Monday, April 23, 2012
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Have a safe day!

Monday, April 23
2:30 p.m.
Particle Astrophysics Seminar - Curia II
Speaker: Kathryn Zurek, University of Michigan
Title: Asymmetric Dark Matter
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
All Experimenters' Meeting - Curia II
Special Topics: Successful Completion of Six-Cavity Test with the HINS Accelerator; g-2 Equipment Disassembly at BNL; FTBF Experiment Beams and Their Use; T-1005: g-2 Calorimeter R&D at FTBF

Tuesday, April 24
10:30 a.m.
Research Techniques Seminar - One West
Speaker: Antonino Miceli, Argonne National Laboratory
Title: Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors for X-Ray Science
3:30 p.m.
DIRECTOR'S COFFEE BREAK - 2nd Flr X-Over
4 p.m.
Accelerator Physics and Technology Seminar - One West
Speaker: Richard Talman, Cornell University
Title: Storage Ring Measurement of Electric Dipole Moments of Protons and Other Baryons

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a weekly calendar with links to additional information.

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Wilson Hall Cafe

Monday, April 23

- Breakfast: Croissant sandwich
- Italian minestrone soup
- Patty melt
- Chicken cordon bleu
- Smart cuisine: Herbed pot roast
- Garden roast beef wrap
- Assorted sliced pizza
- Smart cuisine: Szechuan green beans w/ chicken
Wilson Hall Cafe Menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, April 25
Lunch
- Grilled pork kabobs w/ manchamantel sauce
- Spanish rice
- Margarita cake

Friday, April 27
Dinner
Guest chef: Martin Murphy
- Mixed greens, red wine vinegar & olive oil, seasoned dressing
- Baked mostacholi w/ meat sauce
- Traditional Sicilian antipasto
- Sicilian pork spidini
- Roasted vegetables
- Cannoli

Chez Leon Menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Milestone

Fermilab scientist to serve as chair of the APS Forum on Physics & Society

Pushpa Bhat

Congratulations to Fermilab physicist Pushpa Bhat on her election as chair of the American Physical Society's Forum on Physics and Society. The forum was founded to address issues related to the interface of physics and society as a whole. Bhat will begin her term as chair this April.

Bhat's statement as the incoming chair is available here.

Feature

Bubbles and dark matter

Fermilab scientist Mike Crisler adjust a component of the CIRTE experiment. The tiny bubble chamber (glass tube on lower right) will aid in the dark matter search. Photo: Reidar Hahn

In a deep underground laboratory, scientists are hard at work on one of the most advanced experiments in particle physics: watching bubbles form.

More than soap bubbles, these delicate reactions may point the way to the first definitive signs of dark matter.

The idea is simple: when a particle associated with dark matter passes through the superheated liquid, it slams into an iodine nucleus and forms a bubble – as if boiling water one bubble at a time. COUPP, the Chicagoland Observatory for Underground Particle Physics, scales this format to a 60 kg chamber and might move up to a possible 500 kg chamber. The chamber is housed deep within a mine at the Canadian laboratory SNOLAB. Being underground provides better shielding from cosmic rays.

The key to bubble chambers is to take a technology that's been around for decades and make it more precise. This is where CIRTE comes in. Called the COUPP Iodine Recoil Threshold Experiment, CIRTE is finding the exact conditions for when that bubble will form.

Peter Cooper, the physicist heading CIRTE, pointed out that Fermilab's first experiment began the same way more than 30 years ago in the same facility and with some of the same equipment.

"When I was a postdoc, I studied this," Cooper said. "And I remembered how to do it. So I went back and did it."

Aria Soha, manager of the Fermilab Test Beam Facility, watched as Cooper replayed shots of the reactions in the pen-sized chamber mounted within the particle beamline on a monitor.

Read more

—Brad Hooker

In the News

Making music with the sounds of symmetry

From Discovery News, April 19, 2012

If you've ever longed to hear the song of a positron, network engineer Domenico Vicinanza is making that dream come true.

