In the news

From Quanta Magazine, Oct. 22, 2020: Quanta Magazine creates a new visual representation of the Standard Model, building on a scheme developed by Fermilab scientist Chris Quigg.

From APS Physics, Oct. 20, 2020: The SENSEI dark matter detector provides world-leading sensitivity for distinguishing lightweight dark matter from background noise.

From Inside HPC, Oct. 14, 2020: With the arrival of exascale computing in 2021, researchers expect to have the power to describe the underlying properties of matter and optimize and control the design of new materials and energy technologies at levels that otherwise would have been impossible. Fermilab scientist Andreas Kronfeld talks about how participation in DOE’s Exascale Computing Project can help solve complicated calculations in particle physics.

From Tech Briefs, Oct. 1, 2020: Fermilab has developed a high-power, high-energy, superconducting radio-frequency electron gun for advanced metal additive manufacturing applications. The novel design is based on a technique that eliminates liquid helium entirely and dramatically reduces the complexity of the system.

From NIST, Oct. 13, 2020: Researchers at NIST and their colleagues, including Fermilab scientist Gordan Krnjaic, have proposed a novel method for finding dark matter. The experiment, in which a billion millimeter-sized pendulums would act as dark matter sensors, would be the first to hunt for dark matter solely through its gravitational interaction with visible matter. A three-minute animation illustrates the new technique.

From Quanta Magazine, October 2020: This 17-minute podcast episode explores how three physicists stumbled across an unexpected relationship between some of the most ubiquitous objects in math. Hear Fermilab scientist Stephen Parke, DUNE collaborator Deborah Harris of York University, and Fields medalist Terence Tao discuss neutrinos, linear algebra, and the international, Fermilab-hosted Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

From APS News, October 2020: This summer, Fermilab scientist Marco Del Tutto spent weeks building the 3-D virtual rooms for the Neutrino 2020 conference. Like many conferences in 2020, the meeting occurred over the now ubiquitous application Zoom. But this conference had twists and flourishes: a poster session conducted in virtual reality, pixelated renderings of plants and couches, and Chicago-specific settings.

From Sci News, Oct. 2, 2020: A research team from four national laboratories, including Fermilab and Argonne, have undertaken work at two Fermilab neutrino experiments — MiniBooNE and NOvA — to construct a model of how neutrinos interact with atomic nuclei. This knowledge is essential to unravel an even bigger mystery: why during their journey through space or matter neutrinos magically morph from one into another of three possible types or flavors.

From Science, Oct. 2, 2020: As U.S. particle physicists start to drum up new ideas for the next decade in a yearlong Snowmass process they have no single big project to push for (or against). Physicists have just started to build the current plan’s centerpiece: The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility at Fermilab will shoot particles through 1,300 kilometers of rock to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in South Dakota. Fermilab Deputy Director of Research Joe Lykken and Fermilab scientist Vladimir Shiltsev comment on other possible pursuits in high-energy physics.

From Interesting Engineering, Oct. 4, 2020: Fermilab’s NOvA experiment is listed in this rundown of the world’s neutrino observatories.