"What's (the) Matter?", A Show on Elementary Particle Physics with 28 Demonstration Experiments

We present the screenplay of a physics show on particle physics, by the Physikshow of Bonn University. The show is addressed at non-physicists aged 14+ and communicates basic concepts of elementary particle physics including the discovery of the Higgs boson in an entertaining fashion. It is also demonstrates a successful outreach activity heavily relying on the university physics students. This paper is addressed at anybody interested in particle physics and/or show physics. This paper is also addressed at fellow physicists working in outreach, maybe the experiments and our choice of simple explanations will be helpful. Furthermore, we are very interested in related activities elsewhere, in particular also demonstration experiments relevant to particle physics, as often little of this work is published. Our show involves 28 live demonstration experiments. These are presented in an extensive appendix, including photos and technical details. The show is set up as a quest, where 2 students from Bonn with the aid of a caretaker travel back in time to understand the fundamental nature of matter. They visit Rutherford and Geiger in Manchester around 1911, who recount their famous experiment on the nucleus and show how particle detectors work. They travel forward in time to meet Lawrence at Berkeley around 1950, teaching them about the how and why of accelerators. Next, they visit Wu at DESY, Hamburg, around 1980, who explains the strong force. They end up in the LHC tunnel at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland in 2012. Two experimentalists tell them about colliders and our heroes watch live as the Higgs boson is produced and decays. The show was presented in English at Oxford University and University College London, as well as Padua University and ICTP Trieste. It was 1st performed in German at the Deutsche Museum, Bonn (5/'14). The show has eleven speaking parts and involves in total 20 people.Comment: 113 pages, 88 figures. An up to date version of the paper with high resolution pictures can be found at http://www.th.physik.uni-bonn.de/People/dreiner/Downloads/. In v2 the acknowledgements and a citation are correcte

Anordnung und Test der Detektor-Submodul-Komponenten für die Vorwärts-Endkappe des <span style="text-decoration:overline">P</span>ANDA-EMC

