MAAPT
SPRING MEETING 2003
SATURDAY, APRIL 26, UMN, ST. PAUL CAMPUS

General Information:
The program is scheduled to be in Borlaug Hall, room 335 (St. Paul Campus) for Saturday, April 26, 2003. To see the features this room provides, visit http://www.classroom.umn.edu/csv-new/default.aspx. Select Building, then Borlaug Hall, select Location, Borlaug Hall, Room 335. A map of the campus near Borlaug Hall may be found at http://onestop.umn.edu/Maps/BorH/index.html. The program will begin at 8:15 am with coffee and registration. Papers will begin at 9:00 am, and a lunch will follow during which MAAPT members can informally meet. 

 8:15  - 9:00 am:       Coffee and Registration

 9:00  - 9:30 am:       Particle Physics on the Range: K-12 Science at the Soudan Underground Laboratory
                        Karen Phillips, The Blake School, and Nathaniel P. Longley, Macalester College

 9:30 - 10:00 am:       Seeing is Believing: a museum exhibit development project
                        Matthew Craig, Minnesota State University, Moorhead

10:00 - 10:30 am:       Atmosphere Driven Ping-Pong Ball Cannon ? Kinematic Measurements
                        R. W. Peterson and Jon E. Barber, Bethel College

10:30 - 11:15 am:       Break and Poster session/demo. viewing
                        High Resolution Observations of Class I Methanol Masers toward NGC 7538
                        Adrienne Schwartz, University of Minnesota, Morris and Preethi Pratap MIT
                        Haystack Observatory

11:15 - 11:45 am:       Lightcurve and Rotational Period of Minor Planet 1225 Ariane
                        Matthew Philip Viscasillas, St. Mary's University

11:45 - 12:15 am:       Transport Processes in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions
                        Judith Peters, St. Cloud State University

12:15 - 12:30 pm:       Adam Randall, Matt Vonk (Late Addition)
                        St. Mary's University, Winona MN

12:45 -  1:30 pm:       Lunch and Business Meeting (Stakeman 304)

MAAPT
SPRING MEETING 2003
APRIL 26, UMN, ST. PAUL CAMPUS
ABSTRACTS

Karen Phillips and Nat Longley
longleyn@Macalester.edu
The Blake School and Macalester College
``Particle Physics on the Range: K-12 Science at the Soudan Underground Laboratory''

Via a unique partnership with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Soudan Underground Laboratory offers K-12 tours of the MINOS and CDMSII experiments. Located a half mile beneath the surface of the earth, these large-scale, state-of-the-art experiments are designed to investigate "weakly interacting" particles like the neutrino, and their surprisingly important roles in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Lab tours bring bring the wonders of particle physics to students from the elementary to advanced levels, and are available both throughout the academic year and during the summer tourist season.

Dr. Matthew Craig
mcraig@mnstate.edu
Department of Physics and Astronomy, MSU Moorhead
``Seeing is Believing: a museum exhibit development project''

I will describe my experiences working with a group of undergraduates, fellow scientist, and local teachers developing two small traveling museum exhibits, one on dark matter in galaxies, and the other on probability. The dark matter exhibit prototype will be brought along.

Drs. R. W. Peterson and Jon E. Barber
petric@bethel.edu phone: 651-638-6465
Department of Physics, Bethel College

``Atmosphere Driven Ping-Pong Ball Cannon ? Kinematic Measurements''
A ping-pong ball is driven to high speeds by breaking a packing tape barrier at the ball-loaded end of an evacuated plastic pipe. After one breaks the sealing tape, the ball initially experiences atmospheric pressure on one side and near vacuum on the other. Measurements show near theoretical acceleration during the first 0.5 m, speeds in excess of 310 m/s after 2.5 m, and rapid deceleration as approaching the exit diaphragm. Some air ahead of the ball first blows off the exit tape, and the ball leaves the tube at about 265 m/s. Ball speeds have been measured with laser beam/photogate techniques along the tube and were also confirmed by introductory students using totally inelastic collision data with a Pasco cart at the exit.

*Work supported in part by the MN NASA Space Grant and the Carlsen-Lewis Endowment at Bethel College

Matthew Philip Viscasillas
MPVISC00@smumn.edu
Department of Physics, St. Mary?s University

``Lightcurve and Rotational Period of Minor Planet 1225 Ariane''
Minor planet 1225 Ariane was observed on four nights between January 27 and March 8, 2003. The lightcurve obtained was combined with the directly measured magnitude and used to calculate the rotational period and the approximate size of Ariane.

Judith Peters
Besin@aol.com
St. Cloud State University

``Transport Processes in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions''
If a quark gluon plasma is formed in a heavy-ion collision, depending upon the order of the deconfinement phase transition, there may also be a mixed phase of quarks, gluons and hadrons. In the presence of a temperature gradient, a recent publication suggests that thermophoresis will lead to significant flow in addition to hydrodynamical flow. This research project examines not only the effect of thermophoresis on flow, but also the effect of two other transport processes: quark diffusion and viscosity.

Adrienne Schwartz and Preethi Pratap
University of Minnesota, Morris and MIT Haystack Observatory

``High Resolution Observations of Class I Methanol Masers toward NGC 7538''
We have conducted our observations to detect the existence of class I methanol masers. Since these masers are often offset from compact HII regions and strong infrared sources, they have been overlooked in traditional searches. To prevent restricting detection of outlying class I masers, our observations were conducted systematically over an entire molecular cloud. Observations were made with the 37-meter radio telescope at Haystack at frequencies of 24, 36, and 44 GHz, as well as with the Very Large Array (VLA) at 44 GHz. Analysis of the VLA data provided us with positions, velocities, intensities and widths of the emission detected. A new maser was identified near infrared source IRS 9. Also, two groups of masers were detected near IRS 11 with velocities of roughly 57 km/s and 53 km/s. These velocities are shifted from the systemic velocity of 56 km/s detected by ammonia emission. These masers may possibly indicate lobes of bipolar outflow created by a very young embedded! star. This could imply that class I methanol masers are associated with very early star formation. Data received from the Haystack antenna will also be presented. A comparison will be made between the line spectra widths and intensities of corresponding offsets at the 36 and 44 GHz frequencies.

Adam Randall, Matt Vonk (Late Addition)
MVONK@smumn.edu
St. Mary's University, Winona MN


``Cymbal Vibrational Mode Structure''
This research project, on the behavior of cymbals, was designed with the idea of separating the sound capabilities of this instrument, and designing equipment which could achieve manipulation of its sonic qualities. While cymbals are complex, they still obey basic principles of vibration and can be studied through knowledge of these principles. In this particular branch of research, the modes of vibration were isolated in order to understand where constituent frequencies of radiated sound came from. The results successfully reflected isolation of proper modes and a strong relationship between frequencies of the fundamental and harmonic vibrations of these modes and the prominent frequencies of unrestrained cymbal vibration. The data reveals not only modal settling, but also evolution of the cymbal's sound toward chaos and strong dependence on the manner of excitation. Based on these discoveries, the outlook for innovations in the realm of cymbal manipulation equipment is clearly visible.

See http://www.maapt.org/programs/MAAPT_03Spring.doc for a Word Document version of this announcement.