A cacophony of light and sound

Well, and smell.
Sorry I've been away for longer than a week. It is difficult to write these lacking internet in the house and forgetting to upload pictures to my laptop to share with you all, but never fear! We have internet again! YAAAAY!

The reason I mention smell is because I have come across another comical smell here at CERN. If you'll recall from an earlier post (possibly my first, I can't remember) I mentioned a smell hanging around the site that I could only describe as industrial lucky charms? It has since cropped up once or twice more, only last time it was closer to industrial fruit loops, if one can be specific about such things. Well, today's comical smell has been hanging around the hallway outside my office. Maybe it's haunted by a smell ghost, I don't know. More likely it has something to do with all the hammering and noise next door, but if so I don't want to know why this particular smell is being produced. This olfactory event can best be described as honey walnut shrimp with a (used) car battery.

For those who have been to Noble Court in bellevue or have had dim sum where they serve the stuff, you will recognize the smell right away. For those who have not, honey walnut shrimp is even less healthy than it sounds, and even more delicious. Basically it is shrimp fried and coated in a mix of mayonnaise and honey and is deliciously calorific before being accompanied with walnuts. I've always wanted to try it myself actually, but never have gotten around to it, and in any event the smell is delightful.

The (used) car battery is similar the smell one's engine has when it overheats.

Anyway, that isn't what I came to talk to you about. I came to talk about the draft. And by that I mean pictures! I wasn't sure what to write on today, but I have a number of pictures of various random things around CERN and the area that are amusing, delightful, technological, or delicious. Sometimes all four (sort of like a honey walnut baby kitten dressed as a clown that has been assimilated by the borg, except I think that'd be more sad than anything else). In any event, enjoy!

Those in my family ought to find this picture interesting. This is a poster in the room that I am using. The kicker is, I have seen these three Cheetahs in real life. They are three brothers that were orphaned while still young, and thus rather than going solitary as they reached adulthood, they have stayed together and learned to hunt as a team (and done very well). My family and I saw them while in Africa for the Kenya Marathon.

This is one of the main conference rooms where meetings take place at CERN. The table is cool, but what I'm really interested in is that thing in the middle. I have no clue what it is, but this is CERN so I'm pretty sure it is a holographic display used to plan the attack on the Death Star.




You know those small rides they sometimes have outside of stores for kids to get their parents to spend an extra few coins? Well this is the France edition featuring Spider Mas secret police investigation. I had no idea he was a member of the Secret Police, but there you go.















And here we have something completely different, a baby goat. It is adorable. There are a bunch of them in a field near the ALICE experiment (not the CERN main site) and at one point I stopped to take pictures and they all looked up, went "baa!" and ran over to see if I had any food. I didn't, but it was still cute as all get out.



And here we see how some things can go too far. Enough said.









And now to the pictures that I really wanted to share! This is the market at Ferney-Voltaire, which I promised to get pictures of. This was last weekend. I only got pictures of around a third or a quarter of it, but it has much the same except that there are places with clothing in lieu of food. Sorry, no Churros here, I forgot I had my phone until after we had gone past that stand.

This is Kati (Katie?), that is Katarina (Caterina?), my landlady's daughter. She thought I was acting like a huge tourist. Which I was.








And here is the famous Mont d'Ore moldy cheese! That wrinkled cloth looking thing is the skin of the cheese. More on this later







And here is Yiota herself! Landlady extraordinaire. Also, CHEESE. My word there is a lot of cheese here. I got almost the whole thing, but all the way down to the end there is cheese. Welcome to France!






This is generally how the market looks from opening to closing. As you can see it is quite popular.








For those of you who have had fried chicken over at my place and have seen my Dad bust out his paella pan, the one in this pictures is even bigger. And looked delicious (but I was out of cash at that point).






Lots and lots of produce of course, there were many stands like the ones I've showed (save that I showed the largest cheese stand I could find there).







And then we met Nanook.











