Pattern recognition rules in particle physics. When particles collide, many things happen at the same time and in a very fast sequence within fractions of a second. In order to tell everyday events from rare ones, particle physicists use pattern recognition software to quickly scan and classify pictures from the collisions. A software development kit […]
Elementary – an award for thorough detective work
Last week’s announcement of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics will not only have given great satisfaction to the recipients, Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald, but also to their many friends and colleagues both inside and outside the Super Kamiokande (Super-K) and Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) collaborations. Parochially, wearing my Oxford hat, this award also […]
HEPAP discusses reconfigured options for the proposed US long-baseline neutrino experiment
The future of the US high-energy physics (HEP) programme depends on having both viable collaborations on the leading worldwide projects, especially the LHC, and developing, in parallel, important new forefront facilities in the US. Fermilab and the US neutrino community are proposing to concentrate on the intensity frontier by developing next-generation long-baseline neutrino experiments (LBNE) […]
Japanese high-energy physics community says go for the linear collider
Research projects in high-energy physics tend to be on larger scales, since they require huge experimental facilities. The realisation of such large-scale projects requires an enormous amount of long-term preparation, and also a big budget. That’s why high-energy physicists have decided the priorities for the future experiments by community-wide discussions. On 8 August, the Japanese […]
Physics thrives in South Korea
Many of us who are involved in ILC design efforts were in South Korea for the KILC12 workshop in May in Daegu. Wearing a different hat as past president of the American Physical Society, I was also invited to participate in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Korean Physical Society in Daejean. That […]
Breaking the speed limit of the universe?
Experimental physics plays many roles in advancing science. We make lots of measurements that help enable us to describe the physical world. We test theories and sometimes it leads to surprising discoveries that change our understanding of the physical world. Part of doing and advancing science is experimentally checking the correctness of our description of […]
Neutrinos in Venice
Director’s Corner 2 April 2009 Barry Barish Neutrinos in Venice Last month I had the pleasure of participating in the "XIII International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes" at the "Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti" in Venice Italy. This workshop, inspired and run by Professor Milla Baldo Ceolin (Padova University), has become an institution in […]