Things that Go Bump: The Latest Discoveries in Particle Physics

Friday, February 17, 2012: 1:00 PM-2:30 PM
Room 220 (VCC West Building)
From hints of the Higgs to signs of supersymmetry, these days the mere inkling of a new particle physics discovery gets the globe buzzing.  Hungry for new phenomena that will rock the world of particle physics, every day physicists are getting closer to answering fundamental questions about the nature of matter, energy, space, and time. After the recent shutdown of the Tevatron at Fermilab in the United States, physicists are combing through more than two decades of data, making ultra-precise measurements in search of the most coveted needle in the haystack, the Higgs boson. Across the pond in Switzerland at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), physicists at the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator, have entered unexplored territory, breaking ground to reveal a new landscape of particle physics. At the same time, scientists around the world have their eyes set on the future and are developing superconducting radio frequency cavities, the technology of choice for the next big particle accelerator with potential applications in materials science and alternative energy. This session will present the latest results from the Tevatron, potential new physics from the Large Hadron Collider and what is in store for the technology that will drive next-generation particle accelerators.
Organizer:
Kathryn Grim, CERN
Co-Organizer:
Kendra Snyder, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Moderator:
Timothy Meyer, TRIUMF
Speakers:
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