Homebound astrophysicists miss mountaintops

Photo of a dome-shaped building, likely an observatory, atop a mountain, which gold mist surrounds. Blue sky and silhouette of birds above.

Homebound astrophysicists miss mountaintops

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, travel bans and stay-at-home orders meant astrophysicists collaborating on the Dark Energy Survey needed to find a new way to conduct their observations using the Dark Energy Camera.

A minute with Aleksandra Ćiprijanović, astrophysicist

Fermilab feature

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.

A simulated supernova neutrino interaction in the MicroBooNE detector, produced using MARLEY. This work lays a strong foundation for future supernova neutrino measurements with DUNE. Credit: MicroBooNE collaboration

Modeling collisions between argon nuclei and neutrinos from a supernova

Fermilab feature

A new computer program called MARLEY simulates supernova neutrino interactions in argon-based particle detectors.

One of the DUNE near detector's subdetectors, SAND, will detect neutrinos with an electronic calorimeter, which measures particle energy, and a tracker, which records particle momenta and charge. A second subdetector will use liquid argon to mimic the neutrino interactions in the far detector. The third will use gaseous argon. Working together, they will measure particles with more precision than other neutrino detectors have been able to achieve. Credit: DUNE collaboration

Particle detector at Fermilab plays crucial role in Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

Fermilab feature

DUNE’s near detector, located at Fermilab, will take vital measurements of neutrino beam energy and composition before it reaches the experiment’s far detector in South Dakota. Its unmatched precision measurements will offer its own opportunities for the discovery of new physics.

Camera lenses with metamaterials-based coating help study ancient light in the universe

From AZoMaterials, Feb. 18, 2021: Fermilab scientist Jeff McMahon and his research team have designed a new kind of metamaterials-based antireflection coating for the silicon lenses used in cameras used to capture the cosmic microwave background.

Scientists take another look at tantalizing galaxies with no dark matter

From Forbes, Feb. 22, 2021: Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln explains how modern cosmology imagines our universe is an astronomical confection with three primary ingredients: ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy.

A new measurement of quantum spacetime has found nothing going on

From Tech2.org, Feb. 16, 2021: Though the findings from the Holometer mean that, for now, scientists still haven’t found a way to solve general relativity with quantum mechanics, its design and the research it enabled will shape future efforts to prove the intersection of relativity and quantum mechanics at Planck scales.

New metamaterials for studying the oldest light in the universe

Fermilab feature

A Fermilab scientist and his team have developed a new way to make antireflective lenses, enabling big discoveries about the cosmic microwave background radiation and the fabric of the universe.

New strategy for Latin American physics

Scientists in Latin America recently published the first coordinated plan for the region’s research in high-energy physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Fermilab scientist Marcela Carena was part of the group that collected input for the report. Here, she weighs in its significance.

The Pierre Auger Observatory shares 10% of data

The observatory has made detailed information about an initial selection of its recorded cosmic-ray events available for outside scientists to use.