Muon g-2 Results Signify New Physics? Maybe Not.

The big news of the week that got all the media coverage is the result that came out of Fermilab's Muon g-2 experiment that confirmed an earlier result from Brookhaven more than a dozen years ago. Fermilab even announced it like.

However, as with any scientific discovery or announcement, one has to take a deep breath and let the process works itself out before we put our stamp of validity to it. This is because there is a theoretical calculation that has also been published along with this result that basically recalculates what the Standard Model predicts as the magnetic moment of a muon, and they found that the new calculation produces a result consistent with the experiment. In other words, there is no new physics if this calculation is verified, because the old Standard Model does, in fact, predicted this new result.

One of the major difficulties in physics is that in many situations, we do not have a simple equation that we can plug-and-chug to get numbers out. In fact, this is why predicting the weather is difficult, because the non-linear differential equations that need to be solved to get the number out can only be done numerically, i.e. it has to be done via some numerical algorithm.

This is made worse when there are a gazillion interactions involved in a system. So one ends up making simplifying models or adopt calculational techniques to allow us to get to some numerical answers. We benchmark the technique to known values and known systems to make sure that it gives accurate and sensible answers, but as we push the boundary even more, there is no guarantee that that calculational technique will work all the time.

The author of the theoretical paper used a calculational technique called lattice QCD. This is a known calculational model that has been described in simple terms in the link I provided above. It appears that using this method, the Standard Model does provide a value for the muon magnetic moment that is consistent with the experiment. If this is true, then it means that the old calculation of the magnetic moment was incorrect in the first place, and that there is discrepancy between what the Standard model predicts, and what the experiment measures.

While this is good news for the Standard Model and is another evidences of why it is an amazing theory, those who are looking for new physics beyond the Standard Model will obviously not be jumping for joy. But that isn't the issue here and not what I want to highlight. Rather, it is the constant reminder that in science, and especially in such exotic areas of physics, every discovery or new ideas must not be overblown or overhyped, because those require multiple verification over a period of time. It is not a situation for instant gratification. A lot of hard work is still to come because we have seen way too many times where something that was touted turned out to not be valid.

This announcement received a lot of media coverage. I just hope that this is a valid "new physics" and not just something that turned out to be what the old theory did predict.

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Building PIP-II at Fermilab

PIP-II is being built at Fermilab as a new linear proton accelerator for its needs in years to come.

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PIP-II Upgrade At Fermilab

Don Lincoln explains why the PIP-II upgrade at Fermilab will take the accelerator facility to the next level.



The video actually explains a bit about how particle accelerator works, and the type of improvement that is being planned for.

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RIP Leon Lederman

One of the most charismatic physicists that I've ever met, former Fermilab Director and Nobel Laureate Leon Lederman, has passed away at the age of 96. Most of the general public will probably not know his name, but will have heard the name "God Particle", which he coined in his book, and which he originally intended to call the "God-Damn Particle".

He had been in failing health, and suffered from dementia. It force his family to auction off his Nobel Prize medal to help with his medical cost. But his lasting legacy will be in his effort to put "Physics First" in elementary and high school. And of course, there's Fermilab.

He truly was, and still is, a giant in this field.

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Fermilab Accelerator Complex

This is a neat animation video of the Fermilab Accelerator Complex as it is now, and all the various experiments and capabilities that it has.



Of course, the "big ring", which was the Tevatron, is no longer running now, and thus, no high-energy particle collider experiments being conducted anymore.

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What's So Important About The g-2 Experiment?

If it is covered in CNN, then it has to be a big-enough news. :)

I mentioned earlier that the g-2 experiment at Fermilab was about to start (it has started now), which is basically a continuation and refinement of what was done several years ago at Brookhaven. In case the importance of this experiment escapes you, Don Lincoln of Fermilab has written a piece on the CNN website on this experiment and why it is being done.

If you are not in science, you need to keep in mind this important theme: scientists, and definitely physicists, like it A LOT when we see hints at something that somehow does not fit with our current understanding. We like it when we see discrepancies of our results with the things that we already know.

