The 4th Science Festival of the University of Barcelona, to be held on Friday May 11 during the morning at the Historical Building, comes with many new activities.
The festival, organised by La UB divulga, aims to make research carried at the University accessible to everyone, in a fun and innovative way. Therefore, throughout the day, UB - organize outreach activities, workshops, talks and games that will value the work of researchers from all fields of knowledge.
The Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona and the Quantum Physics and Astrophysics Department participate in this event with several workshops.
Workshop "3D constellations" (ICCUB (IEEC-UB)-FQA)
A workshop to create constellations, which will serve to better understand the distances between stars in the three dimensions of the space, and their different physical properties.
This workshop will include a large-scale representation of the Gaia's first sky map. An all-sky view of stars in our Galaxy – the Milky Way – and neighbouring galaxies, based on the first year of observations from ESA's Gaia satellite, from July 2014 to September 2015.This map shows the density of stars observed by Gaia in each portion of the sky.
|
Workshop: "Ultracold UB" (ICCUB-FQA):
Participants will be able to learn about some of the most relevant phenomena of quantum mechanics, taking as an example the current research in physics laboratories of ultracold gases. Quantum technologies will be of great importance in the near future in both computing and cryptography techniques and information handling. This makes it essential that the whole population acquires a minimum familiarity with its most fascinating aspects. All the material of this workshop has been made in open code by university course students of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona.
The workshop consists of making simulations with computers of several experiments in which the quantum properties of matter are revealed. In particular, the simulation of the movement of a set of ultra-cold atoms trapped in a potential well (analogy with the movement of a pendulum), the simulation of the movement of a soliton in an atomic gas at temperature 0 K or the simulation of a quantum Newton pendulum.
Software made in open code by the students of the Physics Faculty of the UB.
Team: M. Guilleumas, B. Julià, I. Morera, P. Mujal
|
Cosmic ray muons, are charged particles produced in the upper atmosphere. They propagate at almost the speed of light and reach the surface of the Earth, where they can be detected.
This telescope conceived in Gran Sasso and belonging to Canfranc Laboratory is part of a project involving the Canfranc underground laboratory, which includes three telescopes of muons and an App. These detectors are used for outreach activities and can measure the muons in real time and show their trajectory.The detectors can measure in real time muons and show their trajectory. The detectors are used for outreach activities. In addition, we have developed an APP for Android (for iPhone is underway) named Cosmic Rays Live, which can be downloaded through Play Store. The APP allows all interested users to select a location and to look at muons detected in real time. At the present time the portable detectors are located on surface. However, in the near future we will install one detector underground in Spain at about 850m below the surface. The number of cosmic muons is reduced by the rock shielding. This allows the users to understand the difference of being on surface or underground. The reduction of cosmic rays is the main reason to operate underground laboratories for searching rare events such as interactions of dark matter particles.
|
Muons
Hydrogen nuclei (protons), mainly, and other heavier particles coming from the entire galaxy, after wandering in space for millions of years and accelerated by ‘supernova’ explosions, hit the Earth's atmosphere, where they disintegrate into many other particles with exotic names such as pions, kaons, neutrinos and muons. Among them, muons, charged particles very similar to electrons, but slightly heavier, can get to us! Muons from the upper atmosphere can reach the Earth’s surface and deep inside. Most people don’t realize that particles pass through us and the world we inhabit, constantly. Muons, for example, hit us with a flux of about 200 particles per square metre per second at sea level. These particles have an electrical charge, mass and energy, but cannot be perceived in any way even though they pass through us constantly. Most of them can penetrate up to several hundred of meters into the Earth.
Survey on the best physicist of the 20th century
Team: Students of the 1st year f the Degree on Physics
a project consisting of several surveys to identify the most important physicist of the 20th century. From the point of view of the general public, of the students of science and of the scientists. Each participant is classified in one of these categories (and its gender) and has 5 points to be reasonably distributed among a maximum of five people. The activity itself is already considered as a outreach project but also the results of the surveys can give us very relevant information about how scientists see themselves and how the world sees them. This project is a initiative of a group of 1st Degree Students of the Physics Faculty of the UB and it is developed with the support of this Faculty.
Related ICCUB Activity: http://icc.ub.edu/activity/1168
Organizes: La UB divulga
