Batavia, Ill.-Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have found a surprising discrepancy between predictions for the behavior of neutrinos and the way the subatomic particles actually behave. Although the difference is tiny, it is the kind of inconsistency that makes the hair stand up on the back of a physicist’s neck, because it could be the first sign of something that profoundly changes our picture of nature.
Experimenters at Fermilab’s NuTeV (Neutrinos at the Tevatron) experiment measured the ratio of two types of particles-neutrinos and muons-emerging from high-energy collisions of neutrinos with target nuclei. The results of generations of particle experiments with other particles have yielded precise predictions for the value of this ratio, which characterizes the interactions of particles with the weak force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. For other elementary particles, including the quarks and electrons of ordinary matter, the predictions seem to hold true. But, to the NuTeV experimenters’ surprise, when they looked at neutrinos with comparable precision, neutrinos did not appear to fall into line with expectations.
“We looked at a quantity that physicists call ‘sine squared theta W,'” said NuTeV physicist Sam Zeller, a graduate student from Northwestern University. “It tells us the strength of the interaction of neutrinos with the Z boson, one of the carriers of the weak force. The predicted value was 0.2227. The value we found was 0.2277, a difference of 0.0050. It might not sound like much, but the room full of physicists fell silent when we first revealed the result.”
The NuTeV result gets physicists’ attention because it doesn’t quite fit the Standard Model, the very precise theoretical picture that physicists have developed to explain fundamental particles and forces and their interactions. In particle physics, such “misfit” results are often the harbinger of new particles, new forces and new ways of seeing nature. The experimenters reported a three-sigma discrepancy in sin2qW, which translates to a 99.75 percent probability that the neutrinos are not behaving like other particles.
“Our picture of matter has held true for thirty years of experimental results,” said Fermilab Associate Director Michael Shaevitz, a NuTeV cospokesperson. “With the NuTeV result, it’s possible we may have stumbled across a crack in the model. As yet, we don’t know the explanation, but we believe it may foreshadow discoveries just ahead at accelerator laboratories.”
NuTeV collaborator Kevin McFarland, assistant professor of physics at the University of Rochester, emphasized that the NuTeV measurement would not be so striking if the experiment had not achieved an extraordinary level of precision, unprecedented for a neutrino experiment of its kind.
“Because we examined the interactions of millions of neutrinos and antineutrinos, their antimatter counterparts,” McFarland said, “we determined that there is only a one in four hundred chance that our measurement is consistent with the prediction. Unless this is a statistical fluke, it looks as if neutrinos may really behave differently from other fundamental particles. Further, experimenters using the Large Electron Positron at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory, recently measured this same neutrino interaction in a different particle reaction. They saw the same discrepancy we found, although with less precision. The consistency between these two very different measurements is striking.”
The elusive neutrinos carry no electric charge and “feel” only the weak force, which is a hundred times weaker than the electromagnetic force. As a result, neutrinos rarely interact with each other or with other particles, making them extremely hard to detect. Physicists designed the NuTeV experiment in order to observe the interactions of millions of the highest-energy, highest-intensity neutrinos ever produced. Starting with a proton beam from Fermilab’s Tevatron, the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator, experimenters created a beam of neutrinos directed at a giant particle detector. The detector itself was a 700-ton sandwich of alternating slices of steel and detector. As the beam passed from the first to the last slice, one in a billion neutrinos collided with a target nucleus, breaking it apart.
After the collision with a nucleus, the neutrino could either remain a neutrino or turn into a muon, a particle that is a heavier cousin of the electron. When NuTeV experimenters saw a nucleus break up, they knew a neutrino had interacted. If they saw a particle leaving the scene of the collision, they knew it was a muon. If they saw nothing leaving, they knew a neutrino (invisible to the detector’s “eye”) had come and gone. The NuTeV scientists measured the ratio of muons to neutrinos and compared it with the predicted values, which other experiments have verified to a part per thousand accuracy for other particles. A painstaking years-long analysis of the NuTeV data revealed the unexpected discrepancy.
The 45-member NuTeV collaboration-small on the scale of today’s particle physics experiments-operated for 15 months in 1996 and 1997. Rochester’s McFarland presented the measurement at an October 26 seminar at Fermilab. The collaboration has submitted the results to Physical Review Letters for publication. The collaboration included physicists from the University of Cincinnati, Columbia University, Fermilab, Kansas State University, Northwestern University, the University of Oregon, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Rochester. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
“This wouldn’t be the first time that neutrinos have surprised us,” said Northwestern’s Zeller, noting recent evidence for a small mass in the ghostly particles found by the millions in every gallon of space in the universe. “Their pervasive presence in the world around us means that even very subtle properties of neutrinos have profound implications for the way the universe works.”
