Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2017 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics
Volume 62, Number 11
Wednesday–Saturday, October 25–28, 2017; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Session KC: Mini-Symposium on the CEU 20th Anniversary |
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Chair: Shelly Lesher, University of Wisconsin La Crosse Room: Salon 3 |
Friday, October 27, 2017 2:00PM - 2:36PM |
KC.00001: Engaging undergraduate students in hadron physics research and instrumentation Invited Speaker: Tanja Horn Nuclear physics research is fundamental to our understanding of the visible universe and at the same time intertwined with our daily life. Nuclear physics studies the origin and structure of the atomic nuclei in terms of their basic constituents, the quarks and gluons. Atoms and molecules would not exist without underlying quark-gluon interactions, which build nearly all the mass of the visible universe from an assembly of massless gluons and nearly-massless quarks. The study of hadron structure with electromagnetic probes through exclusive and semi-inclusive scattering experiments carried out at the 12 GeV Jefferson Laboratory plays an important role in this effort. In particular, planned precision measurements of pion and kaon form factors and longitudinal-transverse separated deep exclusive pion and kaon electroproduction cross sections to the highest momentum transfers achievable play an important role in understanding hadron structure and masses and provide essential constraints for 3D hadron imaging. While a growing fraction of nuclear physics research is carried out at large international laboratories, individual university research groups play critical roles in the success of that research. These include data analysis projects and the development of state-of-the-art instrumentation demanded by increasingly sophisticated experiments. These efforts are empowered by the creativity of university faculty, staff, postdocs, and provide students with unique hands-on experience. As an example, an aerogel Cherenkov detector enabling strangeness physics research in Hall C at Jefferson Lab was constructed at the Catholic University of America with the help of 16 undergraduate and high school students. The "Conference Experience for Undergraduates" (CEU) provides a venue for these students who have conducted research in nuclear physics. This presentation will present the experiences of one of the participants in the first years of the CEU, her current research program in hadronic physics, and her current and former students who have been participating in more recent CEU events. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 27, 2017 2:36PM - 2:48PM |
KC.00002: From Undergraduate UCNs: my CEU-launched neutron career Marie Blatnik The CEU changed my life, introducing me to the Ultracold Neutron (UCN) experiments that brought me to Caltech as a UCN collaborator at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge National Labs. This story includes undergraduate-level overviews of UCN production, the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center beta decay correlation experiments, and the Oak Ridge Spallation Neutron Source nEDM (neutron Electric Dipole Moment) experiment. Progress with Metglas shielding and Cavello multiplier high voltage apparatus development for the nEDM apparatus development will also be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 27, 2017 2:48PM - 3:00PM |
KC.00003: Space Science at Los Alamos National Laboratory Karl Smith The Space Science and Applications group (ISR-1) in the Intelligence and Space Research (ISR) division at the Los Alamos National Laboratory lead a number of space science missions for civilian and defense-related programs. In support of these missions the group develops sensors capable of detecting nuclear emissions and measuring radiations in space including $\gamma$-ray, X-ray, charged-particle, and neutron detection. The group is involved in a number of stages of the lifetime of these sensors including mission concept and design, simulation and modeling, calibration, and data analysis. These missions support monitoring of the atmosphere and near-Earth space environment for nuclear detonations as well as monitoring of the local space environment including space-weather type events. Expertise in this area has been established over a long history of involvement with cutting-edge projects continuing back to the first space based monitoring mission Project Vela. The group’s interests cut across a large range of topics including non-proliferation, space situational awareness, nuclear physics, material science, space physics, astrophysics, and planetary physics. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 27, 2017 3:00PM - 3:12PM |
KC.00004: Probing Fundamental Symmetries: Questioning the Very Basics of Conservation Laws Prajwal Mohanmurthy Is the Lorentz-CPT symmetry, a core component of the standard model, valid? To what extent are the CP and T symmetries broken in the strong sector? What are we doing about the existing strong-CP problem? Do neutrons oscillate (like neutral kaons) or break the (Baryon - Lepton) number conservation? In this presentation, we will go over some of the experiments probing fundamental symmetries trying to answer the above questions. I will, very briefly, introduce the CompEx \& nEx experiments probing the Lorentz symmetry in the electromagnetic (EM) sector, the nEDM experiment probing CP and T symmetries in the strong sector, NStar experiment searching for neutron oscillations, MASS \& BDX experiments searching for axion like particles \& dark matter. We will then briefly touch upon the highlights of these experiments and focus on the path we are taking towards answering those questions while also connecting the dots [experiments] with CEU. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 27, 2017 3:12PM - 3:24PM |
KC.00005: Taming Many-Parameter BSM Models with Bayesian Neural Networks M.P. Kuchera, A. Karbo, H.B. Prosper, A. Sanchez, J.Z. Taylor The search for physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) is a major focus of large-scale high energy physics experiments. One method is to look for specific deviations from the Standard Model that are predicted by BSM models. In cases where the model has a large number of free parameters, standard search methods become intractable due to computation time. This talk presents results using Bayesian Neural Networks, a supervised machine learning method, to enable the study of higher-dimensional models. The popular phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model was studied as an example of the feasibility and usefulness of this method. Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are used to expedite the calculations. Cross-section predictions for 13 TeV proton collisions will be presented. My participation in the Conference Experience for Undergraduates (CEU) in 2004-2006 exposed me to the national and global significance of cutting-edge research. At the 2005 CEU, I presented work from the previous summer's SULI internship at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, where I learned to program while working on the Majorana Project. That work inspired me to follow a similar research path, which led me to my current work on computational methods applied to BSM physics. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 27, 2017 3:24PM - 3:36PM |
KC.00006: The winding road to being a code monkey Michael Sarahan I am now a software engineer at a company that provides data analytics services, and helps support the open source data science community. I have been a computer nerd for a very long time, but it was my CEU experience at Texas A&M with Sherry Yennello (2003-2005) that helped me put my nerd skills to productive use. My project then was simulation of pulse shape discrimination electronics, and it was an excellent introduction to core computational concerns, such as digitization: when you see a line on the screen, that's not really how the computer sees it. I wandered in graduate school through a chemistry program into using electron microscopes. My programming interest got me into image and signal processing, which led naturally to jobs in analyzing data, and also in acquiring data. Throughout, it was always difficult just to make software work. I got pretty good at making it work. That's what I do for a living now - package software so that it is easy for other people to do great science with. [Preview Abstract] |
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