Issue 03 Volume 06 July 09 Dimensions of Particle Physics A
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dimensions volume 06 of particle physics symmetryA joint Fermilab/SLAC publication issue 03 july 09 volume 06 | issue 03 | july 09 2 Editorial: Diversity and Mentoring in Particle Physics A consultant hired to look at diversity issues at Fermilab found no evidence of bias. But he did find a lack of support and mentoring for some symmetryA joint Fermilab/SLAC publication visiting scientists at the lab. This observation is important for any institution with a large proportion of visiting students, postdocs, and scientists, and addressing it will require a coordinated approach. 3 Commentary: Karin Fornazier Guimares “If more scientists start to use it, Twitter can be a tool for developing new relationships, net- works, collaborations, and communities. I believe it can help us send messages and get unexpected answers, talk to different kinds of people, get instant feedback.” 4 Signal to Background Shooting down UFO rumors; growing a physics family tree; driving an eco-trend; feeling a mine’s deep, earthy vibes; baby detector on board; quake-shaken lab reaches out to neighbors On the cover: 8 symmetry breaking For some reason, Brookhaven National A summary of recent stories published Laboratory has always attracted more than its online in symmetry breaking, share of UFO buffs. So it was that the crew www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking of UFO Hunters, a weekly TV show on the History Channel, went to the lab recently to film an episode about an alleged 1992 UFO crash nearby. The burning question: Had the lab shot down a UFO with a particle beam? The answer: Of course not. There was no UFO, and particle beams from the lab’s accelerator can’t be used as weapons. Illustrations: Sandbox Studio 10 Growing a Diverse Workforce 3 0 Gallery: Accidental Beauties When it comes to training, hiring, and retaining These exquisite test samples transcend their women and members of ethnic minorities, original purpose, which is to ensure that all the particle physics lags far behind other fields metal parts of SLAC accelerators and detectors of science. Staffers at three national labs— are flawless. Fermilab, SLAC, and Brookhaven—are tackling the problem at every level. 3 4 Deconstruction: Periodic Table What are the most important elements for 18 Dark Energy Camera Scans Ancient Skies building accelerators, detecting particles, and Gazing into space, scientists wonder why the solving the mysteries of the universe? universe is expanding ever faster. What mysterious force is at work? By recording the 3 6 Essay: Tom Nelson light from hundreds of millions of galaxies The community of Lead, South Dakota has from a mountaintop in Chile, they hope to find always been about mining, and will continue to out what’s going on. be about mining. Now, however, we are no longer mining gold, but science. 24 Helium’s Shrinking Bubble Helium is the lifeblood of large particle acceler- C 3 Logbook: Pierre Auger Observatory ators. As the world’s supply dwindles, the In 1991, James Cronin traveled to Leeds, England, particle physics community must take steps to visit Alan Watson, an expert on cosmic-ray to preserve this precious commodity or learn physics. Cronin, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, to live without it. was eager to see the construction of a large array of detectors designed to unravel the mysteries of the highest-energy cosmic rays in the universe. C4 60 seconds: Virtual Particles Virtual particles are short-lived particles that cannot be directly detected, but which affect physical quantities—such as the mass of a parti- cle or the electric force between two charged particles—in measurable ways. symmetry | volume 06 | issue 03 july 09 from the editor Diversity and mentoring in particle physics Women and minorities are significantly underrepresented in physics. There are many possible reasons for the imbalance, and understanding the causes is a challenging task. In this issue of symmetry, we look at how particle physics laboratories and the science community are tackling parts of the problem and trying to create a more diverse workforce (see page 10). Fermilab recently commissioned an independent consulting firm to study issues that influence diversity at the lab. The firm convened a series of focus groups consisting of randomly selected participants, whose identities were withheld from laboratory leadership to encourage honest feedback. On the positive side, the consulting group reported that discrimination against women and minorities was not a contributing factor to lack of diversity. On the other hand, participants revealed a number of general management weaknesses among line managers, potentially due to lack of training and mentoring, and some significant issues for visiting scientists from outside Fermilab. The visitors, typically graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, often do not have mentors and have trouble get- ting the support they need to do their work effectively. This observation is important