KEK Winter Science Camp held

(English translation 2024-11-13)

The KEK Winter Science Camp was held from December 25 to 28, 2023. This science camp is an event for high school students in the science field to experience the life of a researcher for 4 days and 3 nights.

The camp offers practical training in four different courses, of which course D, "Let's learn about radiation," is conducted by the Applied Research Laboratory. This year, Associate Professor Ryuichi Ueki of the Accelerator Laboratory served as camp director. The course D was taught by Assistant Professor Yasuhito Sakaki of the Radiation Science Center and Professor Atsushi Manabe of the Computing Research Center, with six participants from all over Japan.
This year's practical training focused on Compton scattering, in which participants experimentally obtained the "apparent electron radius" from a 662 keV photon through an understanding of its microscopic phenomena and used the findings for radiation protection. Radiation experiments often require subtracting the contribution of scattering and environmental radiation from the measured amount, while the difficulty lies in correctly evaluating invisible phenomena. Through repeated trial and error, the high school students arrived at what they considered to be the best method of measurement. They also actively engaged in mathematical considerations regarding the formulation of measurement results.

The students acquired and analyzed data with the measurement system they created and discussed the physical quantities obtained. Despite the tight schedule, it was very impressive to see the students enjoying the creation of their original shields and interacting with the students in other courses.

View of data analysis and production of original shields

The fact that they were able to experience research activities, obtain satisfactory results, and make a good presentation on their activities gave them confidence for the future and helped them to choose their future career paths. The Applied Research Laboratory is also contributing to the training of the next generation of successors through educational activities such as these.