Gordon Watts

Huzza!

Andy, my first graduate student (now a post-doc at Columbia), just got this in the email:

Re: LD10260

Search for neutral supersymmetric Higgs bosons in multijet events at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

By: V.M. Abazov, B. Abbott, M. Abolins, B.S. Acharya, M. Adams, et al.

Dear Dr. Haas:

This manuscript has been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters; there are no reviewer comments to address. The paper is now being prepared for publication.

Congradulations to Andy and everyone else that worked on this paper!

Us vs Them

All experiments have a personality. Especially these large collaborations -- sometimes the members have a collective sociology. I think there was even a study once by a sociologist!

The two Tevatron experiments -- DZERO and CDF -- are no different. CDF started first -- it had almost 3 or 4 years head start on DZERO. As a result of that DZERO always feels like it is playing catchup -- weather or not it actually is! It is just part of this experiments collective sociology.

I do my best not to get caught up in this -- I've been on both experiments in my career. But every-now-and-then something goes by that makes me cringe. I was scanning the papers on XXX today and I saw nice looking overview paper. Heavy Quark physics is quite exciting right now, but I don't work on it -- so this sort of thing is perfect for me. But I got caught in the forward by the following:

What is being refered to is the discovery of the top quark -- a huge achievement. And certainly worthy of mention in this article's forward. But there is one problem... it was discovered by both CDF and DZERO -- they submitted their papers minutes apart from each other. I scanned down to see who authored this paper. An fellow I've known for years -- and a member of CDF. :-)

2 Conversations

I was sitting outside for dinner last night at the CERN cafeteria, reading. I could hear two conversations going on.

One was a heated argument over the ability of LHC to see various forms of SUSY physics. SUSY is an extention to the model we currently use today, and is one of the big reasons that the LHC is being built. Must have been almost 10 people at the page.

The second one, at another nearby table, was about 4 people. The argument was just as heated, and it was about Isreal and the US. The thing that made me started listing to that conversation was the statement "There is no way they would have given up Texas for another country to form!" (those aren't the exact words, but are close.

This memory was prompted by Aalu's angry comment about double standards applied to terrorist and the countries that host them (US vs India, in this case).

Age Doesn't Matter

I used to think that as I got older I'd be better prepared for my big talks. For big talks I'd actually get sleep rather than staying up all night frantically producing the last set of plots. This hasn't changed. It is good to know that it isn't just me, either.

When I arrived CERN on Sunday evening I ran into Matt Strassler, another prof from UW. He was trying to figure out where he could sit down and work. He is a theorist, but I set him up on a corner of a desk in Building 40, the LHC experimentalist building. He didn't look very out of place in a tee-shirt and shorts, there until 2am. The outcome was a 90 page talk! Usually figure one minute per transparency. Ouch! His talk was good, however. And he appeared to be awake through most of the talk the next day. ;-)

This conference has been a lot of run. My favorite conversations have mostly happen during break, lunch, or over dinner. There have been some good talks, but the interaction has been much better. The idea behind this conference has been to get theorists to think about how they can directly help out on the LHC. Specifically, if the LHC discoveres something, how can they help determine what it is that caused what has been discovered (a hard problem!!). My favorite was when a theorist, Nima, a theorist from Harvard, drew a simple plot on the board and said "Ok, so the LHC turns on, and they see the standard model background, and this new signal." The three of us experimentalists, sitting together, turned to each other and joked "Should we just leave now?" It was quite something to see what we think will be several years of work reduced to a single plot and an off handed sentence. ;-)

Sign of Times Past

Many CERN buildings are old. We are having the current small meeting in the old theory conference room. The desks are simple wood and metal... and check out what is in each desk...

Of course, these are used for chewing gum and paper now. And no, there is no AC. But it is much cooler here than in Marseille!

Enjoy the Crowds While You Can

Ok, I realise I'm being a pessimist here. I was eating lunch sitting outside near the fish market in Marseille this morning (instead of on the internet, grrr) watching people. I'd just paid 5 euros for an hour of internet to charge up for a TGV trip to Geneva I was going to take in two hours -- and I read the news. The Egypt bombings. London police accidentally killing an innocent man, and the almost-usual bombings in Iraq (how do those things every become usual!). Factor this together with the constant security presense here in France - submachine guns in the subways, the constant searching of people by plain-clothes in the markets... And watching people filtering around enjoying the sun and the fish for sale I started to wonder how much longer will we be able to enjoy this? Even if there is no bombing, the pressure on people rises steadily -- the police presense, the fear that a bomb may go of locally -- when will there be a backlash and who will receive the brunt of it? And my guess is almost with certianty the people that are back lashed will not be the people that really deserve it.

