Objectives

Participating teachers will be able to use the LIGO e-Lab to:

Here is a Google Slides presentation about a 3-day lesson plan I did with my IB Physics seniors with the cosmic ray e-Lab. I have a muon detector in my classroom, so we use that, but you don't need a physical detector to do this lesson sequence -- you can just grab data from the e-Lab website from schools around the country.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ubi_3U_36B98KVyRrwm7UQXWlDrTmzrOn-Ck6mcm1Bw/edit?usp=sharing

This lesson was in conjunction with our unit on Special Relativity. The purpose of this lesson sequence was to illustrate one famous piece of experimental evidence which is in agreement with the very non-intuitive notions of time dilation & length contraction. In other words: how do we know this Special Relativity stuff is true?

 

This is the college or AP C (with calculus) version of the video series that Tim Durkin was talking to us about. The entire video series is available from Caltech on YouTube through here:  
http://www.caltech.edu/news/pioneering-physics-show-mechanical-universe-now-youtube-53331

"That situation is playing out now, as outlined in a recent review paper in Nature. The conundrum in question is the decay of a particle called a B-meson, and how many electrons, muons, and tau particles pop out after a collision. Physicists in a handful of experiments around the world have all observed a preponderance of tau particles—not what current theories would predict."

https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/particles-behaving-badly/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday 24 July  

9:00-10:00

Jeremy Smith, Hereford HS, JHU QuarkNet Lead Teacher: "Introduction to QuarkNet"

--------------------------------------------------

10:00-11:00

Dr. Morris Swartz, JHU Physics & QuarkNet  mentor: "A Crash Course in Quantum Mechanics"

Download his Lecture Notes for the chalk talk

--------------------------------------------------

11:00-12:00

Dr. Toby Marriage, JHU Physics: "The JHU Student Radio Telescope"

Download slides in PDF, Keynote (links to Dropbox) or PowerPoint format.

--------------------------------------------------

1:00-4:30

Choice of Activities:

--Using the Student Radio Telescope

--The Cosmic Ray e-lab

--Cosmic Ray Detector Workshop

--Classroom-ready Activities from the QuarkNet Data Portfolio

--The CMS e-lab

--Modeling Activity: The "Mystery Tube"  (moderate assembly required)

--Modeling Activity: What is the Fundamental "Widget" Mass? (mild assembly required)

--Emission Spectroscopy (Gas tubes, LEDs, Lasers, Incandescent bulbs)

Contacting QuarkNet to create a new elab and/or i2u2 account:

https://goo.gl/forms/8MQT7C42zHMzAhzA3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday 25 July

9:00-10:00

Dr. Greg  Bowman, JHU Biophysics: "Regulation of a Nucleosome-Sliding Machine"

(link to slides in PDF)

--------------------------------------------------

10:00-11:00

Dr. Sabine Stanley, JHU Earth/Planetary Science: "Mars: A Magnetic History"

link to slides in PPT, PDF and here is a link to the (Quicktime) movie file she played.

--------------------------------------------------

11:00-12:00 

 Dr. Bill Blair, JHU Physics: "How Eclipses Occur, and the Great American 2017 Solar Eclipse"

link to slides (PPT or PDF)

--------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday 26 July

9:00-10:00

Dr. Peter Gehring, NIST: "Using Neutrons to Study Quasi-particle Physics in Materials Science"

(link to slides as PDF)

--------------------------------------------------

10:00-11:00 

Dr. Dave Clader, JHU APL: "Quantum Computing and Information Processing"

(slides will be available at a later date).

Fertilizer??  See this article about applications of quantum computing.

--------------------------------------------------

11:00-12:00

Dr. Mark Foster, JHU Photonics Lab: "Compressive Imaging Systems for Space- and Time-Limited Applications"

​(link to slides pending)

--------------------------------------------------

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday 27 July

9:00-10:00

Dr. Kevin Lewis, JHU Earth/Planetary Sciences: "Exploration of Gale Crater by the Curiosity Rover 

(slides unavailable due to unpublished content on them) 

--------------------------------------------------

10:00-11:00

Dr. Elijah Roberts, JHU Biophysics: "The Physics Behind How Cells Make Decisions"

​(link to slides pending)

--------------------------------------------------

11:00-12:00

Dr. Marc Kamionkowski, JHU Physics: "Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter Candidates"

link to slides in PPT  

Note 1: several movie files are embedded in the PPT, so click on the slide to play each one.

Note 2: for now, I had to post this on Google Drive because the file is too large to upload to quarknet.i2u2.org. If I can fix this later I will. When Google Drive gives you an error message, just click the "download" button to save it to your hard drive.

(link to paper on arXiv)

(link to primary author Simeon Bird's talk at STScI on 20 July 2016)

(youtube videos: laser interferometer basics; publicity video from original discovery; second discovery including "chirp" sound of the merger!)

