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A Joint Fermilab/SLAC Publication Dimensions of Particle Physics Issue dimensions volume 03 of particle physics symmetryA joint Fermilab/SLAC publication issue 05 june/july 06 Cover Physicists at Fermilab ponder the physics of the proposed International Linear Collider, as outlined in the report Discovering the Quantum Universe. Photos: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab Office of Science U.S. Department of Energy volume 03 | issue 05 | june/july 06 symmetryA joint Fermilab/SLAC publication 3 Commentary: John Beacom “In a global fi eld, keeping up with all the literature is impossible. Personal contact is essential, and I always urge students and postdocs to go to meetings and talk to strangers.” 4 Signal to Background An industrial waterfall; education by placemats; a super-clean surface; horned owls; Garden Club for particle physicists; Nobel banners; US Congress meets Quantum Universe. 8 Voices: Milestones vs. History Celebrating a milestone is always enjoyable, but a complete and accurate historical record is invalu- able for the past to inform the future. 10 A Report Like No Other Can the unique EPP2010 panel steer US particle physics away from a looming crisis? Physicists and policy makers are depending on it. 14 SNS: Neutrons for ‘molecular movies’ A new research facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has produced its fi rst neutrons, presenting new opportunities for studying materials from semiconductors to human enzymes. 20 Battling the Clouds Electron clouds could reduce the brightness—and discovery potential—of the proposed International Linear Collider. Innovative solutions are on the way and might reduce the cost of the machine, too. 24 A (Magnus) Force on the Mound Professional baseball player Jeff Francis of the Colorado Rockies brings a strong arm and a physics background to the playing fi eld: “I bet Einstein couldn’t throw a curveball.” 26 Deconstruction: Spallation Neutron Source Accelerator-based neutron sources such as the SNS can provide pulses of neutrons to probe superconductors, aluminum bridges, lighter and stronger plastic products, and pharmaceuticals. 28 Gallery: Ellis Paul Reading about astronomy, folk musician and songwriter Ellis Paul began to ask himself whether Galileo Galilei could embrace both science and faith. Paul wrote the song, “Did Galileo pray?” 30 Essay: Verlyn Klinkenborg “This country desperately needs to recommit itself to basic research…Do we continue to ask funda- mental questions about the universe we live in, or do we not? To me, there is only one answer.” bc Logbook: First Vertex Detector The Mark II collaboration operated the fi rst collider vertex detector in 1981. Today, these devices—now using silicon technology—are the centerpieces of high-energy collider experiments around the world. ibc 60 Seconds: Elementary Particle Physics What rules govern energy, matter, space, and time at the most elementary levels? How are phenomena at the smallest and largest scales connected? Particle physicists are going to fi nd out. from the editor Bold experiments can be convincing Physicists live to experiment: usually in a lab, but at times in different venues. The National Academies committee that recently looked into the future of US particle physics was a new kind of non-laboratory experi- ment for the physics community. Realizing that their field was facing a turning point—gradual decline versus bold steps toward an ambitious future—physicists effectively put their fate in the hands of those outside their profession. The EPP2010 committee, as it was known, included enough non-physicists to keep the physicists from automatically control- ling the decision-making. Thus, conclusions were not foreordained. Although the EPP2010 report makes no binding decisions and has no official influence, it is an important sign to policy makers from Congress’ independent science advisory body. The diverse group, whose members are accustomed to making high-level decisions about the futures of organiza- tions, recommended an admittedly risky path for US particle physics. But it emphasizes that all possible paths are risky: continuing the status quo only promises the field will wither over time. No set of recommendations can please everybody, especially those with strongly vested interests in particular projects. What is important now is how physicists respond to this report. At some point, physicists need to convince the wider community of the value in spending a lot of public money to pursue their plans and ambitions. Would physicists rather take the case directly to the public, where the processes of spin can easily dominate a debate? Or would they like to go directly to Congress, where political and time pressures might be deci- sive? The EPP2010 committee offered ample opportunity for rebuttal and discussion. Although by no means an easy group to convince, the EPP2010 committee proved to be more accepting than others might be. This risky approach paid off because of the careful attention and respect the physics community gave to the process. If particle physicists want