A team of international physicists join forces in hunt for sterile neutrinos
The MINOS+ and Daya Bay neutrino experiments combine results to produce most stringent test yet for the existence of sterile neutrinos.
Fermilab is America’s particle physics and accelerator laboratory. Our vision is to solve the mysteries of matter, energy, space and time for the benefit of all.
David Sweigart wins 2020 URA Thesis Award
Cornell University postdoc David Sweigart has won the 2020 URA Thesis Award for his dissertation analyzing the first year’s data from Fermilab’s Muon g-2 experiment. His efforts in analyzing the anomalous precession frequency of the muon could help confirm or challenge the Standard Model of particle physics.
Fermilab scientist Laura Fields receives $2.5 million DOE award to study beams of shape-shifting ghost particles
Laura Fields has won an Early Career Research Award from the Department of Energy to help physicists better understand the composition of neutrino beams used by Fermilab experiments. Her work will help gather and validate results that could shed light on why the universe consists of something rather than nothing.
Dark Energy Survey census of the smallest galaxies hones the search for dark matter
Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey have used observations of the smallest known galaxies to better understand dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up 85% of the matter in the universe. The smallest galaxies can contain hundreds to thousands of times more dark matter than normal visible matter, making them ideal laboratories for studying this mysterious substance. By performing a rigorous census of small galaxies surrounding our Milky Way, scientists on the Dark Energy Survey have been able to constrain the fundamental particle physics that governs dark matter.
CERN experiments announce first indications of a rare Higgs boson process
The ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN have announced new results that show that the Higgs boson decays into two muons. US CMS — the United States contingent of the global CMS collaboration — played a crucial role in this result, contributing to the excellent performance of CMS detector.
Boosting the representation of Black students
A study conducted by the TEAM-UP task force provides a road map for doubling the number of African Americans obtaining bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy.
Fermilab in the news
From Argonne National Laboratory, Aug. 5, 2020: The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research Leadership Computing Challenge has awarded 24 projects a total of 5.74 million node hours at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility to pursue challenging, high-risk, high-payoff simulations. Fermilab scientists Andreas Kronfeld and Igor Rakhno are among those who have been awarded time on the facility’s Theta supercomputer.
From Photonics, July 27, 2020: The U.S. Department of Energy has unveiled a blueprint strategy for the development of a national quantum internet, reaffirming its commitment to widening the nation’s quantum capabilities by relying on its 17 national laboratories to serve as the backbone of the coming quantum internet and the secure transmission of information.
From CERN, Aug. 4, 2020: Established in 2013, the CERN Neutrino Platform has enabled significant European participation in the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and international, Fermilab-hosted Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, as well as the ICARUS neutrino experiment. These and other global experiments will refine physicists’ understanding of neutrino oscillations and help search for the existence of a possible fourth, “sterile” neutrino.