Ok, I'll stop being so depressing now. I sat for an hour in the train station waiting for my TGV (before going through a security inspection yet again!!!) and even thougth the Marseille train station isn't one of the well known ones, it is still quite beutiful. You can't really see it in this picture, but even the decorations around the sides of the roof have small details. Happy thought for the day!

No Internet: Grrr!

Is really killing me! I get home at about 7pm, and I can't eat dinner and work more! I'm forced to stay out by the water and read or something else. I can really tell it is cutting into my productivity! And while it was ok for a while, it is starting to drive me up a wall!

How good's your French?

Not very. I've been having a beer before grabbing dinner every evening. I sit at this one cafe (the Exit Cafe). That is where I met the cruise ship couple. Last night I was sitting next to two locals. We struggled for 2 hours to talk to each other. They would speak in english and I would speak in french. I was exhausted after that two hours. They were two women; I'm not even going to tell you what Paula's first text message back to me was when I told her about it. ;-)

One really weird thing I found out is that the word professor, and its literal translation into French, means something different here. In french it is simply teacher. In the US it also has reserach connotations as well as teaching. And in the US there are even professors who don't teach! To get my job description right you apparently have to say quite a few words (and last night some of them had to be in English!).

It's Friday. I'm happy about that. I'm also happy because it's my birthday! :-)

By the Sea, By the Mountains

This is the building I work in. The first time I came up here, I couldn't find it -- it isn't easily visible from the bus stop -- and a gaurd said, 'ahh, oui -- le grand bateau' -- the big boat. ;-) Check out how it is almost built straight into the mountains. And only about 25 minutes away from the sea. The inside, however, looks just as you might expect a physics building. And the water coolers only work on the floor where all the administrative staff and the director live. ;-)

To get here I take the #21 bus from downtown. That gives me 30 minutes of dirty listening. Yesterday on the way back the subway entrance was closed -- there were police with dogs and very big guns milling around. They had that air about them "You know, subways would be a lot safer if passengers weren't allow to ride them". I didn't know about the London bombing scare at the time, but I'm guessing this was in response to that.

Dirty Reading

I've been listening to an audio book on my commute between the Old Port region of Marseille and the lab where I've got an office -- CPPM. The book makes me feel dirty.

The Da Vinci Code is... well, you probably know it better than I since everyone I've talked to has read it. The first thing that gets me is the science is wrong. For example, there is no way a GPS receiver works underground. If they had enough power to do that, we'd be uncomfortable above ground! The the slimey bit comes from the layout of the story. "The church's beuty is in its architecture"... "but not tonight", or "I'm going as fast as I can", Tom said hurridly (if you get that reference...).

On the other hand, I do want to know what the heck happened! So I keep listening. :(

To Marseille

The TGV trip to Marseille was "ok". One interesting thing was that the TGV didn't really get giong fast until after it passed through Lyon -- almost half of the way there. But, boy, when that thing was going fast... There aren't many things like a high speed train being buffeted from side to side. Not even an airplane. And the train's AC wasn't really working very well; everyone baked for 4 hours. But the train was packed with people. Some people even sitting in the area's between the seating compartments. Nice and cheap too -- and faster than an airplane (as I would have had to change planes).

I've done two things since I've been in Marseille. Drink and explore. It is really hot here and very humid. My brain doesn't work very well when it is hot (or drunk, for that matter). I'm just a poor schmoe from Seatte where it never gets about 75! Here it had to be in the mid to upper 30's (C!!). But, then you find spots like this:

Suddenly the heat isn't so bad any more. ;-) The evenings I've ususally started off with a few drinks and then dinner. The first night the below couple sat down next to me (Nat & Claud):

I have a regular 9-to-5 job (ok, 10-2am) job compared to them. They sell art -- autions -- on cruise ships for a living! Because they need an office to do all their work, they get one of the bigger cabins -- with a port. They taught me a few nautical terms, like "ship-oggles" (just like beer goggles). :-) And except for the auctions they basically have time off. Sounds awful. To recover from that they have 3 weeks off to visit for France, Venice, and Greece (I think I got it all). How does that sound? A whole week in Greece; I'd love to hear how that goes. Bastards.

But, I'm at CPPM now, and it is time to work. And answer email (whew; 3 days, 300 messages).

