Physics Department Summer Lectures 2020

23 Jun 2020, 08:00 → 14 Aug 2020, 18:00 US/Eastern

ID 832 459 133 (BlueJeans)

Mary Bishai (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

The Physics Department Summer Lecture series introduces the latest research in nuclear and particle physics being pursued at Brookhaven Lab at a level appropriate for advanced undergraduate STEM students and beginning graduate students.  The series will include lectures on the Standard Model of particle physics, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), current and future nuclear and particle physics experiments and introductory cosmology.  The lectures will cover both theoretical concepts  as well as detector technologies and the latest experimental and computational techniques.

This year's lectures will proceed in thematic blocks as follows:

1. Introduction to the Standard Model
2. Physics of the Weak Force
3. Quantum Chromodynamics and the Strong Force
4. Introductory Cosmology
5. Principals of Nuclear and Particle Physics Detectors
6. Recent Experimental Results in Nuclear and Particle Physics
7. Statistical and Computational Techniques in Nuclear and Particle Physics

To join a lecture, use the URL https://bluejeans.com/832459133

Tuesday, 23 June

12:00 → 13:15 Standard Model: Necessary but not Sufficient (Block 1)

Abstract: Although the Standard Model of particle physics, in conjunction with General Relativity, explains a wide range of physical phenomena, there are good reasons to believe that it does not represent a complete description of Nature. In this lecture, we will introduce the Standard Model and discuss some of its empirical and conceptual shortcomings.
Some of the ideas that have been proposed to address these open questions will also be briefly discussed.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/Wuqxc/

Speaker: Hooman Davoudiasl (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

SULI-lecture-2020.pdf

Friday, 26 June

12:00 → 13:15 The Anomalous Magnetic Moment of the Muon (Block 2)

What is a muon?
Who ordered that?
What is a magnetic moment?
What is anomalous about the magnetic moment of the muon?
Most of the time, a muon is simply a muon, but very briefly, some of the time, by Quantum Mechanics, the muon is a muon, plus an electron, plus an anti-electron, for example.
How can the vacuum know about all of the standard model, and all of the new physics beyond the standard model?
You will know the answer to all these interesting questions after just one hour!

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/1oAGB/

Speaker: Bill Morse (BNL)

a_mu_talk_2.pdf

Tuesday, 30 June

12:00 → 13:15 The Hunt for the Little Neutral One (Block 2)

The neutrino - the "Little Neutral One" in Italian - is the most abundant of the elementary particles of physics in our Universe, yet remains the most mysterious. Physicists have hunted for signals of this elusive particle in vast vats of water and cleaning fluids located in deep mines and under mountains, at powerful nuclear reactors and particle accelerators, and in the Antarctic ice. In this lecture we will examine the fascinating history of the neutrino and its strange properties that lead to 4 Nobel prizes and multi-billion dollar experiments.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/Mfk9_/

Speaker: Mary Bishai (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

bnllecture_063020.pdf

Wednesday, 1 July

12:00 → 13:15 A Golden Age in Physics (Block 3)

Abstract: I give a meandering and historical introduction to our understanding of the modern theory of strong interactions, Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD), and how at high temperature it is formed in the collisions of heavy ions at ultrarelativistic energies, to form a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP).

Speaker: Rob Pisarski (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

GoldenAge_June20.pdf

Tuesday, 7 July

12:00 → 13:15 Introduction to high energy spin physics (Block 3)

Abstract:In the first part, I give an elementary introduction to hadron physics and QCD (Quantum Chromodynamics), and explain how scattering experiments allow us to probe the internal structure of the proton. In the second part, I focus on spin physics. I introduce the notion of spin in particle physics and then point out that understanding the spin of a composite particle (in particular the proton) is an fascinating subfield of QCD. I give an overview of the basic problems and the current experimental/theoretical status, as well as an outlook for the future.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/pFDzV8sqCsS/

Speaker: Yoshitaka Hatta (BNL)

2020summerlecture.pdf

Thursday, 9 July

12:00 → 13:15 The electron-ion collider: A collider to unravel the mysteries of visible matter. (Block 3)

Abstract:Understanding the properties of nuclear matter and its emergence through the underlying partonic structure and dynamics of quarks and gluons requires a new experimental facility in hadronic physics known as the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The EIC will address some of the most profound questions concerning the emergence of nuclear properties by precisely imaging gluons and quarks inside protons and nuclei such as the distribution of gluons and quarks in space and momentum, their role in building the nucleon spin and the properties of gluons in nuclei at high energies. In January 2020 EIC received CD-0 and Brookhaven National Laboratory was chosen as site. This presentation will highlight the capabilities of an EIC and discuss its status, accelerator design and the concepts for the experimental equipment.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/dRrqwj8D7P1/

Speaker: Dr E. C. Aschenauer (BNL)

eca.EIC.BNL.Summer.pptx

Friday, 10 July

12:00 → 13:15 The Really Big Picture: Cosmology in the 21st Century (Block 4)

Starting from a very basic level we review how to describe
the standard Big Bang model of an expanding universe.
We discuss the connection between expansion dynamics
and different types of matter and energy densities, and
focus on the evidence for the accelerated expansion of
our Universe driven by dark energy. Different schools of
observation and measurement will be mentioned and we
conclude with possible projections for our (very) long-term future.