Fermilab is operated by Universities Research Association, Inc. under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.
- Fermilab physicist and NuTeV cospokesman Bob Bernstein with the NuTeV detector, a 700-ton sandwich of steel, scintillator and drift chambers.
- Members of the NuTeV collaboration, shown here in 1996 with their detector. NuTeV includes scientists from the University of Cincinnati, Columbia University, Fermilab, Kansas State University, Northwestern University, the University of Oregon, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Rochester.
- With the NuTeV detector as background, Northwestern University graduate student Sam Zeller (left) and Fermilab physicist Mike Shaevitz (right) review the new NuTeV result with Kevin McFarland from the University of Rochester.
- Neutrino detector with electronic readout. The detector uses steel as a target and drift chambers and scintillator counter to capture the details of the neutrino interactions.
- Precise measurements for other particles, including force-carrying bosons, quarks, electrons and muons, led to the predictions for sine-squared-theta-W for neutrinos. NuTeV experimenters, however, found a result that differed significantly from the predicted value.
- The NuTeV detector was a 700-ton sandwich with over a hundred slices of alternating steel and particle detectors. Even with 700 tons of target material to hit, only one in a billion neutrinos in the NuTeV beam interacted as it went fromt the first to the last slice.
DOE names Central Helium Liquefier a Showcase Facility
In a ribbon-cutting ceremony today (September 26) at 2:00 p.m. the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory will officially start operating its latest energy-saving equipment that will conserve enough energy to power more than 200 households, cutting the laboratory’s annual electricity bill by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The completion of a new compressor and cooling tower, critical elements in Fermilab’s unique liquid-helium cooling system, will reduce power consumption by one megawatt. In appreciation of this achievement, the Department of Energy will present today the Energy Saver Showcase Award to the Central Helium Liquefier plant, where the new equipment is located. The award describes the one-million-dollar project as a model for other laboratories around the country.
“This has been a complex energy-saving project, not the usual ‘replacing old light bulbs with energy-efficient ones,'” said Steve Krstulovich, member of Fermilab’s Facilities Engineering Services Section. “In the last two years, the Utility Incentive Program has allowed us to invest 60 million dollars in energy-saving projects. We have worked closely with our utility companies and identified more than 100 projects that would pay for themselves.”
The Federal UIP program funds energy infrastructure and conservation improvements that will result in savings exceeding the initial investment within 10 years. It allows commercial utilities -like ComEd and Nicor Gas-to suggest and provide new facilities and receive payment through resulting savings in energy costs.
The Showcase Award for the CHL facility highlights Fermilab’s leadership role in the UIP program. The laboratory has accounted for more than one third of the 170 million dollars spent at DOE sites across the country.
The CHL facility has seen upgrades worth more than four million dollars in the last four years to meet the increased demands of Collider Run II at Fermilab’s Tevatron, the world’s highest energy particle accelerator. Run II began in March of this year. With the help of Nicor Gas and its contractor, Borg Mechanical, Fermilab engineers were able to complete the recent UIP project on a tight six-month schedule. They expect the new CHL compressor and cooling tower to pay for itself within three years as it allows more flexibility in meeting the cooling demands of the Tevatron’s one thousand superconducting magnets, which operate at a temperature of -452 degrees Fahrenheit to conduct electrical currents without resistance.
Fermilab is a Department of Energy national laboratory, operated by Universities Research Association, Inc.
A new exhibit, “Pulse: Accelerator Science in Medicine” opened this week at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
From the earliest days of particle physics in the 1930s to the latest 21st century initiatives, the bold and innovative technologies of particle accelerators have created powerful new tools for medicine.
The exhibit, free and open to the public, highlights the role of accelerators and related technology in creating tools for diagnosis, curing diseases and advancing biomedical research. From magnetic imaging technology (MRI) to particle beams for cancer treatment to powerful light sources for studying DNA structures, accelerator science has led to advances in the medical field as scientists developed applications reaching beyond the original goals of physics research.
The exhibit, in the atrium of Wilson Hall at Fermilab, is open seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and will be on display for six months. Visitors are also welcome to enjoy the spectacular view from the observation area on the 15th floor of Wilson Hall, which has recently reopened.
