‘ Ask questions’
Name? Bouke Jung
Born? 1996
Job? First year PhD student at KM3NeT
What does your research focus on? I look at neutrinos that originate in interactions in our atmosphere. We can’t see the neutrinos themselves. We can see their reaction products. Sometimes a neutrino collides with a water molecule in the vicinity of our KM3NeT detectors in the Mediterranean sea. During such a collision, a muon is formed, which then emits light. I try to find out how many muons we can measure per hour.
What keeps you awake at night? That the weather circumstances are bad. We want to employ as many lines with detectors as possible in the sea, but the weather has to be favourable for that. Thankfully, we are already receiving data, so I can start working. Even though I don’t have enough data for hard conclusions.
Favourite part? I like the colloquia and conferences the most. This is where I meet many enthusiastic people and this gives me new insights. The other day I was in Lunteren at a lecture about research into paintings with the help of particle physics. Very interesting.
Best advice? ‘Don’t be afraid to ask questions.’ My teachers often tell me this, but even though I feel like I need to muster a lot of courage to really do it. Especially around people who might already understand more. In the end, asking questions doesn’t only help me get further, but as it turns out other people have been dealing with the same problem.
Hobbies? In the morning I often go swimming. And I like to play piano. For instance on the Nikhef piano or at train stations
