muons

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.

From Science & Vie, March 4, 2021: Fermilab was included with other accelerator labs for their discoveries of new particles and materials in this French science magazine.

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.

From Scientific American, Dec. 16, 2020: Researchers have made the most precise measurement of one of the fundamental constants, called the fine-structure constant. Now all eyes are on Fermilab, where the first results of the Muon g-2 experiment are expected to provide the most precise experimental measurement of the muon’s magnetic moment. Alex Keshavarzi, scientist on the Muon g-2 experiment, weighs in on the significance of the measurement.

From Bulgarisches Wirtschaftsblatt, Nov. 11, 2020: Während die Wissenschaftler im Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory des US-Energieministeriums auf die mit Spannung erwarteten ersten Ergebnisse des Muon g-2-Experiments warten, setzen die mitarbeitenden Wissenschaftler des Argonne National Laboratory des DOE weiterhin das einzigartige System ein, das das Magnetfeld im Experiment mit beispielloser Präzision abbildet.

Magnets play a key role in looking for the direct transformation of muons into electrons, a theorized phenomenon that Fermilab’s Mu2e experiment will hunt for when it comes online in 2023. In an important milestone, seven essential magnets have passed testing and been accepted for the construction of the experiment.

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.

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

Bernstein is overseeing the Fermilab Mu2e experiment as it moves from its construction to installation phase and into a running experiment. A collaboration of nearly 250 scientists at 40 institutions that had to invent technology to get to this point, Mu2e is in an exciting phase, especially for early-career researchers who will not only construct the experiment, but also analyze the data.

Scientists know the Higgs boson interacts with extremely massive particles. Now, they’re starting to study how it interacts with lighter particles as well.