Ducks help smash atoms in search of 'God particle'

By KVAL News Published: Jul 6, 2012 at 4:04 PM PDT
Ducks help smash atoms in search of 'God particle'
FILE - In this March 22, 2007 file picture, the magnet core of the world's largest superconducting solenoid magnet (CMS, Compact Muon Solenoid), one of the experiments preparing to take data at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)'s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator is seen, near Genva, Switzerland. The head of the world's biggest atom smasher is claiming discovery of a new particle that he says is consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson known popularly as the "God particle" which is believed to give all matter in the universe size and shape. The results of the experiment will be announced Wednesday July 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Keystone/Martial Trezzini, File)

EUGENE, Ore. - Jake Searcy heard about an atom smasher under construction in Switzerland when he was in high school and thought, "How cool would that be?"

The University of Oregon graduate student from New Mexico spent 2 1/2 years in Geneva coordinating data transfers at the Large Hadron Collider, site of ground-breaking research into the so-called "God particle" or Higgs boson particle.

Hundreds of scientists and graduate students from U.S. institutions have roles in the search for the Higgs boson at the collider in Geneva.

"I think it's kind of a monument how everyone in the world can chip in a little bit and build this huge experiment, over decades have this long excited project that just makes the incredible discoveries," Searcy told KVAL News.

More than 1,700 people from U.S. institutions -- including 89 American universities and seven U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories -- helped design, build and operate the LHC accelerator and its four particle detectors.

"We all got together for one purpose and I just think it's really incredible," Searcy said.

University of Oregon faculty James Brau, Eric Torrence, David Strom and Ray Frey have been involved in the experiment.

Other Ducks taking part in the search are Nick Sinev, a senior research associate, postdoctoral researchers Mansoora Shamim and Chris Potter, and graduate students Elizabeth (Liza) Brost, Elizabeth Ptacek, Andreas Reinsch and Jacob Searcy.

Strom, Shamin, Reinsch and Brost currently reside at CERN and work on the ATLAS experiment. Potter, Searcy and Ptacek previously had lived on site.