Fermilab is a Department of Energy national laboratory, operated by Universities Research Association, Inc.
Fermilab Associate Director Steve Holmes and physician Mary Caterall, a cancer treatment expert from England, opened the new exhibit “Pulse: Accelerator Science in Medicine” last weekend as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Neutron Therapy Facility at Fermilab.
Batavia, Ill.— Scientists from the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced today (July 25) that for the first time they have made data collected by a high-energy physics experiment available to any scientist who wants to use it.
University of Chicago physicist Bruce Knuteson, a Fermilab scientist and former member of the DZero experiment collaboration, has developed a World-Wide-Web-based computer tool to allow physicists worldwide to search the experiment’s data. With the help of DZero colleagues, Knuteson created the new tool, called Quaero (Latin for “I search”; http://quaero.fnal.gov), to provide access to data collected from 1992 to 1996 by the DZero detector during Collider Run I at Fermilab’s Tevatron, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator.
The new tool, whose description DZero has submitted for publication to the journal Physical Review Letters, enables physicists outside the DZero collaboration to perform their own computerized data searches for evidence of new physics. Without the Quaero interface, the data would be impossible to interpret by physicists outside the collaboration.
“Until now,” said DZero spokesman John Womersley, “a proper analysis of our experiment’s data has required a detailed understanding of the nuances and idiosyncracies of each of thousands of components of our 5,000-ton detector. The unique characteristics and quirks of the detector influence the interpretation of the data, making it usable only to initiates within the collaboration. Quaero incorporates the experimenters’ intimate knowledge of the detector, allowing meaningful use of our data by other physicists.”
Collaboration scientists use sophisticated data-analysis tools to search terabytes of data from trillions of high-energy proton-antiproton collisions recorded by the DZero detector. The data made public via Quaero include samples that led to the discovery of the top quark at DZero. The top quark, a fundamental building block of matter, was discovered in 1995 by Fermilab’s DZero and CDF experiments. Quaero does not provide access to data currently being recorded at Tevatron Run II experiments.
Quaero marks the first time a high-energy collider physics collaboration has made its experimental data available through an easy-access Web-based interface to scientists and students from universities and laboratories outside the experiment. Fermilab Director Michael Witherell welcomed the initiative to share the benefits of the investment in DZero beyond the collaboration’s membership.
“DZero represents not only the investment of millions of dollars,” Witherell said, “but also an enormous intellectual effort and thousands of person-years of hard work. We need to make the greatest possible use of this investment and of the information it gives us about the way nature works. Quaero takes a big step toward this goal.”
DZero collaborator Greg Landsberg, a physicist from Brown University, said that Quaero represents an extension of the original idea behind the World Wide Web, developed in 1991 at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, to facilitate high-speed communication among high-energy physicists around the globe.
“Quaero is an experiment to try to take this original idea one step further in making particle physics data available to scientists worldwide,” Landsberg said. “If it works, it will be a big leap forward for our collaboration and for the high-energy physics community as we make the results of the tremendous investment in DZero available to all physicists.”
While Quaero is designed for use by professional physicists, other efforts are underway to provide access to experiments for more general audiences. The QuarkNet program (http://quarknet.fnal.gov), for example, involves high-school students and teachers in ongoing particle physics experiments at Fermilab and CERN. The Fermilab website offers real-time views of Tevatron Run II particle collisions as they happen at the CDF and DZero detectors (http://www.fnal.gov/pub/inquiring/live_events/index.html).
Scientists at other high-energy physics laboratories have expressed interest in further applications of Quaero.
“Quaero is taking a very interesting direction,” said Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Director Jonathan Dorfan. “It may well point the way for other experiments beyond DZero.”
Next month, Knuteson will travel to CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, to explore the potential for adapting Quaero for use at CERN experiments.
Fermilab is operated by Universities Research Association, Inc. under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.
Four academic institutions from Illinois participated in comprehensive survey
A conference of presidents from this nation’s leading undergraduate institutions will reveal that a generous mix of quality teaching with quality research is the formula for building successful careers in science. Meeting at Fermilab on June 25 and 26, one hundred and eighty representatives of more than 100 colleges and universities, as well as leaders of professional societies and funding agencies, will hear and discuss the most effective ways to stimulate needed growth in the number of undergraduates studying science. Representative Vernon Ehlers, chairman of the congressional Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards, Donald Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Science, and Larry Faulkner, president of the University of Texas, are Monday’s keynote speakers.
