Department of Physics and Technology, UoB IFT-posten December 10. 2010

A Word from the Department Administration

This is the last ordinary edition of IFT-posten this year. The Department of Physics and Technology would like to wish all of its partners within and outside UoB (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year) with this great picture recently taken by our space physics students on Svalbard (see the below travel log). We would like to thank for the collaboration in 2010 and look forward to exciting opportunities together in 2011.

News and General Information

Important deadlines and dates

· The registration deadline for the Christmas lunch on December 22 is Wednesday December 15. A registration list is available at the expedition.

· The deadline for submitting forms regarding transfer or advance payment of vacation is December 31, see below.

· The absolute deadline for submitting invoices for 2010 is Tuesday, January 4 at 09:00 am. We would, on the other hand, like to receive these before the given date.

· The registration deadline for courses is Thursday, January 13. The list of courses will be published December 13.

· The regular subject teaching will start on Monday, January 17.

Power cut during Christmas

As announced earlier, all power at Allégaten 55 will be cut Tuesday, December 28 and Thursday December 30 2010 in connection with the construction work. We are announcing this already now so that everybody can take this into consideration when planning their activities during Christmas. We will come back with more detailed information on this before the construction work begins, but IT, heating, ongoing experiments and many other things will be affected by the activity. Everyone should consider the fact that there will be no electricity at the department when planning their activities.

As a result of this we encourage all employees to work from home during this period. Those who cannot work from home are allowed to take time off on Tuesday, December 28 and Thursday December 30 without having to use any of their vacation days. However, these two off work days then include the usual day off during Christmas. Electricity and heating will be turned back on, on Wednesday but will be turned off again on Thursday. However, we cannot guarantee that all IT-services will up and running on Wednesday. Please take this into account.

We would like to ask everyone to switch off their PCs, printers etc. and unplug them before Christmas holidays. Gjert will be available at the department on these days and in case any of you must have electricity due to experiments etc., do not hesitate to contact Gjert.

The Atomic Microscope on NRK2

In the TV program Kunnskapskanalen/ Vitenskapshvelvet (Knowledge channel / Science vault) broadcasted on NRK2 tomorrow, Saturday December 11. at 15:45 pm, there will be an interview about the atomic microscope at IFT.
The program is a collection of interviews regarding research and science.

The IFT Technical Department will be established January 1 2011

As of January 1 2011, all technical departments at our department, E-lab, IT and the machine shop will be merged together to form the Technical Department (TA) that will be led by Kåre Njøten. As a result of this Kåre Njøten has been promoted to the senior engineer position. Kåre will have the supervisor responsibilities for TA, but will be assisted by Magne Håvåg and Roald Langøen as the technical managers of IT and the machine shop, respectively.

There are many reasons for this, but as one the most important ones, in this way we will be able to best facilitate a good and an inspiring working environment for all of our technical employees as many of them were newly employed during the last few years. Furthermore, it is also important to secure a best possible management of the competence and resources that are available to us. Dedicated leadership is then decisive since the department’s need for technical competence has become broader or more multi-disciplinary within the last few years so that the current technical staff covers a greater area in which no one has equal competence. This is also important for proper operation of an increasingly more advanced equipment park.

We would like to wish the Technical Department and Kåre all the best in a very important task for the department.

Invitation to take part in pedagogical training for group leaders in 2011

Every semester, the University of Bergen arranges a pedagogical course for the group leaders

(colloquium leaders, seminar leaders) who will be working with teaching duties in the course of the semester

. For more information and registration see here.

Transfer of vacation to the following year /advance payment of vacation

Those who would like to benefit from the scheme regarding transfer of vacation to the following year or advance payment of vacation, must have a written agreement. This can be done by filling out this form and returning the signed form to Karen-Margrete Hovland within December 31 2010.

Christmas tree party

The Welfare Committee will be arranging the traditional Christmas tree party on Saturday, January 8. The place will be, as usual, the Grand banquet facilities, time from 15:00 pm to 17:00 pm. As usual there will be hot-dogs, Christmas cakes, entertainment and Santa Claus. Participation requires registration.

Application for residence permit for new foreign PhD-candidates

UDI has introduced (from October 1 2010) the new solution "Application on the internet" which makes it possible to apply for residence permit, visa and citizenship on the Internet. Earlier it was possible to apply for visas via internet at many of the Norwegian embassies/consulates. However, this fall, the procedure was expanded so as to include all Norwegian embassies/conculates and all types of residence permits. More information from UDI on the new "Application on the internet"-scheme is available in Norwegian and English.

Changes in the supplementary regulations for graduate studies and in the supplementary regulation for examinations at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

The Faculty’s study board has accepted some changes in the Faculty’s supplementary regulations in the course of 2010. These are now incorporated in the regulations and published on both Externalweb and on the Faculty’s Wiki-pages for Study Administration:

Changes in the supplementary regulations for graduate studies:

- New § 8a Common M.Sc. thesis

- New § 8b Confidentiality of M.Sc. theses

Changes in the supplementary regulations for examinations:

- § 1 Entitlement to a new examination, 3. section – about early examination for students with valid absence.

- § 7 Change between oral and written examination, last section – about the form of examination in early examinations.

- New § 8 Use of sensor in oral examinations.

- In addition, some linguistic changes were made.

What remains is to update the corresponding English translation of the supplementary regulations. This will be done as soon as possible.

