From the Big Think, September 20, 2022: Don Lincoln ponders the size of the Universe. That is the hypothetical Universe versus the actual Universe. Read more about what we don’t know and what we do know about the Universe that began almost 14 billion years ago.
In the news
From Syracuse University, September 18, 2022: Researchers at Syracuse University have received two new grants that will expand their work with physicists from around the world on projects that include MicroBooNE, DUNE and NOvA. The support comes from the NSF and DOE and will enable graduate and undergraduate students to work on everything from detector construction and operation at Fermilab and Syracuse, to final data analysis and software development.
From the American Physics Society, September 14, 2022: This April, Merminga became the new director of Fermilab and the first woman to hold the position. As director, she oversees nearly 2,000 people working on cutting-edge experiments. In this interview with APS News, she discusses her life, career, and views on the future of particle physics.
From Inside Hook, September 13, 2022: Inside Hook explores the science and public event opportunities at Fermilab. From cutting-edge experiments, to art, nature and the Lederman Science Center, Fermilab is a fantastic destination for Chicagoland area residents and visitors.
From Semiconducting Engineering, September 12, 2022: How do you extend the lifespan of qubits? Researchers at the Supercomputing Quantum Materials and Systems Center say silicon limits the lifespan of qubits because of quantum decoherence. Fermilab’s Alexander Romanenko discusses recently published research on how individual sub-components contribute to the decoherence of the qubits. Could sapphire be a better choice for future quantum chips?
From Scientific American, September 8, 2022: What came out of Snowmass 2022? In late July, nearly 800 particle physicists met for over 10 days for the once-a-decade Snowmass process to discuss and build a unified scientific vision for the future of particle physics. Find out what Fermilab director Lia Merminga presented and more about discussions around DUNE, diversity, SUSY, the LHC, future colliders and more.
From American University, September 6, 2022: Four years ago, artist Shanthi Chandrasekar exhibited at Fermilab which led to a collaboration with Michael Albrow at the American University in Washington, DC. From September 10 – December 11, 2022, Singularities and Infinities will be on display and is a juxtaposition of art and science. Together Shanthi Chandrasekar, an artist trying to capture the intricacies and wonders of the Universe, and Michael Albrow, an experimental physicist and science writer, seek to explain in a few words the science behind the workings of the Universe.
From Electronic Specifier, September 2, 2022: Electronic Specifier’s podcast talks with Gustavo Cancelo, Lead Engineer at Fermilab about a project that is developing new control electronics for quantum computers known as QICK. Developed by a team of engineers at Fermilab in collaboration with the University of Chicago, the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit provides computing experiments with a new control and readout electronics option that will significantly improve performance while replacing cumbersome and expensive systems.
From SLAC, August 31, 2022: Fermilab researchers worked with a team of 20 operators and engineers at SLAC on cryogenics to build a helium-refrigeration plant to lower the LCLS-II accelerator to superconducting temperatures. Now, it only takes one and a half hours to make a superconducting particle accelerator at SLAC colder than outer space.
From Prospect, August 29, 2022: The LHC is back running now colliding more intense beams, generating more collisions and collecting more data to sift. Fermilab’s Muon g-2 results offered an intriguing hint about muons that the LHC can follow up on by looking for new particles directly and the behavior it should induce in particles we know about.