Vicinanza has previously experimented with creating music from the seismic activity of volcanoes, and performing Greek music from 2,000 years ago with a troupe he formed called the Lost Sounds Orchestra. Now he's finding his inspiration in the subatomic realm via cloud chambers and bubble chambers, the precursors to today's cutting-edge particle detectors.

Cloud chambers were invented by Scottish physicist Charles Thomas Rees Wilson in 1895 at Cambridge University's famed Cavendish Laboratory.

Read more

In the News

Focus: Asymmetric patterns from symmetric forces

From Physics, April 20, 2012

A spherically symmetric interaction force between particles can cause them to self-assemble into a surprisingly asymmetric (chiral) pattern in two dimensions, according to simulations.

One of the basic puzzles in science is why chirality, the lack of mirror symmetry, is so common in nature, despite the symmetry of fundamental laws and particles. In Physical Review Letters, researchers now show that chiral systems can arise spontaneously even from extremely symmetrical starting conditions. Their work is a very simplistic example of the lack of symmetry seen in many chemical and biological systems, and could help researchers hoping to build arbitrary structures from simple building blocks.

Read more

ES&H Tip of the Week:
Safety

National Work Zone Awareness Week - April 23-27

Whether you're a pedestrian or driver, pay attention to safety cues in work zones.

Most pedestrians walk familiar routes day in and day out, whether it's between offices or to a favorite lunch spot. This familiarity can cause problems for inattentive pedestrians when they find themselves with a construction work zone in their path.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation-Federal Highway Administration, hundreds of Americans are killed every year in work zone crashes. We can avoid these needless tragedies by following some simple guidelines.

Pedestrians can simply avoid the area. You can cross the street before getting to the work zone, go a block out of your way or take the Fermilab Taxi to save you from getting muddy shoes and keep you safe. If it's not practical to avoid the work zone, be attentive and careful. Obey all work zone signs, personnel and pavement markings.

Construction on the Illinois Accelerator Research Center will begin in the CDF area soon, which will increase the number of construction vehicles entering and leaving work zones. Work zone signs, pavement markings and personnel will guide pedestrians away from danger areas, but everyone in a work zone, whether walking, working, driving or biking, should always be alert for moving construction vehicles and other unexpected hazards.

Orange work zone signs are also posted to communicate to drivers, bikers and pedestrians what is going on and how to travel safely through the work zone. Signs may also indicate that a sidewalk is closed and that a detour must be taken.

Painted or taped lines on the pavement delineate vehicle travel lanes. They can also indicate pedestrian paths. As we honor National Work Zone Awareness Week, remember that every week is Work Zone Safety Week at Fermilab, and the key to safety is to be alert. Don't miss your safety cues!

For more information on work zone safety, visit the Traffic Safety Subcommittee website.

JB Dawson

Accelerator Update

April 18-20

- SeaQuest conducted a study
- FTBF experiment T-1015 began taking beam

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

Announcements

Latest Announcements

Bulgarian dance workshop - April 26; review - May 3

Butts & Guts session begins April 26

NALWO buffalo barn tour and luncheon - April 26

Fermilab Lecture Series: Sleights of Mind: Neuroscience of Magic - April 27

National day of prayer observance - May 3

NALWO spring tea - May 10

Fermilab Arts Series: James Sewell Ballet - May 12

2012 standard mileage reimbursement rate

Work zones at Fermilab

GiftTree.com offers Mother's Day discount

Argentine Tango classes - first class free

Dragon II restaurant employee discount

Women of Fermilab - softball league

Changarro restaurant offers 15 percent discount to employees

Scottish country dancing meets Tuesday evenings in Kuhn Village barn

International folk dancing meets Thursday evenings in Kuhn Village barn

Fermilab Management Practices courses are now available for registration

Indoor soccer

Atrium construction updates

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