More Cars

I'm back online. This is an old post that I've been meaning to clear out... but didn't want to incase I ruined the suprise:

The fellow had flown back to his home institution and had gotten his Ph.D. This was a gift from some of his friends... They were nice, however, they put paper towels under the tin foil to make sure it didn't scratch up the car!

And a French friend of mine was particularly proud the other day because she had gotten her first bummper sticker -- a very american thing to do (though its content suits her well):

But she still has a way to go:

It's Just Different over Here

This is where I have stayed for the past 4 nights, while staying at CERN.

It is called the Hotel Sofia. It is cheap by local standards -- 55 euros a night (about 70 bucks a night). It has old world charm, but it is a dump by American standards. For example, the quality of the rooms, the pillows, the soft water -- I expect that from a $40 dollar a night place in the US (like the Wosrt Western that used to be located near Fermilab before even Best Western kicked them out of the franchise). On the other hands, this is a family run hotel, and it shows. My room is picked up during the day, and things put away -- as if my mother had come through and cleaned it. Ok, so my mother would make me clean my own room, but you get the idea. The lawn and shrubs are perfect. There are little homey touches through out the atrium area, and it looks like people live here.

The building I have been working in at CERN is Building 40. It is a pretty neat building:

Isn't that cool? The central part of the building is a hollowed out hole, and the top is effectively a huge sky-light. Even the signage in the building to help you navagate is pleasing and inviting. So unlike most buildings in the US. At the bottom you can just see the top of another European tradition:

It happens at 10am and at 4pm. The common knowledge around here is that all the important decisions are made over coffee. Every one gets it. Everyone hangs out outside, or in the center of the building and talks. It gets pretty loud, actually, if you are trying to get work done. The same thing happens late in the afternoon (5 or 6) outside the cafeteria here: many people drop by for a beer. That is where you hear all the interesting stuff that goes on (the things that are going wrong).

This building, btw, would never have been built in the US. It has no air conditioning -- which can be brutal (at least for me, who is used to working while cold!). The sun bakes the place through that nice skylight. It got so bad on the top floors that both experiments decided to spend some money and retrofit those floors with AC. There is a huge amount of wasted space in the middle of the building: both ATLAS and CMS are in this building; but I don't really tihnk it is big enough for a single experiment, even. UW has 1/8 of a 2 person office. :-) The center cut-out and all the open offices around it mean that about 50% of the office space is very noisy when conversations are going on. Music players and headphones are mandatory to getting any work done.

I'm off to Marseille in a few hours. I have no idea what my conectivity will be until next Tuesday. I'm of half a mind to not connect unless I have wireless and take a break and just think and read!

The Only Way to Have a Kid

That is Hans-Peter Beck. He is from Bern University and he and his wife had their third girl about 10 days ago. Congradulations! He is Swiss. You'll see what I mean in a second.

The baby was due on July 4th (arrive on the 3rd), though his wife was 1-2 weeks early with the previous two kids. It was a busy month for him. He is (the equivalent of) a professor at Bern, so he spent much weeks leading up to their due date grading papers. He had carefully arranged for a replacement incase the baby arrived, but unfortunately he was forced to complete the grading. As soon as that was done, he was scheduled to go off to a conference -- Hadron Collider Physics 2005 -- which is about 1.5 hours away from his home here at CERN. An hour after he sets off he gets the call.

He is back at home by 6pm. He and his wife decide to have a nice relaxed dinner. By 7pm they are at the hospital, and by 7:30 they have filled out all the paper work. By 8:30 they have a new baby girl. The organization that required. I swear, if I ever have a kid there is no way I'll be able to fill out paper work for 30 minutes: my hands will be shaking too badly! I suppose it being his thrid makes it easier.

Congradulations, Hans-Peter!

The GRID, ATLAS, and Analysis

My original plan had been to go directly to France early next week. I changed that to come ot CERN first to be part of a review of ATLAS Distributed Analysis. Dave Adams, having a well deserved beer after the review, is leading the project.

The idea behind Distributed Analysis is pretty cool. The data we have to analyze is huge -- we will regularly run over gigabytes or terabytes of data in order to find the physics we want. But humans don't do well when they have to run something, wait for a day to see the results, and then run it again. And figure this process will have to be repeated 100's of times in a typical analysis. Much better for productivity would be to have at most an hour turn around or so.

The only way to do that is make the process parallel. Instead of one job processing all those GBs of information, have 100 jobs that process 1/100 of the information. Coordinating these 100's of processes is difficult and requires significant software infrastructure (just to run the 200 lines of physics analysis code!). And multiply this by the fact that we want to use the GRID, which is distributed across many countries!

