Preview of the DLNP seminar 29.10.2019 by Martin Makariev «Status of the MAGIC Telescope»

MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov) is a system of two 17 m diameter, Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT). They are dedicated to the observation of the very high energy (VHE) gamma ray from galactic and extragalactic sources in the range from 30 GeV to 100 TeV. The telescopes are located at a height of 2200 m a.s.l. on the Roque de los Muchachos European Northern Observatory on the Canary Island of La Palma. The first telescope started the scientific observations in 2004. The commissioning of second telescope has been finished in 2009. The use of the two telescopes provided a significant increase of the sensitivity due to stronger background rejection. The energy and angular resolutions have been improved, mainly due to the higher precision of the three-dimensional reconstruction of air shower impact point and its incoming direction.

Preview of the DLNP Seminar on 23.10.2019 by Vladimir Sergeyevich Kurbatov “Reactions pn → pp_{S} + π^{−} and pp → pp_{S} + π^{0} at the Energy of 0.8 GeV”

Differential cross sections of the reactions pn → pp_{S} + π^{−} and pp → pp_{S} + π^{0} with the energy of 0.8 GeV in the region of small forward angles were discussed. Here, “ppS” denotes a proton pair with low excitation energy Epp, less than 3 MeV. It turned out that the cross section of the reaction pn → ppS + π- is almost 60 times smaller than that of the reaction pp → ppS + π0. The meaning and different interpretations of this result were considered. These data were obtained from the ANKE facility, COSY, Jülich, Germany.

Scheduled Training Session on Actions during Fire Emergency in Building 3 for the Staff Members

 Today, on 16 October 2019, the scheduled training session on actions during fire emergency for the staff members of the Scientific and Experimental Department of Elementary Particle Physics (SEDEPP) and the Sector of Intermediate Energy Physics/the Sector of Rare Processes (SIEP/SRP) took place in Building 3. The training led by senior health and safety engineer Dmitry Malov was held according to the plan. The first step was the instruction on accident prevention delivered for the staff members in the conference hall. The second one was the discovering of a fire in the meeting room (Do not panic! Just a training!) by the senior inspector of SEDEPP. She called the fire brigade (Phone number: 216-45-01) and asked the girl, who was passing by, to activate the fire alarm. Meanwhile, the secretary of SIEP/SRP reported the incident to the DLNP electricians (Phone number: 216-24-21) to make them de-energize the Building 3. After fire alarm activation, the staff members left their working place. At the same time, the head of the Department of Accelerator Neutrinos checked the rooms, not letting anyone to stay in; appointed three responsible representatives to control the main and two emergency exits and prevent in this way the entering “the building on fire” by unexpected guests. Afterwards he reported the total evacuation to the arrived fire brigade. The final step presented the most exciting event of the safety session – the use of an extinguisher to fight a fire. Tomorrow, the training session will start as previously planned in Building 4.

Preview of the DLNP Seminar on 09.10.2019 by Vladimir Viktorovich Glagolev “Search for New Physics in the Experiments on High-Intensity Muon Beams”

According to the suggestion for project prolongation, the significance of the experiments on searching for lepton number violations in the charged lepton sector µ→eγ and conversion of a muon to an electron in the nucleus field µN→eN was discussed. The status and prospects of the Mu2e (Fermilab) and MEG-II (PSI) experiments were considered, as well as the contribution of the DLNP staff members to the development of the electromagnetic calorimeter, muon veto system (Mu2e), drift chamber and data-taking system (MEG-II). The upcoming participation of the DLNP staff members in the Mu2e, COMET (J-PARC) and MEG-II experiments was also discussed.  

Our congratulations to Fyodor Shimkovits on his 60th jubilee!

Slovakia is a picturesque country, surrounded by mountains and crossed by rivers springing in the Carpathian. Slovakia gave birth to many great people, such as Andy Warhol – the Pop-Art creator, or Žigmund Pálffi – the ice hockey player of both the national team of Slovakia and “Los Angeles Kings”. The today’s jubilarian – Fyodor Shimkovits – presents the scientific branch of the Slovak team of eminent persons.  Fyodor rushed into the scientific elite from the left flank to the very middle of the scientific life - to the town of scientific feats and technological progress, to Dubna. In the pairing with Samuil Michelevich Bilenky, with other physicists, or alone he scored many goals in scientific journals all over the world. He became famous.

