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Superluminal Lover
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A hot song with a Latin beat about the jets of blazars, which are quasars whose jets have near-light flow speeds in a direction almost directly toward us, beaming their radiation into our line of sight. Many innuendos based on scientific terms.
pop rock folk universe cosmos alan marscher boston university profess cosmos ii science songs songs for science nerds songs in russian
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A mainly one-person band featuring strong vocals and guitar back-up, playing a variety of songs in a rock, folk, and pop blend. The songs range from science ner
Cosmos II is the pseudonym of Alan Marscher, a professor of astronomy at Boston University. Usually, he performs alone on guitar and vocals. The songs are all originals composed and copyrighted by Marscher. Some are "science nerd" songs that Cosmos II performs to science students at B.U. The majority, though, are just general songs about life, love, the pursuit of happiness and meaning, and various other random topics. Most of the songs are in English, while some are in Russian, the country where Marscher's wife, Svetlana hails from. The style is a mixture of rock, pop, and folk - what is often termed "adult contemporary." Many are humorous - e.g., "Medical Miracle" about how Viagra has revitalized a lot of middle-aged men or "Relatively Weird" about the wonders and perils of traveling around at near-light speeds. Others are philosophical, such as "All from Nothing?" about how the universe came to exist and "Elusive Truth" that asks whether absolute truth can exist. Some are just plain love songs - an example is "Together or Apart" - and others are love-is-difficult songs, like "Winter's Darkness." Laughs and tears for everyone! Marscher recorded all of the songs himself on a small digital recorder. He doesn't have loads of free time, so he hasn't worked hard enough to remove imperfections, add a drum pattern, etc. But most songs have harmony and are at least at the "demo" level of quality. Friends who have listened to them have neither gone mad nor rushed the CD to the local recycling center. More importantly to Cosmos II, Marscher can listen to them without wretching in horror over the slight mis-timings of the different tracks and other imperfections.
Song Info
Genre
Latin • General Latin
Charts
#8 today Peak #1
#3 in subgenre Peak #1
Author
Alan Marscher
Rights
2005 by Alan Marscher
Uploaded
March 14, 2008
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.4 MB • 128 kbps • 3:43
Story behind the song
I figured that our astronomical research on blazars needed a spicy theme song! Goes along with a press release we had in April 2008 on new findings of a jet in a blazar called BL Lacertae ( see http://www.bu.edu/blazars/BLLac.html ). A quasar is powered by matter falling onto a supermassive black hole - about a billion times as massive as the sun, but small enough that it would easily fit inside our solar system. The matter is in the form of ionized gas (plasma) that glows in X-ray, ultraviolet, and visible light. The infalling plasma orbits the black hole with a speed that increases toward the black hole. This differential rotation twists the magnetic field that's present, which causes it to coil up and stick out the rotational axis (the poles). Some of the plasma shoots out the poles, confined by the coiled magnetic field and propelled to near-light speeds by the decreasing magnetic pressure in the outward direction. The result is a pair of spectacular jets, but only the one coming toward us is bright enough to see because of the beaming of the radiation. What we do see is amazing - radio, infrared, visible, UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray radiation that fluctuates between brighter and fainter very rapidly. 1-3 times every year, a major burst of energy is injected into the jet, causing a shock wave to move down the jet. This is seen as a bright spot that, after "ejection," moves down the jet at something like 99% the speed of light. But a geometrical illusion (caused by the fact that the spot moves almost as fast as the light waves it produces) cause the spot to *appear* to move faster than light. This is called "superluminal motion." The jet is like a cosmic fallic symbol, which is the inspiration for the song.
Lyrics
1. Attracted by your gravity, your body's so compact Pulling me inward, prepare for close contact No strength to resist, spinning out of control Falling toward the abyss, approaching the black hole 2. Full of twisting magnetism, feeling hot inside Bursting forth with energy, ready for a high-speed ride Acceleration growing, focusing my beam The jet starts flowing, plasma shoots downstream Drawing closer . . . faster . . . closer . . . faster . . . closer . . . faster . . . Poloidal field! . . . Magnetic whip! . . . EJECTION!!! Chorus: I'm your superluminal lover, baby, emission beamed into the night Check out my relativistic jet, my love's faster than the speed of light I'm flashing as a blazar into your line of sight Hop on my relativistic jet, let's go faster than the speed of light! 3. Don't mind the illusions, it's just relativity Pardon the intrusions into your naked singularity Enjoy the time dilation, relax and take it slow Beam your radiation, make our central engines glow 4. I've got eyes like a quasar, with brilliant intensity Detect my hot desire for you with your high sensitivity I'll energize you with my shock wave, make you turbulent inside The magnetic attraction just can't be denied Drawing closer . . . faster . . . closer . . . faster . . . [chorus]
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