That is what Dave Adams does. He (and others) have a prototype that runs now. The point of the review is: is this prototype ready for the next stage. These reviews are long and hard and often require a great deal of material in preparation. Which brings us back to the picture. We were all having a beer at that point. Which we really needed!

Single Top Paper Accepted!

Sevearl hours ago we learned that our single top paper (archives) has been accepted for publication in PLB! This was a huge amount of work by many people; congradulations to everyone! And it is so nice to have this behind us! Now, on to the next version! More data! Better algorithms!

Read John's blog

For those of you who don't normally read John's blog, I'd suggested reading this entry. He was in London the day of the bombings, and, it sounds to me, was rather closer to the action than he would have liked to have been.

Some Things are Better in Europe

Cheap rental cars are manual!

And the view from the cafeteria, taken over breakfast this morning:

Check out the (hazy) mountians in the distance!

SAS upgraded me to economy flex yesterday. Which was great becuase not only did the plane have internet access, but I also had in-seat power. And no funny weird plug like on American or UA, but a nice 110V US and European style socket.

The 5 hour layover I could have done without, however.

3 Classes of People

No matter what people tell you, it doesn't rain much in Seattle. Sure, there is drizzle, but the amount of rain is very small. Rarely will you see anyone living in Seattle carrying around an umbrella, for example. But every-now-and-then...

On my walk to the bus station this morning it started to pour. It wasn't a Chicago mid-west type of downpour, but if you were outside for about 60 seconds you'd be drenched. How people reacted in the busy downtown area was pretty interesting. The first group had a scowl on their face, which was pointed down looking at the ground, their jacket up over their hair, and were rushing or running. Usually dressed in nice bussiness clothes. The second group didn't change their walking pace, and had a smile on their face and were looking around watching how others reacted. The final bunch ducked into the corner Starbucks (there really is one on every corner) and was sipping a latte or perhaps standing outside the awning doing the same.

I'll miss this town. I've lived here for 6 years now and I've never spent a summer here.

Flickr: Finally getting it

Flickr is a member of the new software paradigm -- social computing. Older things like instant messaging and blogs also fall into this category. I get instant messages -- I use them for work all the time. Blog's I sort of get. While I've known about Flickr almost since it started, I never really got it. Turns out Paula had also just learned about it several days ago: we almost asked each other at the same time what it was -- which was a pretty freaky moment in our marriage!

The next day Paula spotted a link to a photo pool on Flickr for the London Bombings. Now I get it. Watching the photos stream in over time was eerie. At first there were lots of television scrapes -- which aren't so interesting. But every now-and-then a picture someone took while stuck in a subway train would show up. By now the pictures have mostly turned to flowers, and other expressions of support and defiance. I added the picture below to the pool. This is grassroots photo-journalism! The grass roots bit, of course, is one part of the whole social computing theme.

Happy July 4th

I hope everyone's weekend was great! Here in America, Monday was July 4th and on Friday in Canada it was Canada day. Paula and I decided to make a weekend of it. I managed to not even look at my email the whole weekend with only a little guilt. Of course, the pile that is in there now is fearsome.

Paula and I went up to Vancouver to hang out with Nick, Paula's brother. Canada day fireworks:

That photo is with max zoom on my camera -- it is actully far away. The reason? Vancouver canceled their fireworks! "Why?" I asked in sales clerk helping me in a store the next day, "Oh, yeah. Vancouver is lame." And then the woman serving us at Sohpie's Cosmic Cafe (waffles... hmmmmm): "Yeah. He's right. We are lame." That was pretty much the universal answer. Such a cool city. Where else would you stumble on more interesting people walking down the side of the street??

(photo by Thomas, from the last time we were all in Vancouver).

On the other hand, the picnic we managed to have right on the water with fresh grilled samon was amazing.

Back in Seattle there was a roof-deck party to watch the fireworks. Competition for roof-deck space at this condo was so fierce we had to stake out our space 5 hours before the fireworks (i.e. start drinking early). These were impressive.

All my pictures look like abstract art: I had no tripod and was using a 1/2 second exposure time.

I hope everyone had fun! And now it is back to work for me. :(

Food Fight!

It has already started. I was listening to NPR waking up and they were talking about the retirement. Already one comentator said "Obviously, the first thing to do is get rid of the ability to filibuster -- before we have a name."

I'm only sure of one thing. This fight will make Americans -- and the world -- believe less and have less faith in their government. Given how long special interest camps on both sides have been preparing for this, I can envision no other outcome.

It will be a long and (hopfully not) humiliating 6 months. :-(