This summer I have been working with Dr. Chris Crawford at the University of Kentucky. We have been trying to design a cosine theta coil, which is a magnetic coil that has a uniform magnetic field on the inside, but no field on the outside. Beyond this, we also wanted to create this magnet using without using wires on the endcaps. To do this we would need to drill circuit boards that carried surface currents through them. To create the circuit boards we used a drill mounted on a robotic arm (pictured without the drill attached) to drill through special current carrying materials.
Through the summer most of our time has been taken up by learning the programing system that had been created over the past several years of the project on MatLab, calibrating the various aspects of the robot so we could very accurately tell the robot where to drill, and finally actually designing the endcap. By the time I was finished we had gone from barely being able to get the robot to draw on a whiteboard to being able to drill basic designs for the magnet. We had also just finished the first full design of the magnet. Unfortunately I was not able to stay long enough to drill it and be able to test it, but the next team should be able to accomplish that soon!
Greetings! I have recently returned from a semester-long research leave, thanks to Wooster’s generous faculty leaves program. During my leave, I split my time between Wooster and the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford in the United Kingdom, in addition to a week-long conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
In Wooster, I continued work in my lab with Clare Boothe Luce scholar Maggie Lankford ’16, developing the means to manipulate the degrees of freedom of photons (quantum particles of light) in previously unrealized ways. This work has applications in the current push to realize new types of computational networks based on quantum mechanical principles.
At the Prague conference (Quantum Optics and Quantum Information Transfer and Processing), Icoauthored a conference paper along with Maggie and Wooster graduate Deepika Sundaraman ’14 entitled “Coupling of spin and orbital degrees of freedom in tunable Hong-Ou-Mandel interference involving photons in hybrid spin-orbit modes.” The paper was inspired by predictions and preliminary results achieved by Deepika in her Senior IS thesis, which Maggie has continued to investigate. Maggie also attended this conference, where she presented our work in poster form.
View of Prague Castle (left) and Charles Bridge crossing the Vltava River (right). I took this picture from the top of the Petrin observation tower.
In Glasgow and Oxford, I worked with collaborators Dr. Sonja Franke-Arnold and Dr. Brian Smith, familiarizing myself with newly developed technologies for the manipulation of photons by optical means. The leave has led to new research directions involving spatial manipulation of polarization and phase structures of light, which have collectively contributed to a National Science Foundation grant proposal that I submitted this summer. I expect these new directions to become the subject of one or more exploratory IS projects at Wooster during the coming year.
The University of Glasgow’s main tower, which overlooks Kelvingrove park. The famous physicist William Thompson (also known as Lord Kelvin), had his lab at the University, which is the fourth oldest in the English-speaking world.
Outside the laboratory, a few highlights of my UK trip include:
1) an ascent to the summit of Sgurr na Stri on the Isle of Skye, which gave way to an amazing view of the main ridge of the Black Cuillin mountain range curling round Loch Coruisk;
The Black Cuillin range as seen from Sgurr na Stri on the Isle of Skye.
and
2) a trip to the 500+ year old Bodleian Library in Oxford where they had original copies and first editions of many works of genius, including this first edition of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia!
Newton’s Principia, original Latin edition! Edmond Halley, who persuaded Newton to publish, became the editor of the work, and wrote the poem on the left page to preface the text.
I am excited to be back in Wooster, and look forward to the adventures that the coming year will bring.
As a kid, I enjoyed solving the “15 puzzle”, a sliding puzzle consisting of a 4×4 grid of 15 squares. However, I was amazed by a kind of 3D analogue of the 15 puzzle: Ernö Rubik’s 1974 masterpiece, which is both a seemingly impossible mechanism (how does it not fall apart?) and a silent challenge (one knows immediately what needs to be done). It took me about a month to solve my first Rubik’s cube. I got a notebook, created a move notation, and filled it with formulas like FRUR’U’F’ and LU’R’UL’U’RU2. I was never a speed cuber, but I learned to easily and efficiently solve the cube from generic initial conditions. Years passed and my cube skills lapsed, until visiting professor Nelia Mann showed me her collection of 3D twisting puzzles. Better technology had enabled a new generation of Rubik’s cubes that turned easily and were stickerless. I determined to devote part of my University of Hawai’i sabbatical to reviving my puzzle skills.
