We went back to Fermilab the day after our weekend in Chicago. Of all the labs we'd been to up until then, I enjoyed Fermilab the most--partially because of the interesting buildings, partially because of the interesting experiments, but also because it's in an area of Illinois that isn't too far from where I grew up. I especially appreciated the restored prairie.
We visited and learned about a few of the experiments we'd missed on the first day at Fermilab, including the Tevatron. This underground circular particle accelerator is an impressive feat of physics and engineering, with many complicated pieces such as magnets and muon detectors. It smelled like my grandma's cellar.
Something I found interesting was the creation of antiprotons for the Tevatron. According to the scientists we spoke to at Fermilab, when you smash a proton into a target, a bunch of different kinds of particles are created--sometimes including antiprotons. Magnetic fields are then used to separate the positive and negative charges and keep the antiprotons from annihilating with regular matter. It took about 30 hours to make enough antiprotons to fill the Tevatron ring.
Another experiment we visited had not quite been started, unlike the Tevatron, which has been shut down. The Muon g-2 experiment is studying muons in magnetic fields to learn about the virtual particles that pop in and out of vacuums. The magnet it will use is huge--apparently its size made it quite an adventure to transport it to the lab.
We then finished the day with a talk on the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment, which will be heading to the place we started out: SURF in Lead.
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| This length of superconducting magnet is just a portion of the g-2 muon ring. Photo by Peggy Norris |
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