News & Events
image courtesy of NASA GLAST Launches Into Space |
NASA's GLAST Launch Successful CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. -- NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, successfully launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 12:05 p.m. EDT Wednesday, 6/11/08..The GLAST observatory separated from the second stage of the Delta II at 1:20 p.m. and the flight computer immediately began powering up the components necessary to control the satellite. Twelve minutes after separating from the launch vehicle, both GLAST solar arrays were deployed. The arrays immediately began producing the power necessary to maintain the satellite and instruments. The operations team continues to check out the spacecraft subsystems. "The entire GLAST Team is elated the observatory is now on-orbit and all systems continue to operate as planned," said GLAST program manager Kevin Grady of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. After a 75-minute flight, the GLAST spacecraft was deployed into low Earth orbit. It will begin to transmit initial instrument data after about three weeks. The telescope will explore the most extreme environments in the universe, searching for signs of new laws of physics and investigating what composes mysterious dark matter. It will seek explanations for how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and look for clues to crack the mysteries behind powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts. "After a 60-day checkout and initial calibration period, we'll begin science operations," said Steve Ritz, GLAST project scientist at Goddard. "GLAST soon will be telling scientists about many new objects to study, and this information will be available on the internet for the world to see." NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the U.S. For more information about the GLAST mission, please visit: NASA Press Release 6/11/08 Also visit: http://www-glast.stanford.edu/
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 Closeup of a CDMS detector, made of crystal germanium.Credit: Fermilab. Larger Image |
Crystal bells stay silent as physicists look for dark matter U.S. experiment retakes the lead in competitive race Batavia, Ill.--Scientists of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment today announced that they have regained the lead in the worldwide race to find the particles that make up dark matter. The CDMS experiment, conducted a half-mile underground in a mine in Soudan, Minn., again sets the world’s best constraints on the properties of dark matter candidates. “With our new result we are leapfrogging the competition,” said Blas Cabrera of Stanford University, co-spokesperson of the CDMS experiment, for which the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory hosts the project management. “We have achieved the world’s most stringent limits on how often dark matter particles interact with ordinary matter and how heavy they are, in particular in the theoretically favored mass range of more than 40 times the proton mass. Our experiment is now sensitive enough to hear WIMPs even if they ring the ‘bells’ of our crystal germanium detector only twice a year. So far, we have heard nothing.”
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January 30, 2008, Stanford Report
On the frontiers of science for decades, a storied building is soon to be razed
BY DAN STOBER
Crews on Tuesday worked on demolishing the HEPL building. L.A. Cicero Alan J. Keith played and marched through the gutted laboratories during a pre-demolition party held at the HEPL building that brought together many former and current researchers for an afternoon of reminiscing. From the obituary desk: The HEPL building, 58 years old, a Stanford baby boomer born in 1949 in the aftermath of World War II, a child prodigy that produced the world's first full-scale linear accelerator when only a year old and won the Nobel Prize for physics at age 12, has passed on. Despite a certain gangly appearance, it was loved by its extended family of researchers for its utilitarian qualities. There were several causes for its passing (old and in the way, in essence), but the final blow was delivered by heavy-duty construction equipment. more
| HEPL Directors Past and Present | |
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HEPL directors past and present attended the pre-demolition celebration. They are, from left, Sandy Fetter (1996-1997), Blas Cabrera (2006-present), Mason Yearian (1973-1996) and Robert Byer (1997-2006).
Photo courtesy L.A. Cicero |
November 5, 2007
Gala event held in honor of sixty years of research in historic Building 04-250, aka “HEPL North.”
History of Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory (pdf)
October 31, 2007 - Stanford Report
Physicists chase Einstein’s equivalence principle down a hole
Physicist Mark Kasevich works in a 25-foot pit beneath the Varian Building in search of Albert Einstein. Or more specifically, Kasevich is searching for proof that Einstein got it right in 1907 when he formulated his equivalence principle, declaring in effect that the tug of gravity is indistinguishable from the force that pushes you back into your seat in a rapidly accelerating Porsche.
