Profile
Savannah Clawson
My CV
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Current Job
PhD Student at the University of Manchester (currently based at CERN)
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Employer
The University of Manchester (funded by the Royal Society)
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The most exciting thing that's happened this year in my research area:
The ATLAS detector (the detector that I work for) sees first evidence of light-by-light scattering!
Light-by-light scattering is a very rare phenomenon in which two photons ā particles of light ā interact, producing another pair of photons. This process is one of the earliest predictions of the quantum theory of electromagnetism, and is forbidden by classical physics theories. Therefore, seeing this process is evidence that our universe does behave in the weird and wonderful ways of quantum mechanics!
Below is an image showing the “event display” in the ATLAS detector. The two green beams are the energy deposits of the two final photons in our detector.
https://atlas.cern/updates/physics-briefing/atlas-observes-light-scattering-light
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My latest work:
I am currently working on making the first observation of the process of two light particles (photons) smashing together to produce two W-bosons (these are particles that belong to the so-called Weak Force). This process is interesting because a lot of new physics theories predict that it is more likely to happen compared to the same process in our “Standard Model” of physics – so if we see anything unexpected, this would be new physics and a new discovery!
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My favourite misconception about my area of science:
That physics is only for boys! It upsets me so much that a lot of young (and old) women don’t consider physics to be for them, just because it’s what they’ve been told by friends / family / teachers / society. Physics is for everyone and I hope to make it a more welcoming place for women in the future š
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My profile link:
https://ias.im/u.220201
