Friday Flyer - September 29, 2023
Spotlight on Rice University/University of Houston QuarkNet Center
Houston area QuarkNet teachers met at Rice University for their 2023 summer workshop on June 19-23. The group included a mix of veteran QuarkNet teachers and those who were brand new to the program. Lead teacher Mary Yarbray and mentors Frank Geurts and Darin Acosta worked with QuarkNet staff and fellows to develop the five-day workshop that focused on coding, CMS data, and one of the first New Questions in Particle Physics workshops at a center. The teachers and mentors provided feedback on this new workshop that was incredibly helpful to improve the workshop for future iterations. Daily lunch sessions consisted of talks from Rice and University of Houston scientists, including Heavy Ions at the LHC, Superconducting Materials, Machine Learning with Neutrinos, The Standard Model & LHC Update, and The 2024 Eclipse.
News from QuarkNet Central
Mostly for mentors and/or lead teachers: It is the beginning of a new QuarkNet year. This means we will be looking for Annual Reports and invoices from centers for the year that just ended on August 31. Sooner is better! Not sure what to do? Check out these instructions or ask the staff!
AAPT Winter Meeting 2024: The deadline has been extended to submit a presentation for the upcoming AAPT Winter Meeting in New Orleans. The last day to submit a presentation is now October 11. Click here to submit your presentation.
Mark your calendar for upcoming events:
- World Wide Data Day is coming up on November 9. Here is the first of what will be a series of memos to keep everyone updated with the latest information about W2D2. Watch the FF for updates and upcoming memos.
- Dark Matter Day is on or around October 31.
- International Cosmic Day on November 21.
- Dates for International Masterclasses (IMC) 2024 have been announced on this IMC 2024 circular. (Note the DD.MM.YYYY format used for the dates.)
A reminder to 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 this, you will see more information about not only coming events but applications, due dates, etc.
Physics Experiment Roundup
Results from the ALPHA experiment at CERN indicate that antimatter and matter react to gravity in the same way. Symmetry also has an article on this, and you can read the full paper published in Nature.
For the next five weeks, the LHC will be colliding lead nuclei during its first heavy-ion run in five years. (Be sure to scroll down to see event displays showing the results of lead-lead collisions in various detectors.) Get a behind-the-scenes look in the control rooms, and hear from physicists from the video on this post.
More from CERN...ATLAS measures strength of the strong force with record precision. Switching to the neutrino front...
CERN commits to support the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), hosted by Fermilab.
What is quantum squeezing? Find out here! From APS Physics: "Two Black Holes Masquerading as One." And from Phys.org: It's a bird...It's a plane...It's Superbolts! Learn more about Earth's strongest lightning.
Resources
Don Lincoln has an article in Big Think on how the moon is helping us confirm Einstein's relativity.
STEP UP is offering an online workshop on the STEP UP Careers in Physics lesson on October 17 and an online workshop on the STEP UP Women in Physics lesson on November 8. These workshops are free, but you must follow the links to register. The Guidelines for Conduct During Discussion poster from STEP UP has been popular with many teachers. Note that it has been updated, and now includes seventh bullet point centered around community.
From Perimeter Institute, Quantum 101: A series of 10 short videos about quantum science. Also from Perimeter Institute, "What Does It Take to Win the Nobel Prize in Physics?", a workshop that will take place virtually on October 5.
Nobel Laureate John Mather will present a non-technical lecture, "Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with the James Webb Space Telescope" on Tuesday, October 3 at 4:30 PM CT at Kansas State University. This lecture will be broadcast live online as well, accessible here. (H/T Bharat Ratra, KSU QN mentor)
The October issue of The Physics Teacher is now available and includes several free articles, including "Marie Curie--Lifelong Teacher", "An Energy Unit Fueled by Climate Change", and "Rolling and Sliding down an Inclined Plane". Note that AAPT members have access to several additional articles.
Just for Fun
Now that the fall season is decidedly upon us (remember this from the last FF?), it's now time to enjoy those Pumpkin Spice Lattes, do a crossword puzzle, plan for the upcoming jack-o'-lantern carving season, and take in views of the Harvest Moon.
And finally, we leave you with a #ThrowbackThursday post from CERN that looks back to CERN's origins in 1954.
QuarkNet Staff
Mark Adams: adams@fnal.gov
Ken Cecire: kcecire@nd.edu
Spencer Pasero: spasero@fnal.gov
Shane Wood: swood5@nd.edu