Preview of the Lab’s Seminar 01.10.2019 by Mikhail Nikolayevich Omelyanenko “Magnetic Technology Applications in Biology”

The Lab’s Seminar 01.10.2019 by Mikhail Nikolayevich Omelyanenko “Magnetic Technology Applications in Biology” was devoted both to the 50th anniversary of the beginning of projects on magnetobiology at DLNP JINR and to the 95th date of birth of Dr. in Ph. and Math. Sc. V.I. Danilov.

Kamchatka School on Elementary Particle Physics and Related Topics 2019. Laboratory session: dosimetry and gamma spectrometry

Nikolay Anfimov and Aleksandr Selyunin had brought two entire test stands for laboratory session in dosimetry and gamma spectrometry. The School listeners were familiarized with real equipment used in nuclear physics: a photomultiplier tube, a scintillation counter, an A/D converter with time sampling, as well as a software for data collection and data processing based on the Data Analysis Framework ROOT. Within this session, the School participants measured the Potassium-40 spectrum of potash fertilizer, the Thorium-232 spectrum of welding rods WT-20 containing Thorium alloy; defined the radiation dose that everyone gets from the natural background and that correlates perfectly with the results of household dosimeter based on Geiger counter.

Kamchatka School on Elementary Particle Physics and Related Topics 2019. Day Three

In spite of high wind, rain and continuous jet lag, the tough School participants moved slowly one after another in the early morning to “Khutorok”. This is the name of the public building containing Medical Bath #2. A Conference Hall located on the first floor of this building hosts all the School events and indoor activities. During the break, you can go out onto the balcony with a cup of coffee and look down at people swimming in the pool, which is filled with thermal water, and foretaste the same pleasure after dinner. However, “otium post negotium”, and that is why “lectures first”. The final part of the series of lectures on up-to-date experiment in particle physics delivered by Igor Boyko opened the day.

Kamchatka School on Elementary Particle Physics and Related Topics 2019. Day Two

School timetable was altered due to sudden changes of the weather. The sightseeing trip to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and its outskirts scheduled for the afternoon was delayed until next morning. And this time, the weather did not let us down: it was a lovely and sunny morning. Our spirits were bright, and the scenery around proved to be spectacular. The photographs express more than words. The second part of the day ran according to the plan: Igor Ivanov continued his lecture on particle physics; Igor Boyko talked about the up-to-date experiment; and finally, Stepan Shimansky (VBLHEP, JINR) joined in with his lecture on nuclear physics. Intense discussions did not stop even during the breaks.

Congratulations to Lyudmila Kolupayeva on the successful report presentation at the 126th session of the JINR Scientific Council!

Congratulations to Lyudmila Kolupayeva on the successful report presentation at the 126th session of the JINR Scientific Council as the winner of the Poster Session for Young Scientists on Particle Physics Research within the 51st meeting of the JINR Programme Advisory Committee! We wish Lyudmila further victories and a great scientific achievement!

Borexino experiment’s group received the First Prize of JINR Award 2018

The 126th session of the JINR Scientific Council was held from 19 to 20 September 2019. The programme of the Session included the presentation of JINR annual Award. Our congratulations to the group of the Borexino experiment on the First Prize of JINR Award 2018 in the section “Scientific and research experimental works” for the series of three papers: “Search of neutrino properties in pp-reactions in the Sun with the Borexino detector”! Oleg Smirnov, Alina Vishnyeva and Albert Sotnikov were awarded this Prize. We wish them new impressive scientific discoveries and a great delight from obtained results!

Bruno Pontecorvo Prize 2018 awarded to Professor Francis Halzen (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA)

Within the 126th session of the JINR Scientific Council, which took place in Dubna from 19 to 20 September 2019, Professor Francis Halzen (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA) was awarded the Bruno Pontecorvo Prize 2018 for significant contribution to the IceCube detector construction and experimental discovery of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos.Francis Halzen is a researcher in the fields of particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. He works at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He is the head of the IceCube project. The Bruno Pontecorvo Prize is an international award being annually presented by the JINR Scientific Council for achievements in elementary particle physics.