Blog 23: 2014 Interview

1.  Who did you interview and what house are they in?
Jeremy Etheridge-I honestly have no idea what house he is in.

2.  What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?
J: EMT or something having to do with first aid, because that's what my dad does and I've always liked helping people.

3.  What do you plan to do for your summer 10 hour mentorship experience?
J: I plan on working with my dad.

4.  What do you hope to see or expect to see in watching the 2013 2-hour presentations?
J: I'm expecting to understand more about how exactly we are supposed to present it, because right now I really have no idea. I know we are supposed to be teaching a class, but I am hoping to see more of the specifics about what exactly will we be presenting on.

5.  What questions do you have that I can answer about senior year or senior project (or what additional information did you tell them about senior year or senior project)?
J: I've heard it's a lot of work.
H: It is, but as long as you manage your time well, you'll be fine. Like, they'll give a two-month deadline. You'll think that's a long time, but all of a sudden you'll figure out you have a week left to go and you will have done nothing. As long as you do a little bit everyday, maybe 10 minutes or so, it won't seem like that much work. 
J: How do the house competitions work?
H: Well, Mr. Purther sets those up. Sometimes it's capture the flag or kickball. Lately we've been playing word games and chess. Usually they happen on Friday, since we always seem to have a big chunk of downtime for some reason. Anyway, the house that wins gets one point and the winning house gets to go to grad night for free. Oh, and charity stuff is a house competition. For instance the house that donates the most cans gets a house point. 

Thank you Jeremy! Good luck in ASB next year! 

Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. Why is finding supersymmetric particles an important task for physicists to undertake?

2. What do you believe is the most accurate model of supersymmetry proposed today?

3. What are the implications for the Cold Dark Matter search if supersymmetry is found not to exist?

4. How might scientists go about disproving supersymmetry if there is no empirical evidence found?

5. How might scientists go about narrowing down proposed supersymmetric models?

6. How might scientists go about narrowing down supersymmetric dark matter models?

7. What do you believe is the next step we must take in our efforts to locate supersymmetric particles?

8. If a spontaneously broken supersymmetry does not solve the problem of the vacuum energy all the way, what are the implications?

9. In what way, if any, can the problem of the vacuum energy be resolved without supersymmetry?

10. If supersymmetry is discovered, what are the implications for string theory?

11. Is it necessary for us to narrow down the number of superstring theories? If so, how can we do it?

12. How can theoretical physicists avoid being "not even wrong" about supersymmetry?

13. If supersymmetric particles are self interacting, how will this change our search for them as dark matter?

14. How to you believe an experiment solely dedicated to looking for supersymmetric particles would be received by scientists and donors?

15. If another, lighter Higgs Boson is found, what are the implications for supersymmetry?

16. What theories, if any, do you believe can explain the Hierarchy Problem in place of supersymmetry?

17. Can string theory be complete without supersymmetry? Why or why not?

18. Do you believe superstring theory is the "best" theory of quantum gravity? Why? If not, what other theories do you believe are better?

19. What, if anything, does the quantum vacuum say about dark energy?

20. What is wrong with very heavy sparticles?

No need to worry about the end of the universe, for those who saw the article. Supersymmetry will save us! Maybe...

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

1. Why is finding supersymmetric particles an important task for physicists to undertake?

2. What are some ways the heavier sparticles such as squarks can be detected? 

3. If the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model is found to be too constrained by the Higgs mass, how can it be modified?

4. What theories, if any, can explain the Hierarchy Problem of the Standard Model besides supersymmetry?

5. If supersymmetric particles are found not to exist, how should physicists approach the vacuum energy problem?

6. What does a model of supersymmetry that can be spontaneously broken mean for our understanding of the vacuum energy?

7. How can existing dark matter detection experiments such as Ice Cube be better equipped to detect supersymmetric particles? 

8. If the Large Hadron Collider does not, even at its full power, discover supersymmetric particles, where do physicists go from there? 

9. How can theorists studying supersymmetry as we are now, without empirical evidence, avoid being "not even wrong?" 

10. How can Cold Dark Matter be described without the existence of supersymmetric particles? 

Blog 6: Second Interview

I will be asking questions along these lines-

How did you find your "niche" in theoretical physics?
Why did you choose to be a theorist instead of an experimentalist?
How does the theory department at Caltech work? Are you split up by discipline-do you only work with the particle physicists? Do you only take on grads and postdocs?
What is your favorite project you are working on right now? Any ones from the past you are particularly proud of?
What sorts of projects have you worked on with the rest of the Caltech theory department?
Does all your work or the work of the department have to be taken to Switzerland* to be tested? If so, do you find it frustrating that the United States has not developed a similar project?
How is working at Caltech different than working at another research institution?

*Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. Currently there is nothing comparable-the United States shut down its particle accelerator, Tevatron, last year due to budget cuts. I fear that science in America is on a very steep decline.

Blog 3: Interview Preparation

I plan on interviewing Professor Mark Wise, or, if he is still out of town (a.k.a. tunneling through spacetime,) one of his colleagues from Caltech. I first contacted Professor Wise after reading the Caltech faculty page because I found his focus to be similar to my interests. Also, Caltech is where I will be doing at least part of my service learning.

I'll probably ask the following questions-

Physics is a pretty broad topic. How did you find your niche within the field?
What would you recommend for an aspiring physics major?
What do you believe is the single most important discovery in physics to date and why?
What do you believe is the most important unsolved problem in physics and why?
What did you think about the Higgs Boson announcement this summer?