Monday, June 10, 2013
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Have a safe day!

Monday, June 10

2:30 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar - One West
Speaker: Nathan Whitehorn, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Title: Observation of High-Energy Neutrinos with IceCube

3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

THERE WILL BE NO ALL EXPERIMENTERS' MEETING THIS WEEK

Tuesday, June 11

10:30 a.m.
Research Techniques Seminar (NOTE LOCATION) - WH8XO
Speaker: Bruce Baller, Fermilab
Title: Columnar Recombination in the ArgoNeuT LArTPC

Noon
Undergraduate Lecture Series - Curia II
Speaker: Maurice Ball, Fermilab
Title: Mechanical Engineering at Fermilab

3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over

4 p.m.
Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar (NOTE LOCATION) - Curia II
Speaker: Jim Zagel and Randy Thurman-Keup, Fermilab
Title: Status of the New MI and RR Beam Profiling Measurement Devices

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Wilson Hall Cafe

Monday, June 10

- Breakfast: pancake sandwich
- Breakfast: sausage, egg and cheese croissant
- Philly chicken sandwich
- Smart cuisine: herbed pot roast
- Spaghetti and meatballs
- Garden beef wrap
- Creole jambalaya
- Minestrone
- Texas-style chili
- Assorted pizza by the slice

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, June 12
Lunch
- Northern Italian lasagna
- Caesar salad
- Tiramisu

Friday, June 14
Dinner
- Corn blinis with smoked salmon and chive cream
- Medallions of beef with cabernet sauce
- Potatoes dauphinoise
- Steamed broccoli
- Strawberry mousse in chocolate cups

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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In Brief

Accepting applications for Intensity Frontier Fellowships

Fermilab is launching a new Intensity Frontier Fellowship program. The purpose of these fellowships is to provide partial financial support for faculty-level scientists and postdocs to participate in research at Fermilab in support of the Intensity Frontier in the areas of neutrino physics, muon physics and other relevant topics. Fellows will receive funding to allow enhanced participation in Fermilab experimental and data analysis efforts, in particle physics theory or in future projects. The deadline for applying for fall 2013 awards is July 10.

Learn more at the Intensity Frontier Fellows website.

In Brief

DZero collaboration meeting reviews Tevatron legacy

This week the DZero collaboration is holding a workshop on the plains of DeKalb, Ill., as it plans its final campaign to review the legacy of the Tevatron. This is the 30th year that DZero has held its regular week-long workshops. With the unique Tevatron proton-antiproton data set, fully developed particle identification and well-established computing in hand, the experiment analysis teams are in position to address the most important topics of particle physics. At the workshop, scientists are discussing plans for the publication of more than 50 legacy results from the full Tevatron data set, including precision measurements of such fundamental Standard Model parameters as masses of the top quark and W boson and result combinations with the CDF and LHC experiments. Learn more about this week's workshop.

Large particle collider experiments tackle a panoply of distinct physics questions, each of which requires inputs from many algorithm and calibration tools. Weaving these disparate threads into a coherent tapestry requires a huge effort. The DZero collaboration has used these week-long collaboration-wide workshops to step back and view the overall effort and provide comprehensive guidance.

From symmetry

Winner: Cinderella's convertible carriage

Reader Emily Conover wins symmetry's latest contest with her fairy-tale description of neutrino oscillation. Image: Sandbox Studio

Last month we at symmetry challenged readers to send us their best metaphors to describe the strange behavior of subatomic particles called neutrinos.

The nearly massless particles come in three types, or flavors. But neutrinos refuse to settle on just one option; they oscillate among all three.

University of Chicago student Emily Conover submitted the winning contest entry, a text that explained neutrino oscillation in the manner of the Brothers Grimm:

Imagine Cinderella riding in her carriage to meet the prince at the ball. As she gets closer to the ball, the probability that her carriage will morph into a pumpkin increases. She started out in a vehicle that was definitively a carriage, but there's a chance that it will suddenly become something entirely different! It turns out that this doesn't just happen in fairy tales.

If Cinderella tried to hitch a ride on a neutrino, she'd have the same problem. Imagine that Cinderella jumped on the back of an electron neutrino. By the time she gets to the ball she may discover she's suddenly riding a muon neutrino. What a social faux-pas!

