – one of 35 Senna LM made – was heavily damaged; with its front bumper, front panels and bonnet detached from its chassis, with the windscreen shattered. Sutil emerged from the wreckage unscathed.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002. He won all ten rounds of the season from pole and added five wins in the Formula Masters Austria championship.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: When Sutil moved up to the Formula BMW ADAC championship in 2003 he finished in sixth place in the series, but with no wins. The following season he stepped up to the Formula 3 Euroseries with Colin Kolles' team. Although he scored only twice, the connection he made with Kolles would prove useful in the future. He moved to the ASM team at the final round of the year.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil stayed with ASM for 2005 and was joined by British driver Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton won more races than Sutil, but the German was runner-up to Hamilton and the Briton's only serious competitor in the championship and at the Marlboro Masters of Formula Three at Zandvoort.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil missed the last two rounds of the 2005 Euroseries after joining A1 Team Germany for the inaugural A1 Grand Prix series. He raced for them at three events in Portugal, Australia and Dubai, his best result being two twelfth places.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: He spent 2006 racing in Japan and won the All-Japan Formula Three Championship. He showed a very strong performance all season. He also finished third in the Macau Formula Three Grand Prix and made a one-off appearance in Japanese Super GT.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: That year also saw Sutil enter Formula One. In January, he was confirmed as one of the three test drivers for the new Midland F1 Racing team, along with Markus Winkelhock and Giorgio Mondini. This came thanks to his connections with Colin Kolles, who was then running the team.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil appeared for the team as the third driver at the European, French and Japanese Grands Prix. By the time of his third appearance, the outfit had been bought by Spyker Cars. At the end of the year, he was promoted to second driver for the 2007 season, having been signed on a multi-year contract by the Spyker MF1 Team. In an interview with the Official Formula One website, Sutil's first 2007 teammate, Christijan Albers, commented that "Adrian is a good driver and he will be quick this year, but as a driver you should always be pushing to the limits without thinking what the guy in the car next to you is doing. But Adrian will be a good team-mate and it looks as though he's going to be a big talent [for the future]".


title: Adrian Sutil

text: During 2007, Sutil out-qualified and out-raced his team-mate Albers at all Grands Prix before the Dutchman was replaced by Sutil's countryman Markus Winkelhock, test driver for the team up until that time at the European Grand Prix. Sutil out-qualified Winkelhock, although the latter went on to lead the race and restart after a sudden downpour. Winkelhock resumed his third driver role for the following grand prix at Hungary when Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto took over the second team seat. Sutil out-performed Yamamoto in the race, passing Honda drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: In the Hungarian Grand Prix, Sutil was the first Spyker driver in 2007 to beat another running classified finisher, Honda's Rubens Barrichello.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: For the Turkish Grand Prix, a B-spec car was expected for the Spyker team, but it failed a rear crash test and Sutil continued to use the older spec car. After fuel pressure problems, he was forced to start the race from the pits and finished five laps behind. At Monza, despite the introduction of the B-spec Spyker F8-VII and due to the nature of the circuit, the Spykers were largely uncompetitive once again and Sutil finished 19th, again only in front of his team-mate.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: At the Belgian Grand Prix, the strengths of the B-spec car were fully evident with both Sutil and Yamamoto setting competitive times through the three practice sessions culminating in Sutil qualifying only half a second behind 16th placed man Vitantonio Liuzzi. During the race, Sutil passed the Toyota of Jarno Trulli, Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button as well as the Red Bull's David Coulthard, Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi and Williams driver Alexander Wurz. He ran as high as 12th before finishing 14th. He was highly praised for his efforts by both team and media.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Two weeks later in the rain at Fuji Speedway, Japan, it seemed Sutil had narrowly missed an opportunity to score Spyker's first ever point, briefly holding 8th position on the penultimate lap of the high-attrition race after Nick Heidfeld retired his BMW, but was almost immediately passed by fellow backmarker Vitantonio Liuzzi in the Toro Rosso and finished 9th. After the race it was found that Liuzzi had overtaken Sutil under yellow flags, and the 25-second penalty for the Italian promoted Sutil to the final points position. Toro Rosso appealed the decision, but the penalty was upheld.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Spyker were not competitive in the final two races of the year, neither of which Sutil finished. He has been praised by many for his performances in the 2007 Formula One Championship. Despite driving the most uncompetitive car of the year, the German rookie impressed by not only dominating all of his teammates in both qualifying and race conditions, but also by challenging other drivers with superior equipment.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil continued with the team in 2008 under its new identity as Force India, after briefly entertaining the possibility of a drive with McLaren or Williams. The first two races of the season ended with mechanical failures