to pursue their grandest ambitions, they will need to take more risks like this one; they will also need to play the next steps at least this carefully. A misstep could be the end of it all. For now, physicists should be very pleased that they can successfully convince important audiences that their plans are indeed worthwhile. David Harris, Editor-in-Chief Symmetry Editor-in-Chief Publishers Print Design and Production PO Box 500 David Harris Neil Calder, SLAC Sandbox Studio MS 206 650 926 8580 Judy Jackson, FNAL Chicago, Illinois Batavia Illinois 60510 USA Executive Editor Contributing Editors Art Director Mike Perricone Roberta Antolini, LNGS Michael Branigan 630 840 3351 telephone Dominique Armand, IN2P3 630 840 8780 fax Managing Editor Peter Barratt, PPARC Designer www.symmetrymagazine.org Kurt Riesselmann Stefano Bianco, LNF Aaron Grant Tara Kennedy [email protected] Staff Writers Reid Edwards, LBNL Elizabeth Clements Petra Folkerts, DESY Web Design and Production (c) 2006 symmetry All rights Heather Rock Woods Catherine Foster, ANL Xeno Media reserved Siri Steiner Barbara Gallavotti, INFN Hinsdale, Illinois Kelen Tuttle James Gillies, CERN symmetry (ISSN 1931-8367) Silvia Giromini, LNF Web Architect is published 10 times per year Interns Jacky Hutchinson, RAL Kevin Munday by Fermi National Accelerator Jennifer Lauren Lee Youhei Morita, KEK symmetry | volume 03 issue 05 june/july 06 Laboratory and Stanford Chandra Shekhar Marcello Pavan, TRIUMF Web Design Linear Accelerator Center, Krista Zala Mona Rowe, BNL Karen Acklin funded by the US Department Yuri Ryabov, IHEP Protvino Alex Tarasiewicz of Energy Office of Science. Yves Sacquin, CEA-Saclay Web Programmer Boris Starchenko, JINR Mike Acklin Maury Tigner, LEPP Jacques Visser, NIKHEF Photographic Services Linda Ware, JLab Fermilab Visual Media symmetry Tongzhou Xu, IHEP Beijing Services 2 commentary: john beacom Family Business member at SUNY A fact of life for aspiring physicists is that others Buffalo, initiated the won’t get to know who you are by reading your reunion and organized papers—they’ll read your papers if they know it with Scott Dodelson, who you are. In a global field, keeping up with the current head of all the literature is impossible: there are several the group. It was much dozen new papers daily on the arXiv.org server. like other family Personal contact is essential, and I always urge reunions: seeing famil- students and postdocs to go to meetings and iar faces again, finally talk to strangers. meeting people I’d only I must know several hundred other physicists heard about, and tell- worldwide well enough to talk comfortably with- ing stories about our out reintroduction, and that’s not unusual. But this eccentric relatives. The is hardly everyone, and so how do we fill in the group was founded in 1983 by the godfathers gaps in our knowledge of other people? With David Schramm and Leon Lederman, who gave a cultural construction that makes “six degrees the young Rocky Kolb and Mike Turner the free- of separation” look simple. Physicists keep track dom and responsibility to build the group into the of a vast, intricate, and changing web of con- international institution it is today. nections between the living and the dead, and it A common reunion theme was that everyone will be on the final exam. greatly appreciated how they’d similarly been Mathematicians have a well-documented given the freedom to develop their own research genealogy based on their PhD advisor, and their while being challenged to perform at the high- advisor’s advisor, and so on through the begats est level. Many of us had never met, and are Photo courtesy of The Ohio State University until Gauss or some other heroic figure (http:// working on very different things, but our perspec- genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/). tives on research and what we learned in the A partial physics family tree is given in spires group were remarkably similar. While we ended hepnames (http://www.slac.stanford.edu/ the day with a trivia game (questions like “How spires/hepnames/). Community input is wel- many of the 1000+ papers written by the group comed. We all know who our PhD “father,” had ‘inflation’ in the title?”—about 100), there was “grandfather,” and siblings are. (Nowadays, these a lot of serious business. This included discuss- families are finally including more women.) ing ongoing projects in detail, and seeding new Connections accelerate identification. Physics collaborations with invitations to visit and give is a meritocracy, but these connections can seminar talks. provide the opportunity to be judged on merits. Even the most technical physics projects At Fermilab, I organized our annual astrophysics depend on personal interactions to spark new postdoc search and read more than a thousand ideas and make the work more fun. The web letters of reference, mostly about applicants and email facilitate connections, but there’s still we hadn’t met. At first, the letters sound equally nothing like being there, as long as you don’t good—but some are more equal than others.
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