Saturday Morning Physics at Texas A&M University

NOTICE:
There is a time and location change for final SMP event on March 28, 2009.
The start time has changed to 10:00 AM and the event will be held in the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center, at the George Bush Library Complex.
(Click here for a map of the new location)

Spring 2009 Program

From the Micro-Cosmos to the Universe:
Explore the Fascinating World of Nuclear and Astro-Particle Physics!

An event series for Texas High School Students
to discover and understand the laws that rule subatomic physics!

Physics is a fundamental science to discover the laws of elementary particles, forces, matter and energy.

For the fourth year running, you are cordially invited to experience the fun of delving into the secrets of Nature, from the smallest (strings, particles, forces and matter) to the largest (dark matter, dark energy and the cosmos). Listen to and discuss with world-leading scientists working at Texas A&M University who will take you to the frontiers of modern nuclear, particle and astrophysical science in an understandable way.

Learn about:

      -the most powerful particle accelerators and their discovery potential
    -fundamental forces and symmetries of nature
    -matter under extreme conditions as in the early Universe
    -the heaviest chemical elements known to mankind
    -dark energy and dark matter in the Universe
    -string theory

Saturday Morning Physics is a National Science Foundation-funded event series designed to indulge Texas high school students in the fascinating subatomic world of modern physics.

No prerequisites necessary! (except for your curiosity...)

Teacher participation encouraged!

Each Saturday's program will consist of seminars, discussion, quizzes, experiments and tours of campus facilities.

The format for each Saturday's program will be as follows:

09:20-09:30 Registration and Welcome
09:30-10:30 Seminar
10:30-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:00 Discussion, Quizzes, Prizes and Experiments/Tours of the Facility

Click title links for review materials.
January 24: "LHC: The 9 Billion Dollar Window to the Universe", Professor Dave Toback
		In the first lecture in this series I will lay out some of the foundations of our understanding of the biggest and smallest things in the Universe. Incredibly, these two realms of science, particle physics and cosmology, are remarkably intertwined. After describing why we believe this is true we quickly come to the limits of our current understanding, where only experiments can fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle. These pieces include understanding the famous Dark Matter in the Universe, and perhaps discovering Supersymmetry, a new theory that predicts that there are many more particles to be discovered in nature. I'll then focus on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) a 9 Billion Dollar experiment that, when complete, will be the largest scientific instrument ever made. This device collides the smallest things known in nature at the highest energy every attained by mankind, and provides a new window of understanding of what the Universe was like just moments after the Big Bang. Because of the unique relationship between particle physics and cosmology this window can potentially provide insight into the biggest thing we know: the Universe itself.
January 31: "The Heaviest Elements in the Universe", Professor Cody Folden
		Everything in the world around us is made up of the elements that appear on the Periodic Table. The heaviest element that we find in large quantity is uranium (you can actually mine it the same way you mine gold), although extremely tiny amounts of plutonium have also been observed in the environment. In the last 70 years, scientists have produced many additional new elements, some with as many as 118 protons in the nucleus. Although nuclear physics is used to form these elements, their chemistry is also fascinating, and at least one chemical property has been measured for almost every element. In some cases less than ten atoms of an element were used to compare its chemistry with that of its lighter homologs, where billions and billions of atoms are available. These chemistry studies attempt to answer questions like, "Does the Periodic Table still work for the heaviest elements?" I will discuss the history of these discoveries, the ultra-sensitive techniques used, and the prospects for the future.
February 14: "Dark Matter" , Professor Rupak Mahapatra
		The Universe is now known to contain mostly unknowns, in the form of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Matter as we know it makes up for less than 5% of the total Universe, with Dark Matter and Dark Energy accounting for approximately 25% and 70%, respectively. Detecting the nature of the Dark Matter is one of the most highly prized efforts in the field of High Energy Physics. Experiments around the world are searching for the most likely particle candidate for the Dark Matter called WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle), by detecting very rare collisions of WIMP with ordinary matter. Complimentary experiments also search for the indirect signature of such interactions in space. Finally, the Large Hadron Collider in Europe attempts to produce this WIMP directly in the laboratory. We discuss these different techniques trying to answer one of the biggest fundamental questions in Physics: what makes up the huge missing mass in the Universe.
February 21: "Quarks, Gluons and Co.: Meet the Quirky Inhabitants of the Atomic Nucleus", Professor Rainer Fries
		All visible matter in our Universe is made from only a handful of particles. Protons and neutrons, the building blocks of atomic nuclei, are made from quarks and gluons. Throw in electrons, neutrinos and their heavier cousins as well and you can build everything from a single hydrogen atom to an entire planet. Scientists have measured all of these particles and we now call this the Standard Model of particle physics. I will introduce the particles of the Standard Model and discuss some of their fascinating features. Then we take a good look at the so called Strong Force between quarks and gluons and the peculiar reasons why quarks are prisoners of this force and are never found roaming freely. We also explore how quarks could be set free by providing an environment with temperatures hotter than the core of the sun. We can create these ultra-hot conditions at large nuclear colliders like RHIC and LHC.
February 28: "Symmetries in Nature: A Glimpse into the Beauty and Art of Science" , Professor Dan Melconian
		The world around us is filled with countless wonders, most of which — when we look closely — are terribly complex. Throughout human history, we have tried to boil things down to their basic building-blocks, and physicists continue to use this effective "bottom-up" approach to understand the nature of the universe. With just a couple of fundamental particles, we can describe everything we see on a day-to-day basis; with just a few more, we can describe everything we see with our highest energy colliders. Much of the success of modern physics has its basis in utilizing symmetry principles. I will introduce the role symmetries play in physics and discuss some of the ways our investigation into them help elucidate the beauty of Nature.
March 7: "The Age of the Universe and Dark Energy" , Professor Lucas Macri
		Measuring the age of the Universe as accurately as possible is very important for understanding its ultimate fate, which is dictated by the still unknown nature of dark energy. In this talk we will discuss how we determine distances to nearby galaxies using Cepheid variables to calibrate type Ia supernovae and measure the age of the Universe. We will also review the evidence for the existence of dark energy from high-redshift supernovae, galaxy surveys, and cosmic background radiation.

