Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2012-11-06, 16:43:12 | version 1.24.0
12 Warning System Combats Congestion 24 September 2011 | At a national league football match in the Düsseldorf Esprit Arena, simulation scientists from Jül- ich and several Hermes project partners showcased their new evacuation assistant. The computer-aided system de- termines how the crowd is distributed at large events and predicts whether congestion could become critical before it actually does. In the case of fire or some other critical sit- uation, it will help the emergency services to prevent dan- gerous crushes. Tunnelling into Molecules 3 October 2011 | In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, physicists at Jülich outline a new technique for im- aging the arrangement of atoms inside complex molecules using scanning tunnelling microscopes. They have thus con- siderably expanded the capabilities of these instruments, which already play a key role in nanotechnology and materi- als science. The new technique uses single atoms between the tip of the microscope and the sample as a type of con- trast medium. Rediscovering the Heavens 5 October 2011 | An antenna array, which is part of a new networked radio telescope facility known as LOFAR and is lo- cated in the immediate vicinity of Forschungszentrum Jülich, goes into operation. LOFAR (Low-Frequency Array) meas- ures long-wave radio signals from the dawn of the universe and comprises more than fifty antenna arrays in Europe. The data from the five German stations are collated in Jülich. Forschungszentrum Jülich also makes its supercomputers available for subsequent data analysis. Friction Between Molecular Stars 6 October 2011 | Friction is a part of our everyday lives but is often unwanted as it can produce heat and cause material wear. In Physical Review Letters, researchers from Jülich pre- sent the results of computer simulations on the friction be- haviour of star polymers – tiny clusters made of long-chain molecules that are connected in the middle. They regard this as a step towards improving our understanding of friction pro- cesses, such as those found in human joints or prostheses. Forschungszentrum Jülich | Annual Report 2011