Auger North Surface Detector Electronics Workshop

Members of the Auger Collaboration from the U.S. and Europe are meeting to discuss optimization of the design of the electronics for the northern site of the Auger Observatory being proposed for southeastern Colorado. The southern site in Mendoza, Argentina, is nearing completion. Watch the CCAPP website for exciting results from Auger soon!

The workshop will take place September 27th and 28th.

CCAPP's Paul Martini sends greetings from the LBT

To the left is a color composite of last month's observation of Abell 611, created by combining all of the u,g,r data and the strong, blue arc near the cluster center looks absolutely spectacular.

Details: the image is about 2 arcminutes on a side, North is up, East is to the left. The integration times were 20min in Uspec, 60min in g-SDSS,and 15min in r-SDSS. The image quality in the combined images is about 0.6" FWHM in g and r, but they were smoothed them to match the 0.7" image quality of the u-band image. Click on the image for a large view.

OSU Joins the Search for Dark Energy

OSU has been accepted as an Institutional Member in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Collaboration. DES (www.darkenergysurvey.org) is a multifaceted effort designed to determine the properties of the dark energy that makes up 70% of the Universe but has no compelling theoretical explanation. OSU joins other US Universities at Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, and Penn, International University Collaborations in Brazil, the UK, and Spain, and National Facilities at Argonne, Fermilab, LBL, NOAO, and NSCA.

Members of the OSU Collaboration are D. DePoy, K. Honscheid, C. Kochanek, P. Martini, D. Terndrup, D. Weinberg, and T. Walker. Additional OSU members are expected to be added in the future as the experiment evolves. Klaus Honscheid has kindly agreed to represent OSU on the Management Committee. The OSU Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP) played a central role in OSU's DES membership, providing a rich intellectual environment, along with critical postdoctoral support, and monetary contributions.

Hayes Graduate Research Forum Winners

Graduate students Greg Mack and Luke Corwin were the first and second place winners, respectively, in the Math and Physical Sciences section of the 2007 Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum. This university-wide competition, which is based on both written and oral presentations, involved approximately 40 students from the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

Greg, a CCAPP graduate student of Prof. John Beacom, presented his research in theoretical astrophysics on "Towards Closing the Window on Strongly Interacting Dark Matter: Far-Reaching Constraints from Earth's Heat Flow". While the nature of the dark matter remains unknown, this work shows that its interaction rate with ordinary matter must be extremely weak. This research was conducted in the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics.

Luke, a student of Prof. Klaus Honscheid, presented his research in experimental particle physics entitled "Searching for Physics Beyond the Standard Model with a Rare Decay." The Standard Model is the theory of particle physics, and the decay in question had not been observed before. Luke performed this measurement as a member of the BaBar Collaboration.

CCAPP Postdoctoral Fellowships in Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics

5-year and 3-year positions. Application deadline 1/1/07. See the CCAPP Postdoctoral Fellowships in Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics to learn more on the CCAPP Jobs page.

CCAPP in Columbus Dispatch

Read an editorial praising OSU's new initiatives.

CCAPP receives $5.2M in funding

CCAPP receives $5.2M in funding through Ohio State's Targeted Investment in Excellence initiative. Along with matching support from OSU's College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, this brings CCAPP's University support to $5.7M over the next 5 years.

'Fundamental Astro-Particle Physics: Conference in Celebration of Gary Steigman's 65th Birthday'

Conference Registration and Information

John Beacom (CCAPP, OSU Physics) receives NSF CAREER Award

"A prestigious award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will help John Beacom perform a forensic study of the universe...." Read more about the NSF CAREER Award.

CCAPP Postdoctoral Fellows in Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics

Eduardo Rozo (Chicago), CCAPP Postdoctoral Researcher (2006-2009).

David Weinberg (CCAPP, OSU Astronomy) named Sloan Digital Sky Survey Spokesman

Visit Sloan Digital Sky Survey online

OSU's Large Binocular Telescope achieves first light

Click the image to the left to view the first light! Or click here to go to the LBT's first light's web site.