QN Postings

The components have started to come in and the need for Fermilab cosmic ray detectors among QuarkNet teachers is great. So the call went out for help with the assembly process, and last week Beth, Kris, and Ken spent two days at Fermilab assembling GPS antennae, cutting cables, replacing connectors, etc. It was a sweatshop...and when Ken fell out (from a bad cold), it was left to QuarkNet stalwarts Beth and Kris to make quota!

Long Island has for many years been home to people from Europe: you can still get great Italian bread and superb Black Forest cake at bakeries within a short walk of each other, and that is just Lindenhurst. Last week, Europe came to Long Island again in the form of the European Particle Physics Outreach Group (EPPOG) Masterclass, in which groups of high school students analyze data from CERN and compare results via internet videoconference. The whole event (pun intended) is run from CERN and has in past years only included students in Europe. This year, one of the results of Beth and Ken's December visit to CMS week was a kind offer by Silvia Schuh (ATLAS) and Dave Barney (CMS) to include US students. Michael Kobel (Bonn) made the arrangements and sent out the data. The first ever group of US students to participate in the EPPOG Masterclass was an intrepid team of six juniors at Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, NY (north shore of Long Island) lead by Tania Entwistle, a physics teacher there and a member of the Brookhaven-Stony Brook QuarkNet center. The students geared up with coaching by Tania, a talk by QuarkNet mentor Helio Takai, and an after school data analysis session on Tuesday 14 March. The morning of Wednesday 15 March (late afternoon in Europe), the students were off the Brookhaven for their videocon with the moderators at CERN (including Silvia!) and students at sites in Greece, Poland, and


Slovakia. They were joined at Brookhaven by Tania, Helio, QuarkNet staffers Kris Whelan and Ken Cecire, U.S. ATLAS Deputy Project Manager Howard Gordon, and Brookhaven Education Director Ken White. Scott Bronson of Public Affairs set up the videoconference equipment and stayed to help make it all work. Even though the other groups were larger, the Ward Melville group studied nearly as many events and came up with very similar results for the branching ratios of the Z-boson based on event pictures from LEP. The students followed up with lunch at Berkner Hall (the Brookhhaven cafeteria) and a tour of the magnet lab. Many thanks go to all but especially to our particle physics data analysis group from Ward Melville: Ari Richman, Stephen Bohlman, Lucas Janson, Joshua Steinberg, Sammi Qin, Ram Gupta, and coach Tania Entwistle.

Postcards from Chicago – Bangalore via Paris
March 7 – 14, 2006
(in reverse order so I can keep adding)

March 14, Bangalore, Paris, Chicago
Dear All,
We're on our way home. It will take us about 30 hours door to door. We killed time in the hotel lobby until the driver came for us. The bar was smoky so we plugged in, watched DVDs and ate our snack food. The concierge was kind enough to offer us a soda when she realized we were sting there for some time. Then it was off to the airport where we also had to sit around for a while longer. Then it was on the plane and off to Paris. In Paris we had to kill another four hours and then we were really on the last leg of the trip. We arrived in Chicago as did our luggage and limos took us home. All in all it was a wonderful trip . . . but it was great to come home. See you tomorrow!!!
Marge and Bob

March 13, Bangalore
Dear All,
Today was out last day in Bangalore. We were on the town. We visited two colleges, Maharani Lakshmi Ammanni College for Women and M.E.S. College of Arts, Commerce and Science and the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium. It was interesting to see where our participants work. The colleges include two programs, pre-university for the equivalent of high school juniors and seniors and a three-year college program that leads to a BS. Both colleges we visited were several stories tall with outdoor halls around a courtyard. The busy city was effectively blocked out, and the noise was cheerful chattering students. Our hostesses introduced us to the principals and directors. We visited several labs. Students in the same semesters were all working on the same labs as the curriculum is prescribed and prepares students for an exam where one of the labs must be completed successfully. We also talked with four students who were completing their BS. They had been working on special research projects and were headed for graduate school.


At the planetarium we also met with the directors and headed for the computer lab where the detector was set up. We had to move it closer to a delivery door in order to get the GPS unit outside where it could contact the satellites. It worked! These guys are ready to go and are looking forward to getting the teachers together to plan cosmic ray studies for next school year, which begins in July. They are also part of the Bangalore Association for Science Education, a perfect spot for cosmic ray studies.

Marge and Bob

I had a chance to visit our University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez QuarkNet group last week and, as always, they were just great. I visited Cielo Martin's class at the vocational high school in Mayaguez, where her 12th grade students worked on understanding particle decay conservation laws while her 10th grade students learned about the relationship of energy to the square of velocity in a classic experiment in which they dropped marbles (ballitos) from different heights into cups full of flour (harina). Later, we had a Saturday workshop for the teachers in the center at the University. Mentor Hector Mendez was the ringleader while teachers gave presentations and did activities.