If Einstein was right, the equivalence principle also requires that "objects should fall at the same rate under gravity, regardless of their composition, regardless of their mass," said Jason Hogan, one of Kasevich's graduate students. Their team is now installing the esoteric equipment designed to test that prediction by tossing up a handful of rubidium atoms—some slightly heavier than others—and watching them fall to the bottom of the pit. more
HEPL-KIPAC SEMINAR
Daniel Hagedorn and Frank Löffler
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany
www.ptb.de
“Manufacturing Test Masses for the Evaluation of the Equivalence Principle”
Location: Physics/Astrophysics Building, Conference Rooms 102 & 103
Monday, May 5, 2008, 4:00 – 5:30 pm
Light refreshments available 4pm; Presentation begins 4:15pm. Open to all.
Abstract:
The performance of experimental investigations into the principle of equivalence, e. g. the Drop Tower Experiment in Bremen, Germany, or the orbit based Microscope and STEP experiments, requires test masses of the highest precision with respect to homogeneity, form and dimensions. The technical demands resulting from theoretical considerations require a state of the art raw material production, fabrication of the functional surfaces and coating technology. New courses of fabrication have to be developed or optimized for these special tasks. The metrology to be applied after each production step is of particular importance for compliance with the requirements.
The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), situated in Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany, is the German National Metrology Institute (NMI). Hence, PTB’s Scientific Instrumentation Department has the great advantage to be able to verify new and self-developed machine-base in-situ measuring techniques by means of national primary standards, e.g. length, form and dimension, mass, density or thermal expansion to name but a few, allowing an unrivalled precision.
Biography:
Frank Löffler
Diplom in Mechanical Engineering, Dr.-Ing. in Thin Film Technology, Habilitation in Risk Assessment of New Technologies and apl. Prof. in Environmental Aspects in Material Science at RWTH Aachen University. Scientific employee (1986 – 1990) and Chief engineer (1990 – 1995) at RWTH Material Science Institute. Scientific employee (1995 – 1998) and head of the department Scientific Instrumentation (since 1998) at PTB the National Metrology Institute.
Daniel Hagedorn
Graduated Physicist; Dr. rer. nat. in Semiconductor and Quantum Physics (major), Microsystem Technology and Astrophysics (minor);
Thesis: Fabrication and Measuring of Superconducting Digital Electronic Circuits;
Scientific employee at PTB’s Quantum Electronics Department (1999-2006) and Scientific Instrumentation Department (since 2006);
Head of the Surface Technology Working Group (since 2008).
HEPL-KIPAC Seminar
John Anderson, PhD
Professional astronomer and NASA Co-Investigator
Anomalistic Solar-System Dynamics
Location: Physics/Astrophysics Building, Conference Rooms 102 & 103
Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 2:00pm - 3:30 pm
Light refreshments available 2pm; Presentation begins 2:15pm. Open to all.
It seems that all is not well with solar system dynamics. In addition to the Pioneer anomaly and the Earth flyby anomaly for spacecraft, there are anomalies in the Moon's orbit amounting to about 6 millimeters per year, and the length scale for the entire solar system, the astronomical unit, is increasing at a rate of about seven centimeters per year, effectively increasing the gravitational attraction of the Sun. Although it is suspected that all these anomalies have mundane explanations, no source has been unambiguously identified for any of them so far.
Biography: John Anderson retired from JPL in August 2006. However, he is still working as a professional astronomer. He holds NASA Co-Investigator roles on Cassini at Saturn, Rosetta to the comet 67 P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko in 2014, and the JUNO polar orbiter of Jupiter in 2017, all good candidates for some interesting gravity science with DSN and ESA radio Doppler observations in the X-Band (~ 8 GHz) and Ka-Band (~ 32 Ghz). He also maintains an interest in experimental gravitational physics in space. He holds a PhD in astronomy from UCLA and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
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See Karolyn Zeng's exhibition “Celestial Journeys: In the Language of Art” through May 31, 2008 in the Physics and Astrophysics Building, 8am-5pm M-F. The artist reflects on astrophysics, quantum physics, human genetics and the I Ching in nineteen Oil on Canvas paintings, which range from the use of ancient Chinese calligraphy to large, multi-canvas works fusing human genetics and cosmology. |
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HEPL Seminars 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008:
John Anderson, PhD
Professional astronomer and NASA Co-Investigator
"Anomalistic Solar-System Dynamics"
Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 2pm
Daniel Hagedorn and Frank Löffler
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
“Manufacturing Test Masses for the Evaluation of the Equivalence Principle”
Monday, 5 May 2008 4pm
Bob Kline-Schoder, Ph.D.