This may sound odd to many people, but it is true! This is because this is why many of us get into this field in the first place: to explore new and uncharted territories! Results that do not fit with our current understanding give hints at new physics, something beyond what we already know. This is exploration in the truest sense.

This is why there were people who actually were disappointed that we saw the Higgs, and within the energy range that the Standard Model predicted. It is why many, especially theorists working on Supersymmetry, are disappointed that the results out of the LHC so far are within what the Standard Model has predicted.

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50 Years Of Fermilab

Don Lincoln takes you on a historical tour of Fermilab as it celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year.



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Fermilab's Greatest Hits

Highlights from the first 50 years at the historic Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.



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NOvA Neutrinos - A Slight Lost In Translation

OK, this post is making two different points, and try not to miss both of them, because one of them reinforces my stand that what you say may not exactly be what they understood.

This press release out of Fermilab announced the observation of neutrino oscillation by the NOvA detectors. This is crucial for NOvA to show that they can detect what has already been shown to exist, because it is their mission to study this more carefully and to make specific measurements on this phenomenon.

That's my first point, and that's the main news. Now comes the second point. Another "news"  article took that Fermilab press release, and reported it. But read how it has been presented in the beginning.

Scientists have witnessed their first evidence of oscillating neutrinos, taking a huge step forward in particle physics. The new findings confirm that the extraordinary detector built for the project not only functions as planned but is also making great progress toward its goal of a major leap in our understanding of these particles.

Now this is important, because it comes in at the very beginning of the news article and it sets the tone for the entire report. But read it carefully. If you don't know any better, reading the first sentence will give you the impression that this is the first ever sighting of oscillating neutrinos! 
Since they got this from Fermilab's press release, did the press release itself made the same mistake? Let's take a look. The Fermilab's press release wrote this:

Scientists on the NOvA experiment saw their first evidence of oscillating neutrinos, confirming that the extraordinary detector built for the project not only functions as planned but is also making great progress toward its goal of a major leap in our understanding of these ghostly particles.

Notice the subtle but important difference. Fermilab's press release indicated that this is the first observation of neutrino oscilation by NOvA scientists! Of course, those of us in the know are aware that this statement is indicating that the new NOvA detector has detected what it SHOULD detect, and this is a major milestone in the commissioning of any new instrument, i.e. it should detect what have already been detected to make sure everything is working as it should. It doesn't mean that this neutrino oscillation is the first detection anywhere!

But this is what frequently happens. I don't know the quality of news reporting on "Science World Report", but that is irrelevant because this time of "mistranslation" happens regularly when non-experts tries to interpret or understand scientific reporting. It is why what you write needs to be looked at in several different angles and from background of people who are ignorant of not  only the subject matter, but also the progress in that area. A person reading the news report will think that this is the first ever evidence of neutrino oscillation, when that is clearly false.

The Fermilab news release should look at this type  of misreporting, and see if they need to make their press releases even more "simplified" so that people aren't mislead into thinking the same way as the news report. We must always be vigilant of the fact that what we wrote and what we meant may not be exactly what they understand.

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Particle Accelerators - Current And Future Applications

Another example of where accelerators have wide-ranging applications outside of just high energy physics experiments.



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Tevatron Data Reveals No Exotic, Non-Standard Model Higgs

She may be long gone, but the old gal still has something to say.

A new paper that combined the data from CDF and D0, the two old Tevatron detectors at Fermilab, has revealed that the Higgs that has been found is indeed consistent with the Standard Model Higgs. It strengthens the much-heralded discovery made at CERN a while back.

...... the two Tevatron-based experiments, CDF and D0, uncovered evidence in 2012 of a Higgs boson decaying into fermions, specifically, a pair of bottom quarks. The two collaborations have again combined their data to check for exoticness in this fermion decay channel. The Tevatron data show no signal consistent with a Higgs boson having spin zero and odd parity (a so-called pseudoscalar) or spin 2 and even parity (gravitonlike). The results are important for building the case that the Higgs boson seen in particle colliders is indeed the standard model Higgs.

