Thursday - May 4, 2006

Harold Shapiro, Chairman of the EPP2010 Committee

Come to Harold Shapiro's Talk

by Neil Calder

The National Research Council Report "Revealing the Hidden Nature of Space and Time—Charting the Course for Elementary Particle Physics" was made public on April 26th in Washington, D.C.  It immediately provoked a storm of media interest.  The New York Times, Economist, Chicago Tribune, Science, Nature and many other publications carried stories on the importance of this report to the future of particle physics in the U.S.

The chairman of the EPP2010 committee, Harold Shaprio, has made an admirable personal commitment to explaining the main recommendations of the report.  Please welcome him to SLAC by attending his talk in the Panofsky auditorium at 10:30 a.m. on Friday.  Overflow seating will be available in the Orange Room.

Don't miss this opportunity to hear about the compelling science ahead in particle and particle astrophysics and why the United States should continue to take a leadership role in these fields.

KIPAC: Computer Simulations of Pulsars

by Anatoly Spitkovsky

A computer simulation of the structure of a pulsar's magnetosphere.

Many astrophysical environments, particularly those involving strong magnetic fields, are very difficult to model from first principles. In the absence of detailed models astrophysicists resort to drawing such objects as cartoons or "artist's impressions."

KIPAC researchers are changing this trend for the long standing problem of structure of pulsar magnetospheres. Pulsars are strongly magnetized rotating neutron stars that are observed to pulse as their magnetic axes pass the line of sight to Earth. Their magnetospheres are filled with streaming relativistic plasma, which makes calculating the structure of the magnetosphere intractable analytically. We have recently made progress by developing a new numerical method for this problem. The method, known as "Force-Free Magnetohydrodynamics," allows us to self-consistently solve for the behavior of strong electromagnetic fields in the presence of plasma.

Three-dimensional numerical simulations performed on parallel computers at SLAC allowed for the first time to compute the shape of pulsar magnetic field lines for the general case where pulsar rotation and magnetic axes are misaligned (see above image). These solutions will be used to study the physics of gamma-ray emission from pulsars, which will be observed by the upcoming GLAST satellite.

Upgrading PeopleSoft
Financial Applications

This upgrade will directly affect Financial and Procurement operations May 12 - May 16
by Doug Kreitz

Cutoff dates and times to enter requisitions into PeopleSoft. (Click on image for more information.)

Some key financial and procurement functions will be unavailable, or severely limited, starting on Thursday, May 11th at 5:00 p.m. due to a major version upgrade to the SLAC PeopleSoft Financials applications. Details, including key cutoff dates for Procurements and Financial transactions are provided here.

The main message to the SLAC Community is that everyone should plan ahead for this brief shutdown of services. The improved PeopleSoft system (Version 8.8) will be back up and running on May 17th. We will resume normal financial and procurement operations on the 17th.

The following points offer a quick overview of services that will remain in place during the upgrade. Read more...

Electrical Safety Tip: Lock Out Tag Out Locks

By the Electrical Safety Committee

Using personal locks and tags and following LOTO procedures are the primary controls in the SLAC Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO) Program.

Lock and Tag Visual Standards: A red-colored lock is used to lock out a hazard. Attached to the lock is a personal tag that reads, "Danger" and "My Life is on the Line."

When to use: Use a red lock and tag when you are performing maintenance or service on equipment that may become energized.

Relevant Procedures: Each department or group generates a General LOTO Procedure (GLP) or an equipment-specific Equipment LOTO Procedure (ELP). Ask your supervisor for details about proper procedure in your group.

Keys: Only the owner of a LOTO lock can have a key to the lock.

Events (see all | submit)

• May 5: (10:30 a.m.) Harold Shapiro: EPP2010

Access (see all)

• 5/2 - 6/1: Sand Hill Rd Construction
• 3/27 - 5/22: Alpine Gate Temporarily Closed
• 3/31 - 5/22: Gate 17 Hours Extended During Alpine Gate Shutdown
• 1/1 - 5/15: Loop Road Near Kavli Building Temporarily Closed
• 4/3 - 6/1: Short Spur Road Off North Access Road Closed

Announcements
(see all | submit)

 Lab Announcements

• The DOE designates May as National Electrical Safety Month
• Register now for LoopFest V - June 19-21, 2006
• Register for SSI today: The Next Frontier: Exploring with the LHC

Community Bulletin Board

• Brian Greene on PBS's Charlie Rose Show
• It's Pief's 87th Birthday
• Spring Workshops: "Getting Ready: Tips about the process of college application

News (see all | submit)

• Plastics go metallic Physics Web
• X-ray Observatory 'Spare-time' Provides Impressive Sky Survey Science Daily
• US plans anti-satellite lasers New Scientist

• Flea Market
• Linear Café Menu
• Employee Milestones
  
  
• Search the Archives
• Subscribe non-SLAC e-mail
• Send Us Your Feedback

What's Cookin' at the Linear Cafe (see weekly menu)

Thursday
Breakfast Boosters	Ham Steak and Eggs with Breakfast Potatoes	$5.35
Hot	Cream of Butternut Squash and Garlic Croutons or Curry Lentils with Sausage	$2.35/$2.95
Taste	Grilled Skirt Steak or Asian Pork Loin with Ginger served with Rice Pilaf and Mashed Sweet Potato	$5.65
Good Food For You	Kung Pao Chicken or Kung Pao Tofu served with Rice	$5.55
Tossed	Thai Grilled Beef Salad	$5.65
Panini	Grilled Beef with Balsamic Onions and Baby Greens	$5.45
Sandwich Favorite	French Dip Sandwich with Caramelized Onions, Au Jus and Jo Jo Potatoes	$5.25