for all institutions that have a large proportion of visiting students, postdocs, and scientists. Because people tend Photo: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab to learn institutional processes better from other people than from an abstract handbook or set of rules, mentoring is vital. Good mentoring would certainly help institutions in many ways, quite likely helping to create a more diverse workforce. But the issue of mentoring young visiting scientists also reveals that no institution can solve by itself the challenges of changing a culture within a scientific discipline. Cultural change is needed to improve workforce diversity throughout physics. There is so much mixing of people among institutions in particle physics that cultural change will need a coordinated approach. This is a serious challenge but we think it is worth the invest- ment of time and resources. To begin the process, it is definitely worth more discussion. Symmetry Editor-in-Chief Publishers Print Design and Production PO Box 500 David Harris Rob Brown, SLAC Sandbox Studio MS 206 650 926 8580 Judy Jackson, FNAL Chicago, Illinois Batavia Illinois 60510 Deputy Editor Contributing Editors Art Director USA Glennda Chui Michael Branigan 630 840 3351 telephone Roberta Antolini, LNGS 630 840 8780 fax Managing Editor Peter Barratt, STFC Designers/Illustrators [email protected] Kurt Riesselmann Romeo Bassoli, INFN Andrea Butson Stefano Bianco, LNF Aaron Grant For subscription services go to Senior Editor Tona Kunz Kandice Carter, JLab Web Design and Production www.symmetrymagazine.org Lynn Yarris, LBNL Staff Writers Xeno Media symmetry (ISSN 1931-8367) James Gillies, CERN Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois is published six times per Elizabeth Clements Silvia Giromini, LNF year by Fermi National Calla Cofield Youhei Morita, KEK Web Architect Accelerator Laboratory and Kathryn Grim Tim Meyer, TRIUMF Kevin Munday symmetry | volume 06 | issue 03 july 09 SLAC National Accelerator Kelen Tuttle Perrine Royole-Degieux, IN2P3 Web Design Laboratory, funded by the Rhianna Wisniewski Yuri Ryabov, IHEP Protvino Karen Acklin US Department of Energy Interns Yves Sacquin, CEA-Saclay Justin Dauer Office of Science. (c) 2009 Kristine Crane Kendra Snyder, BNL Alex Tarasiewicz symmetry All rights reserved Tia Jones Boris Starchenko, JINR Web Programmer Lauren Schenkman Maury Tigner, LEPP Mike Acklin Michael Wall Ute Wilhelmsen, DESY Tongzhou Xu, IHEP Beijing Photographic Services Gabby Zegers, NIKHEF Fermilab Visual Media symmetry Services 2 commentary: karin fornazier guimares Twitter: micro which other interested people, such as a PhD blogging for a macro student from another science network university, did not know anything about. As From the beginning, science and communication you have only 140 char- have been connected. Writing is a good exer- acters with which to cise for inquiring minds; this is not just a saying, deliver your message, but a fact. If you look at scientific biographies, you will just point it out, you probably will find mention of a notebook in and your “followers” which the scientist writes down ideas, questions, will decide to read and quick observations. Those notes give us a or re-tweet (re-broad- perspective on what the scientist was doing at cast to their followers) the time. your post. Today we have not only notebooks, which are If more scientists usually used to jot down private thoughts, but start to use it, Twitter can be a tool for developing also blogs in which we can make public all of our new relationships, networks, collaborations, and work, our ideas, and our opinions. Examples communities. I believe it can help us send mes- of communities of blogs are Science Blogs, sages and get unexpected answers, talk to Quantum Diaries, US LHC blogs, Nature Network, different kinds of people, and get instant feedback. and Discover blogs. Some of these were set up This makes Twitter a very useful tool. It can as experiments in scientific communication. These allow scientists to make unexpected connections blogs are a powerful tool for divulging and both with other scientists and with other people discussing scientific research, as discussed a few who are valuable to know and work with. months ago at ScienceOnline09. But not enough In my own case, I have used Twitter to meet Guimares Photo courtesy of Karin Fornazier scientists have taken up blogging. other scientists, to find out about useful physics Many more of us could be using this tool information I wouldn't have seen otherwise, and to bring science to a different public, in different also to practice writing in other languages. How countries, and across social levels as an oppor- you use Twitter would be up to you, but you tunity to understand what scientists do day to day. might also find it useful for building a network That would translate to more adults interested of colleagues around the world who share in science, more high school students interested interests and information, and help make the in science, more girls interested in science, scientific world better connected.