Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2018 Annual Meeting of the APS Four Corners Section
Volume 63, Number 16
Friday–Saturday, October 12–13, 2018; University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Session K01: Lustig Award Presentations |
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Chair: Kathrin Spendier, University of Colorado Colorado Springs Room: Aline Wilmot Skaggs Biology Building 220 |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 9:40AM - 10:04AM |
K01.00001: Imaging of Individual Barium Atoms in Solid Xenon Invited Speaker: Christopher R Chambers Images of individual barium atoms in solid xenon with high definition have been obtained by scanning a focused laser across a solid xenon matrix on a cold sapphire window. A few pulses of a mass-selected Ba+ beam are deposited as the solid xenon matrix growns. Some neutralization to Ba occurs. When the laser is fixed on a single Ba atom peak, the fluorescence suddenly drops to background level after times of as short as 30 s. The sudden drop to background is a clear confirmation of single atoms. A remarkable result is that heating the matrix to 100 K “erases” all signal from a previous Ba deposit. To our knowledge, this is the first time that single atoms have been imaged in solid noble gas and represents significant progress towards a practical barium tagging technique for the proposed nEXO neutrinoless double beta decay experiment. The identification, or “tagging” of the Ba-136 daughter atom that results from double beta decay of Xe-136 could eliminate all false radioactive backgrounds in nEXO that do not produce a Ba-136 daughter. The proposed Ba tagging scheme utilizes a cryogenic probe to trap the barium daughter atom in solid xenon and extract it from the time projection chamber. The observation of a single barium atom in the fluorescence image of the solid xenon matrix on the widow at the end of the probe would be a positive confirmation of a true double beta decay event. Observation of neutrinoless double beta decay is of fundamental importance, as it would show that neutrinos and anti-neutrinos are the same particle. |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 10:04AM - 10:28AM |
K01.00002: Performing Physics: An investigation of identity at the intersections of race, science, and performance art Invited Speaker: Simone Hyater-Adams There is a current push to understand and address the underrepresentation of Black folks in physics, and STEM more broadly. This talk discusses research that works to explore this through studies of identity and practice. This work is premised on an understanding that the systems of oppression operate within the culture of physics, and postulates that bridging the gaps between science and art can help us begin to address this challenge. In this talk, I will describe three ongoing studies that explore these ideas. The first is an overview of the Critical Physics Identity (CPI) framework, a methodological tool to understand the structural and systemic factors that impact the ways that folks identify with the physics discipline. The second applies the CPI framework for an analysis of Black physicists' narratives in order to highlight themes in the institutional and structural resources that mold their physics identities. The third explores ways that the performance arts might be used as a tool to address the issues found from the analysis of these narratives. This talk concludes with a working model for informal physics programs designed to support student identity, that incorporates the content and practices from the performing arts and from physics. |
Saturday, October 13, 2018 10:28AM - 10:52AM |
K01.00003: Development of New Technologies for Particle Detection and Application of Machine Learning Techniques to Search for New Physics Using the ATLAS Detector Invited Speaker: Aidan Grummer A suite of linked research projects is undertaken, combining a search for phenomena beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, development of new instruments for greater precision in detecting fundamental particles, and tracking and understanding the effect upon the detectors of the radiation that is an indelible element of their operating environment. Data recorded by the ATLAS Detector at CERN are employed in a search for evidence of undiscovered particles contributing to the rate of decays of B(s,d) mesons to dimuon final states. New applications of machine learning techniques are implemented to separate this signal from its many backgrounds. That analysis is combined with a highly sensitive evaluation of the effects of radiation damage already received by the Pixel detector and a comparison of these data to a detailed model of radiation. A complementary thrust of this effort involves development of new devices and techniques for monitoring radiation fluences and calibrating particle physics detectors in a high radiation field. Finally, a comprehensive program for quality assurance of the ATLAS upgrade inner tracker modules and staves is being developed and applied to components assembled at SLAC laboratory, including electrical and mechanical tests and an interactive data structure of these results. |
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