Photo Gallery: Enriched Xenon Observatory Goes Underground

by Kelen Tuttle

The Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO), which left Stanford last month, has arrived in New Mexico and is currently being installed deep within the WIPP salt mine.

EXO is an underground observatory that will search for something never before seen: a neutrinoless double beta decay, which would prove that neutrinos are their own anti-particle, and will tell scientists more about the mass of these mysterious, nearly massless particles.

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BaBar Control Room Premieres on YouTube

by Ken Kingery

Bradley Wogsland in the BaBar
control room.

A search for the word "BaBar" on the popular video sharing website YouTube produces a long list of the 1980's children's television series based on an animated elephant. But a surprise is hidden among the cartoons—a short six minute film shot from inside SLAC's BaBar control room. The short film was created by University of Tennessee graduate student Bradley Wogsland, who creates videos for YouTube regularly.

Wogsland began making videos of sketch comedy as a kid, but never had a wide audience until he found the internet. At first, he hosted films on a personal website. But videos require bandwidth, which costs money. When YouTube became popular, he moved his new videos, now consisting mainly of videos of his children, to the free website.

"The videos are mainly for my family because they're scattered all over the country," said Wogsland. "YouTube allows them to see my kids whenever they want."

During a year-long stint with the BaBar collaboration, Wogsland not only studied Charmonium particles, but also spent a few hours producing a video from inside the BaBar control room.

"I thought a lot of people would be interested to see how the control room works," said Wogsland. "As a kid, I had no idea what went on inside a control room to take the data, and I wanted to know."

The video was shot earlier this year and was posted on YouTube in April. Wogsland is now back in Tennessee where he is utilizing YouTube again, only this time in the classroom.

"I'm creating lab demos for a physics class that I'm teaching this fall and posting them on YouTube so students can see equipment in use before they have to use them in the lab," said Wogsland. "The potential of this emerging medium is enormous."

symmetry:
Industry Eyes the
Next Big Collider

by Elizabeth Clements

An artist's impression of the interaction region, where the electrons and positrons would collide, inside the International Linear Collider. (Image courtesy of SLAC InfoMedia.)

With a blue marker poised at a large white flip chart, Maury Tigner, a physicist at Cornell University, turned to a group of about 10 representatives from industry and asked, "What kind of applications interest your company?" The room was cramped and beige, a generic hotel meeting space, strewn with coffee mugs and crinkled candy wrappers. The setting gave no hint that the discussants were forming a cutting-edge technological vision.

Bill Umbenhaur of Everson Tesla wanted to know more about long-term medical applications. Dean Hoffman of Sciaky was interested in general lab services and machines. Karen Kimball of Parsons described her company’s interest in design and construction management.

In other rooms around the hotel, similar groups were also brainstorming. Each was envisioning how components being developed for the International Linear Collider (ILC) could lead to spin-off applications and technologies.

Photo of the Week: Lunar Eclipse

Click on image for larger version.

SLAC's Kevin Reil managed to catch Monday night's lunar eclipse with his digital camera and tripod. During the eclipse, Earth's shadow slowly swept across the face of the moon, eventually making it appear red during totality. The next lunar eclipse visible from North America will take place on February 21, 2008.

Energy Tip of the Week

by Luda Fieguth

When acceptable, use double-sided printing. Saving paper saves energy because it takes 10 times more energy to manufacture a piece of paper than it does to put an image on it. In addition, ensure that the power-saver switch is enabled. If possible, use ink jet printers—they consume 95% less energy than laser printers.

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August 29: (1:30 p.m.) Theory Seminar: Higgs + multiparton amplitudes at 1-loop

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Experiment to Clarify Ancient Physics Discovery Yields More Questions PhysOrg.com
Space-time Distorts Near Neutron Stars As Einstein Predicted Science Daily

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	Wednesday - August 29, 2007