Cosmic understanding: Identifying distinctive signatures of heavy elements
Monday, April 20, 2020 - 09:20
in Physics & Chemistry
At the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, in a side room off the ATLAS nuclear particle accelerator, Jason Clark sits on an upper platform to do his work. The cramped space requires head-ducking and watching-your-step to navigate. Particles stream though metal piping weaving in and out of the room. Perched atop that metal platform, a device with a tiny Canadian flag taped to it plucks a single particle from the stream, which Clark then studies to understand the origin of the elements.