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08/01/07

Particle search on a shoestring

When Aaron Chou heard about an experiment in Italy that suggested the existence of an exotic particle as a candidate for dark matter, he was intrigued enough to go looking for it. His first stop: the Fermilab cafeteria.

08/01/07

A lab away from home

It's a stretch: In search of new skills, particle physicists spend months or years at labs far from home, absorbing culture along with science.

08/01/07

What, no popcorn?

Though scientists are skeptical of the suggested particle's existence, the results from Legnaro need to be checked, says Chou, who strayed from his usual area of research–cosmology– to help put the project together. "It's unlikely but not impossible.

Logbook of Jun-July 2007
07/01/07

First users’ meeting

In 1967, 400 enthusiastic scientists met at Argonne National Laboratory to discuss plans to build a new 200 GeV accelerator and a national laboratory to house it.

07/01/07

Secrets of a heavyweight

A dozen years after it first appeared on the world stage, the top quark is still one of the hottest topics in particle physics. Why is it so much heavier than any other particle? And what can it tell us about the origin of mass and other quantum mysteries?

An illustration of a film strip with particle events on each frame
07/01/07

Particle event

Scientists call the particle collisions and interactions they study “particle events.”

07/01/07

Talk and chalk

Theorists can’t help it: When asked to explain something, they reach for a piece of chalk. The language of math and physics seems to require a writing implement and a large vertical surface.

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