Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2012
Volume 57, Number 3
Saturday–Tuesday, March 31–April 3 2012; Atlanta, Georgia
Session H15: Cosmic Rays Education II and Faster-than-Light Controversies |
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Sponsoring Units: FEd DAP Chair: Marjorie Bardeen, Fermilab Room: Grand Hall East D |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 10:45AM - 10:57AM |
H15.00001: Students using large muon detectors to investigate an array of cosmic ray phenomena Paul Sedita, Kevin McFarland During the summers of 2004 to 2008 high school students were given the opportunity to refurbish, characterize and ultimately experiment with large muon detectors at the University of Rochester. The 2.3 m$^{2}$ panels used for the cosmic ray investigations were remnants of the NuTeV experiment conducted at Fermilab in the late 1990's, and provided a means for measuring surface cosmic ray muon rates with high precision over many years of time. The first set of experiments carried out by students used data from two stacked paddles running in coincidence mode to detect significant muon fluctuations due to solar events, model an indirect relationship between muon frequency and atmospheric pressure, and determine if muon rates were dependent of the time of day. Current and archived data can be accessed at http://muon2.pas.rochester.edu/data/. In subsequent summers, students and teachers utilized four panel arrays to characterize directionality, angular distribution and frequency of atmospheric muon shower events. For all investigations students presented their findings to their peers and mentors via weekly seminars, e-logs, and poster sessions. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 10:57AM - 11:09AM |
H15.00002: The Mile Deep Muon Detector at Sanford Underground Laboratory Margaret McMahan, Steve Gabriel For educating students and teachers about basic nuclear and particle physics, you can't go wrong with cosmic rays muons as a cheap and reliable source of data. A simple and relatively inexpensive detector gives a myriad of possibilities to cover core material in physical science, chemistry, physics, and statistics and gives students opportunities to design their own investigations. At Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake, in Lead, SD, cosmic ray muon detectors are being used to answer the first question always asked by any visitor to the facility, ``Why are you building the lab a mile underground'' A conventional Quarknet-style detector is available in the education facility on the surface, with a much larger companion detector, the Mile Deep Muon Detector, set up 4850 feet below the surface. Using the Quarknet data acquisition board, the data will be made available to students and teachers through the Cosmic Ray E-lab website. The detector was tested and installed as part of a summer program for students beginning their first or second year of college. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 11:09AM - 11:21AM |
H15.00003: The Cosmic Muon Detector Array at Westmont College Warren Rogers At Westmont College we have designed and constructed the Cosmic Muon Detector Array (CMDA), consisting of 8 1-m long position-sensitive scintillator detector bars arranged in two layers of 4 detectors each, one above the other. The purpose of the array has been to measure and monitor the cosmic muon flux over a large angular range in the sky - approximately $\pm$ 50$^o$ (north-south) by $\pm$ 30$^o$ (east-west), by correlating event positions between the two layers. The CMDA also monitors the long term north-south sky flux ratio, binned by sidereal hour, to look for possible flux correlations from cosmic sources including the galactic core. The detectors, electronics, and analysis software was modeled after the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) located at the NSCL, Michigan State University, and simultaneous flux correlations for the CMDA and MoNA were monitored for approximately 1 week. After taking over a year's worth of data, the original array burned in a campus wildfire, which was then replaced by the second generation array (currently in operation). The CMDA serves both as a training ground for students preparing for participation in MoNA collaboration experiments as well as for Westmont student research experience. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 11:21AM - 11:33AM |
H15.00004: Cosmic Ray Physics at a Community College: Assembly, Detection and Measurement Sewan Fan, Scott Davis, Leo Osornio, Brooke Haag During an in-depth eight week summer research program at Hartnell Community College in Salinas, CA, we constructed two complementary experimental systems to measure cosmic rays. One system used NIM electronic modules configured for coincidence measurement. To detect the comic rays, two photomultiplier tubes each coupled to plastic scintillator paddles were assembled. The other system was build from a circuit board designed by the LBL Cosmic Ray Project. Extensive prototype and diagnosis for this board were done prior to final soldering of the parts. The dependence of the cosmic ray flux on the separation between scintillator paddles was measured and showed reasonable agreement with the accepted value. The flux dependence on the square of the cosine of the polar angle was also tested, and our result showed closely the expected cosine behavior using the NIM setup. As for the LBL Lab circuit board, it was difficult to obtain reliable coincidence counts for large polar angles probably due to the lack of an adjustable discriminator control. This was compensated for by operating the detectors at a lower high voltage which reduced the random counts, without affecting signals. This strategy gave a more reliable cosmic ray flux result using the Berkeley Lab circuit board. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 11:33AM - 11:45AM |
