The paper is due March 28, 2006 by the end of class.

Paper:  You will be required to write a short (~10-12 page) report about a historic paper in modern experimental particle physics.  (A list of possible papers is below, or you can choose a different one with my prior approval.)  The idea is that you will read the paper, do background research on the physics that is discussed in the paper, then write a report on the subject.  Your paper must demonstrate that you understand what was being measured, why it was interesting, how the detector worked, how the measurement was made, and what the implications are.  

Length:  There is no minimum length requirement.  You should write as much as you need to cover the important aspects of the experimental result, and not much more.  I will grade the paper partly on how well you cover the essentials.  Under no circumstances should your paper exceed 14 pages, single-spaced.  But if your paper is in the 8-14 page range, and you have covered the important issues, then you may be OK.  If you honestly feel that you've said everything you need to say in fewer pages, that's fine too.  Figures are encouraged, but will not count towards length.

Grading:  Grading will be based on how well you convey the content of the physics measurement in your own words.  Grammar, spelling, and writing skills matter as well---poorly written or error-prone prose will be graded down.  (Physicists need to be able to write clear, effective prose too, so this IS relevant for an advanced physics course.)  Important points to cover in the paper:
It is very unlikely that you will be able to determine all of this from simply reading the paper alone.  Most papers do not describe the experimental apparatus in detail, for example, and experiments sometimes publish separate "instrumentation papers" saying how the detectors worked.  The background to the measurement is usually described in other papers, often cited by the paper you'll be writing about.  Remember that many physics papers, by construction, tell only the minimum amount needed for a real expert to understand the measurement or calculation.  The ultimate significance of a measurement is often only apparent in hindsight.  You need to go beyond what is in the paper itself!  What I'm looking for is evidence that you've studied the topic in detail and learned something---not that you can parrot back just what's in the paper!

Plagiarism Policy:  Plagiarism of any sort would be a very bad idea ... any plagiarism will be dealt with as harshly as the university will let me.  You can read the university's plagiarism policy at www.library.ubc.ca/home/plagiarism.  Pay particular attention to properly citing your sources, and avoid simply copying large blocks of text from other publications, even if you cite them.  Some students got into serious trouble last year for not properly citing sources in their papers----this is also a form of plagiarism---so beware!

Suggested paper topics:  The following list has some pre-approved papers you may choose from.  If you want to do something with a different paper (one not on this list), you need to clear it with me first.  For some of these topics, multiple papers are listed (usually by different experiments).  You should choose one of them, but may find it useful to read the others.  You may not write about the SNO experiment, since I am uncapable of being unbiased about my own work ...

Discovery of atmospheric neutrino oscillations
Evidence for oscillation of atmospheric neutrinos
The Super-Kamiokande Collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 (1998)
1562-1567

Discovery of CP violation
J.H. Christensen et al, Phys Rev Lett 13, 138 (1964)

Discovery of b quark
Herb et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 39, 252 (1977)

Discovery of Omega^-
"Observation of a Hyperon with Strangeness Minus Three", Barnes et
al., PRL 12, 204 (1964). 

Discovery of parity violation
C.S. Wu, Phys Rev 105, 1413 (1957)

Discovery of charm quark (pick one)
J.J. Aubert et al, Phys Rev Lett 33, 1404 (1974)
J.E. Augustin et al, Phys Rev Lett 33, 1406 (1974)

Discovery of tau lepton
M.L. Perl et al, Phys Rev Lett 35, 1489 (1975)

Discovery of bottom quark
Observation of a Dimuon Resonance at 9.5 GeV in 400 GeV Proton-Nucleus
Collisions," Physical Review Letters 39, p. 252, (1977)

Discovery of top quark (pick one)
F. Abe et al, Phys Rev Lett 74, 2626 (1995)
S. Abachi et al, Phys Rev Lett 74, 2632 (1995)

Discovery of muon neutrino
Danby et al., PRL 9, 36 (1962).

Discovery of weak neutral current interactions
F.J. Hasert et al, Phys Lett 46B, 138 (1973)

Measurement of the number of light neutrinos
PL B235, 399 (1990)

Observation of CP violation in B0 system (pick one)
B. Aubert et al, Physical Review Letters 87, (2001) 091801
K. Abe et al, Phys Rev Lett 87, 091802 (2001)

Count of how many quark colours/flavour there are from R ratio:
PL 113B 499 (1982)

High-pT jets, evidence for proton substructure:
Banner et al., PL 118B, 203 (1982).

Discovery of antiproton
Chamberlain et al., Phys. Rev. 100, 947 (1955)

Discovery of the neutrino:
"Detection of the Free Neutrino: A Confirmation", C.L. Cowan, Jr.,
F. Reines, F.B. Harrison, H.W. Kruse and A.D. McGuire, Science 124,
103 (1956).

Discovery of the W (pick one)
G. Arnison et al, Phys Lett 122B, 103 (1983)
M. Banner et al, Phys Lett 122B, 476 (1983)

Discovery of the Z (pick one)
G. Arnison et al, Phys Lett 122B, 103 (1983)
M. Banner et al, Phys Lett 122B, 476 (1983)


  December 22, 2005