Fermilab news for employees and users

A woman with a black shirt looks concerned and holds a banana in one hand. To the right of her, an illustration of a sun-like object that says "The Solar Neutrino Problem" in the middle of it. An illustration of three bananas is in the right-hand corner. Different flavors of neutrinos appear to come out of the sun-like object. Two electron neutrinos are in dark brown, other neutrinos are light in shade.

NEW

Even Bananas 08: The solar neutrino problem

Throw on your shades: Today on #EvenBananas, we’re looking at particles from the sun — and how trillions of them went missing. Join Fermilab scientist Kirsty Duffy to explore how an experiment using 100,000 gallons of dry cleaning fluid a mile underground led to one of the biggest mysteries in particle physics: the solar neutrino problem.

NEW

A minute with Aleksandra Ćiprijanović, astrophysicist

Whether in Serbia or Chicago, Fermilab postdoctoral researcher Aleksandra Ćiprijanović is working to unlock the secrets of the night sky. As a member of the Deep Skies Lab, an international collaboration of physicists, she’s figuring out how to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to better handle the huge amounts of data needed for discovery science.

An illustration. I person stands inside a giant, hollow gold cube and sends a signal using a device to another device on the left side of the screen that is close up and held in a hand. The close-up device says "counting" and has some numbers. In the bottom right-hand corner, it says LBNF/DUNE.

The other particle detector

When studying mysterious subatomic particles, researchers at SURF in South Dakota use a different kind of particle detector, particle counters, to prevent run-of-the-mill dust particles from creating background noise and obscuring results.

In the high bay facing out, a man uses a fire extinguisher to point at a small simulated fire. Several men look on.

Putting out fires

In May 2021, James Ranson takes the training from the Fire Department on how to use fire extinguishers correctly, using a simulated fire. This is the last time Ranson takes extinguisher training before his retirement in 2022.

Observing Juneteenth

For many Americans, June 19, or Juneteenth, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. In recognizing Juneteenth as a day of significance, we the senior leadership will exercise the choice to take a personal day of leave from work on Friday, June 18, or Monday, June 21, to reflect on the past, educate ourselves and energize our commitment to influence organizational change in the present.

Three vertical planes of sense wires stand in the center of this 3D chart that shows on the left how particles flying through the detector create electrons that drift to the sense wires of the detector, and on the right shows electric signals – the waveforms – that these wires will collect as a function of time. To the left, an incoming neutrino travels through the liquid argon of the time projection chamber, and it eventually splits into two charged particles that knock loose electrons in the liquid. To the right of the sense wires, waveforms are shown for the Y plane and the V plane.

Physicists achieve significant improvement in spotting accelerator-produced neutrinos in a cosmic haystack

Ground-breaking image reconstruction and analysis algorithms developed for surface-based MicroBooNE detector filter out cosmic ray tracks to pinpoint elusive neutrino interactions with unprecedented clarity.

A woman opens a window from the outside and faces in. She has a brown bob and is wearing dark rectangualr glasses and light-colored earrings. In the background behind her, a starry sky. Waves come out from behind her and enter into the room. On the left, a purple, space-like wave. On the right a rainbow wave and a wave that has stripes the colors of the trans flag, blue, pink and white.

A strong force for inclusion

Elena Long’s search for community as a trans scientist put her at the forefront of LGBT+ advocacy in physics.

2021 Fermilab Physics Slam

In the 2021 Fermilab Physics Slam, each contender had 10 minutes to present their topic in the most interesting way possible. This annual favorite was presented in a new, virtual format, with a Zoom audience choosing the Physics Slam Champion.

Joint appointment at JGU and Fermilab: Alfons Weber is JGU’s new W3 Professor of Experimental Particle Physics

Alfons Weber has achieved full professorship teaching Experimental Particle Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. His joint appointment at JGU and Fermilab represents the expansion of PRISMA+ neutrino physics research program.

A large meadow of yellow flowers on green stems fills the bottom third of the photo. A 16-story concrete building sits in it on the right side near the horizon. Above it, blue skies.

Help advance the ecological legacy of Fermilab

Fermilab’s natural areas are one of its distinguishing characteristics. The ELM Committee manages them.

"The Golden Particles" in text, with a glowing yellow "O" in the word Golden. Text is oerlaid onto photo of Fermilab campus, showing a 16-story concrete building and reflection pool to the right, prairie to the left and blue skies.

2021 Golden Particles Awards

Put on your fanciest outfit and join us for an evening to remember at the inaugural Golden Particles, a fake award show celebrating the smallest things in nature and the biggest research efforts in particle physics over the past year. This presentation won Fermilab science communicator Lauren Biron the 2021 Virtual Physics Slam at Fermilab on April 30.

A still with "Neutrino Flavors" written across the top. The o in flavors is a neutrino. Underneath it, the other two neutrino flavors illustrated, and a circle with a photo of a woman with dark hair and a pink and black top. Under her, it says "With guest Valerie Higgins." A woman with long brown hair holds an ice cream cone on the right side of the still.

Even Bananas 07: The 3 neutrino flavors

Grab your bibs — in today’s tasty episode, we’re digging into neutrino flavors. Join Fermilab scientist Kirsty Duffy and archivist Valerie Higgins to meet the three flavors of neutrinos and learn how to catch a neutrino with a DONUT.

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IN THE NEWS

CERN lays first stone of Science GatewayNEW

from CERN, June 21, 2021: Yesterday, CERN held a first stone ceremony for Science Gateway, the Laboratory’s new flagship project for science education and outreach.

SURF activities impact SD economyNEW

From the Black Hills Pioneer, June 20, 2021: The former Homestake Gold Mine was the largest and deepest in the western hemisphere and today it is the largest science project attempted on U.S. soil. The LBNF/DUNE includes a collaboration of more than 1,300 scientists from 32 countries. Read more about the significant impacts LBNF/DUNE is having on South Dakota.

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