From Science, Jan. 27, 2021: Physicists await the Muon g-2 experiment’s results, which could come as early as this spring, to see whether they confirm that muons are slightly more magnetic than theory predicts. If so, it will signal new physics. Fermilab scientists discuss the experiment, as well as the secrecy required to blind themselves from affecting the results.
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After more than 15 years of work, scientists at three DOE national laboratories have succeeded in creating and testing an advanced, more powerful superconducting magnet made of a niobium-tin compound for use in the next generation of light sources.
Faint light from rogue stars not bound to galaxies has been something of a mystery to scientists. The dimness of this intracluster light makes it difficult to measure, and no one knows how much there is. Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey, led by Fermilab, have made the most radially extended measurement of this light ever and have found new evidence that its distribution might point to the distribution of dark matter.
From Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Jan. 26, 2021: The COHERENT particle physics experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has firmly established the existence of a new kind of neutrino interaction. To observe this interaction, scientists used CENNS-10, a liquid argon detector built at and on loan from Fermilab.
Scientists wrote over 1500 letters sharing what they hope the next decade of particle physics will bring. One motif: studying long-lived particles in a variety of ways — including an idea using a detector atop the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Organizers of the planning exercise that helps shape the future of U.S. particle physics have moved its final workshop back by one year.
The reimagined event will bring five days of family-friendly physics fun from the lab to the living room.
As the liaison between Fermilab and the Department of Energy Office of Science, Verhaagen will work to enable the laboratory mission and ensure work is accomplished safely and within DOE requirements.
From Forbes, Jan. 22, 2021: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln describes recent findings of scientists studying an unexplained excess of hard X-rays emanating from neutron stars. The explanation for the excess could lie in a hypothesized dark matter candidate called the axion.
From Forbes, Jan. 19, 2021: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln contextualizes the discovery of the most distant (and therefore oldest) supermassive black hole found thus far, which is 10 trillion times brighter than our sun.