Ein großer Schritt zum besseren Verständnis des Standardmodells der Teilchenphysik ist die Beschreibung der Quantenchromodynamik (QCD) im Bereich der nicht störungstheoretisch berechenbaren Energieüberträge. In diesem Bereich soll das PANDA-Experiment neue Daten liefern, indem spektroskopische Untersuchungen an verschiedenen Systemen durchgeführt werden. Das PANDA-Experiment wird in Darmstadt aufgebaut und besteht aus einem in Fixed-Target-Geometrie aufgebauten zweistufigen Spektrometer mit Wasserstoff-Target, welches mit einem Antiprotonenstrahl beschossen wird. Wesentliche Bestandteile des PANDA-Experiments sind die verschiedenen elektromagnetischen Kalorimeter zur Energiebestimmung der in den pp-Kollisionen erzeugten Teilchen oder deren Zerfallsprodukte. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Vorwärts-Endkappe des Kalorimeters im Targetspektrometer, welche besonders hohen Ereignisraten ausgesetzt ist. Dabei muss ein großer Impulsbereich von 3MeV/c bis 12 GeV/c abgedeckt werden. Damit für alle der beteiligten Kanäle eine homogene Energieauflösung gewährleistet und der dynamische Bereich vollständig abgedeckt werden kann, wurde eine geschickte Zuordnung der unterschiedlichen Detektorbestandteile (Matching) im ersten Teil dieser Arbeit durchgeführt. Die verwendeten Photodetektoren (VPTT), die Szintillationskristalle aus Bleiwolframat und die zur Verfügung stehenden Vorverstärker mit jeweils unterschiedlichen Eigenschaften wurden für eine homogene Detektorantwort zu Submodulen gruppiert und jeweils für eine Position im Magnetfeld des Detektors vorgesehen. Nach den Vorgaben des Matchings werden die Submodule der Vorwärtsendkappe produziert und müssen anschließend in möglichst realistischer Umgebung getestet und charakterisiert werden. Für diese Aufgabe wurde in Bonn eine Teststation für die einzelnen Submodule entwickelt, welche die Vermessung bei der auch für PANDA vorgesehenen Betriebstemperatur von -25 °C mittels kosmischer Höhenstrahlung erlaubt. Für die Auswertung der aufgenommenen Daten mit niedriger Statistik wurde eine Analysesoftware entwickelt und getestet. Die Vermessung der ersten gefertigten Submodule wurde in der Teststation durchgeführt, die Aussagekraft der Vorhersagen aus dem Matching überprüft und im Rahmen vertretbarer Schwankungen bestätigt.Matching and test of the forward-endcap detector-submodule-components for the PANDA-EMC A large step towards a better understanding of the standard model of particle physics is the description of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) in the non-perturbative energy region. The PANDA-experiment will deliver much needed data in this regime by doing spectroscopic measurements on various systems of interest. The PANDA-experiment is currently being constructed in Darmstadt (Germany) and consists of a large two-step magnetic spectrometer in a fixed-target geometry. It will be operated with an antiproton beam scattered off of a hydrogen target. The various calorimeters are crucial parts of the PANDA-experiment and are used to measure the energy of the produced particles or their decay products. The scope of this thesis is connected with the forward-endcap of the target-calorimeter which is exposed to very high event rates. Additionally, the forward-endcap has to cover a wide momentum range of 3MeV/c up to 12 GeV/c. In order to achieve a homogeneous energy resolution for all participating channels and to guarantee the coverage of the desired momentum range, a matching has been performed in the first part of this thesis. In this matching, the photo-detectors (VPTTs), the lead tungstate scintillation crystals and the preamplifiers with all different properties are grouped into submodules. These submodules are assigned to specific positions inside the magnetic field of the detector in order to achieve optimal detector performance. The detector-components are manufactured and grouped into submodules according to this matching. Before being used in the PANDA-experiment, the submodules have to be tested and characterised in a realistic environment. For this purpose, a teststation has been developed in Bonn, which allows a test-measurement with the submodules at the foreseen operating temperature of -25°C with cosmic muons. In order to analyse the obtained data, a software was developed and tested. The characterisation of the first submodules, which were assembled according to the matching, has been done an the predictions from the matching have been verified within tolerable variations

"What's (the) Matter?", A Show on Elementary Particle Physics with 28 Demonstration Experiments

We present the screenplay of a physics show on particle physics, by the Physikshow of Bonn University. The show is addressed at non-physicists aged 14+ and communicates basic concepts of elementary particle physics including the discovery of the Higgs boson in an entertaining fashion. It is also demonstrates a successful outreach activity heavily relying on the university physics students. This paper is addressed at anybody interested in particle physics and/or show physics. This paper is also addressed at fellow physicists working in outreach, maybe the experiments and our choice of simple explanations will be helpful. Furthermore, we are very interested in related activities elsewhere, in particular also demonstration experiments relevant to particle physics, as often little of this work is published. Our show involves 28 live demonstration experiments. These are presented in an extensive appendix, including photos and technical details. The show is set up as a quest, where 2 students from Bonn with the aid of a caretaker travel back in time to understand the fundamental nature of matter. They visit Rutherford and Geiger in Manchester around 1911, who recount their famous experiment on the nucleus and show how particle detectors work. They travel forward in time to meet Lawrence at Berkeley around 1950, teaching them about the how and why of accelerators. Next, they visit Wu at DESY, Hamburg, around 1980, who explains the strong force. They end up in the LHC tunnel at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland in 2012. Two experimentalists tell them about colliders and our heroes watch live as the Higgs boson is produced and decays. The show was presented in English at Oxford University and University College London, as well as Padua University and ICTP Trieste. It was 1st performed in German at the Deutsche Museum, Bonn (5/'14). The show has eleven speaking parts and involves in total 20 people