Travel log from Svalbard: Substorm course and Physics show
by Ragnhild S. Hansen and Jone Peter Reistad

The last 5 weeks, two students from the space physics research group have been so lucky to participate in a course in Svalbard which was realized as collaboration between the University of Bergen, The University Center in Svalbard and the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). The course was held at UNIS in Longyearbyen where subjects related to substorms, which lead to northern lights outbreak, were taught. There were a total of 8 participants from the University of Oslo, Tromsø, Los Angeles, Aberystwyth University and us two from UoB. The first two weeks were filled with classes and tasks during the day, but also with a lot of going out in the weekends and afternoons. Among other things we also had the opportunity to take a tour in the ice caves in Larsbreen and a tour to Trollsteinen. The third week was reserved for field work. On that Monday we took a trip to the Kjell Henriksen observatory (northern lights observatory). This is located approximately 15 km from Longyearbyen in order to avoid light contamination from the city, and at this time off the year the all-terrain carrier is the only vehicle that can get you there. After a quick tour of the building, we also had the opportunity to observe the northern lights although they were somewhat diffuse.

After having so much luck on the first day of observation it was decided to drop the field work on Tuesday. This turned out to be a great idea as it was a day without any northern light activities. We were in principal satisfied with our observations, but anyway took a trip to EISCAT radar since we were so lucky to get funds from FMI to pay a few hours of measurements for us. After turning on the facility, it did not take more than 15 minutes before the northern lights were in place again; the nature was really on our side. We went out to see and this turned out to be a great experience with a lot of motion and colors in the northern lights. We were lying down on our backs and really enjoying the life; one forgets that it is -15 degrees outside when the sky is this nice. The attached picture was taken at the radar facility in the middle of the northern lights activity. We were very satisfied with these measurements, even more so than the previous ones. Nearly all cameras and facilities in Svalbard registered data that evening.

As we students are a part of the Physics Show Bergen, we decided to take with us some of our equipment. Among other things we were allowed to borrow Rolf Eckhoff’s dust explosion chamber. This was appreciated very much at the Longyearbyen School and in total we held 4 shows for the students in the secondary and high school level. When the mining company in Svalbard, Store Norske Spitsbergen Kullkompani, heard that we had a dust explosion chamber with us they were very much so interested in seeing it. We were thereby able to make a demonstration in Longyearbyen, at Mine 7 and in the mining community in Svea. This was a great joy for both the mine workers and students; the picture was taken during our visit at Mine 7.

All together we had 5 nice weeks in the dark north, but it was of course great to come back to the day light. We also hope that many students will have the opportunity to experience the same. It will perhaps take a little to have as much luck as we did with the weather and the observations, but nevertheless this is something that should absolutely be repeated.

M.Sc. and PhD-news

Trial Lecture

MSc. Øyvind Jensen will be giving the following trial lecture for his PhD degree:

"Antihydrogen - fremstilling og egenskaper"

("Antihydrogen - fabrication and properties")

New time! Friday December 17 2010, at 10:15 am in Room 546, IFT

All are welcome to listen!

Final M.Sc. presentation at the department Wednesday December 15 2010 at 10:15 am, room 292

Candidate	Field – Thesis Title	Advisor(s)
Fredrik Solheim	Process technology – Safety technology: “An Experimental Investigation of the Influence of Mechanical Damage, Rust and Dust on the Ability of Flame Gaps to Prevent Gas Explosion Transmission”	Rolf K. Eckhoff Bjørn J. Arntzen

Final M.Sc. presentation at the Department of Chemistry Monday December 20 2010 at 09:15 am, room 4060 (Realfagbygget)

Candidate	Field – Thesis Title	Advisor(s)
Maria Nordli	Petroleum technology – Reservoir chemistry: “Kryssbundet polymerløsning (LPS) for anvendelse i saltholdige reservoar” (“Cross-linked polymer solution (LPS) for use in reservoirs containing salt”)	Harald Høiland, Uni CIPR Tormaod Skauge, Uni CIPR

Final M.Sc. presentation at the department Tuesday December 21 2010 at 13:00 pm, room 4060 (Realfagbygget)

Candidate	Field – Thesis Title	Advisor(s)
Eivind Norheim	Petroleum technology – Reservoir physics: “Network Modelling of Linked Polymer Solution: A New EOR Method”	Arne Skauge, Uni CIPR

Publications (ISI)

· Eigen G, Stugu B, Sun L, et al.: Measurement of the absolute branching fractions for D-s(-) -> l(-) (nu)over-bar(l) and extraction of the decay constant f(Ds) PHYSICAL REVIEW D Volume: 82 Issue: 9 Article Number: 091103

· Rohrich D, Yang H, Yin Z et al.: The BRAHMS Collaboration (vol 830, pg 941c, 2009), NUCLEAR PHYSICS A Volume: 847 Issue: 1-2 Pages: 118-11

· Juusola L, Andreeova K, Amm O et al.: Effects of a solar wind dynamic pressure increase in the magnetosphere and in the ionosphere, ANNALES GEOPHYSICAE Volume: 28 Issue: 10 Pages: 1945-1959

· Eigen G, Stugu B, Sun L, et al.: Correlated leading baryon-antibaryon production in e(+)e(-) -> c(c)over-bar -> Lambda(+)(c)(Lambda)over-bar(c)(-)X, PHYSICAL REVIEW D Volume: 82 Issue: 9 Article Number: 091102