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Physics doctoral program, Sanford Lab connected for success Print E-mail
Written by Black Hills Pioneer   
Thursday, 20 December 2012 15:43
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Scientists with the Large Underground Xenon experiment show off the L-U-X, instead of Y-M-C-A, inside the massive water tank that will shield their dark matter detector. The LUX is getting ready to start taking data in early 2013, and the timing coincides with the governor’s proposal to add physics doctoral programs to two of South Dakota’s universities. Photo courtesy of Sanford Lab

By Wendy Pitlick
Black Hills Pioneer
LEAD — A physics doctoral program at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and the University of South Dakota, along with cutting edge physics conducted at the Sanford Lab are interconnected and integral to the state’s future of attracting intellectual property, economic development, and retaining students for advanced education, officials say.
In his 2013 budget proposal, Gov. Dennis Daugaard proposed the physics doctoral program, which will go hand-in-hand with world-class science conaducted at the Sanford Lab in Lead. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, lab officials say, as major experiments in dark matter detection and neutrino studies ramp up their efforts for major developments in early 2013.

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New geology model helps scientists at Sanford Lab Print E-mail
Written by Black Hills Pioneer   
Thursday, 20 December 2012 15:35
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This colorful cone is a three-dimensional map of rock above the Davis Campus. The point of the cone is at the 4,850 level. The open cut is at the top left.  Rock formations include the Ellison (in dark blue), the Northwest (light blue), the rhyolite dike (yellow), amphibolite (lavender), the Flagrock (gold), the Homestake (brown), the Poorman (green), and the Yates Member (hot pink at the bottom.)
Graphic courtesy of Kathy Hart, Sanford Lab

By Wendy Pitlick
Black Hills Pioneer
LEAD — A new model that highlights the various types of rocks and rock densities at the Sanford Lab will help physicists understand the material particles have to travel through before they reach the Davis Campus, 4,850 feet underground.
Kathy Hart and Tom Trancynger, consulting geologists at the Sanford Lab, have been working to build a model that can best be described as an inverted cone of rock, with the point touching the Davis Campus, and the base of the cone reaching from the open cut to Kirk Gulch. The model showcases the many different rock formations within the 45-degree cone, the densities of the rock within those formations, and other characteristics of the land in that area. A model like this has never been constructed before, ... and will be very valuable information for physicists whose sensitive underground experiments depend, in part, on using a rock shield to get away from cosmic ray particles.

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Mines physicists play significant role in pursuit of dark matter Print E-mail
Written by Black Hills Pioneer   
Thursday, 20 December 2012 15:32

LEAD — School of Mines physicists have played a significant role on the dark matter research team comprised of scientists from the likes of Yale, Brown and Berkeley since the project’s beginning three years ago.
The possibility of discovering elusive dark matter and the proximity of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, where the experiment will be conducted, is what brought Xinhua Bai, Ph.D., to the university in 2009 from the University of Delaware.
With support from former colleagues in the South Pole Air Shower Experiment and Antarctica Muon and Neutrino Array (AMANDA) project, Bai built his own astroparticle physics laboratory from scratch at the School of Mines and formed a team of graduate-level researchers who consider their work with the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) project at the Sanford facility the opportunity of a lifetime.

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