Fermilab Today Friday, Oct. 22, 2010
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Friday, Oct. 22
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Joint Experimental-Theoretical Physics Seminar - Ramsey Auditorium
Speaker: Ofer Lahav, University College London
Title: Testing the Dark Energy Paradigm with the Dark Energy Survey (in conjunction with the Dark Energy Survey collaboration meeting)
8 p.m.
Fermilab Lecture Series - Ramsey Auditorium
Dr. David Archer presents The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of the Earth's Climate
Tickets: $7

Monday, Oct. 25
2:30 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar - One West
Speaker: Igor Moskalenko, Stanford University
Title: GALPROP Model for Cosmic Ray Propagation and Galactic Diffuse Emission                    

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

4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II

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a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

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Weather

Weather Sunny
65°/49°

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Weather at Fermilab

Current Security Status

Secon Level 3

Wilson Hall Cafe

Friday, Oct. 22
- Breakfast: chorizo burrito
- *Chunky vegetable soup w/ orzo
- Buffalo chicken wings
- Tuna casserole
- Cajun breaded catfish
- *Teriyaki pork stir-fry
- Honey mustard ham & swiss panini
- Assorted sliced pizza
- Carved turkey

*Carb-restricted alternative

Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Oct. 27
Lunch
- Chicken satay w/ peanut sauce
- Peapods
- Jasmine rice
- Coconut cake

Thursday, Oct. 28
Dinner
- Closed

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Recreation Feature of the Month

Classes, wellness events, club and league information for November

This month, the Benefits / Recreation Department will sponsor the following classes:

  • Kyuki-Do: 5-6 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, Nov. 1 – Dec. 8 at the Recreation Facility. Fee is $55/person.
  • Yoga: Noon – 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, Nov. 2 – Dec. 21, in the Ramsey Auditorium. Fee is $85/person
  • Bod Squad Muscle Toning: 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Nov. 9 – Dec. 21 (no class on Nov. 25), at the Recreation Facility. Fee is $59/person.

This month, the Benefits/Recreation Department will also sponsor the following wellness events:

  • Free Bone Density Screenings: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 2 in Wilson Hall One North. Call Jeanne at x2548 to schedule your 10-minute screening.
  • Lunch & Learn about Qigong, Mindfulness & Tai Chi Easy® for Stress Reduction from Noon – 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov.10, in WH, Curia II. The class features moving meditation practices for stress reduction, vitality and health enhancement. Practice gentle movement, breath awareness and relaxation. Classes are currently noon – 12:45 p.m. on Fridays in Ramsey Auditorium. Beginning in November classes will also take place on Wednesdays 7 – 8 a.m. in Ramsey Auditorium and Thursdays 4:45 – 5:45 p.m. in the Users Center Music Room. Free.

Employee clubs:         

  • Scrappers: Open 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2, in the Wilson Hall Aquarium conference room. Scrapbookers bring your scissors, adhesive and journaling pen. Supplies provided for themed and generic layouts. $10/person.
  • Card Stampers: Open 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov., 9 in the Wilson Hall Aquarium conference room. Interested stampers should bring scissors, adhesive and journaling pen. Supplies provided for three cards. $10/person.
  • Toastmasters: Noon – 1 p.m. Thursdays, Nov. 4 and 18 in the Wilson Hall 7th Floor Racetrack.

  • Book Fair

    From 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17, and 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 18, in the Wilson Hall atrium. Start your holiday shopping early. Cash, check, Visa or Mastercard accepted.

From symmetrybreaking

Hogan's holometer: Testing the hypothesis of a holographic universe

MIT physicist Sam Waldman in the laser lab where the holometer is being constructed

In 2008, Fermilab particle astrophysicist Craig Hogan made waves with a mind-boggling proposition: The 3D universe in which we appear to live is no more than a hologram.

Now he is building the most precise clock of all time to directly measure whether our reality is an illusion.

The idea that spacetime may not be entirely smooth – like a digital image that becomes increasingly pixelated as you zoom in – had been previously proposed by Stephen Hawking and others. Possible evidence for this model appeared last year in the unaccountable “noise” plaguing the GEO600 experiment in Germany, which searches for gravitational waves from black holes. To Hogan, the jitteriness suggested that the experiment had stumbled upon the lower limit of the spacetime pixels’ resolution.

