News
MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 5:30 PM
MMoCA will present ART+ Mass on Monday, August 21 in conjunction with Forward Fest. This event will offer a dialogue on art as a lens and tool for exploring and documenting new discoveries in particle physics. The panel will feature:
- Artist Sonja Thomsen, whose immersive lobby installation at MMoCA is meant to transform a viewer's encounters with light, space, time, and movement. Thomsen's interest lies in “creating spaces that highlight the inaccessible. There should always be a place for wonder; it is a direct line to new knowledge.”
- Professor Wesley H. Smith. Bjorn Wiik Professor of Physics at UW-Madison, who has been deeply involved in work on the Large Hedron Collidor used to discover the Higgs Boson particle. The so-called “God particle” is believed to be responsible for giving matter mass and shaping the very early universe.
Astronomers and astrophysicists expect that fast radio bursts (FRBs) happen all the time. Some estimates predict there are up to 10,000 per day. But they are not easy to detect. Telescopes with a wide field of view often don’t have good resolution. And the ones that have good resolution usually come with a much smaller field of view and might be missing them all the time.
FRBs are so short that regular follow-up observations by other radio or optical telescopes are not realistic. This could be a depressing scenario for scientists, but guess what: neutrinos might come to the rescue.
Geoff and Josie Fox combined backgrounds in physics and art history, an appreciation for adventure, and a willingness to change course to gain incredible traction in the action sports industry.
The Physics Department lecture demonstration office (one of the largest in the nation) is looking for a fun, energetic, and loyal student with that “creative edge”: someone with a background in the physical sciences or within physics itself, someone interested to learn more about physics, physics demonstrations, and audio/video equipment. Initially for 10 hours per week, with the possibility for more hours. Freshmen are welcome and encouraged to apply. Work-study are welcome to apply. Work trial period of one semester, with the possibility of continuation throughout the summer and into following year(s).
Job Requirements:
- Some general physics knowledge is a plus.
- Have a desire to learn more about physics and audio-visual equipment
- Must have a working knowledge of hand tools and/or willing to learn
- Be able to listen and follow instructions, but also present alternative solutions to problems.
- Be able to work both independently and as a team.
- Having the ablity to work during most of the summer months, big Plus!
- Having the ablity to work most Fridays from 3pm-4:30pm, big plus!
- Working knowledge of Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and other microcontrollers would be awesome.
- Able to lift and move equipment (50lbs)
Job Duties include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Assist in the digitally record our weekly departmental colloquia on Friday afternoons and other lectures, and digital editing.
- Assist with the physics museum, tours, and our annual physics demo shows.
- Assist with researching and archiving of lecture demonstration equipment, including making and repairing equipment, fixing cabinets, data entry, labeling, and much more.
- Assist with audio/video maintenance, including pulling wire, testing cables, making cable, installing equipment, labeling, and troubleshooting.
- Assist with various odd jobs, cleaning whiteboards, hanging things, fixing broken items, woodworking such as sanding, painting and varnishing.
Please submit to Steve Narf (Room 2237 Chamberlin) or Jim Reardon (Room 2320g Chamberlin):
- Cover letter expressing interest in this job
- Resume & Skills
- Reference
“The big idea for dark matter detection is that it’s all around us right now, and it’s really important gravitationally, for how big structures—galaxies and bigger—form,” says UW particle astrophysicist Kimberly Palladino. “We know it doesn’t interact with light and with charge, and it doesn’t really interact much with itself.”
Jenny Thomas, Senior Scientist with the IceCube group and Prof. at University College London, has been elected to a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of their outstanding contribution to science.
Each colored square corresponds to a pixel in the camera. The camera has 1024 pixels, each sensitive to single photons with time resolution of one billionth of a second. The full camera weighs several hundred pounds and measures five feet across. The image was created in the laboratory in Chamberlin Hall by flashing a light emitting diode at the camera, with pixels surrounding the W electrically suppressed by operating them at low bias voltage. The color scale indicates how many photons were detected in each pixel, with the darkest red pixels corresponding to the most light. The actual photons that were detected are blue. The pixels have not yet been calibrated, which is why some artifacts are visible. The camera will be installed on a prototype telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, where it will detect flashes of light produced by very high energy gamma rays produced in astrophysical sources and colliding with Earth’s atmosphere. The prototype Schwarzschild Couder Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array is supported by a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation, award #1229792. Image credit: Colin Adams, Thomas Meures, Justin Vandenbroucke, Physics Department.
A short video describes the project and details UW's involvement.
Ten University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists are involved in designing and testing the LZ detector, and are part of a team of more than 200 researchers from 38 institutions in five countries working on the project. This month, the Department of Energy approved proceeding with the final stages of assembly and construction of LZ at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, with a total project cost of $55 million.
Illustration Credit: SLAC
Dr. Corcoran was killed in a bicycle accident on February 3, 2017. Dr. Corcoran was the 2008 recipient of UW Physics Department’s Distinguished Scientist award in recognition of her work at UW-Madison with Prof. Albert Erwin.