--------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday 28 July

9:00-10:00

Summary of Research from JHU High School Interns

• Dietrich and Ryan:  The SRT, Rotation Curve, Analyzing Data w/ Python
• Jon and Abby: Quantum Mechanics Basics
• Jon: Muon Time-of-Flight
• Graham: Dark Matter
• Eddie: Black Holes
• Helena: Neutrino Oscillations

Here is a link to a short description of the difference between flavor states and mass states.

--------------------------------------------------

10:00-11:00

Dr. Andrei Gritsan, JHU Physics: "A Study of the Higgs Field"

​(link to slides in PDF)

(also, see the "Outreach" section of Dr. Gritsan's home page for a list of talks he's given in the past.)

Andrei mentioned the "Particle Data Group" catalog. Check it out here!

Here is a good YouTube video showing ways to visualize the Higgs Field and how particles interact with it

--------------------------------------------------

11:00-12:00

Dr. Sarah Woodson, JHU Biophysics: "Non-coding RNA: The Dark Matter of the Cell"

​(link to slides pending)

--------------------------------------------------

Agenda:

--Clean up mystery tube station

--Complete 2 surveys (see links below)

--Events & Opportunities to look out for, during the school year

--Discuss status of QN program

Please complete the QuarkNet annual teacher survey by following this link.

Also, we have a short JHU-specific survey that we'd like you to fill out, so that we can improve your experience next year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We had another great summer at JHU. Thanks to all who participated!  Please take some time to look at the page listing all the talks and activities for the week, as well as the posters created by the summer students explaining their research projects.

If you do something interesting with your students related to your QuarkNet learning, or your cosmic ray detector, please let us know; we'd love to hear about the great science you're doing in your classroom.

Don't forget that there are several QuarkNet / JHU activities happening throughout the school year, beginning with International Cosmic Day (November), continuing with the LHC / CMS MasterClass and International Muon Week (late winter / early spring) and finally the JHU Physics Fair (April).  And I can't leave out the Central MD Physics Olympics, hosted by our very own Tim Durkin at Liberty HS (late February).  Hope to see you there!

Please click the titles to see a poster summarizing each student's research.

Posters can be downloaded (PDF format).

=====================================

Jack Carlton - Modeling Quantum Waves and Probability

Over the course of six weeks, I researched established wave function models. These models have already made large impacts on technology today. I used a couple of simulations in order to “look into” the quantum world. As a result, I am now able to comprehend the nature of particles and their waveforms.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Tatiana Davidson Bajandas - Modeling the Milky Way Rotation Curve with No Dark Matter

I constructed a model of the rotation of the galaxy using a simple bulge model. This model yields the curve expected without the gravitational effects of dark matter. Two mathematical models were used, one for the rotation of an object inside the bulge of the galaxy and one of an object outside of it. Distinctly lower rotational speeds for objects with large radii are observed, an attribute which conflicts with collected data, strongly supporting the existence of dark matter in the outer reaches of our Milky Way Galaxy.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Kyle Dickerson - Radio Astronomy with Pulsars

Pulsars are the rotating beams of electromagnetic radiation emitted from a neutron star.  I have researched the proposal, discovery, function, and importance of pulsars using primary source documents.  I have collected data from multiple pulsars and non pulsars by using the Greenbank-20 radio telescope through the Pulsar Search Collaboratory.  Pulsars may be used to collect data concerning astrophysical phenomena.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Simon Liu - Modeling the Milky Way Rotation Curve

The purpose of this project was to construct a rotation velocity curve of the Milky Way Galaxy. Using Johns Hopkins University's Small Radio Telescope, I collected data on the radio frequencies of different parts of the galaxy and successfully recreated a rotation curve with a domain up to 8 kiloparsecs (kpc). By doing this, I hoped to find empirical evidence for unobservable matter in the galaxy. Because of the large deviation of the constructed rotation curve and the expected Newtonian rotation curve, I can conclude that there is indeed a large amount of matter that is undetectable by modern instruments.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Jason Zhao - Reconstructing Cosmic Ray Events With Muon Data

Isabelle Zhou - Characterizing Radio Galaxy Evolution Using the K-Z Relation

Using data from different sources and previous cosmological studies, I analyzed the relationships between redshift (z) and luminosity (K) in radio galaxies. After comparing my results to those of previous papers, I reaffirmed the conclusions scientists had previously predicted about the evolution of radio galaxies and made my own predictions as well.

For anyone who wants / needs the files for the cosmic ray detector, here they are in one handy zip file (zip is in .rar format). Included are the following:

1) EQUIP (user interface for the detector) as zip file - no installation required; just unzip and go.

2) rxtxserial.dll - a small file needed for people running 64 bit Java on their computer - replace the old file in the EQUIP folder with this one.

2) SiLabs software driver for the DAQ USB connection - installation required; you may need administrator privileges for this.  Both Windows 7/8/10 and Windows XP versions are included.

3) Plateauing Instructions - both the PPT instructions and the Excel spreadsheet for entering data are included.