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Wednesday, Feb. 20
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Fermilab Colloquium - One West
Speaker: P. Blasi, Fermilab / INAF/Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory
Title: The Origin of Cosmic Rays
Thursday, Feb. 21
THERE WILL BE NO PHYSICS AND DETECTOR SEMINAR THIS WEEK
2:30 p.m.
Computing Techniques Seminar
- FCC1
Speaker: D. Yocum, Fermilab
Title: The FermiGrid High Availability System
2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: C. Oleari, Universita di Milano-Bicocca
Title: Matching NLO Calculations with Parton Showers: The POsitive-Weight Hardest Emission Generator (POWHEG)
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4:00 p.m.
Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar - 1 West
Speakers: J. Patrick, B. Hendricks, C. Briegel - Fermilab
Title: A New Vision for the Evolution of Controls
Click here for NALCAL,
a weekly calendar with links to additional information. |
Wednesday, Feb. 20
- Portobello harvest grain
- Santa Fe chicken quesadilla
- Hoisin chicken
- Beef stroganoff
- Cuban panini
- Assorted pizza slices
- Pesto shrimp linguini with leeks/tomatoes
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu |
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Wednesday, Feb. 20
Lunch
- Spicy meat turnovers
- Confetti salad
- Pineapple rum cake
Thursday (Next week), Feb. 28
Dinner
- Sancocho w/Pastetobos
- Roast Suckling Pigs
- Chayote Guisado
- Rice & Pigeon Peas
- Flan & Tropical Fruit
Chez Leon Menu
Call x4598 to make your reservation. |
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IDES on site
A representative from the Illinois Department of Employment Security will be at a table in the southwest corner of the Wilson Hall atrium each Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. from Feb. 22 to March 28. The representative will answer questions about furlough and benefit eligibility. If you have already taken some furlough time, you may apply for benefits as well. For more details, please contact Employee Relations (Heather Sidman, hsidman@fnal.gov, x3326 or Jeannelle Smith, jsmith@fnal.gov, x4367).
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Dark Energy Survey project building coming into focus
DECam - The Dark Energy Survey camera, 1/3 scale model
Plans for the world’s most detailed survey of the southern sky head into the next phase.
After 2 ½ days of presentations, a team of 18 experts recommended to DOE and NSF in January that Fermilab’s Dark Energy Survey project build one of the world’s largest cameras. The recommended approval of Critical Decisions 2 and 3a next month would set a project baseline and allow for long-term procurements.
“We are delighted. We have been working toward this goal since December 2003, and the review recommendations give us what we need to go forward,” said DES Project Director John Peoples.
Researchers want to send the finished camera to northern Chile by the end of 2010, mount it on the 4-meter Blanco telescope and begin taking data in September 2011.
The telescope and camera would look at remote galaxy clusters and type 1a supernovae. The farther away the objects observed, the further the look back in the evolution of the universe.
DES uses a new type of CCD detector, with increased sensitivity to long wave length light from older, more distant galaxies.
“The new technology could allow a big step towards pinning down the elusive dark energy and its relationship to dark matter over about two-thirds of the 13.5-billion year evolution of the universe,” said Brenna Flaugher, DECam project manager.
"We will be able to look at the universe at a time when
dark energy and dark matter are expected to be of comparable importance, and to constrain possible alternatives to the theory of a stationary universe," said Ofer Lahav, coordinator of the DES:UK consortium.
Just after the universe cooled from the big bang and galaxies were forming, dark matter dominated, but eventually dark energy took over.
Collaborators hope to learn how galaxies formed and if the expansion of the universe will continue to accelerate.
-- Tona Kunz |
A 'golden channel' for new physics
From physorg.com,
Feb. 15, 2008
A group of physicists has dubbed a particular particle decay, the decay of the Bs meson into a neutral kaon and neutral antikaon, as a “golden channel” for new physics, suggesting that probing and studying the decay could lead to brand-new insight into the physics laws that govern the tiniest bits of matter. The scientistsdiscuss their ideas, and how this decay could be studied in the future, in the January 25, 2008, edition of Physical Review Letters.
Read more
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Bubble chamber puts new constraints on WIMPs
From physicsworld.com,
Feb. 18, 2008
Bubble chambers, which were first used in the 1950s to detect electrically charged particles, might sound as if they should belong firmly to particle-physics history books. Now, however, physicists working at the Chicagoland Observatory for Underground Particle Physics (COUPP) experiment in the US have resurrected the technique to search for dark matter. Although their bubble-chamber experiments have failed to find any dark-matter particles, the null result has imposed new limits on certain properties of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which are a leading candidate for dark matter.
The COUPP team also says that their results casts further doubt on claims made in 1998 by members of the Dark Matter (DAMA) experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy to have observed WIMPs. The DAMA team - which used a large array of sodium-iodide detectors located 1400 m below ground - insists that it is impossible to make a direct comparison between the two experiments.
Read more
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Think traffic safety
Bill Griffing, head of ES&H, wrote today's column.
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| Bill Griffing |
True or False?
The man known as the “Father of Traffic Safety” never drove an automobile? True.
William P. Eno attended the New York City opera in 1867 and experienced his first traffic jam when a dozen horse carriages became entangled. Nearly thirty-three years later, he drew from that experience and created the basis for today’s rules of the road and traffic devices such as the stop sign.
Fermilab doesn’t want to wait three decades to improve its traffic safety record. You can help by paying attention to traffic facts, tips and rules of the road.
The Traffic Safety Subcommittee has been trying to raise awareness through a number of safety tips and seminars, closer coordination with the Security Department on enforcement and more uniform disciplinary measures for moving violations. Drivers with a history of accidents and moving violations also may get additional safety training.
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| William Eno |
The idea is that thinking about safety - even odd safety trivia - will make employees and subcontractors more aware of their actions on the road, and help reduce the 49 to 60 accidents occurring each year at Fermilab.
The Directorate has challenged the subcommittee to recommend actions that would lead to cutting our vehicle accident rate in half.
We have been very fortunate that nearly all of the vehicle accidents during the last few years have not resulted in serious injuries.
The low injury rate exists because 50 percent of these accidents occurred at low, reverse speeds and most involved only one car.
As the Laboratory’s Senior Safety Officer, I ask that you adhere to the Illinois Rules of the Road, that you avoid distractions while driving, and that you look twice before you back your vehicle. With everyone’s attention to safe driving, I think we can make our goal of reducing vehicle accidents, and at the same time, further reduce the risk of serious injury.
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ES&H weekly report, Feb. 19
This week's safety report, compiled by the Fermilab ES&H section, includes no incidents. Fermilab has worked 17 days without recordable injury. The report includes some lessons learned on counterfeit breakers and waste control. It is available here.
Safety report archive
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Have a safe day!
Missing vacuum sealer needed
Sometime in the past several weeks, a vacuum bag sealer was removed from the KTeV hall. This device was there to help package the Cesium Iodide Crystals in the KTeV blockhouse planned for Monday, Feb. 25. Personnel are coming in from Japan specifically to do this work. This sealer was NOT abandoned at KTeV and the job cannot be done without it. If you or someone you know, has borrowed this machine for some other lab task, please return it. Anyone with information about this machine, please contact Ray Safarik, safarik@fnal.gov or x3671
Summer Day Camp registration due
Registration forms for the onsite day camp for children of Fermilab employees are due by 5 p.m. Feb. 28.
The camp for ages 7 through 12 consists of three separate three-week sessions: session I: June 16 - July 3, session II: July 7- July 25, session III: July 28 - August 15. The camp held in the lower level of the Kuhn Barn in the village runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. You may choose any or all of the sessions. The fee for each day camp session is $295 per camper. A $125.00 deposit per session per camper must accompany the registration form. Registrations will be accepted at the Recreation Office, M.S. 126. Applications go into a lottery held on Feb. 29. An information booklet and registration form can be found on the Recreation Website.
Applications due for 2008 CERN-Fermilab Hadron Collider school
Applications for the 2008 CERN-Fermilab Hadron Collider Physics Summer School are due Feb. 29.
The school takes place August 12-22, 2008, at Fermilab, and focuses on training advanced graduate students and young postdocs.
Both theorists and experimentalists should apply.
The list of lectures and lecturers has been posted at the school Web site. For more information, visit: http://hcpss.fnal.gov/hcpss08/.
Employee art show - applications due Feb. 25
"Hidden Talents: Fermilab Employee Art Show" will be on display, March 19 - May 14, 2008. Intent applications are due Feb. 25, and forms are available in the Art Gallery on the stand near Curia II or on the Web.
Kyuki-Do class begins Feb. 25
Kyuki-Do, a martial art similar to Taekwondo, leads to a practical method of self-defense. It teaches balance, power and grace. Classes are held for six weeks on Monday and Wednesday from 5-6 p.m. at the Recreation Facility. You must register through the Recreation Office and have a Recreation Facility membership.
Additional Activities
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