Neutrino school offers education, networking

Participants in the 2009 International Neutrino Summer School.

This month, 94 graduate students and postdocs from all over the world converged in one place to broaden their knowledge of neutrino physics. From July 6 -17, Fermilab hosted the 2009 International Neutrino Summer School, where a diverse group of students learned about the full field of neutrino physics from neutrino scientists.

"We deliberately tried not to have too tight a focus and instead surveyed the whole field of neutrino physics," said workshop Chairman Steve Brice.

Lectures this year included how neutrinos affect the Standard Model, the framework of neutrino research so far and accelerator physics.

Students also had the chance to present their own theories and questions, demonstrate what they have learned and suggest what they want to learn about neutrinos.

"We offered this because neutrino physics is changing so rapidly," Brice said. "Exposing students to this school now will get them enthused about neutrino physics. They are the generation that will study this 10 to 20 years from now."

The students were excited about the school.

"I enjoyed the opportunity to meet new people and learn about all of these different fields in particle physics," said Laura Bodine, a graduate student from the University of Washington.

Pedro Machado, a student from the University of Sao Paulo, was excited to hear from Boris Kayser, a well-respected neutrino scientist at Fermilab.

"I am now able to bridge the gap between the experimental and theoretical aspects of the field," Machado said.

Gwenielle Lefeuvre, a postdoc from the University of Sussex, said she enjoyed the overview of neutrino physics during the 12-day school.

"This is definitely the best school conference I have been to," she said.

-- Tonisha Taylor

Guided sunset prairie tour

Aaah, the smell of the flowers; the glow of the sunset over a restored grassland. What could be better than that? How about a guide to point out the diverse flora and explain its importance to the ecosystem?

Ryan Campbell, an ecologist consulting with Fermilab, is willing to do just that during a special Fermilab Sunset on the Prairie tour at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 23. The tour is free and open to Fermilab employees and the general public. Campbell will discuss the wildflowers, native prairie ecology and its contribution to the Chicago metropolitan landscape.

The tour involves walking a grass trail, so please wear appropriate shoes. Meet in the gravel parking lot at the Margaret Pearson interpretive trail off westbound Pine Street. The rain date will be 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 24. No registration is required.

University, Fermilab scientists to receive $216,000 in collaborative seed grants

From the University of Chicago News Office, July 15, 2009

Scientists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Chicago have been awarded $216,000 for new and continued joint research projects through the University's Strategic Collaborative Initiatives program for Fermilab. The research projects cover a broad range of studies and include, in one case, collaboration with an Argonne scientist.

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LHC suffers more leaks, and delays

From Wired, July 20, 2009

Just as CERN finished repairing the damage last September's Large Hadron Collider helium leak, a new problem cropped up.

Engineers discovered two vacuum leaks in areas of the enormous atom smasher that are supposed to be maintained at ultracold temperatures. They'll have to warm those areas up to complete the repairs, which will set back the project another couple of months.

Now, it won't be ready for new particle beams until mid-November. Late last year, CERN foresaw the LHC back up and running in July 2009. In February, the schedule was pushed back to September, and now we probably shouldn't expect actual particle beams until late November.

The LHC is currently a full two and a half years behind the schedule laid out in CERN's 2005 annual report by the project's leader, Lyn Evans.

"[O]ur commitment is still firmly behind the objective of colliding beams in the summer of 2007," Evans wrote back then.

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