Fermilab features

Fermilab plays a key role in the Quantum Science Center, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The center unites Oak Ridge’s powerhouse capabilities in supercomputing and materials science with Fermilab’s world-class high-energy physics instrumentation and measurement expertise and facilities. Drawing on their experience building and operating experiments in cosmology and particle physics and in quantum information science, the Fermilab team is engaging in QSC efforts to develop novel, advanced quantum technologies.

The NOvA experiment, best known for its measurements of neutrino oscillations using particle beams from Fermilab accelerators, has been turning its attention to measurements of cosmic phenomena. In a series of results, NOvA reports on neutrinos from supernovae, gravitational-wave events from black hole mergers, muons from cosmic rays, and its search for the elusive monopole.

In a collaborative project with Fermilab, Argonne scientists mapped the magnetic field inside a vacuum with unprecedented accuracy. Results will be used in an experiment to shed light on the Standard Model of particle physics.

On Oct. 21, the PIP-II Injector Test Facility accelerated proton beam through its superconducting section for the first time. At this test bed for the upcoming PIP-II superconducting accelerator, collaborators will test novel particle accelerator physics concepts and technologies to be deployed in the high-tech front section of PIP-II, the future heart of the laboratory accelerator complex. The milestone achievement also marks the start of a new era at Fermilab of proton beam delivery using superconducting accelerators.

To detect the rare and subtle interactions of dark matter with ordinary matter, the particle detectors for the SuperCDMS experiment must be cooled to temperatures near absolute zero and surrounded by ultrapure copper. From the mine all the way to deployment at SNOLAB, researchers are going to great lengths to ensure the purity of the copper.

For five years, a recycled MRI magnet has provided strong magnetic fields for cross-calibration and testing of equipment used in major physics experiments, including the Muon g-2 and Mu2e Fermilab experiments.

Scientists working on experiments at the LHC are continually refining our understanding of the fundamental constituents of our universe. Every measurement, every new, uncovered facet of a subatomic particle comes only after a thorough and rigorous analysis of the data. The way they access that data may soon get an upgrade at Fermilab, where CMS collaborators recently installed a new solid-state technology at its computing facility. The technology will complement the standard spinning-disk hard drives that have been the dominant computer storage devices for the last several decades.

All summer long, progress on preparing the Fermilab site for the construction of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility has been proceeding at a healthy clip. Now, as summer winds down, that site prep is nearing completion.

Here’s how physicists calculate g-2, the value that will determine whether the muon is giving us a sign of new physics.

A precise calibration for measurements of electric current has long eluded scientists. Last year, the ampere was redefined based on the charge of a single electron. The next generation of charge-coupled devices, known as skipper CCDs, could provide the sensitivity needed to calibrate the new definition.