My Hawai’i toy collection.
Using resources online, I first mastered the 4-layer Revenge Cube followed by the 5-layer Professor Cube (and I had already mastered the 2-layer cube, which uses a subset of the 3-layer algorithms). I enjoyed the Mirror Cube, which is a cool variation, where shape replaces color. A related puzzle, which I found fun to manipulate but easy to solve, is the Gear Cube. Many years ago, math professor Pam Pierce lent me her Square-1 puzzle, which has a daring diagonal move, but I never had time to solve it. I’m pleased to report that I now can efficiently solve the Square-1, whose algorithms look like /(3,-3)/(0,3)/(-3,0)/(3,0)/(-3,0)/. Finally, I learned to solve the dodecahedral Megaminx, which has a different permutation group, but is still closely related to the cubes. The Megaminx is my favorite puzzle after the original Rubik’s cube.
I spend so much time working at a computer, it’s nice to interact with these wonderful mechanisms. Many more such puzzles await my next sabbatical. In the photo, in addition to the twisty puzzles, you see 5 juggling balls, which I learned to juggle during my previous sabbatical at the University of Portland. The Rubik’s cube mug is fully functional (as a mug), and I use it all the time — thanks Johanna!
When I first came to Wooster, I had no clue what discipline I would explore, and didn’t even take my first physics class until the second semester of my freshman year; now, I’m coming up on the end of my second month conducting research at Michigan State’s National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL), one of the nation’s top nuclear science research labs. Not only has it been a wonderful period of growth for me as a physicist, it’s also the first experience I’ve had living alone in a new place for any significant length of time. It’s been a long, rewarding journey, and I continue to learn new things and expand my horizons nearly every day.
During my time here, it has been my privilege to work with Dr. Fritsch and the rest of the AT-TPC detector group. The “AT-TPC” stands for ”Active Target Time Projection Chamber,” which means that it’s filled with a gas that both reacts with the beam of particles shot into the detector, and also serves as a medium to track the reaction.
The Prototype AT-TPC (at the top middle of photo) in its natural habitat
My first week or so at the lab, I spent most of my time reading papers on the AT-TPC and other detectors, catching up so I could better understand the work I would be doing. Since then, most of my time here has been spent in the lab, working with another undergrad researcher from France to perform tests on the smaller Prototype AT-TPC (PAT-TPC), as shown above. Though I had high expectations coming in, I’ve actually been surprised by how much time I’ve spent in the lab, hands-on with the equipment. Last week, we packed up the prototype and sent it to the nuclear physics lab at Notre Dame, where we’ll be conducting an experiment next week. Even in the last few days of my research position, I’ll be going new places and experiencing new things.
In a famous Star Trek misquotation, Mr. Spock says to Captain Kirk, “It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it”. Well, yesterday the New Horizons spacecraft returned its first closeup of Pluto, and it’s geology, but not as we know it.
Pluto’s Tombaugh Regio (left) with 2-mile high distinctly non-terrestrial water-ice mountains (right).
The Tombaugh region of Pluto contains a craterless expanse dotted with two-mile high mountains. The nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide ices that cover much of Pluto’s surface are not strong enough to support such tall mountains, but water ice at Pluto’s frigid temperatures is, and it is water ice that must form the bedrock or “bed-ice” of these mountains.
What generates the heat that continues to erase Pluto’s craters against planetary bombardment? It can’t be tidal forces, like those that generate Io’s volcanoes at Jupiter, because nearby Charon is too small and in tidal equilibrium with Pluto. Possibilities include Pluto’s heat of formation, from a big “splat” that formed Charon and its smaller moons, or radioactivity from the uranium and thorium in the silicates in its interior, which must be present to account for Pluto’s relatively high density. A more provocative proposal is a global interior liquid water ocean that is gradually freezing and whose latent heat drives geysers or cryovolcanism while dredging up nitrogen and methane to replenish Pluto’s tenuous atmosphere, which is rapidly escaping to space. Stay tuned!
