Fermilab & University of Chicago
Contact Information
Michael Syphers
msyphers@fnal.gov
We have 11 teachers participating this year representing nine high schools from the Chicago suburbs, mostly west and north of the city but as far away as Joliet, IL. This is the 10th year that this center has participated in QuarkNet , and many of the teachers have been active since its inception.
As a result of last summer's successful student research program, this year's summer program participants once again teamed up with staff members of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to learn some astronomy and astrophysics, and to perform analyses of digital photographic images taken with the SDSS telescope in New Mexico. The team, made up of one teacher and four students, spent seven weeks at Fermilab analyzing galaxy clusters. The purpose of this project was to analyze the mass and radius of individual galaxies in a galaxy cluster using weak lensing analysis. To begin, the redshifts of the individual galaxies in a cluster were collected. The redshift is found using the Bright Central Galaxy (BCG) in the SDSS data (Data Release 6 - DR6). Redshift is a measure of the "shift" of waves toward the red end of the spectrum. It occurs when the source of the waves is moving away from observer, just like Doppler Effect. It is used for measuring distances. Initially to compare the results, the data in the Girardi catalogue were collected independently from DR6 of SDSS. Then the resulting graph of Girardi Redshift vs. SDSS Redshift was compiled. The project also compiled the results of the individual mass vs. Girardi Masses, and Mass/Radius ratio vs. Girardi Mass/Radius ratio. After the results were found to be acceptable, the process was used to analyze clusters in the Abell Catalogue. The results from this project are still pending as the project is ongoing and expected to be completed later in the year. Jim Annis was the mentor for the summer research project.
All teachers met for two days to learn about masterclasses. During the upcoming academic year the teachers are planning to concentrate on participation in Masterclass 2009. Three meetings, one day each, are to be held in October, November, and January to learn some particle physics and prepare for Masterclass 2009 in February or early March. A fifth and final meeting for the year will be held approximately two weeks later to discuss the masterclass and to make future plans.
