SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Archives

Remembering theoretical physicist James D. “BJ” Bjorken, 90, who played a crucial role in discovering quarks

SLAC Newsroom, August 14, 2024

Theoretical physicist James D. “BJ” Bjorken, theoretical physicist at SLAC and Stanford, passed away on Aug. 6. He was born in Chicago and in 1979, he left the SLAC and Stanford faculties to become associate director for physics at the Fermilab, saying he wanted to learn more about the accelerator side of things

Fermilab delivers final superconducting particle accelerator component for world’s most powerful X-ray laser

The cryomodule from Fermilab is 12 meters (39 feet) long and will start the transport to SLAC on March 19, 2021. Photo: Fermilab

Fermilab gives a sendoff to the final superconducting component for the LCLS-II particle accelerator at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. LCLS-II will be the world’s brightest and fastest X-ray laser. A partnership of particle accelerator technology, materials science, cryogenics and energy science, LCLS-II exemplifies cross-disciplinary collaboration across DOE national laboratories.

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

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

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.

HL-LHC Accelerator Upgrade Project receives approval to move full-speed-ahead from Department of Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy has given the U.S. High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider Accelerator Upgrade Project approval to move full-speed-ahead in building and delivering components for the HL-LHC, specifically, cutting-edge magnets and accelerator cavities that will enable more rapid-fire collisions at the collider. The collider upgrades will allow physicists to study particles such as the Higgs boson in greater detail and reveal rare new physics phenomena. The U.S. collaborators on the project may now move into production mode.