Cosmic ray study reaps energy, economic benefits

Two solar panels and a battery pack power each of the Pierre Auger Observatory collaboration's 1,600 detectors.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman last month set as key goals for his department using energy efficiently, researching alternative energies and bolstering foreign economies.

The Pierre Auger Observatory collaboration does all three, and that’s not even its main mission.

The collaboration studies the highest-energy cosmic rays, which strike the earth at a rate of one per square kilometer every century. That requires a lot of detectors with cheap power sources spread across a large area. Brazilian industry and a Spanish university tap into those research tools to improve consumer products.

“When we do science we use the best technology available. We use it as a tool to get our work done and the technology generally doesn’t do exactly what we want so we improve it. And that tends to benefit society,” said project manager Paul Mantsch.

As common with many high-energy physics ventures the tools needed for basic research discovery find new uses in industry or save time and money in product research and development.

Auger built detectors in ranching country in Argentina. Rather than pay to have power lines installed over 1,200 square miles, collaborators outfitted 1,600 detectors with two solar panels and a storage battery pack. This environmentally-friendly power system has created a giant quality assurance test for a Brazilian company supplying the batteries with the intent of expanding their use in Brazilian industry. Spain is benefitting by studying the data on the solar panels for use in its solar panel production.

“We didn’t use solar power to save the planet, it was the only way we could do the research,” said Peter Mazur, a physicist who works with tank, detector and solar power operations.

Likewise, the only way to expand the research to Pierre Auger North Observatory in Colorado is to create a more insulated detector tank.

Brazilian heat traditionally rots large amounts of silo-stored food. But by utilizing the new insulation process worked out with Mazur and Brazilian industry to create tanks for the future Auger experiment, Brazil is building cheaper, more efficient silos, Mazur said.

-- Tona Kunz

Chris Smith named director of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

From National Optical Astronomy Observatory News, Aug. 20, 2008

Dr. R. Chris Smith has been selected as the next director of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). Smith will succeed Dr. Alistair Walker in November. Walker will return to the scientific staff of CTIO after five years as director.

Based in La Serena, Chile, CTIO is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the US national observatory for nighttime optical/infrared astronomy funded by the National Science Foundation. On Cerro Tololo, CTIO operates the Blanco 4-meter telescope and a suite of one meter-class telescopes for a university consortium called SMARTS (as well as several tenant facilities). On nearby Cerro Pachón, CTIO operates the SOAR 4.1-meter telescope (on behalf of an international partnership) and supports U.S. participation in the international Gemini South 8-meter telescope.

"Chris has years of experience working for CTIO, he has led a major southern-sky survey of the Magellanic Clouds, and he recently headed the NOAO-wide Data Products Program during a period of extensive developments in virtual observatories," said NOAO Director David Silva. "I am confident he will excel in this new role as an observatory director.

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Ace quantum mechanics-the reality TV way!

From Wired Magazine, Aug. 18, 2008

With CERN's Large Hadron Collider finally coming online, watercoolers around the world will soon be abuzz with talk of Higgs bosons, gluons, and other mind-blowing subatomic thingies. How to keep track of all that quantum fluff? It's easier than you think. Fans of shows like Survivor, American Idol, Top Chef, or America's Next Top Model already have the tools they need to wrap their heads around the fundamental bits in our universe. Turns out, if you understand reality TV, you can understand reality.

Gluons are the Donald Trumps, Tyra Bankses, and Mark Burnetts of the subatomic world. Just as these executive producers (often doubling as onscreen overlords) dictate the rules and force contestants into tightly knit alliances for survival, gluons wield what's called the strong nuclear force, impelling quarks to clump together into the neutrons and protons of an atom's nucleus.

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