Thursday, March 24, 2011
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Have a safe day!

Thursday, March 24
2:30 p.m.
Theoretical Physics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Maxim Pospelov, Perimeter Institute
Title: Cleaning the SM Backyard – New Physics Below 1 GeV?
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY

Friday, March 25
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Joint Experimental-Theoretical Physics Seminar - Auditorium
Speakers: Jeff Berryhill, Fermilab
Title: Electroweak and Top Measurements from CMS

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a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

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Weather Partly cloudy
36°/25°

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Secon Level 3

Wilson Hall Cafe

Thursday, March 24

- Breakfast: Apple sticks
- Minnesota wild rice with chicken
- Tuna melt on nine grain
- Italian meatloaf
- Chicken casserole
- Buffalo crispy chicken wrap
- Assorted sliced pizza
- Mandarin chicken

Chez Leon

Friday, March 25
Dinner
Guest Chef: William Wester
- Roasted butternut squash salad w/artisan goat cheese
- Pan-seared duck breast w/fig sauce
- Rice pilaf featuring Ojibwe wild rice
- Purple asparagus and French-style green beans w/toasted almonds
- Vegan chocolate cake w/warm chocolate ganache and fresh berries

Wednesday, March 30
Lunch
- Vietnamese caramelized pork and rice
- Noodle salad
- Banana cake

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Feature

Congressman praises Fermilab’s work

Congressman Randy Hultgren (R-IL) (fifth from left) visited the MINOS experimental hall and tunnel during his visit to Fermilab on Wednesday, March 23.

Fermilab is vital to the long-term future of the nation, Congressman Randy Hultgren said Wednesday after touring the laboratory.

“I am so excited about the future at Fermilab,” he said. “I know this is a tough time but we will get through it and our best days at Fermilab are ahead of us.”

During his two-hour visit to the laboratory, Hultgren met with graduate students, postdocs and early-career scientists, toured the MINOS cavern and learned about Fermilab’s pioneering work in superconducting radio frequency technology at the Industrial Center Building.

Hultgren said that while Congress needs to implement cuts because of a mounting deficit the distribution of those cuts should be prioritized to protect the future of the nation. He stressed that he is talking with fellow legislators about the importance of Fermilab, science and the national laboratories. He also said that he wants to keep his focus on how to maintain the health of the laboratory 10 to 20 years from now.

“The works that is being done at Fermilab must continue to grow,” he said. “If we don’t do this work who will? It is the responsibility of the US government to do basic research.”

Video of Hultgren’s remarks is available on Fermilab’s website

-- Tona Kunz

Congressman Randy Hultgren (R-IL) spoke at the Industrial Center Building at Fermilab on Wednesday, March 23.
From Minnesota DNR press release

Power restored to 27th level of Soudan mine

Electricians restored power to the 27th or lowest level of the mine at Soudan Underground Mine State Park near Tower, Minn., at approximately 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

This was an important milestone, but the park remains closed until a thorough safety inspection can be completed. Tours of the historic iron-ore mine and the University of Minnesota physics lab have been suspended indefinitely.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Park Manager Jim Essig. “We fully intend to begin offering tours of both the mine and physics lab again. We just don’t know when that will be.”

Crews that descended into the mine on Tuesday restored power to the 27th level, where the tours take place, with one of two existing electric cables. Power was needed to run the sump pumps at that level to prevent flooding.

Three other sump pumps were able to be activated on Sunday and have been removing a majority of the water from the top two-thirds of the mine since then. The pumps on the 27th level were activated on Tuesday.

Read the full press release

Feature

High rise lights go out for Earth Hour

Fermilab will shut off all nonessential lights in Wilson Hall between 8:30-9:30 p.m. CDT on Saturday, March 26, as part of Earth Hour.

Fermilab's Wilson Hall stands 16 stories above the surrounding prairie, serving as a beacon for the northwestern suburbs.

For one hour on Saturday, March 26, between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., Fermilab would like to improve its energy conservation efforts in Wilson Hall by joining businesses, organizations and homes around the world in darkness. Earth Hour, a global 60 minutes without electricity, delivers a powerful message about the need for action to pull the plug on global warming.

"Earth Hour is a simple act that gives us an opportunity to think about the way we consume energy and the impact of how we use energy on the environment," said Eric Mieland, an environmental specialist at Fermilab.