Fish! Not Pike place standard, but surprisingly fresh owing to our not being on the ocean. Though I suppose we're not THAT far from it... Still, for a small town farmer's market? Not bad.






And to complement the cheese, we have the essential wine. One of many stands of course.








Here's one for those of you who don't like to see your food preprocessed. Also something I haven't seen in a market before (though since I have been pheasant hunting, this wasn't as new as could be for me).






And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: pictures of the preparation of Mont d'Or a la garlic et vin blanc. (I don't know what French for garlic is). First you scoop out the middle and fill it with lots of wine and garlic. This actually wasn't quite enough wine, so I added more.




Next, Wrap it in tinfoil as best you can (harder than you'd think) with a cone shape.








Once it is in the oven, you gotta get your bread ready. I like to make my bread look nice (not necessary, but show some artistic pride!)








And here I am with my meal (which I shared with whoever was about, there is a surprisingly large amount of cheese in one of those boxes.

to market to market to buy some moldy cheese

Good day to all you back at home (and places between)! I've had a number of things going on recently, including my first time having real Fondu (delicious) and increasingly cold walks to CERN as the weather changes, but today I would like to share with you a bit about one of the more amazing markets I have ever been to. I speak with some authority as I have been in more than thirty countries on six continents (well, five really. Antarctica doesn't count as a country) and have been to many markets in many places.

While my favorite market on earth remains Pike Place Market in Seattle, the one that came unexpectedly as a close second was the sunday Farmer's market in Ferney-Voltaire, France. The town is so named because Voltaire's family chateau can still be found there. A place of thought and cognizance, somewhere he could flee to when he had annoyed the aristocracy a little more than usual. I've only been outside it but it is quite large and nice, and the town of Ferney-Voltaire is charming, about 5 or 10 miles from Saint-Genis where I live.

Yiota (my landlady), Katerina (heck if I know how its spelled, her daughter), Mateosh (again, no clue how it's spelled he's greek. Another tenant in the hosue), and I were headed there to talk to Telecom, the telephone company we can't seem to get to re-establish our telephone line and internet. Yiota did talk to them and (theoretically) we will have the line reconnected on Wednesday (which comes after almost a month of dithering on their part). Regardless, internet frustrations were not enough to prevent me from thoroughly enjoying the market. I didn't think to take pictures, so I'm afraid you'll have to do with descriptions for now.

The market is spread across several streets where every sunday farmers, fishermen, chefs, and anyone else looking to flog their wares market style gather and clog traffic and parking every Sunday until 1 pm. Much of it is standard market fare only with the French twist of having irreputibly some of the best cheeses, breads, and wines in the world. There were numerous clothing and home ware stands set up as well, but mostly it was food food food as far as the eye could see. Which, as it happens, wasn't very far because this place was PACKED.

Bjorn Nilsen (who headed home on Sunday, I'm now by myself here at CERN as far as Creighton personnel are concerned) had recommended this market with high praise, and I saw the he was not exaggerating in the slightest. Quite apart from having variety and liveliness without those running the stands being grasping or obnoxious, many stands had free food samples for you to try, there were churros being made fresh on the spot, wine tasting, and people from all nationalities. I heard a number of different languages, including english (an elderly English couple who were thoroughly English was amusing to see) in a very short time as well which, while not unusal in Europe, continues to be interesting to me.

I got some rather nice, thick crusted bread (I like French bread with a good thick crust) and some wine made in the Jura mountains that you can't get anywhere else for the whopping fee of 8 euros a bottle. Yiota recommended it (she's into wine which has been a blessing while here as I enjoy wine). Very distinct, strange flavor that is quite impossible to describe. Sort of... bouncy? That may be the closest I can come, as good a description as any. I prefer the white to the red which is unusual for me. Yiota bought some mold based cheese that I will return to in a moment and we all had a fun time wandering along.

