Modeling collisions between argon nuclei and neutrinos from a supernova

A simulated supernova neutrino interaction in the MicroBooNE detector, produced using MARLEY. This work lays a strong foundation for future supernova neutrino measurements with DUNE. Credit: MicroBooNE collaboration

Modeling collisions between argon nuclei and neutrinos from a supernova

Fermilab feature

A new computer program called MARLEY simulates supernova neutrino interactions in argon-based particle detectors.

STEM’s racial, ethnic and gender gaps are still strikingly large

From Science News, April 14, 2021: Black and Hispanic workers remain underrepresented while it varies widely by field for women. Fermilab’s Jessica Esquivel is interviewed in this story on the Pew Research report that shows ethnic and gender gaps in STEM professions.

How the Fermilab Is Changing Reality As We Know It

From The 21st NPR Illinois, April 14, 2021: Fermilab scientist Brendan Kiburg discusses the Muon g-2 result with host Brian Mackey on the 21st Illinois talk show.

Gina Rameika elected DUNE co-spokesperson

Fermilab feature

On April 1, Gina Rameika assumed the role of co-spokesperson for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, elected by a collaboration of more than 1,000 physicists and engineers. DUNE, hosted by Fermilab, comprises people from more than 200 institutions in 33 countries.

High school students to talk one-on-one with STEM professionals at Fermilab’s online STEM Career Expo

Press release

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory offers its popular annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Career Expo on Wednesday, April 21.

U Chicago, Fermilab physicists build a quantum bit that can search for dark matter

From U Chicago News, April 13, 2021: Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Chicago have demonstrated a new technique based on quantum technology that will advance the search for dark matter, which accounts for 85% of all matter in the universe.

Fermilab: something strange happens to reality

From Reccom Magazine, April 13, 2021: After decades of speculation, a Fermilab experiment showing an unexplained discrepancy from the Standard Model was raised to a confidence level of 4.2 sigma.

From the atmosphere to the underground

Read the travelogue of a xenon atom as it journeys from the air we breathe to a dark-matter detector a mile underground.

The blue cylinder in this diagram represents a superconducting microwave cavity used to accumulate a dark matter signal. The purple is the qubit used to measure the state of the cavity, either 0 or 1. The value refers to the number of photons counted. If the dark matter has successfully deposited a photon in the cavity, the output would measure 1. No deposition of a photon would measure 0. Image: Akash Dixit, University of Chicago

Sensitive qubit-based technique to accelerate search for dark matter

Fermilab feature

Quantum bits acting as particle detectors offer a fast and highly reliable means of solving one of the great mysteries in physics: the nature of dark matter. This new method promises a more efficient way to detect dark matter candidates by improving the experimental signal-to-noise ratio.

New Measurements of Muons Might Rewrite Particle Physics

From Smithsonian Magazine, April 9, 2021: Results from two particle physics experiments have come tantalizingly close to discovering a gap in the Standard Model.