Results of a comprehensive, large-scale study, to be presented at the conference, show that scientific research supports science education, and institutions that are most active in research are generally most effective in education. Four academic institutions from Illinois (Eastern Illinois University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and Wheaton College) participated in the study, which examined institutional characteristics that identify success in science. With more than 130 institutions and nearly 3,000 faculty surveyed, it is the most comprehensive study of its kind ever produced.
According to the study, too few institutions appear to recognize the educational value of a supportive environment for research, and few seem to understand that the research performed at undergraduate institutions can contribute to the advancement of science. Only a small number of colleges and universities excel in virtually all measures of academic excellence in science. They prepare students to enter science careers, create environments in which research is nurtured, and contribute to the advancement of science. Some are selective, small private institutions like Williams College, Hope College, and Furman University. Others, such as Western Washington University, University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Northern Arizona University are large state institutions whose student bodies reflect their state’s population. Together they graduate significant numbers of students who undertake careers in science, and their faculty, working hand-in-hand with students, receive research grants that support their activities in the advancement of science.
The year-long study, which surveyed the decade of the 1990s, examined institutional characteristics that identify success in science. Sponsored by five private foundations, the study reveals a strong relationship with faculty research activities. With more than one hundred and thirty institutions and nearly 3,000 faculty surveyed, this has been the most comprehensive study of its kind ever produced. The findings of the study are expected to influence the future roles of scientific research and education at undergraduate institutions.
The study, published in a 500-plus-page document called Academic Excellence: The SourceBook, reports a nearly $1.4 billion investment over a decade for science-related operations at the surveyed institutions, with expenditures of over $25,000,000 per institution to less than $25,000, or from $46,000 per faculty member per year to less than $460. The study found that support from the private sector was minor compared to that from federal and state government, which constituted seventy-four percent of total expenditures for research and research instrumentation. Private capital, however, provided the majority of the costs for new constructions and renovations. Surprisingly, the number of faculty seeking support has remained constant while the amount of research support has increased by more than 40 percent over the past fifteen years.
The study and conference are sponsored by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, the Welch Foundation, the W. M. Keck Foundation, the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, and Research Corporation.
Media representatives may receive a copy of Academic Excellence: The SourceBook by contacting Carmen Vitello at the conference or at Research Corporation: Tel. 520-571-1111, Fax 520-571-1119, Email carmen@rescorp.org. Copies will also be available at Fermilab.
MEDIA ADVISORY: This Week at Snowmass, July 9-13
What’s the Matter with Antimatter; Science Book Fair; La Noche de la Ciencia; Science and International Understanding
SNOWMASS VILLAGE—Why do we live in a universe made of matter instead of antimatter? Natalie Roe of California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory discusses “What’s the Matter With Antimatter?” on Wednesday, July 11, highlighting another week of events making science accessible to everyone during “Snowmass 2001: A Summer Study on the Future of Particle Physics.”
Roe is a member of the BaBar collaboration at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, which recently announced the strong confirmation of CP Violation, the asymmetry between matter and antimatter, in another category of subatomic particles.
Roe will speak at 8 p.m. in Paepke Auditorium, 1000 N. 3rd Street in Aspen. Her talk, which is free and open to the public, leads off the Heinz R. Pagels 2001 Summer Lecture Series of the Aspen Center for Physics. The Pagels Lectures are popular talks designed for a general audience, and speakers are available for discussion following the lectures.
The three-week Snowmass 2001 conference, bringing together some 1,100 of the top scientists in this field, is being held at the Snowmass Conference Center through July 21. Here are events of special interest to the media this week; all are open to the public except The Physics of the Universe Town Meeting on Friday night.
Monday, July 9
Lunchtime Lecture: “The Future of Microelectronics Technology,” Yuan Taur, IBM Watson Research Center; 12:30-1:30 p.m., at the Anderson Ballroom of the Snowmass Conference Center. Free and open to the public.
Science Book Fair: Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman (The God Particle), L.A. Times science writer K.C. Cole (The Hole in the Universe), Dallas Morning News science writer Tom Siegfried (The Bit and the Pendulum), National Science Foundation Office of Legislative and Public Affairs Director Curt Suplee (Physics in the 20th Century), University of Michigan physicist Gordon Kane (Supersymmetry), Berkeley Lab physicist Michael Barnett (The Charm of Strange Quarks); all signing their books at Explore Book Sellers in Aspen, 4-5:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.
