The experimental groups participating in the Summer 2005 REU program at Nevis are (in alphabetical order): ATLAS, DZero, eBubble, HiRes, Mini-BooNE, and RARAF.

ATLAS

contact person: John Parsons

The ATLAS experiment is being designed and built for operation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC is a proton-proton collider which, when becoming operational in 2007, will be the world's highest energy collider and will be the premier experimental HEP facility for many years.

The foremost question of HEP is the source of so-called "electroweak symmetry breaking" (EWSB), related to the issue of the origin of mass. The SM postulates the existence of the Higgs boson to solve this issue. However, many other scenarios (eg. supersymmetry, technicolor, extra dimensions) have been proposed. The LHC and ATLAS are designed to probe an energy scale which should make possible investigation of the source of EWSB. For example, ATLAS should be able to either discover the SM Higgs boson or to definitively rule out its existence. If no SM Higgs is found, we expect to find instead indications of the true source of EWSB.

ATLAS is in the design and construction phase. On-going ATLAS activities at Nevis include development of state-of-the-art electronics for readout of the ATLAS calorimeter, studies of the physics potential of ATLAS, and development of software for the simulation of the calorimeter performance. REU students could be involved in any of these activities, depending on their interests and backgrounds. REU students working with the ATLAS group would be based at Nevis Labs.

DZero

contact person: Gustaaf Brooijmans

The Tevatron proton-antiproton collider at Fermilab, near Chicago, is currently the energy frontier for particle colliders. A new experimental run (Run 2a) using an upgraded accelerator and detectors is underway, making this a particularly exciting time to be involved in the DØ experiment. We will make important contributions to the study of many of the most interesting questions in physics today. Included in a long list of topics are studies of the recently discovered top quark, attempts to understand the source of the huge preponderance of matter over antimatter in the universe (by studies of CP violation in b-quarks), probes of the electro-weak and strong forces and searches for the unexpected. Additionally, we there is the challenge of operating and understanding a complicated, new detector with more than one million channels of information coming from a variety of technologies.

The Columbia DØ group is involved a wide range of activities on the experiment. We have built cutting-edge electronics for the calorimeter and the level-2 muon trigger and will be analyzing the first data from these devices in the spring and summer. We are also involved in designing and building a precision tracking trigger using information from the DØ silicon tracker and in designing an upgrade to the L1 calorimeter trigger for the future Run 2b. Our physics activities include studies of b-quarks, top-quarks and searches for physics beyond the standard theory. Involvement in any of these areas is welcome, with participants based either at Nevis Labs or at Fermilab.

eBubble

contact person: Bill Willis

For many years neutrino physics and collider detectors have been a major part of the Nevis program. Recently we established a new program, to move forward on research on new detectors, so that we will be prepared for the next round of experimental needs in these areas. We are focusing on ideas for detectors which utilize the advantages of a cryogenic environment, and in particular on detectors using liquid helium as the detection medium.

More than thirty years ago it was learned that the stable state of an electron in liquid helium is a bubble of about 2 nm diameter, with nothing but the electron inside. Electron bubbles ('eBubbles') can also exist in liquid neon and liquid hydrogen. These eBubbles have properties that appear to be well-suited to detecting particle interactions where the relevant energies are small, where good position and energy resolution are required, and where a large detection volume is needed. We anticipate that this technology may open up new possibilities for next-generation neutrino detectors, and may also have applications in detecting 'dark matter' particles and in future collider detectors. REU students joining the program would be based either at Nevis or at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

HiRes

contact person: Stefan Westerhoff

One of today's great scientific mysteries is the origin of cosmic ray particles with energies beyond 10²⁰ eV (about 20 Joules), the highest energy particles observed in the Universe. The existence of particles at these energies continues to challenge our imagination: where do they come from, how do astrophysical objects produce them or accelerate them to these energies, and how can they travel astronomical distances without substantial loss of energy?

The goal of the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) Experiment is to measure the energy spectrum and the composition of cosmic rays above 10¹⁸ eV. At these energies, the particles cannot be observed directly, but only by measuring the huge particle cascade ("air shower") they induce in the Earth's atmosphere.

Earth-bound air fluorescence detectors like HiRes make use of the fact that the particle cascade of an air shower dissipates much of its energy exciting and ionizing air molecules. The excited Nitrogen molecules fluoresce in the near UV with an emission line spectrum. The fluorescence light is emitted isotropically and its intensity is proportional to the number of charged particles in the shower. Air fluorescence detectors consist of arrays of telescopes that image fluorescence light from distant air showers onto arrays of photomultiplier tubes.

The HiRes experiment operates two sites seperated by a distance of 12.6 km on the US Military's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The construction of the sites is completed, and HiRes is in the data-taking mode. Opportunities for REU students are therefore broad, and can include data analysis, simulation, and hardware projects, depending on interest and background. REU students joining the program would be based at Nevis.

Mini-BooNE

contact person: Janet Conrad

Neutrino physics is currently one of the most active areas of research in modern particle physics. One of the main reasons for such heightened activity is the continued mystery regarding some of the basic properties of this elusive particle. Do neutrinos have mass? If so, can it be measured in current experiments? What does our knowledge about neutrinos imply about the evolution of galaxies and the visible universe?

The BooNE neutrino experiment at Fermilab is designed to address these questions. The BooNE experiment uses a muon-neutrino beam to determine whether muon neutrinos oscillate to electron neutrinos. An experiment at Los Alamos (LSND) indicates that this oscillation may indeed occur, but the results are not conclusive. Neutrinos could oscillate only if they have mass. The low energy neutrino beam is aimed at the BooNE detector -- a 40-foot-diameter tank filled with mineral oil. The neutrinos interacting with the oil will either release a muon or an electron, depending on the incoming neutrino flavor. The observation of electron production in the detector would indicate neutrino oscillations. In addition to neutrino oscillations, BooNE is also sensitive to other phenomena, such as supernova explosions and the decay of exotic particles.

Individuals joining the program will spend their time at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, IL.

Radiological Research Accelerator Facility (RARAF)

contact person: David Brenner

The Radiological Research Accelerator Facility (RARAF) is dedicated to providing user-friendly radiation sources and bio-labs for research in biology, radiation biology, and radiation physics. Our sources include a unique single-cell/single-particle microbeam irradiator that allows irradiation of single cells or parts of cells with exactly one (or more) charged particle(s). This provides a unique opportunity for scientists to study both structure and function of individual cells and, particularly, their response to damage.

RARAF involves a unique interaction of physics, engineering, and biology, and there are opportunities for research projects in the fields of beam line development (e.g., development of electrostatic focusing lenses), particle detector development (e.g., development of a secondary electron ion microscope), and automated cellular and sub-cellular imaging, both in terms of hardware and software.

Whatever the project, it is important to be able to talk to, and listen to, the on-site and visiting biologists, to make sure that what is being built is really what is needed.

to the Nevis REU Page.

to the Nevis Home Page.