Where do I begin? Experimental physics research has definitely been one of the longest love affairs that I have had, and this is only the beginning. This summer, I was given the opportunity to be a research assistant at CERN, Switzerland, and what an experience it has been so far!
At CERN, I am a part of the AEgIS (The Antihydrogen Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) collaboration of 70 scientists. The main goal of AEgIS is to measure the fall of antihydrogen in the gravitational field of the Earth, which is a direct test of Einstein’s weak equivalence principle. This is the first measurement to test the gravitational interaction between matter and antimatter. I work at the Antimatter Factory (yes!), and currently we are in the middle of “beam time” where we trap and cool the antiprotons that were produced earlier this year.
Popi in the AntiMatter Factory
Last week I met Jack Steinberger, who won the Nobel prize for the muon neutrino, for coffee. He so casually spoke about his advisor Enrico Fermi, and Einstein, who apparently was a very good friend of his! And I just looked at him, amused.
For the past month I have been living, breathing and eating physics, in a good way. The collaboration meetings, encounters with experienced and famous scientists, dinner and lunch with friends from all over the world, lectures, workshops and meetings (all of which take place in either German, French or Italian by the way and none of which I understand!) have moulded and made my summer an experience that I never expected. I have learned so much more than just physics.
Overall, this summer has been an eye-opener for me. I have learned so much about the diverse people and cultures around me, the work and life balance, and most importantly about myself. Over the next month, I look forward to traveling, exploring the European culture, and working closely with the AEgIS collaboration in order to take forward their mission.
Summer Lovin’ – Falling in Love with Experimental Physics
I remember the first hour of my research experience very clearly. I had always been horrible at keeping a good lab notebook and now I had been given an extremely fancy lab notebook with my name in silver and “Lehman Research Group” engraved in bold letters on the cover. I was so intimidated by this book that when I opened it to take notes on our readings, I wrote as neatly and as tiny as I could. That only lasted for a page though, because as soon as Dr. Lehman came in she told me that it would be best with my handwriting to write big and with lots of space. She reminded us to write everything we thought – questions, ideas, anything relevant to the experiment – and not to limit our writing and ourselves. With this advice, my writings in my notebook became more spontaneous and I had more fun recording my thoughts. As time passed, I began to feel more and more comfortable writing my thoughts down and expressing my ideas. That notebook became a home to my work, so that as I watched the pages fill I became prouder of and more confident with my ideas.
This lab notebook is the embodiment of my experience this summer. I was so intimidated at the start – I was afraid to ask questions, speak my mind, and be anything but perfect. As the weeks flew by, I became more comfortable, started being more inquisitive, and learned that being imperfect is what makes me a good Physicist. Being willing to make mistakes is what leads to important questions and discoveries.
Not only have I grown as a Physicist, but I’ve also grown as a person. The group of Physics researchers was very small this summer (just two students and two professors!) so it felt like a very friendly environment. I learned how to better collaborate with colleagues and how to be a more open-minded world citizen.
I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world. The group this summer was amazing to work with. I never loved Physics more than I have now. Physics is not just an exciting area of study; it helps you feel like a part of something bigger than yourself.
Next week the New Horizons spacecraft falls through (or “flies by”) the Pluto-Charon binary system. This week New Horizons photos reveal dramatic differences between Pluto and Charon, despite their presumed common origin in an interplanetary collision. (By the way, some astronomers — and apparently the New Horizons science team — pronounce “Charon” more like “Charlene”, the name of the wife of Charon’s discoverer, and less like “Karen”).
So close, yet so different: beige Pluto (left) and gray Charon (right) orbit the common center of mass between them forming a double planet. UPDATED 2015 July 17; click image for a larger version.
We already know spectroscopically that water H2O, methane CH4, nitrogen N2, and carbon monoxide CO ices cover Pluto’s surface (and form its tenuous and dynamic atmosphere). Ultraviolet or UV radiation probably converts nitrogen and methane into reddish, organic tholins CxHyNz. But what causes the patterns of bright ices and dark orangish tholins? By contrast, Charon’s darker surface appears to contain water crystals and ammonia hydrates (NH3)2H2O. Like Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, both Pluto and Charon may have active geysers, which may contribute to the distribution of their surface materials. Stay tuned!
