The future of neutrino physics in Europe

A worker in the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso tunnel at CERN.

For three days last week, more than 250 scientists gathered at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the future of European participation in the field of neutrino physics.

Neutrinos are a hot topic of study in the physics community because their properties may explain the existence of a universe made of matter. Neutrinos interact so little with other particles that trillions of them pass through our bodies without leaving a trace. They are by far the lightest of the known particles, and are also the least understood.

The European Strategy for Future Neutrino Physics workshop was a step toward establishing a roadmap for European participation in neutrino physics, and increasing coordination both within the European neutrino physics community and between the European community and the rest of the world.

Experiments underway around the world now and over the next five years may greatly advance our understanding of neutrinos, but physicists expect they will need to learn more. The possibilities for new accelerator-based neutrino facilities beyond 2015, and the R&D necessary over the next few years to determine the direction of neutrino research, were the focus of last week's workshop.

The workshop, organized by a special panel of the CERN Scientific Policy Committee, also investigated the role that CERN could play in the future of European and worldwide neutrino physics facilities. CERN has a long history of involvement in neutrino physics, including the use of neutrinos to discover the weak neutral current. But today, CERN's involvement in neutrino physics is limited to creating beams of neutrinos for experiments at Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy.

The SPC panel will present a report to the CERN Council in December, for which last week's workshop provided critical input. The CERN Council is responsible for setting European strategy for particle physics as well as for deciding on future directions for the CERN laboratory. The report will address the feasibility and merit of a European neutrino physics strategy as well as the possibilities for CERN, whether future facilities are located in Europe or elsewhere in the world.

For more information, visit the agenda for the meeting, which includes all presentations given at the meeting and abstracts for the 44 posters presented

— Katie Yurkewicz

Phishing season

Fraudulent e-mailers, nicknamed phishers, try to steal personal information. Suspect e-mails should be verified by phone. Image courtesy of Brian Talbot.

Some Fermilab employees have reported receiving multiple unexpected e-mail messages from dubious addresses this month.

These messages are phishing, an attempt to gather information through electronic communication that can be used to steal your identity, your money, or both.

Any e-mail request for your password or any kind of personal information such as your bank account number or credit card number is not a legitimate request; ignore it.

But not all phishing messages ask directly for passwords or credit card numbers. The goal of some of these messages is to elicit a response to confirm whether the e-mail address is valid and can be sold or used later.

The best way to check the validity of a message is to make a phone call. Messages from laboratory staff either include a telephone number or you can look up their phone number to verify the e-mail's authenticity. If a message purports to come from a government agency, give that agency a call.

If you accidentally respond to a phishing email with any information that should not be public, contact the Service Desk at x2345 or contact computer security.

Magnet lab to investigate promising superconductor

By PhysOrg, Oct. 13, 2009

The Applied Superconductivity Center at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory has received $1.2 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to understand and enhance a new form of superconducting material that could be used to build more-powerful magnets used in a wide range of scientific research.

Read more