La Thuile, Italy

B Physics in the Snowy Alps

by Heather Rock Woods

Among the pyramidal Alps in the sleepy town of La Thuile, Italy, members of the BaBar collaboration are currently presenting spectacular results at the premier winter conference, Rencontres de Moriond. Last week's presentations focused on electroweak interactions and unified theories, and this week discusses quantum chromodynamics and hadronic interactions.

The collaboration announced evidence for charm mixing, where a D meson changes into its own antiparticle. This kind of matter to antimatter transformation has been found in other kinds of mesons before, but it took the power of the PEP-II accelerator's luminosity and the BaBar detector's sensitivity to find this rare "mixing" in D mesons. The analysis also depended on an innovative use of a parallel computing system at SLAC that sped up crucial calculations.

"It will be one of the most important results in particle physics this year," predicted BaBar Physics Analysis Coordinator Jim Olsen. "But that's not the only result. We have many new measurements coming out, including some of BaBar's flagship analyses." Read more...

Albrecht Wagner and Jürgen Mlynek Visit Lab

by Brad Plummer

Director of Communications Neil Calder (left) stands in the linac with (from left to right) Jürgen Mlynek, San Francisco German Deputy Consul General Christian Seebode, and Albrecht Wagner. (Image courtesy of Diana Rogers.)

Yesterday SLAC hosted two distinguished visitors from Germany for a full tour of the lab. Albrecht Wagner, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and Jürgen Mlynek, President of Germany's Helmholz Association, spent the day visiting with SLAC's Directors about current and future scientific initiatives. The visit focused on research and development on the International Linear Collider (ILC) and construction of the Linac Coherent Light Source.

The Helmholz Association is one of Germany's main scientific funding agencies, with specific interest in five fields, including research into the structure of matter. DESY is home to a European x-ray free-electron laser being built at the lab and scheduled to become operational in 2013. Teams at DESY are also heavily involved in ILC research.

Correction: Colloquium Panel to Include Seiden

Yesterday's edition of SLAC Today neglected to list Abe Seiden as one of the four panelists at next Monday's colloquium. Our apologies, Abe! In addition, it's just been announced that Burt Richter will join the panel. The colloquium, "The Reference Design for the ILC, Costs and What's Next," will be moderated by Marty Breidenbach and will feature Barry Barish, Jonathan Dorfan, Tor Raubenheimer, Burt Richter, and Abe Seiden.

Reminder: Benefits Fair This Saturday

This Saturday, the Stanford Benefits Department will host a benefits fair at SLAC.

Designed to help employees learn more about investing, finances and retirement, the day includes a keynote address by Keith Dorney on getting organized and prioritizing financial goals; workshops on tax planning, 403(b) retirement plan strategies, and mutual funds; and the opportunity to meet one-on-one with financial representatives. All employees, their spouses, and partners are invited to attend. Learn more...

Events (see all | submit)

March 23: (11:00 a.m.) Efim Gluskin to speak on APS-2
March 26: (4:15 p.m.) Colloquium: The Reference Design for the ILC, Costs and What's Next

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Lab Announcements

Community Bulletin Board

News (see all | submit)

Spotting the Movers and Shakers ILC NewsLine
Homing Pigeons Get Their Bearings from Their Beaks Lightsources.org

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

La Thuile, Italy B Physics in the Snowy Alps by Heather Rock Woods Among the pyramidal Alps in the sleepy town of La Thuile, Italy, members of the BaBar collaboration are currently presenting spectacular results at the premier winter conference, Rencontres de Moriond. Last week's presentations focused on electroweak interactions and unified theories, and this week discusses quantum chromodynamics and hadronic interactions. The collaboration announced evidence for charm mixing, where a D meson changes into its own antiparticle. This kind of matter to antimatter transformation has been found in other kinds of mesons before, but it took the power of the PEP-II accelerator's luminosity and the BaBar detector's sensitivity to find this rare "mixing" in D mesons. The analysis also depended on an innovative use of a parallel computing system at SLAC that sped up crucial calculations. "It will be one of the most important results in particle physics this year," predicted BaBar Physics Analysis Coordinator Jim Olsen. "But that's not the only result. We have many new measurements coming out, including some of BaBar's flagship analyses." Read more...

Albrecht Wagner and Jürgen Mlynek Visit Lab by Brad Plummer Director of Communications Neil Calder (left) stands in the linac with (from left to right) Jürgen Mlynek, San Francisco German Deputy Consul General Christian Seebode, and Albrecht Wagner. (Image courtesy of Diana Rogers.) Yesterday SLAC hosted two distinguished visitors from Germany for a full tour of the lab. Albrecht Wagner, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) and Jürgen Mlynek, President of Germany's Helmholz Association, spent the day visiting with SLAC's Directors about current and future scientific initiatives. The visit focused on research and development on the International Linear Collider (ILC) and construction of the Linac Coherent Light Source. The Helmholz Association is one of Germany's main scientific funding agencies, with specific interest in five fields, including research into the structure of matter. DESY is home to a European x-ray free-electron laser being built at the lab and scheduled to become operational in 2013. Teams at DESY are also heavily involved in ILC research.	Correction: Colloquium Panel to Include Seiden Yesterday's edition of SLAC Today neglected to list Abe Seiden as one of the four panelists at next Monday's colloquium. Our apologies, Abe! In addition, it's just been announced that Burt Richter will join the panel. The colloquium, "The Reference Design for the ILC, Costs and What's Next," will be moderated by Marty Breidenbach and will feature Barry Barish, Jonathan Dorfan, Tor Raubenheimer, Burt Richter, and Abe Seiden. Reminder: Benefits Fair This Saturday This Saturday, the Stanford Benefits Department will host a benefits fair at SLAC. Designed to help employees learn more about investing, finances and retirement, the day includes a keynote address by Keith Dorney on getting organized and prioritizing financial goals; workshops on tax planning, 403(b) retirement plan strategies, and mutual funds; and the opportunity to meet one-on-one with financial representatives. All employees, their spouses, and partners are invited to attend. Learn more...	Events (see all \| submit) March 23: (11:00 a.m.) Efim Gluskin to speak on APS-2 March 26: (4:15 p.m.) Colloquium: The Reference Design for the ILC, Costs and What's Next Access (see all) South side of linac to close between Sectors 2 and 28 Utility outage in PEP IR regions & Bldg 730, 750 Building 40 construction Alpine Gate & PEP Ring Road closed Gates 17 & 30 open 24-7 Research Yard bisected Announcements (see all \| submit) Lab Announcements New Publication: ESH Manual, Chapter 49, Service Subcontractor Safety 2007 Employee Recognition Awards open for nominations Community Bulletin Board Panofsky Colloquium "Nuclear Weapons: Security or Insecurity?" now online Getting Results: The Next Generation of Women Scientists Tax Relief Workshop: March 23 SLAC Financial Fair: March 24 News (see all \| submit) Spotting the Movers and Shakers ILC NewsLine Homing Pigeons Get Their Bearings from Their Beaks Lightsources.org
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