Category Archives: Physics

WIN’09 in Perugia

It’s Sunday and it’s five in the morning. The alarm goes off.
Yeah right, that was the start of my day … and got better. I had a guy sitting next to me o the plane, that seemed to be of pure garlic!? Dunno … I kinda like garlic, but this guy was pushing it. To round off the two hour flight experience I had a group of young(ish) school kids/teens sitting behind me, talking sh** during the whole flight … hmm perfect.
Arriving in Rome I was allowed to witness the most inefficient airport shuttle ever, finally bringing me from Ciampino to the central station, where I had to walk my heels off to get to the station toilet.
Anyways … after this I actually managed to have a short walk around the city, see the Colosseum and some other parts of the Roman Forum. Unfortunately it was raining a bit and I had only three hours time before I had to catch my train.
Arriving in Perugia I was drawn back into the rhythm the day started by the absence of the shuttle bus that was supposed to pick me up and the fact that I had to find and try four public payphones to finally have one that would not say that I am not allowed to pay with coins in the moment …

Shift marathon

After my first lecture and hands on sessions on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, I am about to start my validation shift for Pixel DAQ in a few minutes (15-23h). I had another training shift yesterday evening (15-23h) and will have my first three Pixel DAQ shifts for this year in the following three nights (23-7h) … and then I am dead I guess ;) … and on my way back to Berlin!

On the other side …

… of the LHC ring, is where I have been today.
To become a CMS Guide! Yeah you read right CMS, not ATLAS!
We don’t want to put on blinkers and be open minded …
and I have to admit there is slightly more to see under ground.

Good end for a (very) long day

After the short night, the morning shift at the pixel desk and the detector meeting I went out to Fort l’Ecluse to chain myself to the mountain and climb some rocks … the Ferrata there is a nice and relaxing ending for a nice day …

And now I need my bed …

Science & Fiction

Had a bit of both today … after having had a short glimps of the real ATLAS detector I went to see the fiction version of it in the new Angels and Demons movie in theatres.
Quite a contrast I have to say …
But despite the mixed-up science especially in the beginning (featuring actors like ATLAS, CERN, LHC, …) … it is quite a nice movie …
I only fear a little that the outreach committees in particle physics might have a bit more work during the upcoming weeks …
to helps those guys here’s two enlightening links