Making a Difference

T.I. Meyer | Chief Operating Officer, Fermilab25 October 2014 | Louis Stokes Midwest Center for Excellence Conference

Agenda

• The Case for Science

• The Value of Particle Physics

• The Nature of Fermilab

• Opportunities at Fermilab

• Q&A

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Broader Context

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Humility

• People with opinions just go around bothering one another.– Buddha

• Science is a wonderful thing if one doesn’t have to earn one’s living at it.– Einstein

• Physics is not religion. If it were, we’d have a much easier time raising money.– Leon Lederman

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What is Science?

• What is science…– … as a way of thinking?– … as a way of communicating?– … as a way of experiencing the world?– ... as a way of learning about the world?

• British Science Council said:– “Science is the pursuit and application of knowledge and

understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence.”

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Why?

• Many of us agree that science is valuable…but why?

• Why is science important to our society?• Why is it publicly funded (at all)?

• If science is an intellectual/cultural pursuit that “enriches us,”– Why does the U.S. spend more public funds on science &

technology than on the performing & visual arts?

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Assertions (i.e., never fully proven)

• Generally agreed that the benefits of science fall in three categories– Satisfy / fulfill human curiosity– Inspire / train the next generation– Create jobs / stimulate economic

activity in medium and long-term

• These benefits accumulate in multiple sectors & at multiple scales– These benefits are of broad and

shared value– These benefits take “unusual” time &

effort to develop or accrue

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Advancing Knowledge

Driving Growth

Creating Leaders

Ergo…

• Conclusion– It is good public policy to support science with taxpayer funds so that

the benefits & impacts are optimally generated---and captured---for society

• This line of reasoning can create a sense of obligation or civic duty about sharing the benefits, progress, and story of science with the public

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What distinguishes particle physics?

• Its area of interest– Building blocks, interactions, space/matter,

energy/time, …

• Its techniques and approaches: ways of analysis– Statistics & data mining, theoretical models &

experiment, large instruments & teams, …

• Its value & contribution– Stretches technology in unusual fashion

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Advancing Knowledge

Driving Growth

Creating Leaders

Advancing Knowledge

Driving Growth

Creating Leaders

Advancing Knowledge

Driving Growth

Creating Leaders

Particle Physics

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July 4, 2012

• The discovery of a Higgs-like boson at CERN marked a turning point for elementary particle physics

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July 4, 2012

• With the Higgs boson, the Standard Model is complete

– It provides a consistent explanation of the subatomic world: the quarks, leptons, and gauge bosons

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The Higgs Boson

• But it does more than that: The Higgs is different

– It is the first of its kind

– It is not a quark, a lepton or a gauge boson

– It is a brand new form of matter – a fundamental spin-zero boson

• As such, it can condense and fill the vacuum, and alter the properties of particles

• The Higgs changes our conception of fundamental physics

– Is it matter? Is it a force?

– Or is it both?

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The Standard Model

In fact, the Higgs is the linchpin that holds it all together

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Murch

Without it, life would not exist

Beyond the Standard Model

• Given this great success, is particle physics finished?

– Can we declare victory, pack up and go home?

• During the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that there are important phenomena that the Standard Model does not address, including

– Dark matter– Cosmic acceleration– The Higgs itself– Neutrinos

• Nevertheless, the Standard Model offers a firm platform on which to build

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Dark Matter

• At present, the evidence for Dark Matter is overwhelming

• For example: Gravitational lenses image distant galaxies

• Dark Matter is necessary to account for the amount of lensing!

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NASA

Dark Matter

• In fact, today astronomers use lenses as tools to map the Dark Matter and to observe the earliest galaxies

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Colliding clusters: Blue = Dark Matter Pink = Ordinary Matter

NASA

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2006/1e0657/media/bullet.mpg

Dark Matter Questions

• There is no Dark Matter in the Standard Model. So what is it, and

how does it fit into the overall picture?

• Can we

– Detect it directly on Earth?

– Observe it indirectly in space?

– Produce and characterize it at accelerator laboratories?

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Cosmic Acceleration

• A host of measurements - many based on supernovae - indicate that the expansion of the universe is accelerating

• These measurements have been confirmed by the Planck and WMAP satellites, which used the cosmic microwave background to measure the age and composition of the Universe

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13.82 GyrESA

Cosmic Acceleration

• The result:

• There is over five times as much Dark Matter as ordinary matter• Universe is dominated by Dark Energy, which drives today’s

cosmic acceleration

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Dark Matter (26.8%) Ordinary Matter (4.9%) Dark Energy (68.3%)

Cosmic Acceleration

• Early and late acceleration?

