A Quantum Diaries Survivor

Tomorrow on Arxiv you will be able to read about the new combination of all measurements so far achieved of the top quark mass. Of course, the new determinations by CDF and D0 using 750 inverse picobarns of Run II data are bringing a whole new taste to this old game: the top quark mass is now known with 1.3% accuracy! That is breaking ground!

Hep-Ex/0603039 will be available starting tomorrow. Here is the title and abstract:

Combination of CDF and D0 results on the mass of the Top Quark

The Tevatron Electroweak Working Group for the CDF and D0 collaborations

Abstract 

We summarize the top-quark mass measurements from the CDF and D0 experiments at Fermilab. We combine published Run-I (1992-1996) measurements with the most recent preliminary Run-II (2001-present) measurements using up to 750 pb-1 of data. Taking correlated uncertainties properly into account the resulting preliminary world average mass of the top quark is Mt=172.5 +- 1.3(stat) +- 1.9(syst) GeV/c2, which corresponds to a total uncertainty of 2.3 GeV/c2. The top-quark mass is now known with a precision of 1.3% - a 20% improvement relative to the previous combination.

Last night I played a really remarkable rubber of Bridge at www.pogo.com.

I logged on after my kids went to bed, and soon found a table in an orange room (bridge rooms in pogo are color-coded: orange is for advanced players, whose rating is between 1600 and 1750 points). I was soon paired with a strong partner - his rating was actually purple-coded - 1870. Our opponents were both orange players as myself.

I started well, with a first easy game when I cashed a 4-spades contract, but had to yield the following game to a 3-no trump contract by our opponents, who actually made two overtricks. On the third hand, our opponents tried a 5-diamonds bid which we doubled - and they went down by two tricks thans to a great defence on our side.

All cutting-edge bridge: no real mistakes as far as I could tell so far. And then, I received a great hand in spades. After my 1-spade opening, my partner went directly to 4-spades, soon countered by a defensive 5-clubs bid. I then went up to 5- spades, to which the reply was a 6-clubs bid. At that point, I could clearly have doubled, but my hand was really strong (17 high-card points, five spades, a singleton in clubs, and 4 more spades and 8-10 HCP promised by my partner with his closeout bid at 4-spades) and so I took the gamble and went up to 6-spades. We of course were then doubled by our opponents.

I did have a chance to make the 6-spades contract, but it involved the choice between a finesse against the queen of hearts or the hope to absorb it with the king. I chose the finesse -which failed- and we went down by a trick. Had I chosen to play the king of hearts, the queen would have fallen, and the 6-spades contract would have been made. We would have won the game at once, but in retrospect I prefer how it went…

After that unlucky hand, we had to sacrifice against a 4-hearts contract by our opponents by bidding a doubled 5-clubs contract, which my partner played sloppily, going down by four tricks. With that, we were trailing by 1200 points, and ordinary means would see us losing by force. We would have to try to make at least a little slam, or trick our opponents into overbidding.

On the following hand, my partner had 17 high-card points and six diamonds (AK9865) and he opened 6-diamonds, again doubled. He played the contract well, but went down by two tricks anyway, not helped much by my three high-card points and singleton 2 of diamonds. With that, we were now down by 1700 points, and I was about to call it quits.

But, on the following hand, I was served a strong hand:17 points and five spades. I bid 1-spade. My partner went 4-no trump, inviting a Blackwood conversation. Blackwood, for those who only play bridge occasionally, is a convention used to understand how many aces and kings your opponent has, if you know that you both hold strong hands. It is finalized not to find a trump to bid, but rather to understand whether a small or grand slam is in the air.

So to the 4-no trump bid I had to answer 5-hearts - which means literally “partner, I have exactly two aces”. My partner then went 5-no trump, to which I answered 6-diamonds: “partner, I have exactly one king”. To that, my partner replied 7-no trump: the highest possible contract in a bridge hand. Our opponents thought for about five minutes, and finally decided that if we made the contract we would win the rubber. So they doubled us -just in case!-, and the game started.

Here is a screen shot after the dummy (my hand) went down:

My partner played very well, and made thirteen tricks! With that, we won a remarkable rubber - one of the most hard-fought rubbers I have ever played on pogo. Exciting!