BaBar
January 2013
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January 29, 2013breaking: BaBar searches for new physics in invisible decaysOn the hunt for physics beyond the Standard Model, scientists recently searched BaBar data for evidence of invisible particles.
November 2012
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November 19, 2012breaking: Arrow of time prefers to point forwardTo a single, isolated particle, time’s arrow could work just as well pointing forward as backward. But it doesn’t, says the BaBar collaboration.
September 2012
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September 5, 2012gallery: SLAC at 50SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory honors its five-decade history as it forges ahead into new areas of scientific research.
June 2012
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June 18, 2012breaking: BaBar data may hint at new physicsA new crack in the Standard Model may be starting to form. Recently analyzed data from the BaBar experiment show that one type of particle decay happens more often than predicted by the Standard Model.
May 2012
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May 1, 2012feature: Hunting dark matter with BaBarLight dark photons? Dark Higgs bosons? Scientists look for signs of these weird-sounding particles in data from BaBar—an experiment designed to explain a completely different mystery.
October 2011
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October 1, 2011signal to background: Old detectors never dieAlthough BaBar completed its experimental run in 2008, it's not bound for the graveyard. Instead, the detector has become the particle physics version of an organ donor: Other laboratories are making use of its disassembled parts.
March 2011
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March 31, 2011breaking: A new bottomonium particle makes its debutParticles that consist of a bottom quark bound to a bottom anti-quark are known as bottomonia, and they have a lot to tell scientists about the strong force that binds them together. Scientists from BaBar and Belle present the results of their search for a bottominum called h sub b.
February 2011
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February 1, 2011signal to background: SLAC's science data really sticksTo keep track of the roughly 35 papers the BaBar collaboration will publish in the next year, the high-tech experiment went low-tech this summer. It transferred data from computers to Post-it notes.
January 2011
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January 25, 2011breaking: BaBar's big moveA 33-ton portion of the DIRC—the Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov light detector from the BaBar experiment—was recently moved from Building 620 to temporarily storage in Building 720 on SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory grounds.
April 2010
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April 1, 2010signal to background: A little wine with that physics?Friends and colleagues of particle physicist Bill Wisniewski know him as a wine connoisseur. When Wisniewski announced that he was stepping down from the BaBar experiment's management team, it only made sense that his farewell party would feature his favorite beverage–but with a distinctly BaBarian spin.
December 2009
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December 1, 2009feature: Preserving the data harvestCanning, pickling, drying, freezing -- physicists wish there were an easy way to preserve their hard-won data so future generations of scientists, armed with more powerful tools, can take advantage of it. They've launched an international search for solutions.
September 2009
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September 1, 2009breaking: Building a mystery with the g-2 experimentThe magnetic properties of the muon have long presented a mystery to physicists. Recent results have tightened the precision of those magnetic measurements but in a maddening way. The possibility of new physics still lurks on the horizon.
May 2009
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May 1, 2009feature: Credit where credit is dueIn the swirling sea of thousands of people who contribute to a major particle physics experiment, how can a young physicist pop to the surface and get noticed? An international committee offers ideas.
November 2008
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November 1, 2008feature: BaBar and the very tiny particleIn which the 500 members of the BaBar experiment buy enough time for one last adventure: capturing the bottom-most bottomonium
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November 1, 2008feature: Q&A With eta sub bsymmetry's Calla Cofield scored an exclusive interview with the particle -- the ground state -- the artist -- eta sub b, who signs his name ηb. One month after eta sub b's stunning entrance into the public spotlight via the BaBar experiment (see story), this in-depth interview reveals eta sub b's struggle to shine next to his brother Upsilon 1S; his upbeat attitude despite a life surrounded by static; and a look at just how well our reporters prepare for interviews.
September 2008
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September 1, 2008gallery: David Kirkby: It's a snail shell! It's a Koosh ball! It's physics!Blackboards filled with mathematical equations and scientific machines as large as cathedrals can awe, and sometimes overwhelm. But Koosh balls are another matter.
February 2008
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February 1, 2008feature: Short cuts for newcomers at the LHCWhen Sal Rappoccio, a postdoctoral researcher from Johns Hopkins University, joined the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment in mid-2007, he did what any newcomer would do. He tried to start his analysis. It did not go well.
September 2007
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September 1, 2007feature: The end of the HERA eraLaughter punctuates the excited conversations, a mix of German and English. Drinks are passed around and children dart among the legs of the hundred or so scientists gathered together for one last time. The sky’s blue is deepening: only 90 minutes until sunset.
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September 1, 2007signal to background: BaBar is a video starSearch for “BaBar” on YouTube.com, and you'll get a long list of links to a 1980s TV series based on an animated elephant. But a surprise is hidden among the cartoons—a six-minute film shot in the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's BaBar control room.
February 2007
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February 1, 2007signal to background: Engineering big upgradesHow do you renovate a delicate, irreplaceable detector? Very carefully. During the last four months of 2006, the BaBar collaboration at SLAC successfully replaced a prematurely aging muon identification system. Creative and solid engineering played a big role in upgrading a detector that wasn't meant to be taken apart.
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