December 2012

December 2012

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  December 21, 2012
  signal to background: Holiday characters take over the physics lab
  Ever wonder if a particle collider could give you a faster way to cook your turkey, or how much antimatter it would take to power your holiday lights? Rudolph, Frosty and the gang invade the laboratory to find the answers.
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  December 19, 2012
  breaking: US-CERN partnership to accelerate neutrino research
  US institutions are working with the SHINE experiment at CERN to better understand the particle interactions that produce neutrinos.
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  December 18, 2012
  feature: A model partnership
  Bucking the “ivory tower” stereotype, particle theorists dive into Large Hadron Collider experimental searches and come up with a new way to look at the data.
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  December 13, 2012
  breaking: Ironing out an astrophysics problem
  Using an X-ray laser, scientists unravel the longstanding conundrum of why extreme plasmas in space look different than expected.
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  December 12, 2012
  breaking: DOE grants CD-1 approval to LBNE project
  The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment took another step forward, receiving approval from the US Department of Energy for the first phase of the project.
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  December 11, 2012
  breaking: Fundamental Physics Prize recognizes Higgs hunters
  The Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation will honor leaders at the Large Hadron Collider and its CMS and ATLAS experiments with a special $3 million prize.
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  December 11, 2012
  explain it in 60 seconds: Decay channel
  When particles decay, they transform into lighter particles. Physicists can predict how often a particle will decay into certain end products.
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  December 10, 2012
  signal to background: Zombies invade the LHC in student-made horror film
  Decay, a low-budget horror film starring PhD students and postdocs at CERN, has been released online.
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  December 7, 2012
  signal to background: ‘Human calculator’ Wim Klein advanced physics, inspired others
  Math whiz Wim Klein, born a century ago, moved physics forward with his calculations as computer developers worked to catch up with him.
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  December 6, 2012
  breaking: Budget woes force rethink of proposed flagship physics experiment in Italy
  The Italian government has withdrawn funding for a high-profile proposed experiment. Scientists are now brainstorming other ways to advance particle physics.
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  December 5, 2012
  breaking: Scientists propose new projects to unravel dark energy secrets
  Scientists have risen to the challenge to design an experiment that will make measurements of millions of galaxies to probe dark energy in new ways.
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  December 3, 2012
  feature: Complex simulations: a driving force for LSST
  The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the world’s largest sky survey, will rain a monsoon of data onto the astrophysics community. Simulations prepare scientists for the approaching storm.
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  December 3, 2012
  breaking: Crystals show promise as particle pilots in LHC
  Scientists are exploring using tiny crystals to remove rogue particles from the world's most powerful collider.