Friday Flyer - February 12, 2016

Spotlight on the LIGO e-Lab: You may be a user of the Cosmic Ray e-Lab or of the CMS e-Lab, but have you tried the LIGO e-Lab? Gravitational waves can make only the most miniscule vibrations in the LIGO interferometer arms at Hanford and at Livingston. Thus isolating out background vibrations—seismic activity—is paramount. The detectors used to measure that seismic background generate the data in the LIGO e-Lab that students can use to study wave propagation, earthquakes, and even simple x = vt problems. To learn more contact Dale Ingram.

News from QuarkNet Central: International Masterclasses have begun! The first videoconference was at CERN yesterday, and we pick them up at Fermilab on February 25—just about two weeks away. If you have a masterclass at your center, be sure you have an orientation and Vidyo test; masterclass leaders can contact Ken Cecire. If you'd like to have one, contact Ken about that; there are a few slots open! And please let your students know that they can follow it all on Twitter, @physicsIMC and #LHCIMC16, and Facebook.

Physics Experiment Roundup: NABBED! LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, has detected gravitational waves. LIGO was designed to search for gravitational waves, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. In this first-ever observation, violently colliding black holes over a billion light-years away created an infinitesimal space-time disturbance here on Earth, which gave a telltale chirp in LIGO. The article on the BBC website explains it quite nicely. For a more technical view, try the announcement on Interactions.org, which also has a link to the Physical Review Letters article. Welcome to the era of Higgs bosons and gravitational waves! And congratulations, LIGO collaboration!

Resources: Check out this video explanation of the LIGO discovery by Brian Greene. Miss the webcast of the big announcement? Here it is.

Just for Fun: Ever seen those nifty Art Deco old travel posters from the 1920s? Well, NASA has updated them for the 2120s. Still like Calvin and Hobbes? (Who doesn't?) Here's their take on dark matter.

QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: MarkRAdams74@gmail.com
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu