Davis Bahcall Students UNFURL mysteries in Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory (Understand the New Foreign Underground Research Lab) by Mark Sperry

Today when we woke up, we were all especially excited because we were going to go underground in the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy! When we walked outside to wait for our bus, we realized that it finally wasn’t raining! It appeared as though that day couldn’t get any more perfect.

A few hours after we arrived at the Gran Sasso Lab, we were greeted by Chiara Ghiano, a Postdoc at Gran Sasso who lives in Assergi, Italy. She got us into the shuttles when they arrived and we embarked on our epic journey to the underground lab. On our way to the lab, we drove through a magnificent 10km long tunnel that was around 20 feet high. We exited that tunnel, took a tight hairpin curve, and headed straight into a second 10km long tunnel. About halfway through it, we turned off into a side tunnel that contained the entrance to the Gran Sasso Underground Lab.

Once we parked and got out of the shuttles, we were immediately exposed to the icy-cold air of the underground tunnel. Unlike the Sanford Underground Lab, they have absolutely no need for air-conditioning here – we could see our breath it was so cold!

After being issued our high tech safety equipment from safety checkpoint #1 – a plastic yellow hardhat, we took a quick group picture. Then Chiara led us deeper into the tunnel. We learned that we were under 1,400 meters of rock, which is about 78 meters shallower than Homestake Mine. We also learned that Gran Sasso ran its first experiment in 1989.

After walking for a little while and passing through a door, we entered the lab. The ceilings of the main drifts are about 20 feet high but, when we entered one of the lab rooms, we looked straight up in awe at the over 4 story high ceiling!

The first experiment we saw was OPERA. OPERA is a large detector that detects tau neutrinos that have morphed from the muon neutrino beam that is sent from CERN’s SPS accelerator at a distance of about 730 km. OPERA’s function is similar to the new lab South Dakota will get at Sanford (DUSEL), only Sanford will be receiving the muon beam from Fermi Lab.

We moved farther down the lab room and saw the Dark Side–10 Experiment and Borexino Tank. Dark Side–10 is a prototype to Dark Side–50. Dark Side is almost identical to Homestake’s LUX Detector except it uses liquid Argon as its medium instead of liquid Xenon. Once the Borexino Experiment is complete, the instruments used in that experiment will be removed, reused where possible, and then the tank will be reconstructed to accommodate Dark Side–50.

After learning about these experiments, we moved on to another lab room. In our next room, there were a few more experiments. The largest one we saw was ICARUS, which detects Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos using liquid Argon.

In the third and final lab room, we saw the large Double Beta Decay Detector, which had been recently installed. This experiment is very similar to the Majorana experiment at Sanford Lab.

Behind this detector we saw the LVD, which was constructed in 1992. It was built to detect Neutrinos from Super Nova explosions. The last Super Nova occurred in 1987 and was called SN-1987-A. Thus, the LVD has never actually witnessed a Super Nova yet. While it has already been running for nearly 20 years, the LVD will continue running for a few more since the newly installed Double-Beta Decay Detector is located right in front of the LVD. This is mainly due to the fact that it would be more expensive to dismantle and remove the LVD than it would be to keep it running for a few more years. Hopefully a Super Nova will occur in the near future and data can finally be collected.

As we neared the lab’s exit, I asked how the lab was affected by the 2009 earthquake. Chiara told us that there wasn’t any major damage in the lab. Any minor damage that did occur was easily fixed.

We turned in our hard hats and then boarded our shuttles. It was interesting to see how part of the exit drift was used as a parking lot for the lab. We made the remainder of the journey out of the tunnel and then headed back to the Gran Sasso Surface lab. Once we arrived. We headed up to the Admin Building and then waited for lunch to start.

It is so awesome that we actually got to tour a lab in another country! This is an experience I will never forget!

Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati by Adelyn Crabtree

July 27, 2012. On Friday July 27th we visited Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati. This lab holds the largest electron accelerator in Europe; it is called DAPHNE. (Shown in picture.) Along with DAPHNE, they are running FINUDA, which is a machine that studies the strong force by putting a foreign body into the nucleus. Also KLOE, a particle detector, which looks at kaon rays in search of differences between matter and anti-matter. We also heard a lecture on nano-technology. From their lecture we learned about how they used carbon nano tubes to conduct electricity. These carbon nano tubes are even better than copper wire when it comes to conducting!

