Number 260, February 27, 1996 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein FAR AWAY AND LONG AGO: PRIMEVAL GALAXIES may have been found. Charles Steidel at Caltech and his colleagues have studied a selection of galaxies (at redshifts of about 3.5) and conclude that they are the most distant "normal" galaxies yet observed and, furthermore, that they these galaxies are quite youthful---i.e., they are full of young stars---and could properly be considered as ancestors of the elliptical and spiral galaxies we see inhabiting the cosmos in later eras. (Certain atypical radio-loud galaxies, probably associated with quasars, have been spotted at higher redshifts.) The new findings help to establish the idea that galaxy formation was well underway at relatively early times, when the universe was only about 15% of its present age. Just as important is Steidel's development of a systematic method for finding distant, young galaxies. Until now it had been difficult to locate such objects since the characteristic ultraviolet light coming from hot new stars is so easily scattered by even trace amounts of dust, in the galaxy itself or in the vast tracts of space between them and us. Steidel took this into account by setting up special color criteria and using filters to search for dim galaxies that shone at green and red but not UV wavelengths. Candidate galaxies that met his criteria, including some from the recently announced Hubble Deep Field survey (Update 255), were then viewed through the Keck telescope in order to acquire redshifts. This verified that many of the objects were quite distant. (Science News, 24 Feb. 1996; also article submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters.) ELEMENT 112 HAS BEEN DISCOVERED AT THE GSI LAB in Darmstadt, Germany by the same researchers who first created elements 107-111. In the present experiment, led by Peter Armbruster, physicists smashed zinc atoms into a lead target. This resulted in the production of a single atom of the new element, the heaviest yet detected in a lab, with an atomic mass of 277. (GSI press release, February 1996.) TABLETOP LASER ACCELERATORS ARE ON THE WAY . The goal here is to use high electric fields in plasmas to accelerate electrons to 100-GeV energies over distances of meters rather than kilometers. This should promote the development of new particle colliders and x-ray sources. The predicted high acceleration gradients in plasmas have been achieved in recent years, but could only be used with external electron injection from a conventional source. Now scientists at the University of Michigan (Donald Umstadter, 313-764-2284) have made progress in eliminating conventional electron sources altogether. In a preliminary experiment, by simply focusing a laser into a plasma, the Michigan scientists have extracted a collimated electron beam with multi-MeV energies and hope to have a beam of GeV electrons within a year. They also have a way of creating ultrashort bunches of electrons to make the highest quality electron beams (with much lower energy spread). First, they send a 100-fsec laser pulse into a gas, ionizing the gas and setting up a plasma wave. A second laser pulse, directed at right angles to the first, then induces nearby electrons to catch the plasma wave and ride with it synchronously to high energies. (D. Umstadter et al., Laser Focus World, February issue, Physical Review Letters, 18 March 1996.)