MiniBooNE opens the box

The inside of the MiniBooNE tank is covered with 1280 inward-facing photomultiplier tubes. The picture shows a section of the upper hemisphere of the tank.

Scientists at Fermilab today announced their first findings from the MiniBooNE experiment. The MiniBooNE results resolve questions raised by observations of the LSND experiment in the 1990s that appeared to contradict findings of other neutrino experiments worldwide. MiniBooNE researchers showed conclusively that the LSND results could not be due to simple neutrino oscillation, a phenomenon in which one type of neutrino transforms into another type and back again.

The announcement significantly clarifies the overall picture of how neutrinos behave.

Currently, three types or "flavors" of neutrinos are known to exist: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos. In the last 10 years, several experiments have shown that neutrinos can oscillate from one flavor to another and back. The observations made by the LSND collaboration also suggested the presence of neutrino oscillation, but in a neutrino mass region vastly different from other experiments. Reconciling the LSND observations with the oscillation results of other neutrino experiments would have required the presence of a fourth, or "sterile" type of neutrino, with properties different from the three standard neutrinos. The existence of sterile neutrinos would throw serious doubt on the current structure of particle physics, known as the Standard Model of Particles and Forces. Because of the far-reaching consequences of this interpretation, the LSND findings cried out for independent verification.

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Best of Dance Chicago

Chicago's best dancers will take the stage Saturday night in Best of Dance Chicago, in Ramsey Auditorium.

The Best of Dance Chicago's kaleidoscope of movement slides into Fermilab with the city's best performers and choreographers, and with masters of contemporary ballet, tap, hip hop, modern, ethnic and ballroom styles set to entertain Saturday, April 14 at 8 p.m. in Wilson Hall's Ramsey Auditorium.

Curator John Schmitz, Founder of the Dance Chicago Festival, will present Thodos Dance Chicago, Chicago Tap Theatre, M.A.D.D., State Street Dance Company HipHop ConnXions, some ballroom by Erwin and Iwona, SurTaal, Stick and Move Dance Crew, Eddy Ocampo, Elements Contemporary Ballet and live music by Stone.

"This will be an absolutely terrific program with dance for any taste," said Janet MacKay-Galbraith, performing arts program manager for the Fermilab Arts & Lecture Series. "I think it's going to be a pretty exciting experience for families as well as anyone who loves dance. Though we've traditionally produced Choreographer's Showcases, we've never had this many dance companies performing on our stage in one evening, so there's sure to be something for everyone."

The event starts at 8 p.m. in Ramsey Auditorium. Tickets at the Wilson Hall box office are $20 for adults and $10 for ages 18 and under. For more information or tickets, call 630-840-ARTS (2787) or visit the Fermilab Culture web site

-- Kate Raiford

GridPP: the UK Grid for Particle Physics

Simulated event of the collision of two protons in the ATLAS particle physics experiment. Image courtesy of CERN

Particle physicists in the United Kingdom have built the country's largest grid as part of the GridPP project. Developed to analyze data from the upcoming Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the grid currently spans 17 UK sites and includes almost 10,000 CPUs and more than 500 terabytes of data storage, with available storage reserves on disk and tape of 1.5 petabytes. It is also an integral part of the Enabling Grids for E-sciencE project, contributing most of the computing power for the UK and Ireland regions.

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