My first internship at Wooster has been a highly rewarding experience. Justine and I had the privilege to work with Dr. Lehman and Dr. Jacobs on a Wooster project that has been ongoing for over two decades – The Bead Pile Experiment.
The essence of the project is the creation of a pile, using small metal beads that come from shotgun shells (yeah! pretty neat!). As additional beads are added, the pile topples. The avalanche characteristics are demonstrated when a critical point is reached or surpassed, changing in order to return to a stable point.
The bead pile models critical systems – a few examples are avalanches, forest fires, stock markets (to a certain extent), and even dynamical synapses in neural networks! By studying the pile, the conclusions will be used to discern complex critical systems in the real world.
When we commenced work, I didn’t completely understand what we were attempting to do. The thought of dropping one bead at a time to watch a pile build up and avalanche, wasn’t exactly exciting to me. Being a first year student, I was also a little anxious about being able to grasp the complexities, and make a significant contribution.
After the final Examinations, Dr. Lehman briefed us in the intricacies of the project, allowing us to gain a better understanding of the work we would be doing. It was in the third week that I truly began understanding the specifics of our model, after Dr. Jacobs went over the theory of the Bead Pile Project with us, and even gave us a few classes on Criticality!
During the course of the summer, we did a few more runs, but spent more time analyzing past data. Our focus was to recognize how changing the height the beads fall from and the stickiness of the beads changes the probability of getting avalanches of specific sizes.
With Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Lehman’s help, we installed and programmed a high-speed camera to record videos of large avalanches. This enhanced our ability to analyze the variation of trends in the graphs of the large and small avalanches. The camera is mounted above the pile (next to the bead dropper) in order to be able to see the whole pile.
A massive avalanche on the beadpile, viewed from above using the newly installed high speed camera. The perspective is slightly distorted because of the fish-eye lens and because the camera is not directly above the center of the pile. The pile center is slightly to the left of the visual center of the circle; you can tell because that’s the point the beads move away from.
We were also very keen to study how the time between certain size avalanches changed as we varied the drop height and stickiness of the beads. We also wanted to set up particle tracking with the camera to trace the path of a bead in an avalanche. However, we didn’t have enough time to do this.
In conclusion, I believe that I have gained a lot of knowledge this summer, and have thoroughly enjoyed my time working on The Bead Pile Experiment. While we learned a lot, and increased our understanding through our analysis, there is much left to be done. But isn’t that what science is all about?
We held the 12th annual picnic and pie festival at my house just over a week ago. (The tradition started the summer after my first year at the College, when one of the summer research students explained that, while she liked to bake pies, she didn’t really like to eat pies. Dr. Lindner explained that he was the ideal complement — he liked to eat pies, but not to bake pies! The pie festival was born!)
The pie festival is wonderful especially because of the participation of the students. Many start the summer daunted by the prospect of producing a pie, but by the time the pie festival rolls around, they rise to the challenge! The rule of the pie party is that everyone brings a pie. (Families are allowed to bring one pie for the family, and Dr. Lindner has a pass.) I think our all time largest pie party had 15 pies for 17 people!
This year we had 10 pies for 12 adults (and 4 young kids). Delicious! Pies included lemon meringue, peach, apple, pina colada, chocolate pecan, gooseberry, and one of the richest pies I’ve ever tasted – dark chocolate caramel Oreo! At least three people managed to take at least a thin slice of all the pies (and also eat part of each slice!)!
I was a little worried about the weather earlier in the day — it rained most of the morning, but cleared up so that we could eat outside by 5 pm. The weather did put a damper on our traditional games of badminton and croquet, but we played games inside instead.
Recent Comments
Thanks, Mark! I enjoy reading your posts as well.
Nice post, John! Thanks for writing these. I always enjoy them.
Thanks, Mark! I enjoy reading your posts as well.