Joanna's Page

Contact Details

Work Information

For my own use: 3rd year talk -
.pdf and .ps

I am a postgraduate student in the Experimental Particle Physics group at the University of Glasgow. I am also working with the ZEUS experiment at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg. My supervisor is Dr Peter Bussey.

Know nothing about particle physics? Want to know a bit more? I've created a webpage here that may help.

I have recently returned to Glasgow after 18 months LTA (Long Term Attatchment) in Hamburg. I am part of the QCD group on ZEUS. I am currently working on prompt photons in photoproduction. There is more information on the progress of the analysis here. I have also performed a study of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) photons. There is a webpage related to this study and containing some plots here. There is also a copy of my recent ZEUS note, "Shower Shape Variables in Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering", available, in either ps or pdf format. This is fairly comprehensive account of the DVCS study. There is further information on the study in my second year report, which is slightly less comprehensive than the ZEUS note. However it is linked below.

My second year report was finished in mid-September. It deals with the DVCS study, performed for the DIS analysis, and also the progress of the photoproduction analysis. It's available in .ps or .pdf formats.

While at ZEUS, I took over the post of Scientific Editor. This involves making sure that presentations from meetings and conferences are displayed on the web page and are up-to-date. It also involves checking and maintaining references for papers. There are more details here, but unfortuneately it's ZEUS password-protected. This one-year posting came to an end in May 2003.

I have also been a CTD on-call expert. This involves taking charge of the mobile phone, and if anything goes wrong with the component, I become first port of call.

I also did a lot of work to help combat the background problems experienced after the HERA luminosity upgrade. My first year report, "Combatting the Background Problems at the ZEUS Detector at HERA", is available to view here. Also on this topic is the website I designed for the benefit of those working on the background studies. That can be found here.

My first project as a postgraduate student involved designing a diagram of the HERA ring and the experiments there using PAW. This is available here.

As a first year experimental particle physicist from the UK, I also got to attend the RAL Summer School 2002. It took place in Cosenor's house, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, from 1st-13th September 2002. There are photos from RAL taken by Charlotte Sims of the Solar Neutrino Observatory, available here, where you'll also find some of the limericks from the limerick competition, and some comments about the school. BTW I'm not in the photos.

Summary of links:

Personal Stuff

On a more personal note, my degree was also from Glasgow University, and I have many friends at the science fiction and fantasy society, iO - where I've been Games Convenor, President, and Treasurer - and also at the Cuckoo's Nest. I owe much to both societies, for letting me meet people who share my interests, for letting me develop confindence and skills in managing people, for providing me with a social life even when everything else was hectic, and - last but not least - for getting me involved in the larger University community.

I enjoy music, particularly making music myself. I play guitar, keyboard and I have a few other musical instruments that I like to play when I'm bored. I'm also a good singer, and I sing at every opportunity. Mind you, I'd say I "play" at music rather than work at it, it's something I really enjoy. For me, the most enjoyment from music is found when it's interactive, so when I can sing along. I seem to have music in my soul; I almost always have a song playing in my head, often completely random, and I can rarely stop myself singing, humming or whistling along, unless there's a good reason not to! I also have a great gift of being able to play by ear, which means I can play any tune I know on any instrument I've a passing familiarity with. This has given me great pleasure over the years.

Apart from music, I love reading. I'm a big fan of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, and at the moment I'm working my way through Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. By this you can probably see that I like the fantasy genre. I'm also a Science fiction fan. I enjoy the late Douglas Adams' work, and I'm a recent convert to the delights of Isaac Asimov. In the future I'd like to read more Asimov, more Aurthur C Clarke, and more classic novels. So many books in the world, so little time!

My Easter holidays were spent in the lovely Outer Hebrides, particularly North Uist although we also managed to visit Skye (on the way), Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay, Baleshare (all of which can be visited by road from North Uist, thanks to the causeways), Barra and Vatersee. Pictures are available here. It may take time to load from a modem, for which I apologise.

I have a yahoo group which I use as a means for many of my friends to stay in touch, especially now that we've all graduated. If you want to join it, go here. If you're already a member, remember there can rarely be too much gossip on groups such as these!

Visit the Hunger Site! It gives free food to those who need it.

Pictures from New Year party 2002-2003. Nothing too incriminating, or I wouldn't post it here. PS, this is an off-site link. Pics.

Every so often I use writing as a way to clear my thoughts. Some are on the web:
The Clock.
A Good Knight's Work.
A silly rhyme.
Christmas Cheer
The Problem with Quantum
The Act of Observing... - which is a story, not a poem!.
Obviously the work is my own and if you wish to reproduce it anywhere you should ask my permission. (Although TBD has an open license, since I read that anyway. That license runs out at the same time as my subscription!)

From Glasgow, allow me to introduce you to my friend Raj and my friend Stevie (um, real name Stuart - don't ask!). Also my friend Mog (this is her work site. No, I'm not on commission!). Further, I've recently discovered Weeble's page, from whence I was led to Jennie's, Daisy's, Jude's, and Joy's. And since they're all my friends too, I thought I'd link to their pages.

And from DESY, allow me to present Steve Hanlon, Claire Gwenlan, James Ferrando, Chris Collins-Tooth (Yes, that's his real name!), and Matt Lightwood (The 419 forward scam bit is funny!).
I'd post John's webpage, but it's depressingly full of physics, as is Mairi's. I've probably missed people, and I apologise fully and sincerely.

Page written by Joanna Hamilton.

Written: 11th November 2002
Last updated: 17th Nov 2003