La Noche de la Ciencia: Lederman and many Hispanic scientists attending Snowmass 2001 offer a Spanish-language science presentation. Included are a talk on high-energy cosmic rays by Prof. Arnulfo Zepeda of Mexico’s CINVESTAV, and a panel discussion on the benefits of basic science. At Carbondale Community School, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Free and open to the public. Contact Linda Froning, Science Outreach Center of Carbondale, 970-379-9069.
Tuesday, July 10
“Science Museums for International Understanding:” Renowned museum director Ronen Mir discusses his experiences and his approach to science communication. Mir is executive director of SciTech Hands-On Museum in Aurora, Illinois; designer of the Clore Garden of Science in Israel; former curator of the “What is the Universe?” exhibit at Israel’s Weizman Institute of Science; and a collaborator in the U.S.-Israeli- Palestinian project to build the first the first Palestinian science museum in Al Quds, near Jerusalem. At the Aspen School District Theater, 8 p.m. Free and open to the public.
Wednesday, July 11
“What’s the Matter with Antimatter?” Natalie Roe of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory leads off the Wednesday night Heinz R. Pagels 2001 Summer Lecture Series of the Aspen Center for Physics. Free and open to the public, at 8 p.m. in Paepcke Auditorium in Aspen, 1000 N. 3rd St., behind the Music Tent. Contact the Aspen Center for Physics at 970-925-2585, or visit http://www.aspenphys.org.
Friday, July 13
The Physics of the Universe—A Town Meeting (for researchers): Michael Turner, chairman of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, believes that outer space is “a window to the earliest moments of creation and to the unification of the forces and particles of Nature.” Turner also chairs the National Research Council Committee on the Physics of the Universe, meeting in conjunction with Snowmass 2001 on July 13-14. (A working session, not a public event; but media can contact Turner through the press room.)
“Snowmass 2001: A Summer Study on the Future of Particle Physics” represents a unique opportunity to gain new insights into the world around us, and to meet the people behind the ideas shaping the future. For more information on Snowmass 2001, visit http://snowmass2001.org or call the Press Room at 970-823-8313.
Fermilab, providing organizational support for Snowmass 2001, is operated by Universities Research Association, Inc., under contract with the U.S. Dept. of Energy.
SNOWMASS VILLAGE—Leon Lederman, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1988 and author of “The God Particle,” joins a host of distinguished science authors for a Science Book Fair at Explore Book Sellers in Aspen, on Monday, July 9 at 4 p.m.
The Science Book Fair is free and open to the public. Authors who will also be on hand to sign their books:
- K.C. Cole, Los Angeles Times science writer and author of The Hole in the Universe;
- Gordon Kane, University of Michigan physicist and author of Supersymmetry;
- Tom Siegfried, Dallas Morning News science writer and author of The Bit and the Pendulum;
- Curt Suplee of the National Science Foundation, author of Physics in the 20th Century;
- Michael Barnett, physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and author of The Charm of Strange Quarks.
The Science Book Fair is held in conjunction with Snowmass 2001: A Summer Study on the Future of Particle Physics. Nearly 1,000 top physicists are attending the three-week gathering, being held at the Snowmass Conference Center from June 30 to July 21. For more information on Snowmass 2001: http://snowmass2001.org
To arrange coverage of Snowmass 2001 activities, or to meet or speak with some of the 1,000 scientists at Snowmass, call the Press Room at 970-823-8313.
Fermilab, providing organizational and logistical support for Snowmass 2001, is operated by Universities Research Association, Inc., under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.
SNOWMASS VILLAGE—Leon Lederman, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1988, leads a group of distinguished physicists in a Spanish-language presentation at Carbondale Community School on Monday, July 9 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
“La Noche de la Ciencia,” which is free and open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. with lively science demonstrations by the traveling Physics Van of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Spanish-speaking physicists will be on hand to offer translations.
During a refreshment break at 7 p.m., Dr. Lederman and many other physicists—including those speaking Spanish—will be available for informal conversations. At 7:30 p.m., Prof. Arnulfo Zepeda of CINVESTAV in Mexico, a member of the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory, will speak on “Ultra-Energetic Cosmic Rays: A New Window to Our Universe. At 8 p.m., a panel will discuss “What Does Basic Science Have to Offer Us: Questions and Responses.”
