> SFU researchers prepare for world’s biggest physics experiment
SFU researchers prepare for world’s biggest physics experiment
Contact:
Michel Vetterli (reachable by email as he is currently in Geneva, returns on Saturday March 1): vetm@triumf.ca; also checking voice mail at 778.782.5488, or 604.222.7442 (TRIUMF)
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.4323/3210
Michel Vetterli (reachable by email as he is currently in Geneva, returns on Saturday March 1): vetm@triumf.ca; also checking voice mail at 778.782.5488, or 604.222.7442 (TRIUMF)
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.4323/3210
February 29, 2008
Word that the final piece of the mechanical puzzle has been fitted into
the world’s largest machine – creating new hype over a revolutionary
global physics experiment – has SFU/TRIUMF physicist Michel Vetterli,
well, beaming.
He and his SFU team make up a handful of thousands of scientists who are anxiously waiting for the ATLAS project’s data collection to begin this summer.
ATLAS today announced the completion of its spectrometer, a giant electronic camera capable of detecting particles when protons collide at a higher energy than ever achieved in the laboratory.
Researchers say the experiment will extend our knowledge of the fundamental components of matter and their interactions - science that will change our understanding of the universe.
“We are all very excited to see so much effort coming to fruition,” says Vetterli. “The discoveries we anticipate have the potential to revolutionize the way we understand nature at its most basic level.”
Housed at the CERN facility in Geneva, Switzerland, the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), where the proton beams will be colliding, and the observations of the first collisions, will signal the start of real-time data distribution to 10 centres worldwide - including Vancouver – all connected by high-speed networks that will analyze the huge amount of data from ATLAS in a coordinated way.
Vetterli is the project leader for the ATLAS Canada Data Analysis Centre, housed at Vancouver’s TRIUMF facility. SFU is the lead university in a consortium of nine universities.
Vetterli is also the computing coordinator for ATLAS Canada. He is responsible for ensuring that the computing resources are in place to analyze the data and produce the all-important simulations of the experiment - an integral part of physics analysis. He set up the first prototype for the TRIUMF centre to participate in the simulation exercises being done by ATLAS back in 2003.
As the turn-on of the LHC approaches, Vetterli says the SFU group is turning its attention to preparations for data analysis.
That is keeping SFU researchers like Dugan O’Neil and a team of students busy working on algorithms to identify a certain type of particle, known as the tau.
“I am interested in looking for new physics at ATLAS,” says O’Neil, who, as part of SFU’s physics group, found evidence (in 2006) of a rare single top quark - a major discovery in the field.
“The advantage at the LHC is that we will see many more of these events and we will be able to refine our knowledge of the processes at work,” says Vetterli.
Vetterli can elaborate on SFU’s role and the experiment in general.
He and his SFU team make up a handful of thousands of scientists who are anxiously waiting for the ATLAS project’s data collection to begin this summer.
ATLAS today announced the completion of its spectrometer, a giant electronic camera capable of detecting particles when protons collide at a higher energy than ever achieved in the laboratory.
Researchers say the experiment will extend our knowledge of the fundamental components of matter and their interactions - science that will change our understanding of the universe.
“We are all very excited to see so much effort coming to fruition,” says Vetterli. “The discoveries we anticipate have the potential to revolutionize the way we understand nature at its most basic level.”
Housed at the CERN facility in Geneva, Switzerland, the start-up of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), where the proton beams will be colliding, and the observations of the first collisions, will signal the start of real-time data distribution to 10 centres worldwide - including Vancouver – all connected by high-speed networks that will analyze the huge amount of data from ATLAS in a coordinated way.
Vetterli is the project leader for the ATLAS Canada Data Analysis Centre, housed at Vancouver’s TRIUMF facility. SFU is the lead university in a consortium of nine universities.
Vetterli is also the computing coordinator for ATLAS Canada. He is responsible for ensuring that the computing resources are in place to analyze the data and produce the all-important simulations of the experiment - an integral part of physics analysis. He set up the first prototype for the TRIUMF centre to participate in the simulation exercises being done by ATLAS back in 2003.
As the turn-on of the LHC approaches, Vetterli says the SFU group is turning its attention to preparations for data analysis.
That is keeping SFU researchers like Dugan O’Neil and a team of students busy working on algorithms to identify a certain type of particle, known as the tau.
“I am interested in looking for new physics at ATLAS,” says O’Neil, who, as part of SFU’s physics group, found evidence (in 2006) of a rare single top quark - a major discovery in the field.
“The advantage at the LHC is that we will see many more of these events and we will be able to refine our knowledge of the processes at work,” says Vetterli.
Vetterli can elaborate on SFU’s role and the experiment in general.