Symmetry

What do particle accelerators and craggy outcrops have in common? Both have Tor Raubenheimer trotting the globe. Thanks to both his work at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and his passion for rock climbing, he has gotten to know people and places on several continents.

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.

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.

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.

In a brightly lit clean room at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, engineers are building a car-sized digital camera for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. When it’s ready, LSST will image almost all of the sky visible from its vantage point on a Chilean mountain, Cerro Pachón, every few nights for a decade to make an astronomical movie of unprecedented proportions. Building the LSST means solving extraordinary technological challenges.

Konstantinos Iakovidis was training in Greece’s Hellenic Army in May 2008 when his younger brother, George, was accepted into the CERN summer student program. When George told Konstantinos he had been invited to move to Switzerland for two months, he cried — and encouraged him to take the opportunity. Little did Konstantinos know that six years later, he would make his own journey to CERN and would eventually join his physicist brother on the same project, as a mechanical engineer.

Four physicists share their journeys through academia into industry and offer words of wisdom for those considering making a similar move.

Physicists meet this week in Granada, Spain, to update the European Strategy for Particle Physics. Hundreds of scientists from around the globe associated with the European particle physics program are meeting ti discuss and evaluate what Europe’s next collaborative projects should be. The end goal is a consolidated strategy that European research institutions can use to guide their efforts for the next several years.

In their quest to discover physics beyond the Standard Model, physicists weigh the pros and cons of different search strategies.

By developing clever theories and conducting experiments with particle colliders, telescopes and satellites, physicists have been able to wind the film of the universe back billions of years—and glimpse the details of the very first moments in the history of our cosmic home. Take a (brief) journey through the early history of our cosmos.