A Ph.D. student at the Illinois Institute of Technology conducting his research at Fermilab, Bafia is currently researching a method to draw maximum performance from acceleration cavities. The method, called nitrogen doping, increases superconducting radio-frequency cavity efficiency and boosts beams to higher energies over shorter distances. His work earned him the Best Student Poster Prize at the 2019 International Particle Accelerator Conference.

From The Beacon-News, June 9, 2019: A recent Sunday afternoon in Batavia gave parents and children the chance to experience animal and plant life as the Fermilab held its 11th annual Family Outdoor Fair. The event included more than a dozen outdoor activities, ranging from viewing the herd of bison that live on the property to scooping up insect and pond creatures and invertebrates with nets.

Word fans, rejoice! Symmetry is back with another list of 10 common words that take on a new meaning when spoken by scientists. Take these physics words for a spin.

In particle accelerators, the greater a beam’s intensity, the more opportunities there are to study particle interactions. One way to increase the intensity is to merge two beams with a technique called slip-stacking. However, when combining them, the beams’ interaction may cause instability. A Fermilab scientist has created a successful model of the fraught dynamics of two particle beams in close contact, leading to smoother sailing in this area of particle acceleration.

From Physics Today, June 1, 2019: Fermilab scientist Aaron Chou is an author on this article on how microwave cavity experiments make a quantum leap in the search for the dark matter of the universe. The experimental hunt for a dark matter candidate called the axion has been going on for decades, and today, a number of experiments are putting the squeeze on this hypothesized particle.

From Live Science, June 4, 2019: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln discusses why it could take millennia to find a theory of everything. It would answer all questions, leaving nothing unanswered. Why is the sky blue? Covered. Why does gravity exist? That’s covered, too. Stated in a more scientific way, a theory of everything would ideally explain all phenomena with a single theory, a single building block and a single force.

Scientists are redoubling their efforts to find dark matter by designing new and nimble experiments that can look for dark matter in previously unexplored ranges of particle mass and energy, using previously untested methods. Dark matter could be much lower in mass and slighter in energy than previously thought.

From Exascale Computing Project, May 28, 2019: Fermilab scientist Andreas Kronfeld is featured in this piece on the Excascale Computing Project, quantum chromodynamics and lattice QCD. Kronfeld, the principal investigator of ECP’s LatticeQCD project, explains how exascale computing will be essential to extending the work of precision calculations in particle physics to nuclear physics. The calculations are central for interpreting all experiments in particle physics and nuclear physics.

June 5, 2019: DUNE recientemente integró a un grupo de investigadores de la Universidad EIA como unos de sus colaboradores. Buena noticia para la ciencia básica local.

A dynamic duo at CERN is planting seeds to foster physics research in Nepal. Like many students in Nepal, they moved abroad to pursue the best higher education opportunities. Now, they are using their unique experiences working at CERN to bring some of these opportunities back to his home country.