Students from Sachem East’s physics program are among more than 6,000 high school students from around the world who will participate in the annual international Hands-on Particle Physics Masterclasses on Friday.
According to Brookhaven National Lab (BNL), in this program, particle physicist mentors show students how to use data gathered by the large particle collider experiments at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, to unravel hidden secrets of high energy physics.
Students use computer programs to analyze data from collisions, then, via videoconference, compare and discuss results with participants in other centers – learning to act as actual particle physicists do in international collaborations, according to a release from BNL.
Earlier this week, students were shown what is detectable and how it is detected at a three-hour presentation made at Smithtown East. Thursday they went to William Floyd, which is hosting the practice on selected W-boson traces from the CERN proton-proton collisions.
“Friday will be the actual field trip to BNL where the video conference will answer the students informed questions where the international CERN community will listen and the world class physicists will give their best,” said Sachem East physics teacher Carl Erickson. “They are on the cutting edge of particle physics.”