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Cosmic Acceleration Questions

• Is Dark Energy constant, or is it changing with time? What is its equation of state? Why is its magnitude so small?

• Will BICEP2’s results be confirmed? If so, what is the physics driving the acceleration?

• Are the two periods of cosmic acceleration related?

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Neutrinos are abundant in our world

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Neutrinos are different

• Neutrinos are difficult to study because they interact with ordinary matter only through the weak interactions

• 100 billion/sec pass through your thumbnail w/o a trace– Easily travel through a light-year of lead

• Neutrinos created about 1 second after the Big Bang remain all around us today : 150 per cubic centimeter

• More of them than any other matter particle in the universe!

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Neutrinos…curiouser and curiouser• The wide range of quark masses is puzzling

– The top quark discovery was an exclamation mark on that

• The ultra-tiny neutrino mass doesn’t fit the standard model– In fact we do not understand neutrinos mass, other than it has mass

• The Higgs discovery has brought flavor and mass issues to the forefront

• One future lies in better understanding neutrinos – Their mass ordering– The origin of their masses and why they are so small– Their interactions (CP Violation)– Their relationship to matter-antimatter asymmetry in universe

(leptogenesis) and structure of the universe

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Fermilab

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Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)

Fermilab is America's particle physics and accelerator laboratory.

Our vision is to solve the mysteries of matter, energy, space and time for the benefit of all. We strive to:

• Lead the world in neutrino science with particle accelerators• Lead the nation in the development of particle colliders and their use for

scientific discovery• Advance particle physics through measurements of the cosmos

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Obligatory aerial photo

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…

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Fermilab by the Numbers• Fermilab has 1,700 employees on a 6,800 acre site with an annual

operating budget of $350M-$400M

• Making the lab open and available to scientists, students, and citizens across the country and around the world is a priority– 2,100 scientists visit from around the world– 40,000 K-12 students participate in activities at Fermilab or are visited in

classrooms by Fermilab staff– 8,000 visitors took tours or visited Lederman Science Center– 1,000 college & university students involved in on-site programs or internships

• Basic research advances the economy. In FY 2010:– Fermilab created 4,529 jobs in Illinois.– Fermilab generated $643 million of regional economic activity

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Fermilab’s role in exposing the “quantum universe”

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Evolution of Accelerators

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9 km / 13 cm = 69,231 14 TeV / 80 keV = 175,000,000

Technology of accelerators has made huge gains

Global flagship project in neutrinos – at Fermilab!

SEAB

Construction starts in 2018

Long-Baseline Neutrinos

The Broader Future of Fermilab

• Particle physics– “Explore the unknown” with muon physics– Platform for U.S. participation at CERN– Highest-power beams for world’s highest-priority accelerator-

based neutrino experiments– Dark matter & dark energy

• Accelerators– SC magnets & SRF cavities/cryomodules– Platform for U.S. developing role in ILC– Pioneer industrial engagement & tech. commercialization

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Opportunities at Fermilab

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What it means to participate at Fermilab

• Formally:– Application & selection process– Initial orientation & training– With a mentor, undertake a research project– Participate in student-oriented lecture/workshop series– Depending on program, partial travel or living $$ available

• Informally– Explore the entire world of Fermilab, talking to scientists, staff,

engineers, technicians– Attend any of dozens of talks and seminars every week– See and experience what “the progress of science” is really like

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Elementary

Graduate +

Mid-Level

High School

Undergraduate

Programs at Every Level

TARGET

Research Internships - Saturday Morning Physics - Online Student Investigations

QuarkNet Cosmic Ray Studies

High-school Students

Community College Internships

Internships for Physics Majors

Lee Teng Undergraduate Internships

Summer Internships in Science and Technology

Summer Undergraduate Laboratory Internships

Co-operative Education Program

SIST

Undergraduate Students: Research Internships

Doctoral Program in Accelerator Physics

Fermilab/URA Thesis Awards Program

Visiting Faculty Program

Fellowships for:

FNAL Visiting Scholars

Scientific Staff

Postdocs

Ph.D. Students

Engineering GraduatesGEM

Graduate Students, Young Scientists & Faculty

Closing

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Outlook• Science (STEM) is a crucial part of our culture and our country

– It stretches the mind– It changes how you solve problems– It offers great career paths

• If you have a taste for science, join us at Fermilab!

42 25 Oct 2014

Thank you the many people who helped create this talk!

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http://ed.fnal.gov/http://wdrs.fnal.gov/employ/coopessay.htmlhttp://sist.fnal.gov/https://www.gemfellowship.org/http://www.fnal.gov/pub/forphysicists/fellowships/index.html…