Nonessential lights in Wilson Hall shut off at pre-determined times based on annual occupant surveys. Lights necessary for safety, such as those in stairwells, and those needed to run experiments remain on. Those who need to work on Saturday night should try to do so before or after 8:30-9:30 p.m. If you must work during that time, please remember to switch lights off when done.

Wilson Hall building manager John Kent hopes that employees will do their part by turning off personal computers, task lights or any other personal electronics before leaving for the weekend.

In a 2010 press release, Commonwealth Edison, the electric company that provides power to Chicago and northern Illinois, said that the Earth Hour event cut the metropolitan area's energy consumption by an estimated 100 megawatt hours, the equivalent of removing 124,320 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or planting 15 acres of trees. Already this year, thousands of cities in 120 countries have signed on to participate in this year’s event.

For more information on Earth Hour, visit www.earthhour.org. Contact Eric Mieland, x2248, mieland@fnal.gov, with questions.

-- Rhianna Wisniewski

Result of the Week

Z bosons forward and backward

Because it is well known that protons and antiprotons contain quarks, we can precisely study subtle interplays of how quarks interact to form Z bosons and photons.

Today’s result involves a study of photons and Z bosons. Photons carry the electromagnetic force. Z bosons carry the weak force. For photons, the laws of physics are symmetric. This just means that if you see an electromagnetic physics process going to the right, you could just as easily see it going to the left. Z bosons do not have the same symmetry. If you see a weak force process going to the left, you’ll rarely see it going to the right. It makes you wonder how physicists were able to show in the 1960s that the electromagnetic and weak forces were two facets of the same thing.

Technically, this asymmetry is called the forward/backward asymmetry, although we have substituted the words left and right because it’s a bit easier to visualize. Which of the two forces dominates depends on the energy of the collision, which explores the interplay between the weak and electromagnetic forces. Further, the asymmetry is different for up and down quarks.

The LEP experiments at CERN dominated the study of Z bosons during the 1990s and many of those results are still the best ever. These experiments studied a large sample of events in which electrons and their antiparticles, positrons, annihilated to make Z bosons. The Z bosons decayed into a pair of quarks and antiquarks. The experiments recorded the direction in which the quark was produced (left vs. right). Quarks aren’t observed directly, but detectors can see jets of particles that have about the same energy as the quarks. Historically, LEP experiments are often the definitive word on Z boson studies but it’s hard figure out from a jet whether the original quark was of the up or down variety.

The DZero experiment exploited a property of nature called time reversal symmetry that says if A can make B, then B can make A. Unlike the LEP experiments in which electrons and positrons collide to make quarks, at the Tevatron, quarks and antiquarks collide to make electrons and positrons. In this case, careful note was made of how often the electrons flew to the left compared to the right. According to the Standard Model, these two directions don’t occur with equal probability, although whether right or left was preferred depends on the violence of the collision.

The measurement was in good agreement with the Standard Model and was even more precise than the corresponding LEP measurement. This is a very difficult standard to have achieved and, with even more data to analyze, DZero’s measurement will only get more precise.

-- Don Lincoln

These physicists performed this analysis.

For particle physics experiments, reliable computer operations are the cornerstone on which all other achievements are based. These physicists are responsible for DZero computer operations.
Accelerator Update

March 21-23

- No stores due to D16-2 magnet replacement
- New Recycler stash record (608.6E10)
- RF problems in Linac and Main Injector

Read the Current Accelerator Update
Read the Early Bird Report
View the Tevatron Luminosity Charts

Announcements

Latest Announcements

Join the Fermilab Golf League

Fermilab Fuel Service Center shut down - March 29-31

DocDB unavailable today, 7-8 a.m.

Turkish dance workshop today

Creative Writers meet today

ProCure Proton Therapy Center tour deadline - March 28

FREE Intro to Argentine Tango classes start March 23 and 30

Toastmasters - March 31

School's Day Out: March 28 - April 1

Fermilab Arts Series presents "Reduced Shakespeare Company: Complete World of Sports, abridged" - April 2

Fermilab Arts & Lecture Series presents: dramatic reading of "Copenhagen" by Wheaton Drama - April 8

Martial arts classes begin April 11

ACU Offers $1,000 scholarship deadline April 25

Want to read scientific journals from home?

Yoga

View UEC Tax presentation for users online

Jazzercise discount for employees

2011 Co-Ed softball league

Free T-shirt for March gym memberships

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