There were vegetables, cheese (my gosh was there cheese), bread stands, wine stands, meat stands (I even got to use the term meat wagon which those who have played Warcraft 3 may enjoy), greek food, french food, italian food, chinese food, all sort of mixed things. There were event many stands of wonderful smelling fish (well, as wonderful as fish can smell). I haven't the faintest clue how all the seafood came there and appearing so fresh as we're not very close to the ocean... Maybe it was all freshwater from Lake Geneva, though I doubt it. Didn't hold a candle to Pike Place (and no fish were tossed) but it was impressive nonetheless. There was even a game stall where you could get not yet cleaned or skinned rabbits, pheasants, and other cuddly, tasty critters. This was new to everyone but me (I've been phesant hunting) and everyone found it amusing.

We bought some churros from the churro lady (a friendly, elderly Frenchwoman and her husband ran the stand) and Katerina bought some roasted chestnuts which she is a big fan of. I'm less so, but for those who love roasted chestnuts, they are easy to come by here and I assume these were very good. The market on the whole wasn't cheap, but it wasn't horribly expensive either and the selection and quality made up for it. We bought as we strolled along, returning for the wine once our Telecom errand was finished, and returned home to lunch.

Remember that mold based cheese I mentioned before that Yiota bought? This cheese was being sold at one of the several cheese stands, stalls of immense size where huge slabs of cheese are laid out on display, wafting its cheesy aroma for the world to enjoy. This particular brand was contained in round wooden boxes of varying size (ours was maybe half a foot across or a little less). The surface was wrinkled and grey with white mold sprouting prominently from it. As it happened this was the surface of the cheese and not, as I thought, some cheesecloth wrapping the stuff. The cheese is called Mont d'Or, Mountain of Gold, and is nothing more or less than the most delicious I have ever had in my life.

Yiota is a good cook, but the way she prepared the cheese was so simple even I could do it (and I in fact may). The recipe was suggested by the man selling it, and she had heard the method before, though this was her first try at it. Open the lid and scoop out some of the center of the cheese. Put some wine and garlic into the hole (the more garlic the better in my opinion, she used two sections off a clove). Take it, still in the box, and wrap the whole thing in tin foil, funneled to an opening at the top to let air out (so your foil doesn't explode) and bake it in the oven for 30 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade (around 350 fahrenheit assuming I remember the conversion formula correctly). It becomes a truly delectible melange of garlicy cheesy winey goodness swathed in wood and foil that you then take your bread and lovingly swaddle it in molten cheese for a confectionary delight.

We ate the entire box and my whole loaf of bread between three of us. I tell you, it blew the fondu we had the night before clean out of the water, and that was good fondu. One of the best meals I've ever had and quite unexpectedly too. I'm normally not a fan of moldy cheeses and I was somewhat dubious until I tried the stuff. I dont know if it'll be possible to bring some of the stuff home (cheese is difficult to import and the best cheeses aren't pasturized) but maybe I can find it in the States.

Tune in next time for more adventures!
Ciao!

I'm not dead, I promise

I apologize for the lack of posts for the past week. It has been a very busy week for me. The entire ALICE collaboration is at CERN this week for alice week, a series of seminars and talks that are designed to keep everyone up to date on what is going on and what needs to be done. Mostly it was over my head and thus ten hour days sitting in lectures that were both irrelevant to what I was doing and beyond my comprehension was trying. However, it was also useful to be there so as to absorb something by osmosis, so I suppose it was good to have gone. Regardless, I'm tired.

Good news as far as my thesis is concerned. Remember that spiky graph I showed you that I said was a rho particle peak? That was a major milestone not only with my thesis, but also with Creigton's DOE grant. What this means is I wont be roasted and fed in the cafeteria as a warning to other students. It also means I'm getting an A thus far in independent research (one of the myriad fill in the blank credit hours that allow me to get degree credits while working on my thesis). Next I'll be working with a bunch of data created via a simulator in order to perfect my code before using it on vast, vast quantities of real data in order to do useful and mysterious things with it the likes of which you'll never know! Or, more to the point, I'm not sure yet what exactly I'll do after I do a lot of work with the simulations. See how many rhos there are for a given number of tracks (that multiplicity thing I was talkin about) most likely.

