Monday, Sept. 9, 2013
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Monday, Sept. 9

THERE WILL BE NO PARTICLE ASTROPHYSICS SEMINAR THIS WEEK

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

4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II
Special Topics: Proton Improvement Plan; NuMI Horn and Target Scan Report

Tuesday, Sept. 10

10:30 a.m.
Research Techniques Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Dan Levin, University of Michigan
Title: Plasma Panel Detectors for Ionizing Particles

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

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR THIS WEEK

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Wilson Hall Cafe

Monday, Sept. 9

- Breakfast: apple cinnamon multi-grain pancakes
- Breakfast: sausage, egg and cheese croissant
- Gyro
- Smart cuisine: thai peanut chicken
- Garam masala salmon with mustard sauce
- Spicy Asian chicken wrap
- Chicken BLT ranch salad
- Spicy Thai beef noodle soup
- Texas-style chili

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Sept. 11
Lunch
- Vietnamese caramelized pork and rice noodle salad
- Pomegranate poached pear

Friday, Sept. 13
Dinner
- Gazpacho
- Chili-glazed halibut with avocado tomatillo sauce
- Lemongrass rice
- Sauteed pea pods
- Pineapple flan

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Feature

U.S. institutions collaborate on new CMS pixel detector

These U.S. students work on the CMS pixel detector. They hail from various institutions, including Kansas State University, Purdue University, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Kansas, University of Nebraska - Lincoln and University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Here they stand in front of the poster of the CMS detector at CERN in July.

At the heart of the four-and-a-half-story-high particle detector of the CMS experiment at CERN is a collection of millions of tiny silicon devices known collectively as the pixel detector. When the LHC restarts after a planned shutdown from the end of 2016 to the middle of 2017, it will feature a brand-new pixel detector designed and built by a team at Fermilab in collaboration with 19 U.S. universities and more abroad.

The new detector is part of an upgrade plan that, after a successful review at the end of August, is slated to receive the Department of Energy's second stage of approval. Known as Critical Decision-1, the review covered the overall scale of the cost and schedule of the construction.

The pixel detector is the particle detection system closest to the collision point. It measures the position of particles as they make their way through the detector with a precision better than one-tenth the size of a human hair . This helps scientists distinguish bottom quarks—which are produced, for example, in the decay of a Higgs boson—from other types of quarks.

"The pixel detector contributes significantly to the precision with which you extrapolate the tracks back to the collision point," said Marco Verzocchi, a scientist at Fermilab who is on the project's management team. "This helps you to identify the tracks that did not come from the collision point."

The new pixel detector design ensures that the detector functions well when the upgraded LHC produces a much higher rate of proton-proton collisions. Its support structure will be built out of carbon fiber, a much lighter, less dense material than the current pixel detector's aluminum. This means particles are less likely to hit one of the atoms that make up the detector, thus helping reduce the number of extraneous particles generated when particles coming from a collision do hit atoms in the detector material.

The CMS team also must update the readout electronics to cope with the higher collision and data rates that will arise from a more intense beam.

"The main reason for improving and replacing the pixel detector is to address the problem with the data rates," Verzocchi said. "We're going to profit from the lessons we learned in building the first detector."

In addition to building the support structure and some of the electronics for the system, Fermilab will provide the cleanroom facility where the detector ultimately will be assembled.

Cecilia Gerber, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a manager on the project, is heading a team of graduate students and postdocs from her university that is preparing to test the detector modules during construction.

"The opportunity to work on a hardware project of this magnitude doesn't come around too often," Gerber said. "You really stretch the technology when you build these devices, as you're mostly not dealing with off-the-shelf parts. Involving young people in this process, allowing them to to see what it takes to actually build these detectors—I think that it really broadens their horizons."

Laura Dattaro

In the News

The unruly neutrino

From Science, Sept. 6, 2013

One clan of particles shamelessly flouts the rules of physicists' standard model: neutrinos. The theory says that they shouldn't have mass. Yet they do, and from the perspective of the theory, they misbehave wildly. "In neutrino physics there are places where you could have 10, 20, or 50 percent deviations from the standard model," says Patrick Huber, a theorist at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. For those seeking new physics, "that makes it a worthwhile place to look."