Among the panelists who have confirmed their participation:
- Gabriela Barenboim (Argentina), of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois near Chicago;
- Gustavo Burdman (Argentina), of Boston University and California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory;
- John Ellis (Colombia), of CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland;
- Belen Gavela (Spain), of the University of Madrid;
- Ramon Miguel (Spain), of the University of Barcelona;
- Mayda Velasco (Puerto Rico), of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois;
- Luis Manuel Villasenor (Mexico), of the University of Michoacan;
- Arnulfo Zepeda (Mexico), of CINVESTAV;
…and many more.
To reach Carbondale Community School, take route 82 to 133 and turn left; go to Doloras Way and turn right; after passing the rental equipment store, turn right and look for the school sign.
La Noche de la Ciencia is a community outreach effort of the Science Outreach Center in Carbondale, and of “Snowmass2001: A Summer Study on the Future of Particle Physics.” The three-week conference is being held at the Snowmass Conference Center. For more information, see the website: http://www.snowmass2001.org.
SNOWMASS VILLAGE—From a balloon ascent to Tabletop Science; from an evening Sky Party to Physics on Stage; from a Virtual Science Fair to hands-on exhibits: Science Weekend has something for everyone of every age on Saturday and Sunday, July 7 and 8, in and around the Snowmass Village Mall.
As part of the three-week “Snowmass2001” physics conference, Science Weekend keynotes an effort that “will take public outreach and education efforts to a new level, thanks to a remarkable response from the whole particle physics community,” says theoretical physicist Elizabeth Simmons of Boston University, coordinator of Snowmass2001 outreach efforts.
Here’s the program:
Saturday
10 AM | Virtual Science Fair (Incline A): Explore physics and astronomy on-line with physicists and teachers to guide you through interactive science web sites from around the world (continuous through 4 PM). |
Science on the Mall: Large-scale interactive exhibits from SciTech, the science museum in Aurora, Illinois; levitation and more “Wonders of Superconductivity” from the University of Houston; and many more activities as children learn through play and adults discover fresh perspectives (continuous through 4 PM). | |
Tabletop Science (Incline B): Small-scale science complements the large-scale exhibits on the Mall, with scientists and teachers to answer your questions and encourage your explorations (continuous through 4 PM). | |
Physics on Stage (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors): Performance groups from the University of Illinois and Michigan State University dramatize science principles and paradoxes—followed by a lively question and discussion session (additional performances at Noon, 2 PM and 4 PM). | |
11 AM | Planetarium Show (Lift Ticket Pavilion, indoors): Astronomers and educators from Chicago’s famed Adler Planetarium lead explorations of the cosmos (additional shows at 1 PM and 3 PM). |
30-Minute Lecture (Lecture Room): Greg Landsberg, “Out-of-this-world Physics—Extra Dimensions and Parallel Universes.” | |
Noon | Physics on Stage (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors) |
1 PM | Planetarium Show (Lift Ticket Pavilion, indoors) |
30-Minute Lecture (Lecture Room): Fred Stein, “Physics and Philosophy” | |
Conversation (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors): Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman | |
2 PM | Physics on Stage (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors) |
3 PM | Planetarium Show (Lift Ticket Pavilion, indoors) |
30-Minute Lecture (Lecture Room): Michael Peskin, “Particle Physics” | |
Conversation (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors): Greg Snow and Jeff Wilkes, cosmic rays and balloon ascent (see also Sunday at Sunrise) | |
4 PM | Physics on Stage (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors) |
8:30 PM | Evening Sky Party (Campfire Circle): Astronomers and educators from Adler Planetarium explorations of the night sky at Campfire Circle, just a short walk away from the lights of the Mall (until 10 PM). |
Sunday
Sunrise | Cosmic Ray Balloon Ascent (Baseball Field): An attempt to re-enact the 1911 discovery of cosmic rays by Victor Hess. Dressed in period costume, physicists will go aloft with cosmic ray detection equipment. |
10 AM | Virtual Science Fair (Incline A), through 4 PM |
Tabletop Science (Incline B), through 4 PM | |
Science on the Mall, through 4 PM | |
Physics on Stage (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors) | |
11 AM | Planetarium Show (Lift Ticket Pavilion, indoors) |
30-Minute Lecture (Lecture Room): Bernice Durand, “The Sky” | |
Conversation (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors): Greg Snow and Jeff Wilkes, cosmic rays and balloon ascent (see Sunday at Sunrise) | |
Noon | Physics on Stage (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors) |
1 PM | Planetarium Show (Lift Ticket Pavilion, indoors) |
30-Minute Lecture (Lecture Room): Sean Carroll, “Einstein’s Legacy: Gravity and the Forces of Nature” | |
Conversation (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors): Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman | |
2 PM | Physics on Stage (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors) |
3 PM | Planetarium Show (Lift Ticket Pavilion, indoors) |
30-Minute Lecture (Lecture Room): Michael Turner, “How the Universe Got Going” | |
4 PM | Physics on Stage (Lift Ticket Pavilion, outdoors) |
For more information, call the Snowmass2001 Press Room at 970-923-8313, and visit the web at http://www.snowmass2001.org. Fermilab, offering organizational and logistical support for Snowmass2001, is operated by Universities Research Association, Inc., under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.