March 28: "Fun with String Theory", Professor Melanie Becker
		(Please not that this event will begin at 10:00 AM and will be held in the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the George Bush Library Complex). High energy experimental physicists would like to understand the basic constituents of our universe by scattering particles at very short distances in large particle accelerators like the ``Large Hadron Collider'' at CERN. Cosmologists and observational astronomers are interested in understanding the origin of our universe: how was the universe created? What happened during the first seconds after it was created? Theoretical high energy physicists use string theory to describe our world at very short distances or at very early times. In this talk we will explore the curious world of string theory.

To be awarded a final "diploma" certificate, you will need to complete at least 5 out of 7 events. In addition, there is a common thread through the event sequence, so you will benefit most from regular attendance.

Prizes will be given out each event (except the first) based on the quizzes of the previous event.

Registration is free and should be preferentially completed online. On-site registration will be possible until 9:20 AM on the day of each event. There will be open attendance allowed at each session.

If you register before Jan. 17, 2009, you are guaranteed to receive the SMP-09 equipment kit including backpack and "discovery folder".

On-Line Registration

Each program will be held at the Physics Departing in the Engineering/Physics Class Room Building on the campus of Texas A&M University located in College Station, TX. Click here for directions and parking information.

If you have any questions about the Saturday Morning Physics program please contact Dr. Ralf Rapp (rapp@comp.tamu.edu).

Fermilab: http://www-ppd.fnal.gov/smp-w/
Florida State University: http://www.physics.fsu.edu/smp/default.htm
University of Michigan: http://www.physics.lsa.umich.edu/nea/smp/
Darmstadt University (Germany): http://www.satmorphy.de

Thanks to:

Kendra Beasley, Shana Hutchins, Bruce Hyman, Sharon Jeske,
Santos Ramirez, Felix Riek, Xingbo Zhao, the Cyclotron Institute, and the
Department of Physics at Texas A&M University

for their valuable support