When the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope high in the Chilean Andes becomes fully operational in 2022, its 3.2-gigapixel camera will collect the same amount of data — every night. And it will do so over and over again for ten years. The sky survey will collect so much data that data scientists needed to figure out new ways for astronomers to access it.
Test beams generally sit to the side of full-on accelerators, sipping beam and passing it to the reconfigurable spaces housing temporary experiments. Scientists bring pieces of their detectors — sensors, chips, electronics or other material — and blast them with the well-understood beam to see if things work how they expect, and if their software performs as expected. Before a detector component can head to its forever home, it has to pass the test.
This summer, physicist Larry Lee had festival-goers dancing to the sounds of science. He uses his musical training and an interest in collider machinery to create a new instrument of sorts. Using a piece of standard lab equipment, Lee has created a science-inspired, electronic music-backed light show.
For the first time, scientists and policy-makers are creating a regional strategy for scientific projects in Latin America, starting with a focus on high-energy physics and cosmology.
Latin American institutions are instrumental in creating photon detectors for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.
Maria Teresa Dova has been instrumental in bringing scientists in Argentina new opportunities to participate in particle physics and astrophysics experiments, including one that co-discovered the Higgs boson.
Feeling left out of some traditional paths to community in particle physics, a group of Latin American researchers created their own way to connect.
Ground-based experiments designed to study the cosmic microwave background have gotten larger and more sophisticated over time. Now, nearly 200 scientists who have up until this point worked on different competing CMB experiments have joined forces to propose a fourth-generation experiment, the largest ground-based one yet, called CMB-S4.
A strong regional tradition of high-energy physics and astrophysics—plus the aspirations of one young researcher—brought the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-ray Observatory to Mexico.
A collaboration with fewer than 100 members has played an important role in Fermilab’s ongoing partnership with Latin American scientists and institutions.