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil and the Force India team started the year with a real optimism of points scoring finishes when the European part of the season started after the first four races. BBC commentator Martin Brundle expressed his personal view that:


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil was in talks with Force India to renew his contract, and on 27 November 2009, the team announced that the German's contract had been renewed, while test-driver Vitantonio Liuzzi was given a full-time race seat. Sutil qualified tenth for the first two races of the year, but a collision with Robert Kubica in Bahrain and a mechanical failure in Australia meant he was unable to score points in either race. However, Sutil commented that the performances proved that the team could now score points in dry races. This comment was backed up by Sutil's fifth-place finish in the following race in Malaysia. In China he finished 11th. In Spain he finished 7th and in Monaco he finished 8th. Sutil again finished in the points in Turkey with a 9th place. He followed this result with points scoring finishes in the next three rounds in Canada, Europe and Britain.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil remained with Force India for , and was joined by DTM champion Paul di Resta. In the first three races of the season, Sutil was out-qualified by di Resta. Sutil finished ninth in the , at the expense of the Sauber cars being disqualified from the race, having finished eleventh on the road. In Malaysia, Sutil finished eleventh, just behind di Resta, and in China, he qualified eleventh. In Monaco, he had his best result of the season, finishing seventh. He retired in Canada after hitting a wall, which resulted in damage to his car's suspension. A ninth-place finish in Valencia was followed by eleventh at the , missing out on the final points-scoring position, held by Jaime Alguersuari, by just 0.6 seconds. At his home race, Sutil took a season best finish of sixth place, after implementing a different strategy to some of the drivers around him on the grid, making just two pit stops to the three made by his rivals.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Despite qualifying in the top ten in Hungary, Sutil could only finish 14th, before another points-scoring finish – finishing seventh, after starting 15th on the grid after an accident in qualifying – at the . He retired at Monza after his car suffered a hydraulics problem, before an eighth-place finish in Singapore, holding off a late-race challenge from Felipe Massa. In Japan, Sutil ran inside the top ten placings for much of the race, but finished the race just outside the points in eleventh place, having been passed by Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg in the closing stages of the race. Another eleventh place followed in Korea, before a ninth-place finish in the inaugural race in India. At the final race in Brazil, Sutil matched his best finish of the season with sixth place, and as a result, moved into ninth place in the final championship standings. As a result of his assault convictions (see above), Sutil was released at the end of the 2011 season and replaced with Nico Hülkenberg.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: On 28 February 2013, Force India announced that Sutil would return to the team to complete their driver lineup alongside Paul di Resta. He finished seventh at the season-opening , impressing on his comeback by leading for a number of laps throughout the race.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: In Malaysia, he retired from the race following problems with a new captive wheel nut system that the team had introduced at the beginning of the season.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: He also retired from the , after being hit by Esteban Gutiérrez. After two non-points finishes he showed a respectable performance at the Monaco Grand Prix by overtaking the world champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button to finally end up in 5th position.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: It was announced on 13 December 2013 that Sutil would join Sauber for 2014. For the first six races of the 2014 season Sutil struggled with a car which lacked pace and he also made a number of mistakes which lost him possible points finishes.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Sutil joined Williams as a reserve driver prior to the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix. Sutil was appointed after Williams driver Valtteri Bottas was injured during the , with the team wanting an experienced race driver to deputise for either Bottas or Felipe Massa to maximise their constructors championship points, should either race driver be unable to participate.


title: Adrian Sutil

text: Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as they had completed >90% of the race distance.


title: Chand Baori

text: Chand Baori is a stepwell situated in the village of Abhaneri in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It extends approximately 30m (100ft) into the ground, making it one of the deepest and largest stepwells in India.


title: Chand Baori

text: Chand Baori is said to be named after a local ruler of Nikumbh dynasty called Raja Chanda. However, no epigraphic evidence has been found regarding the construction of the Chand Baori or the adjoining Harshat Mata Temple. Based on similarities in style and carvings with the terraced temples of Paranagar and Mandore, the Baori can be dated to 8th-9th century. It was likely constructed before the temple. According to Morna Livingston in "Steps to Water: The Ancient Stepwells of India," Chand Baori is one of the few stepwells that has "two classical periods of water building in a single setting".