Recording available at https://bluejeans.com/s/ohla9n4@Kx7/

Speaker: Paul Stankus

Tuesday, 14 July

12:00 → 13:15 How to analyze charge spectra from photo-sensors (Block 5)

Abstract: In this lecture, we will take a detailed look at the functioning and analysis of a common
detector used in particle and nuclear physics. We will go through a detailed calculation of
what we expect from a sensitive photo-multiplier tube used to detect photons.
Through this calculation, you will learn the use of many tools that you already know from courses in calculus, probability and statistics, Fourier analysis, etc. In the end we will compare our results to actual measurements and discuss what we have learned and how to apply it in your laboratories.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/_a5OcxoHEk8/

Speaker: Milind Diwan (BNL)

pmt-spectrum-for-summer2020.pdf

Friday, 17 July

12:00 → 13:15 Silicon Detectors (Block 5)

Abstract: Silicon technology is approximately 70 years old, but thousands of years have been dedicated to R&D by a multitude of researchers; the well-established microelectronic industry is based on it. Being that the silicon is sensitive to photons (from infrared to X-rays, passing through visible light and ultraviolet) and to charged particles, we can leverage the microelectronic technology to make sensors out of silicon. Silicon sensors are used in a variety of applications including scientific experiments (High Energy Physics, Astrophysics, Photon Science, etc) as well as industrial and commercial use (cameras, etc). The basic structure is the p-n junction across which a voltage is applied. When an ionizing event occurs (a photon or a charged-particle interacting with silicon), a short current pulse (~ few ns) is generated and detected by the read-out electronics. There are many kinds of silicon sensors and each one must be tailored according to the specific application. We’ll give an overview of the state of the silicon technology and its different applications.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/RPyRp2WTXky/

Speaker: Gabriele Giacomini (BNL)

Tuesday, 21 July

12:00 → 13:15 Astronomical CCDs (Block 5)

Abstract: I will review how the state-of-the-art sensors developed for astronomical applications can precisely measure the positions and shapes of billions of galaxies. The talk will also provide more detail on the camera and sensors for the Vera Rubin’s Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and will discuss limitations on the achievable precision coming from the instrumentation.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/d0lLCT84aI3/

Speaker: Andrei Nomerotski (BNL)

Friday, 24 July

12:00 → 13:15 Using the Higgs boson to search for dark sector particles (Block 6)

The discovery of the Higgs boson opens a new and rich experimental program that includes using the Higgs the boson to search for new particles. In this talk, I will discuss searches for dark sector particles in the decays of the Higgs Boson.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/klU_gKZkQhQ/

Speaker: Dr Kétévi Adiklè Assamagan (BNL)

Ketevi-BNL-July-2020.pdf

Tuesday, 28 July

12:00 → 13:15 Searching for and understanding the quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions (Block 6)

Abstract: Lattice-QCD predicts the occurrence of a phase transition above a critical temperature from ordinary nuclear matter to a new state of matter, usually referred to as the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), which is also believed to have existed momentarily after the Big Bang. One primary goal of the heavy-ion physics is to create and study the properties of the QGP. The last couple of decades have seen tremendous progresses in characterizing the QGP properties, thanks to the successful operation of dedicated experiments at the RHIC and the LHC. In this lecture, I will discuss the detectors designed for heavy-ion physics, and how an experimentalist turns electronic signal into physics results.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/xurfWGoB2a5/

Speaker: Rongrong Ma (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

2020_RM_BNLLecture.pdf

Friday, 31 July

12:00 → 13:15 Review of Linear Algebra Applications in Some Recent Neutrino Experiments (Block 7)

Abstract: Linear algebra has been widely used in physics analysis of experiments. In this talk, I am going to review some of its recent usage in detector signal processing, noise filtering, event reconstruction, and data unfolding. In particular, its connections to various numerical and analytical techniques including the Fast Fourier Transformation, the Compressed Sensing, and the biconjugate gradients stabilized method, will be discussed. Through many real world applications, we show the power of linear algebra in high-energy experiments.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/IEzP5b3BcNz/

Speaker: Xin Qian (BNL)

Summer_Lecture_LA.pptx

Friday, 7 August

12:00 → 13:15 From Raw Data to Physics Results (Block 7)

Abstract:Modern nuclear and particle physics experiments generate huge amounts of data that need to be calibrated, processed and analysed so that we can extract and publish physics results. In this talk I will describe the journey of data, from the bits that leave the detectors through its transformation into well-understood physics objects that are analysed by physicists all over the world. We will look in particular at how this exabyte scale problem requires computing and software solutions that operate on a global scale, and take a look at the challenges that still lie ahead of us

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/HeqhxQl4RHF/

Speaker: Paul Laycock (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Tuesday, 11 August

12:00 → 13:15 Quantum Computation for Nuclear Physics (Block 7)

Abstract: I will give an introduction into the exciting field of quantum computation and quantum simulation from the perspective of a nuclear theorists.
My goal is to convince you that this potentially is the very beginning of a new era, where theorists may be able to compute things that had been impossible before.
I will highlight the many connections between high energy and nuclear, condensed matter and atomic, molecular and optical physics that are inspired by advances
in controlling matter at the single quantum level. These connections force us to think about old (and new) problems in very different and exciting ways.

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/dVLP4UopXEg/

Speaker: Niklas Mueller (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

bnl_summer_lecture_QC_for_NP_animated.pdf

bnl_summer_lecture_QC_for_NP.pdf

Friday, 14 August

12:00 → 14:00 Physics Department Summer Lectures 2020: Q&A with lecturers

Final session of the Physics Department Summer Lecture Series. Participants are invited to participate in Q&A and informal discussions with lecturers.

12:00-12:30: Nuclear and Particle physics experiments and experimental measurements: Higgs, dark matter, neutrinos, quark-gluon plasma, EIC

12:30-:1:00pm: Enabling technologies: detector and accelerator technologies and designs

1:00-1:30 pm: Analysis and Computing: Mathetmatical and statistical techniques, computational challenges, deep learning and quantum computing

1:30-2:00pm: Nuclear and Particle Theory

Recording is available at https://bluejeans.com/s/v2yd8WiOBAg/

Speaker: Mary Bishai (Brookhaven National Laboratory)