Some very recent discoveries about the generation, and relaxation of a novel spin state in semiconductors opens the door to new generation of very high speed, very low power devices for computation and data transmission. This discovery may also form the basis for the development of an ambient temperature, solid state quantum processor which represents an all new method for solving some important problems at dramatically accelerated speeds. The symposium will discuss much of the progress made to date as well as the issues remaining in this very exciting new field which may indeed form the basis of the electronics for the new millennium. This includes the results of long-term observational programs to determine the composition, structure, and the expansion rate of the universe, and steadily improving constraints from measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background. Now for the first time theory can confront experiment, and the history, nature, age, and fate of the universe are now perhaps beginning to become clear.
Neutrinos interact with matter only through the weak interaction and hence are difficult to detect.
The deficit in solar neutrinos, first noted in the 1960's, prompted the suggestion that neutrinos may oscillate into one another. The recent evidence for such oscillations implies that neutrinos have mass. For particle physics this leads to new physics beyond the Standard Model. For astrophysics and cosmology knowledge of the neutrino mass is vital. These issues have spurred an extraordinary range of experimental effort.