title: Chand Baori

text: The oldest parts of the step-well date from the 8th century onwards. An upper palace building was added to the site, which is viewed from the tabulated arches used by the Chauhan rulers and the cusped arches used by the Mughals. Access to these rooms is now blocked for tourists. The upper stories with the columned arcade around it were built around the 18th century during the Mughal era. The Mughals also added art galleries and a retaining wall around the well. Today, there are remains of old sculptures and carvings, which were suggested to be in the temple or in the various rooms. The nearby temple of Harshat Mata, goddess of joy, was a pilgrimage site and formed a complex together alongside the well. Many of these stepwells, including Chand Baori, served multiple purposes alongside drawing water and playing a significant role in religious or ceremonial activities. Pilgrims are said to have found comfort in quenching their thirst and finding a resting spot at the steps of Chand Baori after their long travels. This unique form of underground well-architecture remains constant from the 7th century in the existing monument. Excavated stones of the temple are now kept by the Archaeological Survey of India in the arcades of the well. Chand Baori is a significant architectural site in western India.


title: Chand Baori

text: Chand Baori is a deep four-sided well with a large temple located in the back of the well. The basic architectural aspects of the monumental well consist of a long corridor of steps leading to five or six stories below ground level which can be seen at the site. Chand Baori consists of 3,500 narrow steps over 13 stories. The state of Rajasthan is extremely arid, and the design and final structure of Chand Baori was intended to conserve as much water as possible. Ancient Indian scriptures made references to construction of wells, canals, tanks and dams and their efficient operation and maintenance. This site combined many of these operations to allow for easy access to local water. At the bottom of the well, the air remains 5-6°C cooler than at the surface, and Chand Baori was used as a community gathering place for locals during periods of intense heat. One side of the well has a "haveli" pavilion and resting room for the royals.


title: Chand Baori

text: Chand Baori has been used as a filming location for a number of films, such as "Bhoomi", "The Fall", "Bhool Bhulaiyaa", and "Paheli". The 2012 Hollywood movie "The Dark Knight Rises" starring Christian Bale as Batman used Chand Baori as inspiration for one of its production sets but was not actually filmed on location at Chand Baori.


title: Water ionizer

text: A water ionizer (also known as an alkaline ionizer) is a home appliance which claims to raise the pH of drinking water by using electrolysis to separate the incoming water stream into acidic and alkaline components. The alkaline stream of the treated water is called alkaline water. Proponents claim that consumption of alkaline water results in a variety of health benefits, making it similar to the alternative health practice of alkaline diets. Such claims violate basic principles of chemistry and physiology. There is no medical evidence for any health benefits of alkaline water. Extensive scientific evidence has completely debunked these claims.


title: Water ionizer

text: The machines originally became popular in Japan and other East Asian countries before becoming available in the U.S. and Europe.


title: Water ionizer

text: Water ionizers are often marketed on the basis of health claims which are normally focused on their putative ability to make water more alkaline. A wide variety of benefits have been claimed, including the ability to slow aging, prevent disease, give the body more energy, and offset alleged effects of acidic foods.


title: Water ionizer

text: There is no empirical evidence to support these claims, nor the claims that drinking ionized water will have a noticeable effect on the body. Drinking ionized water or alkaline water does not alter the body's pH due to acid-base homeostasis. Additionally, marketers have inaccurately claimed that the process of electrolysis changes the structure of water from large non-bioavailable water clusters to small bioavailable water clusters, called "micro clusters".


title: Water ionizer

text: Some proponents of alkaline water and the alkaline diet as a whole claim a link between alkaline intake and cancer prevention; no scientific evidence exists for such a connection, and as such, several cancer societies have denounced this claim.


title: Air ioniser

text: An air ioniser (or negative ion generator or Chizhevsky's chandelier) is a device that uses high voltage to ionise (electrically charge) air molecules. Negative ions, or anions, are particles with one or more extra electrons, conferring a net negative charge to the particle. Cations are positive ions missing one or more electrons, resulting in a net positive charge. Some commercial air purifiers are designed to generate negative ions. Another type of air ioniser is the electrostatic discharge (ESD) ioniser (balanced ion generator) used to neutralise static charge.


title: Air ioniser

text: In 1918 Alexander Chizhevsky had created the first air ioniser for ion therapy. It was originally used for animal health in agriculture.


title: Air ioniser

text: This discovery ignited Cecil Alfred 'Coppy' Laws' interest in the little-known phenomenon of air ionisation. In 2002, in an obituary in "The Independent" newspaper, Cecil Alfred 'Coppy' Laws was credited with being the inventor of the domestic air ioniser.


title: Air ioniser

text: Air ionisers are used in air purifiers to remove particles from air. Airborne particles become charged as they attract charged ions from the ioniser by electrostatic attraction. The particles in turn are then attracted to any nearby earthed (grounded) conductors, either deliberate plates within an air cleaner, or simply the nearest walls and ceilings. The frequency of nosocomial infections in British hospitals prompted the National Health Service (NHS) to research the effectiveness of anions for air purification, finding that repeated airborne "acinetobacter" infections in a ward were eliminated by the installation of a negative air ioniser—the infection rate fell to zero, an unexpected result. Positive and negative ions produced by air conditioning systems have also been found by a manufacturer to inactivate viruses including influenza.