And while we in QuarkNet certainly appreciate great physics teachers like the folks in Mayaguez, I still have to say thank you to one non-physics teacher: Mrs. Hatheway, who put up with me and managed to teach me some Spanish at my high school in Somers CT many years ago.

-- Ken

P.S. I already miss my cafe con leche.

QN Postings
March 12, Mysore
Dear All,
Today we were tourists. We hired a car and driver to take us to Mysore about 165 km from Bangalore. What an adventure! We saw 2 palaces, 1 absolutely fabulous, 2 temples, 1 large bull, 1 tomb and a bird sanctuary. Our driver was amazing.

Our view. Now fastforward, add 50 times as many vehicles – overloaded buses, trucks, cars, three-wheeled cabs, motor bikes, bikes, bullock carts – road construction on a four-lane version of a two-lane road with many bridges being replaced and pedestrians walking as if on a casual jaunt in the park. Weave in and out with such dexterity that you hardly slow down, come within inches of vehicles and slide through without a scratch. Bob says every driver must intuitively know what every other driver will do otherwise there would be pileups everywhere.

It may not be to your taste, but it is a fabulous palace.

Just a family on a Sunday outing.
Marge and Bob

March 11, Bangalore
Dear All,
It was another great day at the workshop. Some of the teachers arrived early and were already online searching for data, doing analyses, etc. by the time Bob and I arrived. Professor Acharya gave a very nice talk on detectors. Both Bob and I learned something! Some of the teachers continued to assemble the detector. The problems with the GPS unit were over because our young friend re-soldered the whole thing – beautifully – and it works. The teachers came up with interesting research questions; Professor Varma worked with them to understand the physics a little better. He is so enthusiastic about the potential of the e-Labs. I think he is a great asset for this group. Another great asset is the planetarium. They are going to put the detector there and have already invited the teachers over on Monday to see where it is and talk about getting students involved in doing some research. On Monday we go to visit two of the colleges and the planetarium.

Have you ever seen such well-dressed classmates?
Marge and Bob

QN Postings
March 10, Bangalore
Dear All,

What a grand day we had. Teachers are fantastic! Good introductory lecture by Prof. Tonwar; good questions from teachers. Couldn't wait to look at the Website and get online. Didn't want to break for coffee, lunch or tea. Stayed on after we had to leave for the banquet. Bob did a great job with talk, walk-through e-Lab and hardware demo and tutorial. There is a high school and a primary school on the Institute campus. Lot's of kids wanted to have their pictures taken. Hope they turn out. Buffet-style banquet tonight. It's been a long day – Oh, forgot to mention that Bob's alarm did not go off this morning. He was pretty sleepy when I called. We just made the bus. Another day tomorrow.

LCWS06 Teacher Workshop, Bangalore, March 2006
Marge and Bob

QN Postings


March 9, Bangalore
Dear All,
Another uneventful flight. Not sitting together. Marge gets same seat again! But with physicist as seat mate. Both of us try to stay awake and fail. Went over Turkey, down west Iran over Persian Gulf and water to Southern India headed for Bangalore. Bob spotted one thunderstorm, no incoming unfriendlies! Arrived 12:40 am. Took a looooong time to get luggage. White box arrived!!! as did clothes and goodies -- nuts, apricots, peanut butter, etc. Went to conference today and hung around until there was a break so we could go across campus to the Internet classroom where we will give the workshop. Set up shop. Everyone MOST helpful! Detector up and running; GPS unit freaked out. Bob and company have been trying to re-solder those little wires. Not working yet. Reception at conference. Lots of finger food. Home to hotel and another night in luxury.


How Bob traveled.



Marge at the confererence center.


March 8, Paris,
Dear All,

Uneventful flight thus far. Not sitting together. Too complicated to change seats. Marge gets empty seat because no one else got put near WC. Good and not so good. Marge slept according to plan. Bob did not – according to plan. Air France dinner pretty good; entertainment selection great! Bob has window seat for viewing whatever ---. Marge has window and aisle for comfort.
Bob has not been to Paris before.
Does the airport count?

QN Postings

Today some of us went over to the Fermilab Magnet Facility looking for slices of superconducting magnets. They have all sorts of bits and pieces hanging around.

Here's a story they told us about the LHC magnets that Fermilab is shipping to CERN. They are huge and orange, but one piece is fragile. There are supports around the innerds that need to be as light as possible so they don't conduct heat (I think that is correct.) If the magnets are delivered by rail, these supports tend to break due to the back and forth motion when they couple the train cars. So, the specifications call for transit by truck. We truck them to the East Coast; they get on a ship and sail to The Netherlands where they get back on a truck to CERN. We've shipped a bunch and so far they have received 2 broken magnets. Someone messed up. Was it Fermilab or CERN? We found the culprit by accident when talking to the shipper in Holland who in response to the question, "Where are the magnets?" replied, "On the train!"

We also saw this prototype muon chamber for CMS. Fermialb build and spplied 150 full-size (15' by 21') chambers to CERN.