Evening star., 1950-02-08
Cosmic Rays Discovery
By Russians Reported
Elementary Units Hitherto Unknown
Declared Found by Physicists
By Thomas r. Henry


just been made in Russian scientific
journal
These new particles range in mass from
about 100 to 10000 times the mass of an
electron, according to the claims advanced
by Russian physicist named Alikhanov.
Nothing is known, in this country, of ALI
khanovs standing or reliability other than
that he is protege of great Russian
physicist and former Cambridge professor.
Peter Kapitza, whose views command wide
respect throughout the scientific world.
Alikhanov's alleged discoveries date back
to 1946. He is the chief of cosnhc ray
laboratory on the summit of Mount Alagez,
about 5000 feet in altitude, in the Armenian
Caucasus, not far from the reputed Russian
atomic bomb laboratory.
Particles Described.
The particles he alleges to have isolated
from the constant bombardment of this high
mountaintop by radiation from the Milky
Way galaxy, striking the upper atmosphere
Of the earth with energies as great as several
billion electron volts, are described as both
positively and negatively charged Presum-
ably, they include the now familiar meSons,
particles which are created when high
energy cosmic ray smaShes an atom in the
high atmosphere and which ,have lifetimes
OF -millionth and a millionth of a second,
respectively. The two types Of meSonS, which
have been called the glue of the universe"
are both positively and negatively charged
Their masses, respectively, are about 500 and
200 times the mass of an electron.
AS early as 1947 Alikhanov was claiming,
according to Russian newspapers which were
suspected at the time of being quite, un-
reliable due to the ignorance of the writer's
rather than to propaganda, that he had OBJ
tanned from coSmic radiation both positively
and negatively charged particles weighing
1000 to $500 times the mass of an electron
II this were true, according to American
physicists at the time, the discovery was
sensational indeed. A particle 1000 times
the mass OF an electron would be. the equiva-
lent OF proton. All protons known to
science carry positive charges. If such a
thing as negatively charged proton ex-
lsted and were brought into close contact
with positive proton, both particles theo.
retlcally, would be eliminated instantaneously
IN the form of energy. That is there would
oe total conversion of matter into energy.
Positive and Negative.
Both positive and negative particles OF
the electron mass exist. They inStantane-
ously eliminate each other when they come
in contact, but the mass is so inflniteSimally
minute that the phenomenon is of little
signifcance-other than for better UNDER
standing of the structure of matter. There
negatively charged proton may exist, al
though to date nobody of any standing in
physics except Alikhanov claims to have
identified it.
If it exists, writer's of futuristc fiction.
at least, would have sensational new topic.
and it is possible that their imaginings might
approach the truth.
All matter known in the universe is made
up basically of atoms composed of positive
Y,1 1or "
can be denied that in the process of creation
of the universe another kind of matter might
have come into existence, built up of negative
protons and positive electrons. 1t even has
been speculated that there might be stars.
or even galaxies of billions of stars, made
of negative matter This presumably would
be in every respect indistinguishable from
positive matter-except that when it came
in contact with positive matter both masses,
atoms or stars, would be totally converted
into energy in some fraction of a millionth
of second. 0t' 80
Abstract Of Report.
The report of Ahkhanov's present claims
is made in the first issue of Russian
physical journal Priroda, issued late last
year and distracted in the January issue OF
Nuclear Physics Abstracts, prepared by the
Atomic Energy Commission.
Alikhanov calls his alleged new particles
"varitrons,' because of the great variations
in mass. :.
Such an elementary particle as he now
claims, weighing 10000 electron masses, or
somewhat more than 10 protons, stretches
belief, but still cannot be positively denied.
1t is believed extraordinary that if his work
has no foundation whatsoever it would be
sanctioned by the Soviet government, which
would almost certainly be guided by several
highly competent and eminent physicists at
its disposal-men sufficiently competent to
have duplicated the stupendous American
effort creating the uranium bomb.
The particles Alikhanov claims to have
found are extremely short-lived. Their aver
age existence, he calculates, is approximately
half millionth of second He has evi-
dence, he believes, that the heaviest, the
20,000-electron mass particles, break down
into the next heaviest, and so on, down to
the lightest which appear to be about half
the weight of the lightest of the mesons.
Confusion in Reports.
Alikhanov, a man about 40 years old Is
considered a highly competent physicist,
He is one of two Georgian brothers and has
Russianized his name. The brother, closely
associated with him in his work has re-
tanned the Georgian spelling of Alikhanian.
This has led to much confusion in reports
of their work.
It is impossible either to affirm or deny
their claims offhand, says Prof. George
Gamow of George Washington University.
They rest on experimental evidence which
can be validated only by repeating the ex-s
periments, and the experimental procedure
is not clearly defined. q
Some American physicists have res
ferred somewhat contemptuously to particles
claimed to have been discovered earlier by
the two brothers as Russian mesons" No
evidence Of them has been found elsewhere
Within the past few months relatively
very heavy particles have been found ir1
cosmic rays and identified as the entire
atomic nuclei. going as far up in the weight
scale as that of iron. It may be that the
Russian brothers have found the same things
and become confused by them Their repu-
tation as physicists, however makes this
somewhat unlikely. Y
Edgar AIIun Poe