Monday, Jan. 6, 2014
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Monday, Jan. 6

THERE WILL BE NO PARTICLE ASTROPHYSICS SEMINAR TODAY

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

THE ALL EXPERIMENTERS' MEETING HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Tuesday, Jan. 7

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

THERE WILL BE NO ACCELERATOR PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR TODAY

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Weather Partly sunny, blowing snow
-13°/-18°

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Secon Level 3

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Flags at full staff

Wilson Hall Cafe

Monday, Jan. 6

- Breakfast: blueberry pancakes
- Breakfast: sausage, egg and cheese croissant
- Sloppy joe
- Smart cuisine: pasta primavera
- Chicken curry
- Oven-roasted vegetable wrap
- Shrimp and crab scampi
- Vegetarian potato leek soup
- Texas-style chili

Wilson Hall Cafe menu

Chez Leon

Wednesday, Jan. 8
Lunch
- Carrot parsnip soup
- Spinach, sun-dried tomato and parmesan wrapped in phyllo
- Olive oil cake

Friday, Jan. 10
Dinner
- Mixed greens with pears, pecan and balsamic vinaigrette
- Blue-cheese salad
- Stuffed filet of sole with crab meat
- Wilted spinach with lemon and pine nuts
- Carrot cake

Chez Leon menu
Call x3524 to make your reservation.

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Special Announcement

Virtual P5 town hall meeting, Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 10 a.m.

The P5 committee will hold a virtual town hall meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 8, starting at 10 a.m. Central time. Scientists who will be at Fermilab and wish to participate are invited to join the meeting from One West If you will participate from off-site, be sure to visit the P5 website today to register.

Milestone

First cavity in Cryomodule 2 achieves goal gradient

Cavity 1 in Fermilab's Cryomodule 2 achieved a gradient of 31.5 MV/m on Dec. 20. Image courtesy of Elvin Harms, AD

On Dec. 20, members of the Accelerator Division SRF Electron Linac Department and the Technical Division SRF Development Department successfully brought the first accelerating cavity in Cryomodule 2 to a gradient of 31.5 megavolts per meter, the gradient required for the proposed International Linear Collider. The achievement demonstrates the cavity's successful integration into the cryomodule.

"Everyone involved should take satisfaction in this first step of bringing this cryomodule into operation," said Elvin Harms of the SRF Electron Linac Department.

A cavity's gradient is one measure of how efficiently beam is transmitted from one end of the cavity to the other. Although each of Cryomodule 2's eight cavities had previously achieved 31.5 MV/m prior to installation, this is the first time a cavity inside the cryomodule has been measured at this value. The test validates that the high gradient can be maintained even after the cavity is installed in the cryomodule.

The SRF teams will proceed with tests of the other seven cavities in Cryomodule 2, bringing them up to no higher than 31.5 MV/m. Once they ensure stable operations at this level, they will investigate the possibility of increasing the gradient from there.

"It is important that we become world experts in operating these and similar cryomodules," said Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer. "This impressive achievement is the culmination of a long road."

From symmetry

Four things you might not know about dark matter

How much do you really know about dark matter? Symmetry looks at one of the biggest remaining mysteries in particle physics. Image: Sandbox Studio

Not long after physicists on experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN laboratory discovered the Higgs boson, CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer was asked, "What's next?" One of the top priorities he named: figuring out dark matter.

Dark matter is five times more prevalent than ordinary matter. It seems to exist in clumps around the universe, forming a kind of scaffolding on which visible matter coalesces into galaxies. The nature of dark matter is unknown, but physicists have suggested that it, like visible matter, is made up of particles.

Dark matter shows up periodically in the media, often when an experiment has spotted a potential sign of it. But we are still waiting for that Nobel Prize-triggering moment when scientists know they finally have it.

Here are four facts to get you up to speed on one of the most exciting topics in particle physics.

Read more

Kathryn Jepsen

In the News

Physicists and archaeologists tussle over long-lost lead

From Physics Central Buzz Blog, Dec. 27, 2013

A confrontation among ancient and modern studies is pitting particle physicists seeking concrete evidence of dark matter against marine archaeologists intent on preserving material in centuries-old shipwrecks.

The source of the issue: samples of lead used for anchors and ballast in Roman ships that were sunk up to 2,000 years ago and remain underwater since then.

The ancient lead's purity makes it invaluable today for shielding underground experiments designed to detect evidence of dark matter, the mysterious invisible stuff that, according to physicists, accounts for 85 percent of all the matter in the universe. But some marine archaeologists assert that, as a part of the world's cultural heritage, the lead should stay in place for detailed historical study.

Read more

Tip of the Week: Quality Assurance

Quality assurance guidelines in one handy online manual

ESH&Q has developed the Quality Assurance Manual, available online, to help promote compliance with quality assurnace guidelines and to improve performance and safety at Fermilab.

Quality assurance at Fermilab is integrated into one labwide Quality Assurance Management System. It is a set of interrelated elements that Fermilab uses to plan, direct, control and improve how quality policies and procedures are established, implemented and monitored.

A vital part of this management system is the Fermilab Quality Assurance Manual (QAM). Like the Fermilab Environment, Safety and Health Manual, it collects the elements of the Quality Assurance Management System into one place for easy reference. Chapters are reviewed and approved in the same way as the FESHM and the Fermilab Radiological Control Manual (FRCM) chapters.

"ESH&Q Manuals," a new tab in the navigation bar on the ESH&Q home page, will take you to all three manuals: FESHM, FRCM and QAM. It replaces the previous FESHM tab in the navigation bar.

The Quality Assurance Manual is a living document that contains Fermilab's policies and procedures designed to manage quality in accordance with the requirements of the DOE Quality Assurance Order. Quality assurance applies to all work conducted at Fermilab, and we have worked diligently to establish an overarching institutional approach to quality assurance at the laboratory. It applies program controls using a graded approach based on an analysis of identified risks where work is to be performed. It also outlines requirements necessary to consistently meet the contract obligations throughout the laboratory.

The following are the current QAM chapters:

12010 Contractor Assurance/Lessons Learned Program and Procedures
12020 Suspect/Counterfeit Items (S/CI) Program
12030 iTrack Procedures and Risk Assignment
12040 Corrective and Preventative Actions
12050 Root Cause Analysis
12060 Quality Assurance Guidelines for Scientific Research
12070 Quality Graded Approach
12080 Self-Assessments

The goal of quality assurance is to help you use tools and methods to improve the efficiency and safety of your work by using your resources more effectively. All employees have the responsibility to identify areas where self-assessments could improve quality, performance and safety. If you have suggestions for self-assessments that might benefit your organization, please relay your suggestion to your quality assurance representative through your direct supervisor.

Kathy Zappia

Photo of the Day

Poles at sunset

The sun sets over a cold day near the north end of Fermlab's string of pi poles. Photo: Elliott McCrory
Announcements

Today's New Announcements

Earned Value Management (EVMS) course offered Jan. 28 & 29

Users Center closed Jan. 6 & 7

Float holiday - 2014

Dreamweaver class offered in February

2014 BCBS PPO & PPO Premium plan ID cards

ASM handbooks are online sitewide

Wanted: Are you an AJAS fellow?

English country dancing at Kuhn Barn

Indoor soccer