Friday Flyer - March 16, 2018
Spotlight on the Southern Methodist University QuarkNet Center
The SMU Particle Physics Group sponsors QuarkNet activities for local high school teachers and students each year and is organized by Simon Dalley. In 2017, 16 teachers from the Dallas area participated in the workshop held during the week of July 31–August 4. The workshop included talks on neutrino experiments NOvA and DUNE, the Standard Model, and teacher experiences from Data Camp at Fermilab and Inspiring Science Education in Greece. Several off-site trips were included as well: a tour of SMU's data center, a tour of the Raytheon facility in McKinney, and visit to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to design and test air-launched rockets in partnership with their STARS outreach program. Teachers tried out several activities during the workshop week, including a make-and-take lab on resistivity in wires, a dark matter "lab," and work in cooperative problem solving. Sixteen students participated in a six-week summer research program at SMU in 2017, focusing on topics in particle physics and astrophysics. Students were able to share their research experiences with teachers at a poster session during the teacher workshop.
News from QuarkNet Central
Data collection for International Muon Week wraps up today with participants focusing on two different projects: muon flux (most users) and speed of muons (advanced users). Be sure to get your data uploaded, and remember if you need help, you can access the expertise of the cosmic fellows by sending e-mail to e-labs-help@fnal.gov, or by contacting Mark. More information can be found in the IMW2018 announcement.
International Masterclasses 2018 continue this week, with videoconferences at both CERN and Fermilab. Follow them on the IMC twitter feed, or tweet your own masterclass experience, #LHCIMC18. If you have not yet signed up for a masterclass and are interested in joining, contact Ken.
Physics Experiment Roundup
The LHC begins to awake from its hibernation as the year-end technical stop comes to a close. The PUMA (antiProton Unstable Matter Annihilation) project plans to transport antimatter between labs in order to explore quantum phenomena in radioactive nuclei.
Resources
Space.com takes you on a journey into the subatomic world. A new LHC exhibit extends beyond the visual to bring the world of particle physics to people who are blind or visually impaired. In his latest video, Fermilab's Don Lincoln addresses the conundrum of special relativity's Twin Paradox. And from the New York Times, an article remembering the great physicist Stephen Hawking, who passed away this week at the age of 76.
Just for Fun
What better way to celebrate the arrival of spring than by joining the Eratosthenes Experiment, March 2018! Once registered, your school will be partnered up with another school from the same latitude to collect data, collaborate, and calculate the circumference of the earth.
QuarkNet Staff:
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Deborah Roudebush: droudebush@cox.net
Jeremy Smith: jsmith10@bcps.org
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu