ATLANTA, GA — Since his arrival at Georgia State as a first-year student three years ago, Jacob Tutterow has been working with scintillating tiles used in detectors for nuclear physics investigations.
He joined
Megan Connors' group, where he tested hundreds of scintillating tiles that
would be used in the Brookhaven National Laboratory's (BNL) sPHENIX detector in
Upton, New York. The scientists working on the sPHENIX project are researching quark-gluon
plasma, an extremely hot and dense state of nuclear matter.
Tutterow's
contribution to the project is to test the tiles before sending them to BNL.
Each tile is constructed of extruded plastic and has an unique fibre that
guides light to silicon photomultipliers that may be used to interpret the
signal created when a particle interacts with it. Tutterow examines the
uniformity of the tiles, which come in a variety of forms and sizes, so they
may be fitted together to form inner and outer Hadronic Calorimeter (HCal)
rings within the sPHENIX, and verifies their functionality with cosmic rays.
Tutterow
tested the tiles in a lab at Georgia State and used them to build both the
inner and outer rings, but he continues to test them to determine if they degrade
over time. So far, the results have been encouraging. Over the course of two
years, tiles that have been checked weekly have not eroded significantly.
Tutterow
has presented his work on this subject at the Georgia State UndergraduateResearch Conference every year since it began (GSURC).
He stated,
"It's good to have a conference for undergraduates." "If I gave
a talk to nuclear physicists, I'm sure they'd ask me a lot of questions about
stuff I don't know about because I'm an undergraduate."
Tutterow
put the tiles through their paces in a Georgia State lab and used them to
construct both the inner and outer rings, but he's still testing them to see if
they degrade over time. So far, the outcomes have been positive. Tiles that
have been tested regularly for two years have not deteriorated noticeably.
Since its
inception, Tutterow has presented his research on this topic at the Georgia
State Undergraduate Research Conference every year (GSURC).
"It's
good to have a conference for students," he said. "I'm sure they'd
ask me a lot of questions about something I don't know about because I'm an
undergraduate if I gave a talk to nuclear scientists."
"One
of the things you learn about yourself during your undergraduate years is what
you enjoy and don't like," he explained.
He
developed his passion for astrophysics while taking several classes, noting,
"Even the most banal things physicists ask about the stars are still quite
cool to me."
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