小蝌蚪APP

Searching for the Smallest Known Thing

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Posted on November 22, 2017

Alice Jackson

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Inside a physics laboratory at the 小蝌蚪APP, Dr. Martin Frank and his students regularly search for something they can see only with the help of computers and a multi-million dollar particle accelerator that begins outside Chicago and ends inside a particle detector in northern Minnesota.

As Frank, an experimental particle physicist, and his students monitor their wall of computers,   a nearby screen displays a similar laboratory, with professors and students, inside another university located elsewhere in the United States. 小蝌蚪APP 200 researchers are connecting online in the NOvA Project to learn as much as possible about neutrinos 鈥� the most abundant particles in the universe, a billion times more common than the particles that make up stars, planets and even people. In fact, tens of thousands of them are passing through your body right now. Frank is USA鈥檚 lead researcher for NOvA.

On the lab鈥檚 computer screens, neutrinos are recognized only as a flash of light, the result of one colliding with a proton or neutron, something that happens infrequently. That鈥檚 because a really huge amount of space lies between neutrinos and the larger elements. In other words, among a trio of things you cannot see, the neutrino is the smallest known thing.

鈥淢ost people know what protons and neutrons are, but neutrinos are much, much smaller than those,鈥� Frank explained. 鈥淭heir existence was theorized for many years, then in 1956 it was confirmed, but we are still learning about them. The theoretical physicists come up with a hypothesis about what鈥檚 there, but it鈥檚 the experimental physicists who confirm things exist, then research to determine what those things actually do.鈥�

A comment about Frank being a real-life version of television character Sheldon Cooper from the popular sitcom 鈥淭he Big Bang Theory鈥� draws a hearty laugh.

鈥淚鈥檝e heard similar comments before, but I鈥檝e never watched that show,鈥� Frank said. 鈥淏ut, if it鈥檚 about physicists, it can鈥檛 be all bad.鈥�

Before coming to South in August, 2016, Frank was a postdoctoral research scientist at the University of Virginia, assigned to Fermilab, the government site outside of Chicago where the neutrinos are now beginning their research journey. It was the largest and most powerful particle accelerator in the world before the CERN Large Hadron Collider began operation in Europe.

Next year, Frank and his colleagues will publish their first research analysis on what they have learned so far during the NOvA Project. In the meantime, Frank is mum about the paper鈥檚 contents.

鈥淚t鈥檚 part of our collaboration agreement that we don鈥檛 discuss details with anyone outside the research project,鈥� Frank said.

However, as he and his students watch the neutrinos, he鈥檚 also interested in something else 鈥� a magnetic monopole, a hypothetical elementary particle that is isolated with only one magnetic pole.

鈥淗umanity has wondered about the existence of a singular magnetic pole for centuries,鈥� Frank explained. 鈥淭echnically, you can鈥檛 prove something that isn鈥檛 there, but a non-observation is as useful as an observation.鈥�

For junior physics major Erriel Milliner, who is from Birmingham, her time inside the lab working under Frank鈥檚 direction for this research project is more than she expected.

鈥淚 originally wanted to be an aerospace engineer, but I didn鈥檛 want to leave South to take some courses I needed, so I changed my major to physics, and I鈥檓 glad I did,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 like the atmosphere and the people here. Plus, the class sizes are really nice. I鈥檓 getting opportunities to work under Dr. Frank I probably wouldn鈥檛 have at other places.鈥�

Fellow student Paul White of Gulf Shores agrees. 鈥淲hen I graduate in 2020, this will be my second degree from South. My first one was in graphic design because I was trying to get a degree as quickly as possible. I came back because physics has always fascinated me.鈥�

Both Milliner and White agree physics satisfies their urge for a career that鈥檚 challenging and interesting. Each hopes to eventually earn a doctorate, then work for a government laboratory.

鈥淎lthough you may not be able to see everything, something is always happening with physics,鈥� Frank said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 never boring.鈥�

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