Category: Observation

It’s been a while since I put anything in the old professional blog, so I thought I would start being more regular about posts here. I’ll begin with some thoughts about the unique situation that the current generation flavor factories find themselves in as their colliders turn off. Currently, there are three major flavor factory data samples in the world (in alphabetical order of acronym): BaBar, Belle, and CLEO/CLEO-c. These are extremely unique samples; BaBar and Belle together have about 1.5 billion B meson pairs for use in precision and discovery physics, and have equivalently large samples of tau leptons and charm mesons. In addition, BaBar has the largest sample of data taken at the Upsilon(3S) and Upsilon(2S) resonances, and the most detailed scan data for center-of-mass  (CM) energies between 10.58 and 11.2 GeV. Belle has the world’s largest samples of data taken on the Upsilon(1S), Upsilon(5S), and Upsilon(6S) resonances. CLEO-c has unique data samples of charm mesons taken at well defined CM energies just above charm threshold, or at specific charmonium resonances.

This in and of itself is not so worrying; these are all good things. The worrying thing is that there is a possibility that these datasets will go unchallenged until at least 2015, and maybe much later. That’s because a next-generation flavor factory won’t run until at least then. Meanwhile, the Large Hadron Collider will be steadily taking hadron collision data, searching for evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. The challenge is the following: should new physics be found, its nature can be attacked with precision measurements possible only at a flavor factory. Will the existing datasets be enough? If so, who will conduct the research on these unique samples and test the implications of that new physics? If those samples are not enough, will we be ready with the R&D and proposals needed to build the next-generation flavor factory?

As so many of us begin to think about life after the factories, we take our unique set of knowledge about physics analysis at these experiments out of that community and into others. Keeping a hand in the legacy data is important, if it’s possible for young scientists as they mature and get promoted in the field. It’s therefore also important for senior members of the field, whose careers are established, to continue playing a role in this data.

How the future of this data is to be secured is also under discussion. There are evolving plans about how to archive legacy data sets like those at the flavor factories. Nothing is certain, except this: the data collected by these astounding machines and their devoted collaborations should not be allowed to fade from memory, lest we forget that a new discovery must always be tested in every way possible. Discovery is important, but confirmation and implication are just as important. They define the value of our science, turning it from a bunch of sexy headlines into a cannon of serious knowledge that defines the shoulders of the giant.

During breaks, I take the opportunity to enrich my bookshelf. One of the best ways to do this is a used book store. There are a few stores that I have completely fallen in love with, for the simple reason that their science sections are out of this world. One of them is in Mountain View, CA, and the other is in Niantic, CT. During this break, I’ve gotten my hands on a few interesting titles that will come in handy in improving scientific communication and expression. In addition, some of them are just a little unnerving. Here I list the titles, authors, and brief synopsis, as well as what I hope to get from them.

• “Beamtimes and Lifetimes” by Sharon Traweek:once a tour guide at SLAC in the Public Information Office, she went on to study high energy physicists at SLAC, KEK, and FNAL as an anthropologist. This falls under the “unnerving” category – it is quite strange to see one’s culture dissected and analyzed. However, I feel like HEP needs an eye-opener, if it is ever to reinvent itself in the public eye as a pursuit worth doing both inherently and for its benefits. Particle physicists must understand their own culture if they are to evolve. Amazingly, most of what she describes in the opening prologue and chapter of her book still seem to apply to our culture. She makes particular note of racial and gender ratios in each department she describes.
• “Scientific Papers and Presentations”, by Martha Davis: a guide to doing better at each. The quotes opening each chapter are priceless and speak to the humor and delicacy inherent the scientific enterprise.
• “Women Changing Science – Voices from a Field in Transition”, by Mary Morse: Over a decade old, this book likely still holds a number of important observations and themes about the diversity of gender in science. A large section of the book is devoted to interviews; I am very interested in seeing how her interviewees describe their experience.
• “The Art of the Personal Essay”, by Philip Lopate: replace “personal essay” with “blog entry” and you pretty much see what I want out of this.
• “The Universe and Doctor Einstein”, by Lincoln Barnett: I mentioned in my personal blog [1] (in 2006) that over one summer break in high school my father gave me a book about Einstein and his theory of relativity that crystallized my curiosity about the true nature of the universe. It was a short thing, and I am pretty sure this book was it. I grabbed it just to be safe. I’ll have to read through it to be sure, but skipping to the end I recognized the layout of the several equations in the book (all having to do with time and distance in relativity). This was a scene-changing book for me, something I hope to one day use to inspire somebody else to think harder about the universe.

With just days left in most people’s vacation, I strongly urge you to head to the local used book store and dig up your own gems. If the above sound interesting, check the library. You might find them as useful as I hope to.

[1] http://steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/2006/08/18/test-232/

I remember a time when the fall was the quietest part of the year. You’d escape the twists and turns of the summer conference cycle, survive the post-conference fall collaboration meeting, and set your sights on the winter/spring conferences, or on the hard work of wrapping things from the summer into publications.

This isn’t your typical fall. BaBar is in the intense analysis period, almost a year ahead of schedule and with several new data sets on top of the extensive Upsilon(4S) data, which occupied the first seven years of our operations. With the unparalleled Upsilon(3S) and Upsilon(2S) data sets have come a tremendous set of new responsibilities, and at least one discovery so far [1]. I am constantly impressed with the level of dedication to physics research that my colleagues achieve, a level surpassed each month with new intensity and determination.

In every physics experiment, there comes a time when all the really hard work of securing the data pays off in an avalanche of results. I thought that BaBar had passed that point, but I was wrong. I was worried that the black hole of the LHC, sucking all of us into the frontier of the field, or sling-shotting us into new research in dark matter, dark energy, and neutrinos, would ultimately deplete Babar to the point where this would be the least interesting autumn ever.

Boy, was I wrong.

[1] http://steve.cooleysekula.net/goingupalleys/2008/07/07/behold-the-elusive-ground-state-of-bottomonium/