Principal Engineer and Vice President from Creare Inc., Hanover, NH
“Resuscitating the Hubble Space Telescope With a Cryogenic Refrigerator”
Odile Clavier, Ph.D.
Engineer from Creare Inc., Hanover, NH
“Hearing Assessment System for Space Station Astronauts and Other Research in Human Hearing”
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Dr. Martin Tajmar, MSS
Head of Space Propulsion & Advanced Concepts
Austrian Research Centers GmbH - ARC
“LISA Thrusters and the Search for Frame Dragging at Low Temperatures at ARC”
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Dr. Stefan Funk
Assistant Professor, Physics, Stanford University and SLAC
“Gamma-ray astronomy: Status and Future Directions”
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Dr. Joerg Wagner
University of Stuttgart
“The Origin of the Modern Gyroscope: Bohnenberger's Machine and the Scientific Work of its Inventor”
January 16, 2008
Professor Bob Bingham
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
“Probing Quantum Gravity Using Matter”
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Richard N. Boyd
Science Director, National Ignition Facility
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
“Creating a Star in the Laboratory: the National Ignition Facility”
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Domenico Gerardi
Visiting researcher, Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University
PhD candidate, University of Stuttgart and Science Missions & Systems EADS Astrium
“Achieving disturbance reduction for future drag-free missions. ”
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Fabio Scardigli
Department of Physics, University of Milano, Italy
"The Equivalence Principle, the Uncertainty Principle and Some Fundamental Physics Questions"
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Dr. Daniel Lebach
Astrophysicist
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
“Seeing spots: a report on optical and very-long-baseline radio interferometry
observations of IM Pegasi, the guide star for the Gravity Probe B mission. ”
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Dr. Gregory P. Crawford, Dean of Engineering and Professor of Engineering & Physics
Brown University, Division of Engineering
“In Vivo Spectroscopy for Blood Analyte Monitoring”
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Professor C.W. Francis Everitt
W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University
“Maxwell at 175 ”
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Paul Brink
Department of Physics, Stanford University speaking for the (Super)CDMS collaboration
“Present status and future plans of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS)”
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Alfred Vogel
Institute of Biomedical Optics University of Lübeck, Germany
“New findings on plasma and cavity generation in aqueous media with fs and ns laser pulses, and their applications in cell surgery"
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Dr. Dan McCleese
Chief Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
“Recent Results and Future Direction of the Exploration of Mars"
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Ned Wright
Professor of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA
What's New in Cosmology?
Thursday 9 March 2006
Peter Michelson
Stanford University
GLAST: The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope Mission
Seminar and Tour
Thursday 16 Feb 2006
Robert L. Byer
Stanford University
"Acceleration of Electrons with Visible Light"
Wednesday 1 Feb 2006
Dr. Nicholas White
Chief,
Laboratory for High Astrophysics NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
“The NASA Beyond Einstein Program”
Wed 5 Oct 2005
Ulrich Schreiber, Forschungseinrichtung Satellitengeodäsie, TU-München
“High Precision Sagnac Interferometry for Applications in Geoscience ”
Thursday, September 8, 2005
Christopher D. Bass,
Indiana University / IUCF, “Measurement of the Parity-Odd Neutron Spin Rotation in Liquid-4He”
Monday, August 22, 2005
Anne Kinney, Director, Universe Division in the Science Mission Directorate, NASA, "Blue Planets, Black Holes"
Wednesday, 20 July 2005
Dr William Tobin, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, "Foucault's Gyroscope of 1852"
Friday, 8 April 2005
Rex Geveden, NASA Chief Engineer, Independent Technical Authority
7 April 2005
Shooting the Moon: Probing Fundamental Gravity in the Solar System
Tom Murphy,
UC San Diego 3 March 2005
The GRACE Mission: Status and Science Results John Ries, Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Space Research at The University of Texas at Austin, 14 February 2005.
Hubble Robotic Servicing - Recent Engineering Development, Bill Reeve
Civil Space Director of Advanced Science Programs,
Lockheed Martin, 26 January 2005.
Interferometry for LISA, Daniel Shaddock, PhD, Interferometry Metrology and Optics Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 17 November 2004.
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), Steve Kahn, Deputy Director, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, 27 October 2004.
HEPL-KIPAC Showcase. 29 September 2004. Agenda