BATAVIA, Ill.— From rockets to hot-air balloons, from soap bubbles to egg-crash derbies: Visiting scientists and science teachers will team up with Roaring Fork Valley organizations to offer kids a special combination of learning and summer fun during “Snowmass 2001: A Summer Study on the Future of Particle Physics,” June 30-July 21 at the Snowmass Conference Center.
The Science Outreach Center of Carbondale will bring a special one-week session (July 2-6) of its Brainteasers Summer Camp program to the site of Snowmass2001, with guest appearances by physicists attending the particle physics workshop. Brainteasers will offer “Phantasmagorical Physics” sessions for two age groups. Six- to ten-year-olds will explore energy, magnetic and electric fields, momentum, atoms, pressure and Newton’s laws of motion. Eleven- to fourteen-year-olds will experiment with energy by building cars and rockets, exploring the concepts of motion, collision, and conservation laws.
“Our goal is to provide the best in inquiry-based instruction, fostering a child’s natural capacity for individual problem-solving and critical thinking, while having all the fun that a summer camp can offer,” says Center director Linda Froning.
Brainteasers Science Camps have been annual events since 1985, devoting an entire week to a single topic. This year, the focus on physics coordinates with the Snowmass summer study. During the second and third weeks of the conference, visiting physicists will also take part in the Brainteasers camps at their Carbondale home site.
To find out more about the Science Outreach Center in Carbondale, about Brainteasers at Snowmass, and about registration and fees, contact director Linda Froning lfroning@rof.net, telephone 970-963-2922, or fax 970-963-3577.
Meanwhile, back at the Snowmass Mall, more physicists and teachers will host two-hour programs at Camp Snowmass each morning for elementary and middle school children during the conference’s second and third weeks (July 9-13 and July 16-20). Planned activities include cosmic ray studies, making giant soap bubbles at Science on the Mall’s hands-on exhibits, building motors, building model hot-air balloons, and crash testing model passenger vehicles made of eggs.
To find out more about Camp Snowmass, registration and fees, contact director Sue Way <sway@aspensnowmass.com>, telephone 970- 923-0570, or visit the web at http://www.aspengov.com/recreation/campsnowmass.html.
The goal of the education outreach efforts at Snowmass2001 is to have physicists from around the nation—and from other nations—share their passion and enjoyment of science in the world around us.
“Scientists have the same curiosity and excitement about the world that children do,” says theoretical physicist Elizabeth Simmons of Boston University, coordinator of Snowmass2001 outreach. “As we gather to shape our future research into the nature of the universe, it’s our pleasure and responsibility to encourage the curiosity and potential of the next generation of scientists and citizens.”
Simmons, a Trustee of the Aspen Center for Physics, notes that the Center has a well-established local outreach program, while children like her son Ari have long enjoyed the community’s day camps. “This summer, we have a chance to combine these efforts and expand them,” she concludes.
With the expanded Brainteasers and Camp Snowmass, there should be some distinctive essays on “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” when school starts up again.
“Snowmass 2001,” running June 30-July 21 at the Snowmass Conference Center, represents a unique opportunity to gain new insights into the world around us. To arrange coverage of this world-class science gathering, visit the Web at—
www.fnal.gov/pub/snowmass/media_registration.html.
Fill out the registration form, and submit it electronically; or print it and fax it to Fermilab’s Office of Public Affairs at 630-840-8780.
For more on the conference and schedule, visit Snowmass2001.org.
Fermilab, providing organizational and logistical support for Snowmass 2001, is operated by Universities Research Association, Inc., under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.