Friday Flyer - October 27, 2017

Spotlight on World Wide Data Day 2017

As you may have already read in the flyer, World Wide Data Day (W2D2) is coming up on November 14. On that day, midnight-to-midnight UTC, QuarkNet and IPPOG will run videoconferences most of the day in which schools will connect and students will discuss their combined results from the World Wide Data Day ATLAS and CMS measurements. The measurement is simple but important: Students look for dimuon events in LHC event displays and then measure the angle f around the beam axis and angle q from the beam axis of each muon track. Putting them in 20-degree bins, the histograms they make yield some interesting results.

Want to learn more? Check the W2D2 website and read the two W2D2 memos already sent out: Memo 0 awhile ago and Memo 1—with the latest and greatest—today. (Bonus! Here is the W2D2 flyer you have been waiting to give your students!)

Want to join in? Online registration closed Wednesday (33 groups so far!), but you can still register by contacting Ken. 

ATLAS event for W2D2. Can you find the muon tracks?

News from QuarkNet Central

Registration started today for International Masterclasses (read the circular). We are using Doodle polls limited to five entries per time slot for ATLAS masterclasses and CMS masterclasses with moderators at Fermilab. Get your slot for a great videoconference!

News you can use! Dark Matter Day is almost upon us; find out how to participate. Meanwhile, our colleagues in Italy have put together INSPYRE, a new modern physics workshop for high school students. Read the message sent by the organizers; if you have students who might participate, pass it on to them. The application deadline is November 15.

QuarkNet Nuts and Bolts

Have an unused QuarkNet cosmic ray muon detector lying around? Please either get it up and running uploading data to the e-Lab, or return it to QuarkNet central so it may be put to use in another teacher's classroom; QuarkNet will even pay for shipping! Contact Mark, Ken or Shane if you need assistance getting the detector up and running, or if you have any other questions. Contact Dave Hoppert to return a detector or request repairs.

Physics Experiment Roundup

Physics rolls on in Europe. In Italy, the CUORE experiment is providing important insights into the heart of neutrino physics. At CERN, physicists report on the results of those xenon-xenon collisions.

Resources

They abound this week. In symmetry, read up on the new astronomy LIGO and VIRGO make possible. Stay there to read a strong particle physics explanation of cross section. Then go to the videos: Don Lincoln on proton radiation therapy and QuarkNet mentor Sowjanya Gollapinni on outreach.

Just for Fun

What has Physics Girl been up to lately? How about making liquid sand (sort of)? And xkcd is strong with graphic design for the United States and knowledge-based knowledge.