Probing the heart of the atom

Illustration by Sandbox Studios

The familiar elements of the Periodic Table come in a number of forms, or isotopes-some found only fleetingly in the most violent events, such as exploding stars. By creating those rare isotopes in the lab, physicists are learning how the atomic nucleus works and deciphering the natural history of the elements.

Andreas Stolz has a problem. Because of advances in superconducting magnet technology, the Michigan State University assistant professor desperately needs a new metaphor to describe the process he and his international collaborators use to create and isolate exotic nuclei.

Stolz is a physicist at MSU's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, or NSCL, one of a handful of facilities worldwide that produce rare isotopes using fast-beam fragmentation. Here's how it works: Scientists accelerate a beam of stable, ionized nuclei to nearly half the speed of light and slam it into a thin metal target. The resulting spray of reaction products continues down the beamline, where a network of magnets separates a few sought-after rare isotopes from the rest of the nuclear chaff. This cutting-edge technology helps scientists probe deeper than ever before into the origins and properties of the atom's core.

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DASTOW '09 set for June 10

After a year's absence, take your Daughters and Sons to Work Day returns to Fermilab Wednesday, June 10. The day will feature several events from 8:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. including: the Cryo Show by Mr. Freeze, bus tours to the buffalo pasture to see the babies, prairie tours, a Fire Department open house and experiment demonstrations. Hot dogs will be provided for lunch. Watch Fermilab Today for more details in the coming weeks.

Fermilab ships completed 3.9GHz cryomodule to DESY

Fermilab's first 3.9GHz superconducting RF cryomodule sits completed in the Industrial Complex Building. It was shipped to DESY on Friday. The cryomodule, which arrived safely on Tuesday, April 28, will become part of the FLASH free-electron laser.

Plan for tour groups frequenting Fermilab

Spring means changes at Fermilab. It brings out the song birds, baby bison and groups of students touring Wilson Hall.

The tours, which will occur frequently during the next two months, sometimes more than one a day, give students and adults in surrounding towns and as far away as Chicago a chance to learn about the science done at the laboratory experiments and in the prairie.

The tours are a great way to generate interest in the sciences and support for Fermilab's future proposed projects, as well as show that the laboratory works to be a good neighbor.

Docents try to schedule tours around the normal work of the laboratory, but school and bus schedules often mean tours coincide with the lunch hour and times when people frequently use the elevators.

While it's easy to get frustrated by long lines in the cafeteria or at the elevators, please try to remember the tours are part of the laboratory's outreach mission.

And just like spring, the tours will pass.

Nasa scientists snap most distant object in the universe

From Telegraph, April 28, 2009

Astronomers at Nasa have snapped a picture of the most distant object ever seen in the universe - a titanic burst of energy from a dying star 13 billion light years away.

The "gamma ray burst" is so far away that its light has taken almost the entire age of the universe to reach us.

When the light began its journey, travelling at 186,000 miles per second, only 640 million years had passed since the Big Bang that marked the dawn of creation.

The event, designated GRB 090423, was first detected by the American space agency Nasa's Swift satellite, which is designed to spot gamma ray bursts.

After Swift recorded an initial blast of gamma and X-rays, ground-based telescopes swivelled to aim at the same point in the sky and observed a fading afterglow of infra-red light.

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