From News at South Dakota State, Feb. 25, 2020: Two South Dakota State University professors are part of an international team of scientists and engineers working to uncover details about how the universe was formed. Stephen Gent and Greg Michna are using SDSU’s high-performance computing cluster to predict how argon circulates within the particle detectors to be constructed one mile beneath the earth’s surface. The detectors are for Fermilab’s Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility/Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, which will be installed in the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota.

What if you want to capture an image of a process so fast that it looks blurry if the shutter is open for even a billionth of a second? This is the type of challenge scientists on experiments like CMS and ATLAS face as they study particle collisions at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. An extremely fast new detector inside the CMS detector will allow physicists to get a sharper image of particle collisions.

One of the most difficult problems to overcome in developing a quantum computer is finding a way to maintain the lifespan of information held in quantum bits, called qubits. Researchers at Fermilab and Argonne National Laboratory are working to determine whether devices used in particle accelerators can help solve the problem. The team will run simulations on high-performance computers that will enable them to predict the lifespan of information held within these qubits using smaller versions of these devices, taking us one step closer to the age of quantum computing.

From Physics World, Feb. 24, 2020: The editor of Physics World lists the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility as one of the top 10 facilities to watch in the coming decade.

Those who study particle physics will find that every step of the journey offers a new perspective and new set of responsibilities. Symmetry chats with scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider to hear about differences between seven different rungs on the academic career ladder.

From Interactions.org, Feb. 24, 2020: In view of progress toward the realization of the International Linear Collider in Japan, the International Committee for Future Accelerators encourages the interested members of the high-energy physics community, laboratories and nations to support and participate in these preparations aimed at the successful establishment of the ILC.

From Kane County Chronicle, Feb. 24, 2020: Join Fermilab scientist emeritus Paul Mantsch at the St. Charles Public Library on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m. as he explains how the realms of the atom and the cosmos are intimately connected to each other – and to us. This special presentation will feature the story of discovery at Fermilab: past, present, future.

From ABC7, Feb. 20, 2020: Fermilab scientist emeritus Herman White, the first African-American in history to have a scientific equation that bears his name, is being honored in an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. The work that earned him the honor of having a scientific equation named for him is on display at the museum as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Black Creativity Exhibit. View the three-minute news segment.

From The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast, Feb. 14, 2020: What happened at the dawn of the universe, just trillionths of a second after the start of the big bang, remains a mystery. Revisiting these moments in his new book, “At the Edge of Time,” Fermilab scientist Dan Hooper explores many of the unknowns in cosmology. Hooper guides Ian Sample through the birth of our universe to its enigmatic constituents of dark matter and dark energy in this 22-minute podcast episode.

From Tunnels and Tunneling, Feb. 19, 2020: Three of the underground construction components are near completion at the Sanford Underground Research Facility for the far site of Fermilab’s Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility. Work is finishing up on two ore passes that connect the 4850 Level, almost one mile underground, to skips in the Ross Shaft; the Ross Headframe, which must support the skips that bring the rock to the surface; and the tramway tunnel, which will house the conveyor system that will transport excavated rock to its final location.