SMU Department of Physics
CBS Channel 11: Long-fought discovery of elusive “God” particle brings joy to SMU physicists
CBS DFW Channel 11 reporter Jack Fink with KTVT-TV interviewed SMU physicist Ryszard Stroynowski about the historic discovery of the new fundamental particle necessary for scientists to explain how matter acquires mass. Continue reading
Dallas Observer: Has the “God Particle” Been Found? Let’s Ask the SMU Prof Who’s Been Looking.
Dallas Observer science writer Brantley Hargrove interviewed SMU physicist Ryszard Stroynowski in advance of the announcement from CERN in Geneva about whether scientists have discovered the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle theorized to explain why matter has mass.
Stroynowski and other SMU faculty and students have played a role in the recent findings as participants in the experiments.
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Fiber-optic data link, now with DOE funding, is critical in the hunt for Big Bang’s “God” particle
A tiny optoelectronic module designed in part by SMU physicists plays a big role in the world’s largest physics experiment at CERN in Switzerland, where scientists are searching for the Higgs boson, the “God” particle.
The module, a fiber-optic transmitter, sends the flood of raw data from the Large Hadron Collider’s ATLAS experiment to offsite computer farms, where thousands of physicists around the world can analyze it. Continue reading
Dark matter search may turn up evidence of WIMPS: SMU Researcher Q&A
SMU physicist Jodi Cooley leads SMU students as part of a global team searching for elusive dark matter — the “glue” that represents 85 percent of the matter in our universe but which has never been observed.
Cooley is a member of the scientific consortium called SuperCryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS), which operates a particle detector in Minnesota. Located in an underground abandoned mine, the detector is focused on detecting WIMPS, which some physicists theorize comprises dark matter. WIMPS are particles of such low mass that they rarely interact with ordinary matter, making them extremely difficult to detect. Continue reading
Quantum Diaries: Cleaning the world’s biggest machine
SMU postdoctoral researcher Aidan Randle-Conde, SMU Department of Physics, posted about his experience working at the world’s largest physics experiment at CERN on the blog Quantum Diaries.
Randle-Conde’s March 6 entry details his thoughts about “Cleaning the world’s biggest machine,” CERN’s Atlas detector. Continue reading
Fermilab: Tevatron experiments report latest results in search for Higgs boson
New measurements announced March 7 by scientists from the CDF and DZero collaborations at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory indicate that the elusive Higgs boson may nearly be cornered.
After analyzing the full data set from the Tevatron accelerator, which completed its last run in September 2011, the two independent experiments see hints of a Higgs boson.
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Fermilab Today: Top quark mass team wages war on two fronts
The research of SMU physicist Robert Kehoe, a professor in the SMU Department of Physics, has been featured by Fermilab Today. The magazine is the official publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago. Fermi is a high-energy particle physics laboratory credited in 1995 with discovery of the fundamental particle, the top quark.
The article, “Top quark mass team wages war on two fronts,” appears in Fermilab Today‘s Jan. 26 edition as the “Result of the Week.”
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The Shorthorn: SMU’s Jodi Cooley sheds light on dark matter
Science students at the University of Texas at Arlington gathered Wednesday for a talk by SMU physicist Jodi Cooley about her work as part of a scientific team searching for dark matter.
Cooley, an assistant professor in the SMU Department of Physics, is an experimental particle physicist and is part of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search. Continue reading
Dallas Observer: As Physicists Near Discovery of God Particle, A Word With SMU Prof Involved In the Search
Dallas Observer science writer Brantley Hargrove interviewed SMU physicist Ryszard Stroynowski about the news that scientists at CERN have seen hints of the Higgs boson, a fundamental particle theorized to explain why matter has mass.
Stroynowski and other SMU faculty and students have played a role in the recent findings, which researchers hope to confirm in future CERN experiments. Continue reading