Week+of+October+22+-+October+29

October 22


Wednesday, October 31: This graph is showing the total momentum from the aspect of the parent particle, graphed against the sum of the energy of the two particles, with respect to the parent rest frame. This graph shows us about the relationship with momentum and energy. There is a maximum line that goes through the origin with a slope of 2, which shows us that the energy sum is, at the least, twice as great as the pt1. This shows us how energy and momentum are inherently related. With e^2 = m^2 + p^2, we find that energy is mass squared plus momentum squared. When particles have a momentum of zero, the mass will be equal to energy, and when they have no mass, as photons do, momentum is equal to energy. This maximum line on the graph displays that the higher energy particles tend to have half as much momentum as they do energy, probably because it is graphed in the parent rest frame. This graph displays how the particles that we think are cosmic rays begin at an energy sum of 40. Like other cosmic ray data, there are usually linear trends, and this graph is no exception. The vertical line begins at a y-value of 40, and this is the determined value where the cosmic rays begin, as shown on the e-lab data. Also, the particles large particles located at the higher value around 90 are what are thought to be Z-particles, previously the largest particles ever engineered, until the Higgs particles were recently discovered.



This graph above that I found shows us that the particles have momentum, thus not in a rest frame. The line shown has a slope of one, meaning that E = M, as seen in the equation E=M. This also shows us how energy cannot be less than mass, meaning that an asymptote with a limit exists at the lower limit of energy, which is 1. So, the area above the line has no particles because of this fact that energy is greater than or equal to mass. Also, we see the high valued line appear above a mass of 40, which has been determined to probably be cosmic rays, and the particles scattered to the right above this have a mass of around 90 GeV. The next histogram of the E-lab data shows these values in a peak at 90 GeV. These, as Dr. Loughran explained, are Z particles, and are trying to be created by the LHC.



This graph is interesting to me because of the linear portion on the x-axis. The particles that have a low mass gather primarily anywhere in the range of 90 - -90 on the y-axis, and this trend continues until the linear arrangement of heavy particles begins at the mass value of 40. This is interesting because these particles do not have a fluctuating pz sum as all the other particles do. We can conclude that this is due to the fact that there are cosmic rays that, by nature, occur at a momentum of zero with regard to the z-axis.

This graph caught my attention by the evident shape that resulted. This sheds light on the momentum of each particle on the z axis, compared to the total momentum of both particles. We see again in this graph that there is a linear arrangement on the zero value of the z, while the momentum total of the particles is slightly scattered. I cannot completely conclude where exactly this arrangement begins, but it seems like the linear line forms first at a value of 20 on the total momentum.



This is a similar graph to the one I discussed previously, but there is one difference. The linear arrangement of particles straight upward does not exist on this graph, which makes me believe that the momentum on the z-axis is not a significant indicator of cosmic rays. However, this graph does shows us again the Z-boson particles at the same 90 value, and these particles are what are actually being created in the detector. Such high momentum compared to the smaller energy particles, their energy and momentum correlate with such a high value.

After adding these plots, I arrived at Quarknet where Dr. Loughran began to go over analyzing some plots. He gave us the equation E^2 = m^2 + p^2. He also showed how we can make E = M for energy at rest of a particle, assuming c = 1. So, in cases where momentum is 0, mass and energy will be the same value. The relationship between speed and energy is E = .5mv^2. This means that the heavier particles are less affected than smaller particles by changes in momentum.

As an example, Dr. L showed us the following: Looking at this, we see that the values on the X axis is showing the opposite reflection, as it is shown from the aspect of the parent particle, as the two particles of each collision move outward oppositely. It is also obvious that there is a trend in the linear growth. This portion, however, has no reflection, which points to cosmic rays, as they do not emerge from a collision, and have no daughter particles that can be observed.

With regard to the Cosmic Ray group page, Dr. Loughran did a great deal of explaining and clarifying with the process of cutting. I am now ready to correct the screencast that I made, and I plan to do that tonight at home, where I can explain the Phi and Eta graphs before and after I make the cut.

After this, Dr. Loughran tried to baffle us with the statement "A faster particle does not have as far to go as a slower particle." When graphing the curve of velocity vs distance, the distance trails off downward as velocity increases, meaning that at higher velocities, there are smaller distances. This means that photons, without mass, have no distance.

October 24
Alex Jones and myself arrived at Quarknet today right after school. We planned to continue interpreting the ManyEyes graphs that we found interesting.

I chose to look at ManyEyes again to take a quick glance at some new data.



The graph above is displaying phi1 on the y-axis, and py1 with respect the parent rest frame on the x-axis. There are some clear data points that stand out in this graph. Located at the previously known phi value of 1.5 and -1.5, a clear projection of particles with a greater momentum on the y-axis stand out. This graph helps us realize that cosmic rays, observed on the left and right of the sinusoidal trend, have a summed momentum of the two particles emerging from the parent of a sum of -53 to around -20. By the nature of phi, the circular properties cause the sinusoidal nature at the 0 value.