In other news, I did go to Charlie's (the pub in St. Genis I've mentioned before) yesterday with several people, so I'm meeting people and making friends. There is one in particular named Rose who is, if anything, an even louder more exuberant person than I am and at least as nerdy. Moreso because she's been a dungeon master while I've only ever played DnD. Also there was Bo (of extreme mountain hiking fame), Jai (one of the OSU students I share an office with), Dhevan (post doc at OSU, pronounced Dave-in) and a number of people I had seen but never yet met. It was good times with plenty of beer!

It has started to get cold here, below freezing the past two nights (and not much above during the day). Clear and sunny though, which makes walking to CERN in the morning with everything covered in frost quite pretty. And cold.

My main task now is to survive until Christmas! I'll be back in the US for about a month (working at STAR in New York for all but a week or so of that). I'm greatly looking forward to Christmas in Boise with my cousins, siblings, parents, and various aunts and uncles. Gonna be fun! And good food. And skiing. By God there shall be skiing.
Until next time!
Ciao!

How to find a rho particle

So I'll bet you all have been thinking "Gosh James, you do all these cool things over there. But aren't you doing SCIENCE? What about all the science you're supposed to be doing?" Well tough. It's boring reading and besides, its top secret. Dont give me that puppy dog look. Ok, FINE I'll tell you. But you owe me. (Warning, the following contains copious amounts of science and should not be injested after large meals).

Basically what I've been doing for the past several weeks is trying, with liberal amounts of help from Bjorn (the post doc here with me if you'll recall) to meet the first major milestone of my thesis: finding a rho particle. For those who do not know, my thesis is to determine rho production as a function of multiplicity for ultraperipheral collisions. Dont worry, it's not really half as scary as it sounds.

To start, what is a rho particle? A rho particle is a kind of subatomic particle that is made up of quarks (like most matter, except for leptons like electrons, but no body likes them anyway). To be specific, the rho is a meson which means that it is made up of one quark and one antiquark. since quarks are the smallest things we know about (well, excepting strings but I really dont know much about those except that they vibrate), we consider quarks the building blocks of matter. Kind of like meat and potatoes are the building blocks of food.

Rho mesons are made up of two quarks: an up quark and an anti-down quark. Dont bother with what up and down mean, its just a flavor (yes, flavor) of quark. Most matter is up and down quarks and antiquarks, but there are also charmed, strange, top, and bottom quarks. My task is to look at the data that ALICE detectors glean from collisions at the LHC (large hardon collider for those of you who are familiar with fun typos) and try to pick out rho mesons.

The other parts of my thesis involve the terms "multiplicity" and "ultraperipheral." The multiplicity of an event (collision) is how many things are produced. If a collision produces 4 things (any things, regardless of what they are) then the event had a multiplicity of 4. Millions and millions of these collisions happen very quickly so a lot of data is produced, filtered, and stored in huge files, but various attributes such as the momentum of the particle, the path they followed (the particle's "track"), the speed of the particle (so we can get the mass from the momentum), and many others are all saved and kept together so that all this data can be analyzed.

The last thing I need to explain about my thesis is the term ultraperipheral. There are three kinds of collisions that can happen when you fling two atomic nuclei at eachother. One, they can collide directly in a central collision. This breaks each nucleus apart into a very hot soup of quarks and gluons (dont worry about what a gluon is, it doesn't matter for my purposes). Another, they can brush past eachother, just barely scraping eachothers edge in a peripheral collision. Or third, they can pass close enough by eachother to interact, but still miss in an ultraperipheral collision. I'm looking at ultraperipheral collisions because they produce the least amount of particles (lowest multiplicity) so I have a lot less noise to deal with when trying to see the rhos.

