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Fermilab Tour

By Kevin Pitts
April 22, 2012

On Saturday, the Physics Society came up to Fermilab for a tour. Since I do research at Fermilab, it was easy for me to meet the students at the Lab. We spent the day touring the site and visiting the experiments.    We’re really fortunate at the University of Illinois to be close to two major National Laboratories: Argonne and Fermilab. We sponsored an Argonne tour last summer.

 
The two highlights of the tour were the visit to the CDF detector and the visit to the Minos underground detector.   CDF is 4 stories tall and weighs 5000 tons. It took data for over 20 years and is continuing to produce interesting results.   (That’s my experiment, and I’m proud to say that 6 students have earned Ph.D.’s in physics from CDF.)
 
Minos is a neutrino experiment. Fermilab sends a beam of neutrinos underground to a detector stationed in a mine in northern Minnesota.   There is a near detector on the Fermilab site that is about 350 feet underground.   
 
The entire day was fun, and we thank our volunteer tour guides for showing us around!
 
Below are a few of the pictures that I took.   Many of the students took more (and better) pictures. We’ll try to post some more later.
What a nice looking group! Those are our tour guides on the left, holding Physics Illinois bags!
What a nice looking group! Those are our tour guides on the left, holding Physics Illinois bags!

The CDF central detector. The last time a 'civilian' saw this was in 2001.
The CDF central detector. The last time a 'civilian' saw this was in 2001.

The MINOS underground cavern on the Fermilab site.
The MINOS underground cavern on the Fermilab site.

The MINOS near detector looking back toward the neutrino source.
The MINOS near detector looking back toward the neutrino source.

If you have questions about the Physics Illinois Undergraduate Program, contact the Undergraduate Office, 217.333.4361.

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