Excavation of the large caverns for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility is in full swing. Over a third of the whopping 800,000 tons that need to be extracted from a mile underground have been removed. When finished, the underground facility will cover an area about the size of eight soccer fields and provide space for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

From Science News, August 15, 2022: W bosons are particles that transmit the weak force, which is responsible for certain types of radioactive decay. Last April, Fermilab researchers reported the W boson was more massive than predicted, hinting that something may be amiss with the standard model. Now a team of scientists with ATLAS at the LHC are reporting rare boson triplets which continues to test the standard model for any cracks.

From Big Think, August 13, 2022: After decades of research, astronomers cannot explain how and why galaxies exist. Fermilab’s Don Lincoln discusses the hypothesis of dark matter as the undiscovered form of matter to explain this galactic mystery.

From Techfragments, August 12, 2022: Jonathan Jarvis led a team of researchers who used the Integrable Optics Test Accelerator at Fermilab to demonstrate and explore a new kind of beam cooling technology. “Cooling” a beam reduces the random motion of the particles making the beam narrower and denser. Physicists could potentially use this new method to explore rare physics phenomena that help us understand our universe.

From Nature, Aug. 10, 2022: Scientists have successfully used a new technique at Fermilab’s Integrable Optics Test Accelerator
to cool a particle beam and make it denser. The new method may enable future experiments to create more particle collisions.

From Nature, Aug. 8, 2022: The accelerator would smash together this heavier version of the electron and, researchers hope, discover new particles.

Scientists successfully used a new technique to cool a particle beam and make it denser. The new method may enable future experiments to create more particle collisions. Denser particle beams provide researchers a better chance of exploring rare physics phenomena that help us understand our universe.

It’s around you, it’s a part of you, and scientists are still trying to figure it out.

From Science News, August 4, 2022: A proposed experiment called Windchime, will try something new: It will search for dark matter using the only force it is guaranteed to feel — gravity. Fermilab physicist Dan Hooper chimes in on what this experiment can mean to the study of dark matter.

As the representative of Department of Energy Office of Science at Fermilab, Snyder will continue to support the lab’s mission and ensure work is accomplished safely and within DOE requirements. The Fermilab acting site office manager since February, Snyder has been permanently reassigned to lead the Fermi Site Office while also serving as acting site office manager for nearby Argonne Laboratory.