Thursday, May 15, 2014
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Thursday, May 15

9 a.m.-5:40 p.m.
Americas Workshop on Linear Colliders 2014 - Wilson Hall
Register in person

2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Daniel Hernandez, Northwestern University
Title: Recent Ideas on the Flavor Puzzle

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

4 p.m.
Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar (NOTE DATE, LOCATION) - Curia II
Speaker: Rob Ainsworth, Royal Holloway, University of London
Title: Parasitic Resonances in High-Power Proton Linacs

4 p.m.
Joint Experimental-Theoretical Physics Seminar (NOTE DATE) - One West
Speaker: Regina Demina, University of Rochester
Title: Top Forward Backward Asymmetry at DZero
This talk will be streamed live.

Friday, May 16

9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Americas Workshop on Linear Colliders 2014 - Wilson Hall
Register in person

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

4 p.m.
Joint Experimental-Theoretical Physics Seminar - One West
Speaker: Akira Yamamoto, KEK
Title: Progress Towards the ILC in Japan

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Wilson Hall Cafe

Thursday, May 15

- Breakfast: Canadian bacon, egg and cheese Texas toast
- Breakfast: sausage gravy omelet
- Cajun chicken sandwich
- Smart cuisine: finger-lickin' baked chicken
- Mom's meatloaf
- Eggplant parmesan panino
- Greek chicken salad
- Meatball and orzo soup
- Chef's choice soup
- Assorted pizza by the slice

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Chez Leon

Friday, May 16
Dinner
Closed

Wednesday, May 21
Lunch
- Spinach- and red pepper-stuffed chicken breast
- Orzo salad
- Strawberry shortcake

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Feature

Fermilab revives long-retired beamline

Staff celebrate the Fermilab Test Beam Facility's newly refurbished, second beamline. Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer joins the team responsible for bringing the beam online with a toast and root beer. Photo: Reidar Hahn

For eight years, Fermilab's MCenter beamline lay dormant, having been retired when the Main Injector Particle Production experiment turned off in 2006.

This week Fermilab celebrated its resurrection. At a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility on Monday, Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer recognized many people's dedication in bringing the beamline back to life. PPD's Erik Ramberg, head of detector R&D, led the multiyear effort.

"Adding an additional beamline as part of the Test Beam Facility, which has been a raging success, has taken many years," Ramberg told the crowd. "All of you have been a part of this."

The beamline will provide laboratory users with a second test beam at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. With users' demand for beam time at the facility ever increasing, the new beam couldn't come soon enough.

"It was better to keep the beamline alive than let it fall into irrevocable disrepair," Ramberg said. "It was dusty and woebegone; this thing was lying fallow. We were missing an opportunity to bring another beamline into operation."

So in 2009, Ramberg approached DOE about reviving it. Test beams, he said, are essential for detector research. Without them, it's impossible to know how a detector responds to particles coming out of an accelerator. Adding the beamline — which was already built and only needed refurbishing — would open more avenues for exploring detector technologies.

DOE gave Ramberg the green light, and he and members of the Accelerator Division, Computing Sector and the Particle Physics Division went to work. PPD's Walt Jaskierny and Jim Kilmer revived the power supplies and installed needed magnets in the user area. Michael Backfish and Tom Kobilarcik led the beamline commissioning.

"Because the beamline was off for that time, nobody knew what states the magnets and power supplies were in," said Aria Soha, Fermilab test beam coordinator.

Late last month, the beamline was finally up and running.

Researchers on the LArIAT experiment have already reserved time in the MC7 beam to characterize their liquid-argon detector.

At Monday's celebration, Lockyer did the honor of cutting a ribbon that cordoned the new MCenter Control Room and beamline, located adjacent to the busy MTest Control Room.

"The existing test beam brings in many people from many countries, and now we have a second beamline," Lockyer said. "It's a good time to celebrate."

Leah Hesla

In Brief

Fermilab and the CIE + Cisco EIR Innovation Challenge

Fermilab has been invited to participate in the CIE + Cisco EIR Innovation Challenge, created by the Chicago Innovation Exchange at the University of Chicago and Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence. The challenge offers local entrepreneurs developing game-changing big ideas in the fields of the Internet of everything, big data and analytics the opportunity to bring their ideas to life.

Applications are due by 5 p.m. CT on Friday, June 15.

For more information, including finalists' rewards, visit the CIE + Cisco EIR Innovation Challenge website.

Photos of the Day

Farmers Picnic 2014

On Saturday, May 3, more than 120 people gathered for the 17th annual Farmers Picnic in Kuhn Barn. The potluck-style event brings together families that farmed the land around Fermilab for generations before the lab was established. Photo: Valerie Higgins, CCD
Site History Committee member Rod Oxe welcomes guests to the picnic. Photo: Valerie Higgins, CCD
The group smiles for the camera. View more photos of the event. Photo: Valerie Higgins, CCD
In the News

What will we discover when we switch the LHC back on?

From euronews, May 13, 2014

Physicists can truly only imagine what they might find when they switch back on the LHC, or Large Hadron Collider — the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator.

In 2012 it gave us the Higgs boson, a particle that helps explain why the universe contains solid, massive objects and not just a soup of unruly energy.

So, what about 2015? Will physicists find new fundamental particles? Or hints of dark matter? Or something completely unexpected? The truth is, nobody can be sure, and a true spirit of exploration [reigns] over the tight-knit community at CERN on the outskirts of Geneva.

Read more

In the News

Village Theatre Guild finds romance in an unlikely setting with "now then again"

From Chicago Tribune, May 8, 2014

Playwright Penny Penniston is no physicist, but she knows how to search for traces of love among Fermilab scientists in "now then again", opening May 23 at the Village Theatre Guild in Glen Ellyn. This very provocative and surprising story is about time, science fantasy and the eternals of love, chance and humor. Tickets for the May 23 through June 14 run are available by calling 630-469-8230.

Read more

Frontier Science Result: DZero

Two b or not two b?

A new publication by the DZero collaboration measures the production of both single- and double-b quarks in conjunction with a photon, probing the gluon and b quark content of the proton. Among the findings is the first observation that pairs of b quarks are more likely to be produced at higher energies, as predicted by the theory of quantum chromodynamics.

Disponible en español

We traditionally consider the proton as comprising three quarks, two up and one down. In fact, we have long known that this is a simplified picture, representing only the average quark content; in reality the proton is a maelstrom of gluons and quark-antiquark pairs in constant dynamic interaction. This means that at any given time, a proton in fact contains quarks and antiquarks of all types, even the heavy bottom (also known as beauty, or b) quarks.

Measuring the fraction of the proton energy carried by these rare heavier quarks is an important goal, allowing the complex calculations of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) to be tuned and improved to better represent reality. In turn this leads to more accurate predictions for other processes necessary, for example, for future measurements of the W boson mass and searches for new signals beyond the Standard Model.

The DZero experiment this week released a new measurement that is highly sensitive to both the b quark content of the proton and to the gluon content. The analyzers search for events containing a high-energy photon in association with one or two b quark jets, all produced from the initial proton-antiproton collision. Some of these events come from the colliding (anti)proton's gluons, which later split into a b quark-antiquark pair, and some come directly from a b quark in the proton itself. The blend of the two processes is one prediction of QCD that can be tested by this measurement.

The final aim is to measure the normalized production probability (or cross section) for both photon+b and photon+bb events as a function of the photon momentum and compare to predictions from QCD calculations. We also report the ratio of double- to single-b quark cross sections, where most of the experimental uncertainties cancel, giving an even more precise test of the predictions.

The main challenge is in measuring and subtracting the contributions from non-photon+b(or bb) processes, which can mimic the signal. Photons can be produced from the decays of common particles inside the detector (such as neutral pions), and so the photon purity must be determined. Similarly, the tools to identify b quark jets are susceptible to contamination from similar charm (c) quark jets. For both photons and b jets, the final signal yields are measured by examining distributions that can discriminate between signal and background components.

After performing the full analysis to extract the signal yields versus photon momentum, the two cross sections and their ratio are reported and compared to different predictions from theory and simulation. One interesting finding is that the ratio of double-b to single-b cross sections increases with photon momentum, as shown in the figure above, which is consistent with the predictions that the gluon splitting process should dominate at higher energies. Two b or not two b? Well, that depends on the momentum!

Mark Williams

These DZero members all made significant contributions to this publication.
The DZero Speakers' Bureau (which also includes the spokespersons Dmitri Denisov and Gregorio Bernardi) is tasked with the challenging job of selecting worthy candidates to present DZero results at conferences all over the world. Speakers are chosen based on their contributions to the experiment, including analysis, leadership, and hardware and software service work. The bureau also keeps track of all talks ever given by DZero collaborators in an online database.
Announcements

Today's New Announcements

SharePoint for contributors (end-user) - May 16

SharePoint designer training - May 16

SharePoint site owner introductory training - May 16

Guided walk through Pioneer Cemetery (please RSVP) - May 20

Registration open for annual Fermilab Users Meeting - June 11-12

The CIE + Cisco EIR Innovation Challenge - due June 15

Fermilab scientist gives Higgs talk - today

Wilson Street entrance closed until May 18

English country dancing with live music - May 18

Mac OSX end of life - May 21

Joint Speaker Series: Science and Serendipity - May 21

Lecture Series : Quantum Universe - Hitoshi Murayama - June 11

Change in tax practice may affect some visitors

Be a winner! Take the Take Five Challenge spring 2014

Martial Arts

Fermi pool memberships

Water aerobics registration

Preschool and beginner swim lesson registration

Thursday night golf at Arrowhead Golf Course

Abri Credit Union new financial advisor