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Fermilab Physics Slam 2014

A very entertaining video to watch if you were not at this year's Physics Slam.



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NOvA: Building a Next Generation Neutrino Experiment

A closer look at the NOvA experiment.



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Fermilab Physics Slam 2013

For pure entertainment purposes, I suppose this works. But for educational purposes, I don't know how effective it is. Does one actually learn physics with something like this? What exactly did one learn? I guess if you're tired of really learning, this is a good diversion.



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Fermilab's Neutrino Beam Source

Here's a short article on Fermilab's repurposed Main Injector into a neutrino beam source for MINOS and NOvA. The article is OK. It kinda stopped short in describing the mechanism of generating neutrinos (why did it stop at creating pions?) Luckily, it linked to a YouTube video that explains how we get neutrinos at the end of the process.



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Particles, Fields and The Future of Physics

If you have about an hour and a half, you could do worse than viewing this lecture by Sean Carroll of CalTech on elementary particles and the future of physics.



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Fermilab Has A New Director

Nigel Lockyer will have the unenviable and difficult task of guiding Fermilab through its most challenging period in its entire history of existence. He has just been named as the new Fermilab Director, taking over from the retiring Pier Oddone.

Times are tough at Fermilab, which employs roughly 1700 people. Its budget for this year is $366 million, down from $397 million in 2010. The lab has cut staff members in recent years. Most important, although Fermilab has a number of intermediate scale projects going on now, its future a decade down the road remains uncertain. 

I don't know to what extent many of these things are within his control. He has to work and guide the lab with whatever the politicians throw at him. It is the politicians, and to some extent, the public, who need to realize the importance of such science and want to fund it.

But to ask the politicians and the public to think about long-term benefits rather than short-term, instant gratification is almost an impossible task.

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The Future Of Fermilab

A video of a briefing to the community of the future of Fermilab. Here is the synopsis accompanying the video:

On Thursday, May 9, 2013, Fermilab invited elected officials and leaders from local communities to hear Director Pier Oddone lay out his vision of the laboratory's future. The presentation was held in Wilson Hall, and included both short-term (NOvA, Muon g-2) and long-term (LBNE, Project X) experiments, as well as an overall look at the direction of the laboratory's impact on Chicagoland. For further information on these projects see www.fnal.gov, http://www-nova.fnal.gov, http://muon-g2.fnal.gov, darkenergysurvey.org, http://lbne.fnal.gov, http://projectx.fnal.gov

It is interesting that Pier Oddone is presenting HIS vision of the lab future, considering that he is leaving Fermilab! :)

Still, with the dismal funding of high energy physics in the US, the future of Fermilab is really uncertain at this point. Many of the long-term projects being presented do not have a certain funding picture yet.

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Science At Work

A rather fascinating video out of Fermilab. In some ways, this is a "propaganda" video, but in other ways, it actually is a very informative look at not only what the Lab does (or will do), but also what "high energy physics" is. The personal angle that is included in the video provides some "emotional" content that the general public can relate to.

Here's the synopsis of the video:

Six days. Three frontiers. One amazing lab. From 2010 to 2012, a film crew followed a group of scientists at the Department of Energy's Fermilab and filmed them at work and at home. This 40-minute documentary shows the diversity of the people, research and work at Fermilab. Viewers catch a true behind-the-scenes look of the United States' premier particle physics laboratory while scientists explain why their research is important to them and the world.

It's a long, 40-minute video, though. But it is worth sitting down and watching it, especially if you want to learn a bit more about high energy physics here in the US, and what Fermilab did and will do.



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Fermilab's Physics Slam Video

I mentioned earlier about the first Physics Slam at Fermilab, and ended the blog entry with the question on where the video for this event is.

Well, ask and you shall receive. The video for this physics slam is now available online.



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