Read more

In the News

Asia-Pacific particle physicists back ILC

From Physics World, Sept. 3, 2013

Particle physicists in Asia and Oceania have issued a joint statement calling for the construction of the International Linear Collider (ILC), describing the proposed design as "the most promising electron–positron collider to achieve next-generation physics objectives". The announcement also backs Japan's intention to host the facility and comes less than two weeks after Japanese physicists announced their location of choice for the ILC. Together, these announcements make it look increasingly likely that the next major particle-physics experiment after CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be built in Japan rather than Europe or North America.

The statement comes from the Asia-Pacific High Energy Physics Panel (AsiaHEP) and the Asian Committee for Future Accelerators (ACFA). AsiaHEP comprises particle physicists in Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, while ACFA promotes accelerator facilities in Asia, Oceania and the Middle East.

Read more

Tip of the Week: Health

What's new with the flu?

This year, a number of vaccines are being offered to target three multiple flu strains. Image: CDC

The Centers for Disease Control have announced the new vaccines for the coming flu season. The vaccines' formulation is based on a best guess as to which of last year's flu strains will return to trouble us this season. There are a number of vaccine types being proffered this year.

The target strains in common for all vaccines are:

  1. A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like virus
  2. A/H3N2 virus, antigenically like the cell-propagated prototype virus A/Victoria/361/2011
  3. B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like virus (Yamagata lineage)

A vaccine that targets three strains is known as being trivalent, and, as seen above, this season's trivalent formulation prevents against one B lineage, the Yamagata lineage. This year the CDC is also introducing a quadrivalent formulation. The rationale for providing a vaccine that protects against a fourth strain is that two Influenza B lineages were seen last year. So this year some vaccines will contain both Yamagata and Victoria B lineage antigens. CDC anticipates that the preponderance of this year's vaccine will be trivalent, which is what Fermilab will provide. Our delivery format will be the standard in-the-muscle version.

Some exciting news is that vaccine producers have perfected technologies that are both egg-free and rapidly scalable. The technologies could help curb a pandemic by getting a customized vaccine pushed out very rapidly. One of these vaccines is cell culture-based. Another contains recombinant hemagglutinin, which allows the vaccine to be produced quickly and in large quantities.

The Fermilab Medical Office will use legacy-derived vaccine. If you are egg-allergic, the above-mentioned types may be helpful to you. This list of CDC flu vaccine recommendations has a decision tree that can assist you and your doctor in selecting a vaccine for varying degrees of egg allergy. This season there will again be the option of a high-dose vaccine for those over age 65 and an intradermal (skin prick) vaccine for those between the ages of 18 and 64. CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices expresses no preferences in regard to these options.

Of course the vaccine is only one, albeit an important, tactic in combatting the flu. Hand-washing frequently, and particularly before touching one's face or eating, helps prevent environmental transfer. Wiping down high-touch items such as counters, door knobs and phones helps limit spread if someone in your household or workplace falls ill.

The Fermilab Medical Office will provide flu vaccination for Fermilab employees in early October. More details about vaccination sign-up will be available in the near future on the Medical Office website and in Fermilab Today.

Hopefully with some defensive moves, we can evade the flu this season.

Brian Svazas, M.D., M.P.H.

Special Announcement

Exterior window washing at Wilson Hall - Sept. 9 - 14

Clorica Management workers will wash the exterior windows of Wilson Hall starting today and through Friday, Sept. 13. Employees should take care when walking outside of Wilson Hall during these work days.

Photo of the Day

Butterfly, flutter by

A female Eastern tiger swallowtail hovers over some thistle at Site 38 by the fire house. Photo: Sue Quarto, FESS
Announcements

Today's New Announcements

Outdoor soccer at the Village

Annual ICW flush begins today

Nigel Lockyer meets with users in One West - Sept. 10

Life on Mars - Fermilab Lecture Series - Sept. 13

"Got Debt? Let's Manage It!" free webinar - Sept. 18

Second City: Happily Ever Laughter at Fermilab Arts Series - Sept. 21

Access 2010 classes scheduled

MS Excel and Word classes offered this fall

Interpersonal Communication Skills class scheduled for Dec. 4

Accelerate to a Healthy Lifestyle

Abri Credit Union special offers

International folk dancing meets Thursday evenings in Auditorium

Chicago Blackhawks preseason discounts