 

Physics Joke of the day!

 

Who solves mysteries involving electricity?

 

Sherlock Ohms

 

The Trip to Italy - by Jaysen Spurlock

July 21, 2012. The morning started very early, for a couple of us. With an 8-o-clock flight, we had to be to the airport by about 7. Fortunately, breakfast in the hotel opened up in time for us to grab something to eat along the way; Peggy and I each toasted some waffles, and Sophia and Erin had granola bars instead.
We arrived at the airport without incident and unloaded our luggage, moving it all inside as Peggy found a place to park her car. She returned before we had moved very far in line.
The rest of it pretty much breaks down into airport security and loading planes. We got some lunch during the first layover before the rest of the group arrived, and we all flew out to JFK together. We all pretty well sat around for an hour here. Some got up and wandered around, taking a look at everything; Peggy found an international phone, and then we boarded for the long flight over the Atlantic.
After two meals and some uncomfortable sleep, we arrived! The group was split up in their seating, so we only managed to meet back up after customs. We hit the money exchange and ATMs, then were off to find transportation - someone tried to swindle us for the price of a bus, but we found a deal for a train instead. And we arrived just in time to miss the outgoing train, naturally! Wouldn't be any sort of trip without some hangup.
Finally, we reached our station and hurried up to get tickets for a bus; rode all the way to the bed & breakfast, checked in, and relaxed. Everyone eventually decided to go out and walk around, and we all returned after some time, soaked from the rain. After a very filling dinner, we called it a night.

Fermilab Day 2 - by Stacy Deibert

July 31, 2012. Today we started our day in fermilab's Science and Education Center playing science based games.  We played games like Primordial Soup, Natures Scale, Rutherford’s Scattering experiment, Probes with Pinheads, and Take a cosmic Shower. In Natures Scale, for example, you had to place a Electron and a quark, a protons and a neutron, a nucleus, an atom, DNA molecule, a cell, a heart, and a human in order of smallest to largest.  Then we talked to Dave, a Neutrino physicist.  He answered all of our questions about Neutrinos and explained his search for sterile neutrinos.   Next we went to fermilab’s art exhibit, where our objective was to look at all of the works of art and discover the repeating object which was a base in all of the works (it was a parabola or arch depending on who you are).  

After lunch we attended a lecture for undergraduates on electrical engineering given by Theresa Shaw.  We learned that electrical engineering has many different fields like power, computer, control, electronics, and telecommunications to name just a few.  Also she explained details about her experiments on CMS.  Later we learned about the many summer internship opportunities available to undergraduates at Fermilab.  I found it interesting that fermilab will completely pay for your housing and rental car while you work at the lab and also pays at least $470 per week.  Most internships are 10 weeks long starting the first Monday of June and ending the second week of August.  Also if you are given an internship one year and you do well they might invite you back the next year.  Our next speaker has ten interns working for him.  Brenden Casey works on high energy/power physics.  High energy physics is an exploratory field.  In past years fermilab has competed with the LHC in high energy but recently has decided to shift their emphasis to high power instead. Fermilab’s upgrade will possess twice the power than the previous one.  One project fermilab is involved in is g-2 which will measure muons more precisely.  In efforts to save resources fermilab will receive Brookhaven’s magnet ring which took ten years to make.  According to the g-2 experiment all elementary particles possess four things: mass, charge, lifetime, and magnetic charge.  When working on an experiment you either have to buy your equipment or make it yourself so when you can get equipment that is already made it’s a bonus!  On an ending note Casey urged us to contact our congress people and fight for a LBL (Long Base Line) in South Dakota.

Some Bad Haiku - by Sophia Elia

Some Bad Haiku -
The Davis-Bahcall Experience: 7/30

We began the day talking to Andrew Davis at the University of Chicago. He told us about his research with meteorites and elements in our universe:

Bits of Xenon Cling
Diamonds Settled in a Tube
Whispers of Star Stuff

After lunch we drove to Fermilab and got the chance to talk with Dan Lincoln who answered our questions about how he got into physics:

Light Speed was Shattered
When I was a Young Robot
Kitty-Cats Were Dead

We talked about how scientists saw what they think looks a lot like the Higgs. If it’s not, then new physics will be needed.

