SLAC Today

Tuesday – February 28, 2006

(Image of Silicon Detector)
Schematic of a silicon detector.  Image courtesy of Norman Graf and Michael Hyde

Detector Options for the ILC

If built, the International Linear Collider will hurl tiny electrons and positrons down 26 miles of accelerator, colliding the particles at the center in a microscopic explosion. But what good is it all if you can’t see it happen?

Because of the subtle nature of the ILC’s proposed work, its detectors will need to collect much more detailed information than any previous detector. In the next five years or so, physicists will decide between several options for the best type of detector for the international collider.

Scientists in three regions of the world are currently designing three different detectors. Two of the concepts, the primarily European-based Large Detector Concept (LDC) and the predominantly Asian Global Large Detector (GLD), rely on large calorimeters: gas-based detectors. North American scientists, such as the ones at SLAC, are mostly focusing on a smaller, more precise silicon detector (SiD).  Read more...

(Column - Safety Today)

Traffic Light Change Benefits Cyclists

A recent change in the traffic light pattern at the Sand Hill Road entrance to SLAC benefits the safety of cyclists.

Traffic leaving SLAC now gets a green light prior to traffic turning left from Sand Hill Road into SLAC. As a result, if a cyclist is sensed at the Saga Lane vehicle detector, this cyclist has priority to cross Sand Hill Road over vehicles making left-hand turns. This is to encourage cyclists to use the bicycle-friendly vehicle detector on Saga Lane and cross with the traffic light instead of crossing two lanes of fast-moving traffic.

The practice of making a right-hand turn, making a U-turn, and then using a traffic light to cross a major thoroughfare is a common practice in bicycle-friendly cities throughout the world.

(Photo of Sand Hill intersection)

Sand Hill Road (Click on image for larger version).

Dick Taylor: Companion of the Order of Canada

(Photo of Dick Taylor with his wife Rita and the Right Honorable Michaelle Jean

Taylor poses with the Right Honorable Michaelle Jean (left) and Rita, his wife and former SLAC librarian, at the Investiture Ceremony of The Order of Canada.

Dick Taylor, emeritus SLAC scientist and winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize, has yet another accolade to add to his list: Companion of the Order of Canada.  On February 17, Taylor attended an Investiture Ceremony of The Order of Canada, where the Governor General of Canada, the Right Honorable Michaelle Jean, presented Taylor with the insignia of his new rank.

Taylor was cited for his work on the Stanford Linear Accelerator and the electron scattering experiments demonstrating that protons are made up of quarks.  Taylor is still actively involved with Western Canadian Universities as well as scientific enterprises in several countries.

Events (see all | submit)

Announcements
(see all | submit)

 Lab Announcements

Community Bulletin Board

News (see all)


dividing line
(Office of Science/U.S. DOE Logo) <% Response.AddHeader "Last-modified", getArticleDate() 'Response.AddHeader "Last-modified","Mon, 01 Sep 1997 01:03:33 GMT" 'Monday, December 06, 2010 %>

View online at http://today.slac.stanford.edu/