Black hole physics, in which space and time become compressed, provides a basis for math showing that the third dimension may not exist at all. In this two-dimensional cartoon of a universe, what we perceive as a third dimension would actually be a projection of time intertwined with depth. If this is true, the illusion can only be maintained until equipment becomes sensitive enough to find its limits.

“You can’t perceive it because nothing ever travels faster than light,” says Hogan. “This holographic view is how the universe would look if you sat on a photon.”

Not everyone agrees with this idea. Its foundation is formed with math rather than hard data, as is common in theoretical physics. And although a holographic universe would answer many questions about black hole physics and other paradoxes, it clashes with classical geometry, which demands a universe of smooth, continuous paths in space and time.

“So we want to build a machine which will be the most sensitive measurement ever made of spacetime itself,” says Hogan. “That’s the holometer.”

Read more

Recovery Act

Recovery Act gives LBNE team chance to grow

From left: Joel Sefcovic, Laura Sujan and Tracy Lundin joined the LBNE project thanks to Recovery Act funds.

A growing staff of project specialists is working behind the scenes to prepare the proposed Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment for its upcoming review.

Thanks to funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, LBNE has expanded this project team, which is developing the design, cost and schedule for the experiment’s beamline, massive detectors and associated technology and facilities. Fermilab used part of the $9 million in ARRA funding it received for long-baseline neutrino research to fill much-needed LBNE project staff positions. ARRA funding will pay for the positions for about a year, and then the LBNE project funds will take over.

“The ARRA funds are extremely important, not only to create jobs, but also to sustain jobs,” said newly hired contractor Laura Sujan, contracted project controls specialist for conventional facilities. “The projects I’ve worked on over the past year have all come from ARRA funding, and those positions would not have been available to me had it not been for the recovery funds.”

Before coming to LBNE in September, Sujan worked on an ARRA-funded project to renew Chicago Transit Authority blue line train tracks in downtown Chicago.

LBNE’s two other most recent ARRA-funded additions are contractor Joel Sefcovic, project controls specialist for the liquid argon subproject, and Tracy Lundin, Level 2 manager for conventional facilities.

Sefcovic, who has worked on several other ARRA-funded projects at Fermilab, joined the LBNE team in September. Lundin joined in August.

Lundin, Sujan and Sefcovic are already heavily involved with LBNE and in helping the project prepare for its approaching CD-1 review.

“The best part of my job so far is getting to know more about LBNE,” Sefcovic said. “Learning about the proposed neutrino beamline from Fermilab to the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory in South Dakota is really interesting, and being able to help move the project forward and advance science is really rewarding.”

-- Amelia Williamson Smith

Photo of the Day

Joe Levin tours the Silicon Detector Facility

Joe Levin (right), a staffer on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy & Water, visited Fermilab on Oct. 13. In addition to visiting the CDF assembly building, underground MINOS facility and SRF test accelerator facility, he also had the opportunity to meet with Fermilab's Tom Diehl and Brenna Flaugher to learn about the Dark Energy Camera.
Announcements

Latest Announcements

Cafeteria Closed Saturday, Oct. 23

Nov. 22 deadline for The University of Chicago Tuition Remission Program

Employee Art Show: April 2011

Fermilab Arts Series presents Project Trio: Greg Pattillo (beatbox flute); Eric Stepheson (cello); and Peter Seymour (jazz bass) Nov. 6.

Accepting nominations for Director's Award

Argentine Tango through Nov. 3

Accelerate to a Healthy Lifestyle program

Fright Fest discount tickets at Six Flags

Chicago Blackhawks discount tickets

Regal Movie Theater discount tickets available

GD&T Introduction and Fundamental Principles class - Oct. 28 & 29

PowerPoint 2007: New Features class - Oct. 28

Outlook 2007: New Features class - Oct 28

Introduction to COMSOL Multiphysics 4.1 and Its Electromagnetic Waves Simulation Capabilities tutorial - Oct. 26

Facilitating Meetings That Work class - Nov. 4

Management and Negotiation Skills class - Nov. 9 & 16

Word 2007: Intro class - Nov. 9


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