 Shadow of Sir Higgs
I Prefer His Mad Uncle
Preconceptions Flee.

Journey to the 'almost' center of the Earth - by Abe Schwartzrock

Dateline July 19, 2012. The culmination of our two weeks at Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) has finally arrived. Safety-training, history, and lessons/talks with scientists concerning the cutting edge science and experiments being installed and conducted nearly a mile below our feet have all prepared us well.

                Suited, very fashionably in fact, in our personal protective equipment, Bill Harlan (with trusty camera in hand), Peggy Norris, and Steve Gabriel accompanied us as we descended the wooden Yates shaft. As the cage was briskly lowered, a wall lined with dripping boards streaked through our view, black hallways (drifts) sweeping mysteriously by periodically.

                Bill and Peggy, along with geologist and laboratory supervisor, Tom Trancynger, LUX director Rick Gaitskell and other supervisors and workers guided us through the Davis Campus, including the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) and Majorana experimentation areas. While we had expected entry into the LUX to be impossible, upon our arrival we were pleasantly surprised to discover the deep cleaning process was behind schedule, allowing us to come within mere feet of the detector and the tank it will eventually occupy. The tank will allow the detection of cosmic ray muons so that when they create erroneous signals in the detector itself, these signals and their data can be ignored. The xenon itself in the actual detector will serve as a collision target for unsuspecting dark matter particles as they blow ethereally by and through us. The Majorana experiment, looking for neutrinoless double beta decay, was, unfortunately not so accessible, but through a window some of the ultra-pure copper being formed for the experiment was distinctly visible. The golenerd detectors were, for obvious reasons, strictly off limits except for highly qualified personnel.

                Tom Trancynger freely imparted his life lessons and geological perception to the group; moreover, he, Peggy, and Steve secured a spacious and nonintrusive corner of the campus in which to conduct a certain experiment of our own (supposedly the very control room of “Cosmic” Ray Davis himself during his famous first neutrino experiment). To quantify the degree of muon pollution at the 4850 foot level, my fellow Davis-Bahcall Scholars and I employed several muon detection kits from Fermilab to literally count the number of muons passing through our paddle-like scintillator (light emitting) detectors. After determining the best settings to eliminated background noise from radiation, we detected no muons during our stay. This is consistent with a result of about four muons per day that Peggy recorded using larger detectors. (We tested these again, but broken equipment did not allow them to be fully utilized.)

                The progress made at the Davis Campus is impressive, though we were somewhat disappointed that no more of the mine could be explored. It was also somewhat disappointing that the Golenerd Theory was not discussed in greater detail during our time deep below.

                Indubitably, this experience stands as one of the most unique and captivating of my life to date, putting the science of lectures and textbooks before my very eyes! A trip like this simply allows new “depths” of understanding.

First Day in Italy by Esteben Rodriguez

                Dateline: July 23, 2012. Today was our first full day in Italy. We started our day by recovering from jet lag. With an eight hour time change from Rapid, the extra sleep was excellent, especially since I hardly slept on the plane. Breakfast was very different from an American breakfast. It consists of more pastry type items than such things as eggs, cereal, or bacon. Personally, I think I enjoy an Italian breakfast more. Their coffee is also much different. I have never really liked coffee, but I enjoy their coffee. Their most common is actually a shot of espresso and that’s it. I’ve heard the locals usually drink it over a few minutes or an hour, but I like to just drink the whole thing very quickly. The afternoon we spent at Gran Sasso Laboratory. We actually have an hour and a half bus ride from our lodging to the lab. Italians drive like crazy around here. They have extremely narrow roads that they fly around. Stop signs also appear to be suggestions. At the lab, we had a lecture on the Borexino experiment that was looking for neutrinos in a process similar to the lux experiment at Homestake in Lead, SD. The rest of our time at the lab we spent in an extreme game of foosball. Once we got back to our hotel, we had a very good three course Italian meal. The rest of our night we spent hanging out in the hotel before heading to bed.