Sadly we cannot detect rho particles directly because they have very very very short half lives and decay without getting a chance to even move off the beam line in the experiment. However, they decay into particles called pions (another kind of meson) which we can detect. Most things decay into pions, so our task is to try and filter out which pions came from rho particles.

To do this, we look at something called the invariant mass. Most of you, I'm sure, are familiar with Einstein's equation E=mc^2. This quantity is, in fact, the invariant mass: the mass of the particle when it isn't moving. As things appraoch the speed of light, they get more and more massive, so we want something to look at that doesn't change with how fast something is going. This equation is actually a specific case for a particle at rest. If you throw momentum into the mix, the equation becomes E^2 = (mc^2)^2+(pc)^2 where p is the momentum and c is the speed of light.

Dont worry, those are the only two equations I'm going to throw at you. Suffice to say, you can find the mass of the original particle from the momentum and mass of the particles that it decayed into. You can then graph this, and viola! The more parent particles (particles that decayed into the pions) that have a given invariant mass, the larger a bump there will be at that mass. The rho particle has a mass of 770 MeV/c^2. This is in terms of energy (in mega electron volts) over c^2, which is much easer to deal with than converting the mass of something as small as a subatomic particle into pounds or kilograms.

So you get this:

Yes, that is a hideous mess of black. We can't see anything from that, so we would rather look at it like this:


That at least shows something, even if it is still a bit of a mess. We can see that most of our particles are where it isn't aqua, over from masses of 0 to 4. The bottom axis is the invariant mass for the particles, the right is the multiplicity of the event. Well, I'm interested in the area around 770 MeV/c^2, or on this mass scale 0.77 (as it is in GeV or giga electron volts. Insert Doc. Brown quote here involving jigawatts). So, zooming in also on the low end of multiplicity (remember, ultraperipheral events have less stuff flying out of them):

This is starting to show something, though it is still hard to tell what. So we use a handy tool called an x-projection. This takes everything and looks at it side on, as if it were all projected onto the x axis:

So we can see here several spikes that indicate different particles. Well, there are too many spikes here because the method we were using to identify different particles particles isn't very good. So we had a lot of extra other stuff here. But, there is hope because there is that large buldge between 0.6 and 0.8 which is where the rho should be! Next we tried looking at the data filtered a different way in hopes of cutting out a lot of the unneeded stuff:

That was a miserable failure. The graphs are actually identicle. Another part of our problem here is we dont really have enough events to get a good clean graph. We're fighting statistics and losing (damn you statistics). So we decided to throw out the particle identification all together and assume that EVERYTHING was pions. Surprisingly this helped a bit:
But not a whole heck of a lot. It's still got spikes, even if the around where the rho should be is a little sharper. Now, remember what I said about ultraperipheral collisions (UPC) being what I was looking at? Well none of those charts were for UPC events. So we applied yet another filter designed to look at just UPC events and we got:
Which is still a mess looked at this way, but if you look in the bottom left corner, you see something! A little spec. Lets look at it in technocolor:
Wahoo! There's definately something, and it is definately around the range that the rho should be at. So we zoom in as we want as low multiplicity as we can (the best being if only two pions were produced because that would be the cleanest signal):
Better, but for the best we can just look at events with a multiplicity of 2. zooming in there we see:
Which from here is a pretty pretty rainbow right at .77 GeV/c^2. Projecting it:
That my friends is what I've been looking for. It could still use some cleaning up, but that peak there is what we in the particle biz call a rho peak. It's a distribution over a range of masses rather than exactly at .77 because quantum mechanics doesn't like things to be well defined or make sense, but the majority of the particles of average are right around there.

So thanks for reading, if you made it through that without being bored or confused then I succeeded in not including too much information and being witty and entertaining as usual. That is pretty much how analysis here works: find something you can graph that will show your particle, and engage in a vicious battle with the data, histograms, and bugs in your code in order to force it to its knees and surrender its information. It never goes down without a fight.
Until next time!
Ciao!