Read more

Kathryn Jepsen

Photos of the Day

Creepy crawlies, big to small

A five-inch-long Eastern tiger salamander roams around some rocks in the Fermilab Village. Photo: Reid Gundrum, BSS
These tent caterpillars were spotted in the dog park area. The moths they metamorphose into are known to be a destructive species, defoliating large amounts of shrubs. Photo: Reid Gundrum, BSS
A roly poly attends to a scientist's notes. Photo: Elliott McCrory, AD
Tip of the Week:
Quality Assurance

Leveraging safety and quality programs at Fermilab

The existing ES&H program is merging with the lab's Quality Assurance program to leverage the capabilities of both.

As you may already know, the Office of Quality and Best Practice has transitioned to become the QA, Training & Communications group within the Environment, Safety, Health & Quality Section. Under the direction of a new quality assurance manager, Fermilab is taking steps to integrate QA functions and services with our existing ES&H program. This will serve to leverage the capabilities of both programs to meet common goals and outcomes for the laboratory.

TJ Sarlina will lead the Quality Assurance program for Fermilab's ESH&Q Section. With a broad range of ES&H, quality assurance and project management experience, he is committed to developing a program that will map requirements, identify deficiencies and inform responsible line management about opportunities for improvement.

"Great tools have resulted from our previous QA efforts," Sarlina said. "We plan to continue using those tools while integrating quality with ES&H instead of having two parallel programs."

ESH&Q Acting Head Martha Michels, in coordination with other leaders in the section, has outlined a number of short-term goals for integrating the two programs. They include developing a quality assurance series for the Fermilab ESH&Q Manual, creating a formal QA subcommittee that reports to the Fermilab ES&H Committee, better defining the roles of quality assurance representatives and providing focused QA support for projects. Goals over the next six to 12 months include developing self-assessment schedules by functional areas, updating the Quality Assurance Web page to match the other ES&H pages and properly aligning DOE Order 414.1D, the Contractor Assurance System description, Integrated Quality Assurance document, Director's Policy documents, and D/S/C Quality Assurance documents.

Quality Assurance applies to all work conducted at Fermilab, and we have worked diligently to establish an overarching institutional approach to QA at the laboratory. This approach applies program controls using a graded approach based on an analysis of identified risks where work is to be performed. It also outlines requirements necessary to consistently meet the contract obligations throughout each laboratory division, section or center. Finally, it ensures that quality, safety, health, security, cybersecurity, environmental, facilities and infrastructure maintenance concerns, along with scientific research, are integrated into all work performed under the contract.

Through the continued reorganization of ES&H and Quality Assurance, we plan to provide a comprehensive approach to the lab's safe and efficient day-to-day operations.

J.B. Dawson

In the News

Physics: The enigmatic electron

From Nature, June 5, 2013

What is an electron? That question was central to the development of quantum theory early in the twentieth century, and remains at the frontier of physics today. There are several inconsistent answers, each correct. A century after Danish physicist Niels Bohr conceived of the electron as the proton's satellite, our perception of the electron continues to evolve and expand.

Bohr's answer to this question in 1927 epitomized his beloved concept of complementarity: in some circumstances electrons are best described as particles, with definite positions; in others as waves, with definite momenta. Both descriptions are valid and useful, yet according to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, they are mutually exclusive: positions and momenta cannot be known accurately at the same time. Each depiction captures an aspect of the electron's nature, but neither exhausts it.

Read more

Announcements

Today's New Announcements

Scottish country dancing cancelled only this Tuesday, June 11

Help the environment! Attend Abri's Shred & Recycle event - June 22

Summer intern Friday tours

Heartland Blood Drive with Oberweis gift certificates - today and tomorrow

Lecture: Particles, Fields and the Future - Sean Carroll - June 12

DASTOW scheduled for June 21

46th Fermilab Users Meeting registration now open

Learn Drupal with Fox Valley Computing Professionals

Volunteer opportunity - Coat Drive 2013

Bible Exploration for Lunch League begins study of prophecies

Pool now open

Swim lessons for children

Water fitness at Fermi Pool

Weekly 10,000 Steps-a-Day prize winner

10,000 Steps-A-Day enrollment

Ultimate Frisbee Mondays and Wednesdays

Outdoor soccer at the Village

International folk dancing moves to Wilson Hall for summer

Scottish country dancing meets Tuesday evenings in Auditorium

English country dancing at Kuhn Barn

Join the Tango Club

Raging Waves water park discount