title: Air ioniser

text: A 2018 review found that negative air ions are highly effective in removing particulate matter from air.


title: Air ioniser

text: The SARS epidemic fuelled the desire for personal ionisers in East Asia, including Japan (where many products have been specialised to contain negative ion generators, including toothbrushes, refrigerators, air conditioners, air cleaners, and washing machines). There are no specific standards for these devices.


title: Air ioniser

text: There are two types of ionic air purifiers, the fanless and fan base ionizers. The fan base ionizer uses its fan to circulate air around the room rapidly, but it is noisier and consumes more energy, while the fanless types distribute air slowly, taking a longer time to purify air, but are noiseless and more energy efficient.


title: Air ioniser

text: The California Air Resources Board has a page listing air cleaners (many with ionizers) meeting their indoor ozone limit of 0.050 parts per million. From that article:


title: Air ioniser

text: Ionisers are distinct from ozone generators, although both devices operate in a similar way. Ionisers use electrostatically charged plates to produce positively or negatively charged gas ions (for instance N or O) that particulate matter sticks to in an effect similar to static electricity. Even the best ionisers will also produce a small amount of ozone—triatomic oxygen, O—which is unwanted. Ozone generators are optimised to attract an extra oxygen ion to an O molecule, using either a corona discharge tube or UV light.


title: Air ioniser

text: At concentrations that do not exceed public health standards, ozone has been found to have little potential to remove indoor air contaminants. At high concentrations ozone can be toxic to air-borne bacteria, and may destroy or kill these sometimes infectious organisms. However, the required concentrations are sufficiently toxic to humans and animals that the US FDA declares that ozone has no place in medical treatment and has taken action against businesses that violate this regulation by offering therapeutic ozone generators or ozone therapy. Ozone is a highly toxic and extremely reactive gas. A higher daily average than 0.1 ppm (100 ppb, 0.2 mg/m) is not recommended and can damage the lungs and olfactory bulb cells directly.


title: Air ioniser

text: A 2013 comprehensive review of 80 years of research into air ions and respiratory function outcomes found that there was no clear support for any beneficial role in respiratory function, nor evidence for significant detrimental effect. In conclusion, "exposure to negative or positive air ions does not appear to play an appreciable role in respiratory function."


title: Air ioniser

text: There is weak evidence that negative air ionization is associated with lower depression scores, particularly at the highest exposure level. No consistent influence of positive or negative air ionization on anxiety, mood, relaxation, sleep, and personal comfort measures was observed.


title: Air ioniser

text: Studies have been carried out on negative ion generators. One study shows that the ozone generated can exceed guidelines in small, non ventilated areas. Another study showed that ozone can react with other constituents, namely cleaning agents to increase pollutants such as formaldehyde (this study had as its objective the testing of the use of cleaning products and air fresheners indoors and associated health risks as opposed to adverse health effects of air ionisers).


title: Air ioniser

text: "Consumer Reports", a non-profit U.S.-based product-testing magazine, reported in October 2003 that air ionisers do not perform to high enough standards compared to conventional HEPA filters. The exception was a combination unit that used a fan to move air while ionizing it. In response to this report, The Sharper Image, a manufacturer of air ionisers (among other products), sued Consumer's Union (the publishers of "Consumer Reports") for product defamation. "Consumer Reports" gave the Ionic Breeze and other popular units a "fail" because they have a low clean air delivery rate (CADR). CADR measures the amount of filtered air circulated during a short period of time, and was originally designed to rate media-based air cleaners. The Sharper Image claimed that this test was a poor way to rate the Ionic Breeze, since it does not take into account other features, such as 24-hour-a-day continuous cleaning, ease of maintenance, and silent operation.


title: Air ioniser

text: The United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the case, reasoning that the Sharper Image had failed to demonstrate that it could prove any of the statements made by "Consumer Reports" were false. The court's final ruling in May 2005 ordered the Sharper Image to pay US$525,000 for Consumer Union's legal expenses.


title: Air ioniser

text: Air ionisers are often used in places where work is done involving static-electricity-sensitive electronic components (like in microelectronics cleanrooms), to eliminate the build-up of static charges on non-conductors. As those elements are very sensitive to electricity, they cannot be grounded because the discharge will destroy them as well. Usually, the work is done over a special dissipative table mat, which allows a very slow discharge, and under the air gush of an ioniser. The ionization falls off very sharply with distance (even in ducting), so air ionization is rarely used for this purpose, and only for items immediately adjacent to the actual ionizer.