Friday Flyer - October 13, 2023
Spotlight on Catholic University of America QuarkNet Center
The Catholic University of American (CUA) QuarkNet Center had a busy and exciting workshop week. They started asynchronously on Monday July 17 with registration and introductory materials on particle physics and then moved smartly into a Zoom session to introduce/review QuarkNet. On Tuesday, they were on campus at CUA and had a combination of in-person activities facilitated by mentors Angela McRae and Katryna Andrusik of the School of Education and online presentations by Mark on cosmic rays and by Ken introducing accelerators and detectors. Teacher Gerson Perreira gave a presentation about his experience at Data Camp as well. Wednesday took the accelerator and detector theme to new heights as the crew drove down to Newport News, Virginia to spend the day at Jefferson Lab, with its 12 GeV polarized electron accelerator and four target halls. There they got to see assembly and testing facilities, detectors, counting houses, and the control room. University Provost Aaron Dominguez, also a QuarkNet mentor and an active CMS physicist, was there, too!
Thursday was back at CUA and in-person lab visits and work with Ken on cosmic ray measurements with the Cosmic Watch, Z mass activities, and an introduction to World Wide Data Day. Provost Dominguez gave a terrific particle physics presentation. The week wrapped up on Friday with a tour of the High Energy Physics Lab and in-depth work on implementation and lesson planning. The group presented and discussed their work together with QuarkNet evaluator Kathy Race joining in on Zoom.
It was quite a week!
News from QuarkNet Central
Mostly for mentors and/or lead teachers: If you have not done so already, please submit your Annual Reports and invoices for the fiscal year that just ended on August 31. Sooner is better! Not sure what to do? Check out these instructions or ask the staff!
Mark your calendar for upcoming events:
- World Wide Data Day (W2D2) is coming up on November 9. Learn all about it: both Memo 0 and Memo 1 to teachers are available. The series of memos keep everyone updated with the latest information. Registration is open and runs until November 1. Get your students involved in this easy but captivating LHC measurement that they can do from your school in two hours or less, soup-to-nuts!
- Dark Matter Day is on or around October 31 with events all over the world. Don't let it go undetected at your school!
- International Cosmic Day on November 21. If you have a detector, do an experiment to submit! If not, use ICD-provided online data or data from the QuarkNet Cosmic Ray e-Lab.
- Dates for International Masterclasses (IMC) 2024 have been announced in this IMC 2024 circular. (Note the DD.MM.YYYY format used for the dates.)
Reminder: periodically check the QuarkNet Calendar for what's coming up in QuarkNet. When logged in, go to COMMUNITY > EVENTS to find this calendar. As we improve the calendar, you will see more information about not only coming events but applications, due dates, etc.
Physics Experiment Roundup
Folks are still talking about the latest revelations from the g-2 experiment. We have an interview with Fermilab physicists Brendan Casey and Brendan Kiburg in Chicago Magazine and a chance to practice your French in a feature about the g-2 result from the Swiss broadcaster RTS.
In LHC news from CERN Bulletin, we have a hands-across-the-ring situation as ATLAS and CMS unite on the best-ever measurement of the top quark mass. From the same source, some accelerator news and ATLAS has set new limits on the search for supersymmetric dark matter. Also, we have hands-across-Eurasia, according to Interactions, as several groups in Germany have collaborated to produce the thinnest pixel vertex detector ever to install in SuperKEKB in Japan.
Resources
Don Lincoln is back this week with a CNN article on the solar eclipse tomorrow. What? Wait! There is an eclipse tomorrow!? You bet. Unless you live under a rock, you may have heard about the annular solar eclipse due on Saturday October 14. (If you are under a rock, you will not see it anyway.) Here is a bunch of information, including the whens and wheres, from NASA and yet more about it from Space.com.
The African Conference on Fundamental and Applied Physics concluded two weeks ago in George, South Africa, where physicists from Africa and around the world met to exchange ideas and discuss the future of physics on the continent. The South African Broadcasting Corporation paid a visit to chat with participants, including Brookhaven/Stony Brook QuarkNet mentor Ketevi Assamagan. It is worth a look!
CERN opened its newest facility for education and outreach last Saturday: the CERN Science Gateway. CERN Bulletin gives us a look at the big event.
Just for Fun
More than fun: what Notre Dame QuarkNet teacher Jeremy Wegner did at Winamac Community High School. It's, it's...well, let Jeremy explain: "The shop teacher and I slapped together a trebuchet in two days to use at our positive reinforcement convocation, and students with a positive referral got randomly picked to choose a pumpkin to chuck and if it made it into the bucket, they got a $100 bill." Well, you must see the video! And the other video!
Do we have some insight from XKCD on an eclipse close to Halloween?
QuarkNet Staff
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Spencer Pasero: spasero@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu