It’s a busy time in the physics/life/web world: Fermilab may have broken the Standard Model (but probably not), Physics Stack Exchange is holding moderator elections, and most importantly, Mythbusters is back on with a new season. But I kind of have to ignore all that since I’m preparing for my comprehensive exam next week.

For those not familiar with it, the comprehensive exam at Penn State basically marks the transition from being primarily a student to being primarily a researcher. Accordingly, I’m starting to get questions about what my research is about — not that people didn’t ask before, but it’s reaching the point where “some high-energy stuff” ceases to be an adequate answer. So I’ve been thinking about how to concisely explain what I’m trying to do with my time. The more I think about this, the more I think it’s a good exercise for anyone in physics to go through; after all, if you can’t summarize what you’re doing at some level to a non-specialist, do you really understand it?

At a high level, the project I’m on right now deals with the rapidity evolution of …