H15.00005: The Public Event Display of the Pierre Auger Observatory Miguel Mostafa The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest cosmic ray detector ever built in the search for the unknown sources of the highest-energy cosmic rays ever observed. The Auger Collaboration has made 1\% of its cosmic ray data available to the general public. The U.S.\ mirror of this public event display is hosted at Colorado State. Our web site allows browsing over the ultra-high energy cosmic rays collected by the Auger Observatory since 2004, and it is updated daily. Users can display plots online, obtain detailed information on individual cosmic rays, and download an ASCII file with the complete data set. The Auger Observatory has also been recording the count rates of low energy secondary cosmic ray particles for the self-calibration of its particle detectors on the ground. After correcting for atmospheric effects, modulations of galactic cosmic rays due to solar activity and transient events are observed. The Auger data rates are also available to the general public through our website at Colorado State. In this talk, I will describe the available data together with the opportunities to utilize ultra-high energy cosmic rays as an educational tool. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 11:45AM - 11:57AM |
H15.00006: Superluminal Neutrinos: The Good Kind of Science Controversy Michael Lucibella After OPERA released results indicating neutrinos were traveling faster than the speed of light, a number of vocal of scientists said that they shouldn't have prematurely engaged in ``science by press release.'' However, controversial claims like this, if handled right, can actually be a boon to science. Getting the public interested in cutting edge physics is notoriously difficult, but the public is always interested in hearing about a controversy. The press conference and following debate becomes a great teaching moment that offers the public a unique opportunity to get an inside and have an in-depth look at how science works. Scientists willing to publicly engage in this kind of civil controversy are important because when other scientific controversies arise, ones with major public policy implications, the public starts out with a better understanding of how science works, and scientists have better practice managing questions from the public. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 11:57AM - 12:09PM |
H15.00007: Controversial Physics: Perfect Public Outreach Opportunity Rebecca Thompson The goal of public outreach is to excite and engage the public in physics. What can be more exciting than controversy? When OPERA announced their discover of superluminal neutrinos, controversy within the physics community quickly followed. This result could overturn a century of established physics. From a public outreach perspective there was no better way to bring people usually unaware of current research into the discussion of this result. If handled well this could be used as a gateway to interest in other physics research. The public drive to learn more about this particular result can be harnessed to create interest in other cutting edge physics research and drive the public to continue their informal physics learning. If the results of OPERA and eventually proven incorrect as many physicists believe they will, that will not erase the public's new-found interest in physics but hopefully continue to fuel it. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 12:09PM - 12:21PM |
H15.00008: Controversial Science and the Media James Riordon The possibility that the OPERA collaboration has detected superluminal neutrinos was among the most controversial topics in physics news in decades, and one of the most widely covered stories in all of science in 2011. Word of the research initially reached journalists and the public prior to publication in peer-reviewed journals. Understandably, many physicists are concerned that the significance of controversial science may be exaggerated or distorted when news organizations report on science at such an early stage. I will offer an overview of the ways the story was promoted by the media relations personnel, and outline the rationales that motivate media relations efforts along with the associated benefits and drawbacks that can result. Finally, I will examine the accuracy and completeness of the superluminal neutrino news stories that ultimately were made available to the general public. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 12:21PM - 12:33PM |
H15.00009: Selectively Bringing Down the Curtain on OPERA Superluminal Neutrino Papers Robert Garisto Picture this: instead of watching from afar the daily flow of superluminal proposals trying to explain OPERA's preliminary data, you are the PRL Editor charged with deciding, via a peer review process, what to do with each paper. How do you address the validity of a manuscript whose starting point involves circumventing Einstein? I'll discuss the general issues of controversial claims and data-driven floods of theory papers through the unusual lens of the OPERA-motivated papers. [Preview Abstract] |
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