Indian counselor visits Fermilab

Fermilab scientist Shekhar Mishra explains Fermilab's cryomodule testing plans for the next five years to the Indian Embassy Counselor of Science and Technology Debapriya Dutta.

Collaboration between Indian institutions and Fermilab was the focal point of last week's visit by the Indian Embassy's Counselor of Science and Technology. On May 4, Debapriya Dutta came to Fermilab to learn about the working relationship between India and Fermilab, now in its 25th year, and possibilities for future collaboration.

Associate Director of Accelerators Steve Holmes and International Collaboration Coordinator for the proposed Project X Shekhar Mishra gave presentations about the history of the collaboration between Fermilab and Indian institutions and discussed how they hope to build on it.

Following the presentations, Dutta praised knowledge sharing between the laboratory and Indian universities. Rather than "brain drain," he observed a more positive "continuum" between the institutions' people and resources.

Since 1985, when the first Indian scientist came to work at Fermilab, Indian universities have conferred dozens of Ph.D.s to students working at the laboratory. Indian institutions have participated in multiple Fermilab experiments, such as fixed-target experiments and DZero.

Currently, Indian institutions are heavily involved in research and development of new accelerator components and infrastructure at Fermilab. These include superconducting radio-frequency cavities, cryomodules and vertical and horizontal test stands. As part of his visit, Dutta toured the New Muon Lab facility, which is slated to serve as a cryomodule test facility.

This chapter in the collaboration began in 2007 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on accelerators and high-energy physics.

"This continued relationship is an unprecedented opportunity for both Indian and U.S. institutions and agencies to collaborate on jointly developing accelerators for their domestic programs," Mishra said.

This research and development could be incorporated into future proposed accelerators at Fermilab, such as Project X or the ILC, as well as applied to Indian nuclear energy programs.

"As in any good collaboration, there is something for both parties," Holmes said. "We are well aligned technically, and there is strong interest at high governmental levels both in the U.S. and India for development of a strong collaboration."

Fermilab's Shekhar Mishra shows Indian Embassy Counselor of Science and Technology Debapriya Dutta a recently assembled cryomodule at New Muon Lab.

-- Daisy Yuhas

Where is dark matter hiding?

From Discovery News, May 9, 2010

Dark matter is one of those things that keep astronomers in business. It make up 23 percent of the energy of the universe, however, we don't yet know what it IS. Particle physicists are on the hunt, and a tantalizing possible detection was announced last December. New data from a different instrument, Xenon100, casts a rather big shadow of doubt.

Although a few astronomers still doubt the actual existence of dark matter, most of the evidence points to an as-yet-undiscovered particle that does not interact with "normal" matter or light in any obvious way. In fact, these WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) do not interact with themselves in the same way that "normal" matter does. This is nicely seen in the "Bullet Cluster" in which the dark matter is separate from the hot cluster gas (above). This result really drove home the concept for me, personally.

Last December, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search II (CDMSII) announced that two dark matter particle events had been detected by their germanium and silicon detectors deep underground in a Minnesota mine. Though it was more likely that these events were due to cosmic rays or radioactivity, the results were consistent with a detection of WIMPs. The team did not, however, formally claim detection of dark matter, just a tantalizing possibility.

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